Double C Electric

This company (actually a one man operation) installed my fixtures backwards, did not install the fixtures to code, refuses to come back to make it right, and is now going back on his promise to refund my money after he offered the refund unsolicited by me. I have also found out that he is misrepresenting himself and his company as a licensed electrical contractor. In my discussions with The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, an electrical contractor in the State of Texas MUST be a licensed Master Electrician or have an employee who is a Master. This company has neither. The owner of the company is a Fireman who is running this company as a side business and only has a Journeyman Electrical License. I am filing a complaint with the TDLR because of the potential danger to my house and because of his incompetence and lack of ethics. I had another Electrical Contractor (PARCO), who is a Master Electrician, come by and look at the job. He confirmed what the TDLR had said that it was out of code. He submitted a bid for $350.00 to make it right. I am also going to need to hire a Sheetrock/Paint contractor because the tile backsplash is already installed so the electrician is going to need to access through the other side of the wall in 3 places. I also spoke to building inspectors from The City of Houston as well as a former building inspector with The City of Beaumont and they all agreed that this is a code violation as well as the contractor voided the UL Listing when he cut the plugs off of the lamp cord wire and hard wired it in the manner that he used. The contractor is trying to maintain that there is nothing wrong with the way that he installed the fixtures but he has not provided any proof or documentation that rebuts what all of the regulatory authorities, Master Electrician, and Building Inspectors are saying.

Here is how it all went down:

On 1/10/14, I called Double C Electric to come out to install some new LED Undercabinet lights. I found the company listing in the CenturyLink Yellow Pages section for the Humble/Kingwood/Atascocita area. I found their listing under Electric Contractors (see page 76 in the yellow pages). Steve Coogler, the owner of Double C, showed up later that morning to look at the job. I wanted him to install the lights using the direct wire method because we had new granite counters installed and the old backsplash was completely torn out, giving him full access behind the walls to tie into any receptacles to supply power. After assessing the job Steve said that he could do the job and gave me a price which I agreed to. Additionally, he said that instead of using Romex wiring to wire in the fixtures to the receptacle, he wanted to use the lamp cords that were supplied with the fixtures that are intended for use when access behind the backsplash is not possible and the fixtures to be plugged into the electrical outlet. His reasoning was that the fixtures had nice plugs on the side of the fixture and that would be easier than going into the body of the fixture with Romex or house wire and he could just cut the male plug off of the other end of the cord to tie into the nearest gang box.

I specifically asked him if this was within the building code and was it safe. He said yes it was and it is done all the time since these lamp cords were rated for 120 volts. Having very limited knowledge with electricity, I took Steve's advice and told him to go ahead with the job.

I paid Steve by check in the amount of $500.00 This price also included him changing out 7 plugs and 4 light switches to a more modern square design. I also wanted to note that I supplied the material to complete the job (light fixtures, dimmer switches for the fixtures, plugs, light switches,and Romex wire) so the $500.00 that Steve earned was all wages and profit to himself. It took him less than 4 hours to do the work. This included him leaving to go back to his house to watch his child while his mother ran an errand.

One week later and after the tile backsplash was installed, I noticed that not all of the fixtures were installed in the same way. By that I mean that I realized that there is a front and back to the fixtures and 3 of the 5 fixtures were actually installed backwards. These particular fixtures have a brushed aluminum finish on the edge that is closest to where the actual LED bulbs are located and the back edge of the fixture is just the aluminum body of the fixture with knockout holes for running wiring through if necessary.

On 1/19/2014, I called Steve and asked him about this and he replied that he had to do it that way because by him using the supplied lamp cords that he could not reach the plugs that he was trying to connect to for power because the cords were too short. I told him that I wished that he had brought it to my attention when he realized that this was an issue. I told him that had he made me aware of it, I would have insisted that they be installed facing the correct direction. I was home all day when he did the work. I even had a brand new roll of Romex (which by the way went missing after the work was finished) that he could have used. I was home all day as well so he could have showed me the problem. I did leave to go to Lowes to get Sheetrock but was gone only 30-40 minutes. He said that he would come back out and "try to do everything I can to make it right". He said he would try to come out on either Wednesday or Friday (1/22 or 1/24).

After finding the mistake in the installation, I became a little concerned that it may be difficult to run Romex now that the walls were tiled so I called an old friend who is a licensed electrician in the Beaumont area. He did say that it would be very difficult if not impossible to run Romex without cutting into the walls especially if he had to go through studs with the wiring. He also said that he should not have run the lamp cord behind the walls. He asked me if he pulled a permit and I told him no because I live outside the city limits. I became concerned that this guy was even a licensed contractor. I looked him up on TDLR and did see that he is a Journeyman Electrician. I then called the TDLR and spoke to a inspector. I explained the manner in which Steve installed the job and he informed me that the wiring is indeed a code violation and that he voided the UL Listing on my fixtures by cutting the male plugs and tying into a plug in that manner. He went on to tell me about the rules regarding licensed electrical contractors and that journeymen are only allowed to be contractors only if they are working under a Master. He instructed me on how to go about verifying this contractors status regarding if the company has a Master Electrician of record and the research revealed no Master Electrician. He recommended to me that I file a formal complaint and they will launch an investigation.

I called Steve on 1/23 to let him know that there was more than just the issue of the fixtures being backward. I told him that the wiring was not to code. He said it was to code and that he would double check. I asked him for the name of his Master and he could not give me one saying "I didn't pull the permit under my Master's number so that's my fault". He still could or would not give me a name and I then told him about what I learned from the TDLR. He then got mad at me for "going behind his back and checking up on things" and then he said that he was tired of dealing with me and that he was going to just refund my money back and he said to get it fixed myself. I told him that I did not want this to happen. I questioned if he wanted to try to make this right and he said no. Since he did not want to try to fix it and said he was going to give me my money back, I asked him when I could expect my money. He explained that he was at the Fire Station so he couldn't do it today but that he was going to drop it in the mail tomorrow (1/24).

When I did not receive the check by the following Thursday (1/30), I tried calling him but