Benson Ver Hage Electric

Our family had a very bad experience with this company, and we want everyone to be aware of it. Hopefully, this awareness will help you to save money and time. We have our generator installed 6 years ago, by another company, and all those years it was working fine. This year in springtime Generac sent us a postcard with a recall, so we called Benson Ver Hage Electric to follow with the repair required by that recall, and to perform the maintenance on the generator at the same time. After their first visit, which cost us $836, everything went down the heel - generator stopped working after the second-week test run. Of course, we couldn’t prove that it happened because of the maintenance they did even though it looked like it. Anyway, we called them multiple times, they were very busy with lots of calls from Northern NJ due to hurricane-related power losses, and after several weeks we finally got someone to come and check our generator, and informed us, that we need to replace a cylinder head, or in worse case even to replace entire cylinder...After that, it took again several weeks and several calls to schedule the next appointment to fix the generator. This one was a complete failure – instead of fixing the generator, the technician started again from reviewing the previously identified problem, and noticed that he does not have with him cylinder head, and told us that the generator would need a new engine, since they are not able to replace a cylinder, and it will roughly cost us around 2200 dollars for them to replace it. At the same time, we received a bill for the first visit – 200 dollars. When we saw that bill, we realized, that if we are dealing with such a company, we soon will be getting the second one for the second visit. And that exactly what happened in a week. After multiple calls to the Customer service and Billing department, we finally reached the owner of the company, and he graciously authorized to waive the cost for the second visit. So, we decided to call another company after we had already paid this company more than 1000 dollars, and our generator was still broken. Guess what, another company immediately sent a technician and provided us with a free estimate. It turned out there is no need to replace the entire engine. The cylinder head was obtained and replaced within one week, and it did not cost us 2200! Too bad we didn’t call that second company the first time around - we definitely would save lots of time and money. Please think twice before giving your business to Benson Ver Hage Electric company – they are far away from being professional and honest with their clients.

They were terrific.

It's totally worth having them in there because they're awesome.

I found them on this site, called in the morning, they sent someone within 1/2 hour. He found the root cayuse and corrected it. A++++ I will use them for all my electrical needs going forward.

They are wonderful. We had to get a new gas line put in for the 22 kw generator. New meter had to be installed as well. They were wonderful, very professional. They did a very nice job. The follow up, they were interested in what we were doing. We were left with a panel in a bit of a mess, which had nothing to do with them, but they straightened out all that for us. Very professional, courteous, on time, good people. Great work. Very good work. They are professionals. The follow up the year after, the guy came and fine tuned it. It runs like a charm.

They're very good. They came out pretty quick.

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Service person provided maintenance while I was out and left receipt that service had been performed. Unfortunately, one of the two locks on the top cover of the generator was left unlocked. I had to find my key, sit on the top of the generator, and lock it.

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unknown

Mark came on time and start troubleshooting right away. Excellent job. Highly recommended

Very well!

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tialThe service took longer than expected, however the technicians were totally competant, professional, and knew the building codes to a t. All permits were handled flawlessly.

The crew that came were very decent and up-beat. They seemed to enjoy their work and did a good job. They were friendly and efficient.

The site inspection and install went without a hitch. All of the staff is very professional and answered all my questions. They arrived when they said they would, arranged for appropriate permits and inspections. The job was without any problems - just the way you want it. They have a great team.

They showed up when they said they would.  The electric work was outstanding with a true attention to detail.  Plumbing work (they contract this out) was a bit sloppy.  They showed up and waited for inspections.  They did a good job explaining how the system works and how to do maintenance if necessary.  I have a service contract with them, so we'll see how that goes.  I expect it will be at the same level of professionalism they showed during the installation.
My only beef was that they were not so good with proactive communications.  The entire process took 6 months from order to installation.  The only way I knew the status was to call them regularly myself.  I guess I expected updates.

+ Easy to deal with during the estimate/contract process
+ Straight-forward with options
+ Handled Permits with the town and inspections
+ Verified that there was sufficient gas pressure in my home to enable the switchover in an emergency
+ Installed the platform
+ Installed the generator onto the platform
+ Installed the plumbing connections into the home for the generator
+ Installed the electrical connections into the home for the generator
+ Performed tests all along the way
+ Always came on time for each step and kept me informed through the entire process
+ Went online during the storm before the final inspection
+ Came on Wednesday after the generator had been running approximately 40 hours to do an oil change
+ They missed the final inspection that Friday -- I presume they were busy (LOL--didn't really expect them to be there that day).  Folks were still without power (my street included).  The inspector did come out.  I showed him that it was currently on and running everything in my home and he gave me the final sticker.
The folks were ethical at each point making sure to do the right thing and always erring on the side of caution for me, the customer.
I know the generator runs about $4,500 and $5,000 (permits, etc. make up the rest) may seem like a lot for the labor, but I had 3 bids and they were in the middle.   I didn't feel comfortable with the man with the lowest bid ($9,000) and the highest bid was $14,000.  I have since heard of folks that might install a standby generator for $1,500 for the labor, but I haven't met them.