OREGON ELECTRIC SVC

The electrician was scheduled to arrive at my home at 8 a.m. to do the work. He arrived about 1:15 p.m. with no apology. I didn't hear from anyone until about 11 a.m. when someone from the office called to say he was on his way. He didn't arrive until 1:15 however.
The work was done well but the electrician was on the phone part of the time, which I doubt was related to this job. When paying by the hour, I don't expect workers to be on their phones.
In my initial call to inquire about the company, I was told the fees were $75 per hour and no travel charge if I was in the city. When the electrician came out to give me an estimate, he said it would probably take about 3 hours, maybe 4 if there was a problem. He said he would send me a and quot;not to exceedand quot; estimate but would do time and materials. I never received an estimate but we had agreed it would most likely take 3 hours at $75 per hour. Thus, my expectation was that the bill would be about $250 figuring $225 for labor and about $50 for materials.
The electrician was here for about 2 hours and 45 minutes (including his time on the phone)--definitely under three hours. When I got the bill, it was for $440--much more than expected. He did the work on June 3, 2014 and I received the invoice about a week later. I called the office immediately and told them the charge was higher than expected. The office person said she would look into it and get back to me.
When I didn't hear back from her in a couple weeks, I wrote them a letter On June 25 saying I wanted to pay them and wanted to work this out. She finally called me on July 7, 2014 saying it would cost $369.25--still considerably higher than I was led to believe. When I asked how she arrived at this number, she said that they do charge for travel, that the materials were $44.25, and that the permit was $25.
They never told me there was a permit fee and that there was a travel charge. One of the reasons I chose them is because they said they did not have a travel charge. They never mentioned a need for a permit. I already had a permit for putting the inserts in and they didn't say another one was required--not sure it was required. Also, the electrician did not have the sticker with him to put on the electrical box and said he would bring it by. When he didn't bring it by June 23 when the inserts were installed, I called the office again and said I needed it for the inspector so they sent someone over with it.
The work got done but it was a pain in the neck to work with them. The overcharging, the not getting back to me, the lateness, and most of all the unwillingness to negotiate a mutually satisfactory solution are reasons not to use them.

They are midway thru the job, and so far have exceeded expectations at every opportunity.

We relocated here and called multiple electriciansgetting bids for work that we needed to have done. Oregon Electric's bid was far better than anyones and they were on time and completed everything in the expected time frame. There have been no follow ups needed and we have continued to use them for any electrical needs. We strongly recommend them for any electrical need large or small.