Southwinds Electric

This would be an anti-recommendation. Poor work and poor excuse for not finishing work inside the house. Then came home and found the the "master electrician" - Daniel - had damaged our breaker box and refused to fix or admit he had been the only one to lay hands on the box - it had been nearly pulled off the concrete wall it was attached to. When called and asked about it - He wanted another $100 for the return trip to repair. Asked him if there was someone else I could talk with at the company, he let me know he was the "master electrician" and he made all the decisions for the company. I politely thanked him for his time and decided to write this review, have never done one like this before. He was unprofessional on the call and this will now be even more costly as we will have to hire someone else to fix what this clown has clearly damaged while he was here. Just don't want this kind of thing to happen to someone else.

Ok. Let me start off by saying that Daniel, an electrician for Southwinds Electric, came to provide a service for American Home Shield, my home warranty, on Tuesday. I had two ceiling fans that needed to be replaced. For my ceiling fan in my office space upstairs, he was quick and efficient. He did a good job. For my ceiling fan on my 20 ft. ceiling, he said that home warranty doesn't cover access. He said I would need to provide access for my 20 ft ceiling to change the broken ceiling fan. He said that he had a customer who built a scaffold for him, and then he came in and replaced the fan. He said if I could build a scaffold, he'd come out and change the fan. I asked him if this would be a different service call since this was a service call for both fans, and he really didn’t fix both fans. He assured me that it would not be a different call and no extra charge. So, I scheduled a reservation for a 20 ft scaffold at Lowes and called and scheduled Daniel with Southwinds Electric to come back out for the ceiling fan replacement on Friday. NOTE: Daniel knew what the job would entail upon his return. He did not ask for anything except for a scaffold. Now, many people are asking me why I had to build a scaffold in the first place. Everyone I’ve told this story to (including other electric companies) is saying that if the electric company couldn’t provide the access…at whatever the charge…then they should have refused the job. Everyone is saying that I didn’t deserve what Daniel and Southwinds Electric did to me. And before I continue with this story, let me just say that Daniel has a son who plays football in high school. Daniel told me that the game started at 4:30 PM and he wouldn’t miss it for the world. So, Daniel definitely already had plans on getting off early on Friday afternoon. Ok. Moving on with the review. I will be honest and say that the customer who was returning the 20 ft scaffold I needed from Lowes was running late returning scaffold. They were an hour late fulfilling my reservation. That put me behind building scaffold. However, I was able to rent a truck from Lowes, get the scaffold loaded and was home by 10:30 AM. My appointment with Southwinds Electric was between 11 AM and 1 PM. When Daniel arrived at 11:00 AM, I was shocked because I was waiting for a phone call. I would have just got him to come later in the day. He said he sent a text. I checked, and he did send a text at 10:41 AM, which I didn’t get because I was trying to build the scaffold and did not realize a text came through. He asked if I was ready, but I told him that I wasn’t done building the scaffold. He volunteered to come back after lunch, which gave me plenty of time. I finished building the scaffold to the ceiling ALL BY MYSELF! I had no one to help me. And this was WAY OUT OF MY COMFORT ZONE! But, Daniel said he needed a scaffold to the ceiling, so I built it. After looking at the ceiling fan that was replaced in my office, I decided I wanted to purchase a different ceiling fan for my living room. I wanted a ceiling fan that was more similar to the old, broken one. When I called, the lady at the office told me that she would call Daniel and ask him. He called me back and told me, “Yes. You can buy your own fan, and since you already built the scaffold, you can call another company to come out. They'll replace your fan, and American Home Shield will reimburse you for the fan and for the labor.” He said, "I think customers said the check takes like 2 weeks to come in." Sooooo... at this point, it was clear that he was definitely trying not to complete the job. But time was passing, and the scaffold and truck rental were costing me more and more by the hour. I was like, “No...let's just get this done.” He said he had a couple of other stops to make and he'd be back. Well...I told him...I rented this truck, and I built this scaffold. This fan is getting changed today. So, then he tells me, "It (the scaffold) needs to be all the way to the ceiling. I stand 5’ 11”, and I need to be able to get to the ceiling. I can’t put a ladder up there. That’s not safe. Did you get up there?” I said, "Dude! It's as high as it can go. I did get up there more than once. And yes, you can reach the ceiling.” Well, he shared that he has fallen before and got hurt real bad. I did empathize and sympathize. And I truly feel bad for him. However, he came to replace my fan. He knew what the job entailed. He asked for a scaffold. I got him one and built it myself at my own expense. He sent me a text at about 3:11 PM that he was on his way. He arrived at about 3:41 PM. Let me remind you that his son’s game is at 4:30 PM. Ok. Sooo...he gets started and then tells me I need a 3/4" downrod. He had already said we could probably use the old one. But the old one was 1/2”. So, then he says, "Well we could put the fan up to the ceiling. But the fan wouldn’t serve much of a purpose then." I said, "Lowes is like 5 minutes away. I can run and get a new downrod.” I thought about getting it when I bought the fan, but again, I’m not the electrician doing the job. I didn’t know what materials he would need. It wasn’t like he gave me a list. In his defense, he did say that I would more than likely need a 3/4” downrod. But had he said to definitely purchase it, I would have. He knew the job he was getting into since Tuesday, but he didn’t purchase anything or request for me to purchase anything for Friday…only a scaffold. When leaving Lowes with the 72” downrod, he calls and tells me that the wiring on the new ceiling fan is only 36”. I’m like...Ok. And? Can't you splice the old 72" wires with the new fan wires? He said he didn't have his splicer, and he'd have to come back. Now...what electrician doesn't carry a splicer and some electric tape? He asked me to get a 36" downrod. I was like that'll only be half of the way where the original fan was. I told him that I would look for a ceiling fan with 72” wires if he couldn’t use the old wiring on the old fan. He smacked his lips and hung up on me. He called me back and said, "I don't have time to wait around. I'm leaving." I said, "I just got the 36" downrod. I'm on my way back now." He said, "I'm already in my vehicle. I'm leaving. I don't have time to wait around. These things should be here and ready for me to install. My son's game is at 4:30, and I gotta go. I already came back to do this job. These jobs don't pay enough to deal with this." Wellllllll...if I knew what I needed...like if he gave me a list...especially since he had already come out the first time and knew the job he was coming back to, I could've had everything ready. I'M NOT THE ELECTRICIAN HERE!!! So, basically, he took my old fan down, placed the fan blades on my new fan...on the wrong side by the way, and left everything there in a mess. I didn’t argue with him. I told him, “Ok. Ok, Sir. Thank you. Have a good afternoon. Thank you.” He wanted to keep explaining. But at this point, he had already made up his mind to leave. So, I didn’t argue with him. I let him leave. At this point, I didn’t know what else to do. It’s almost 5 PM on a Friday. Surely, no one is going to come out to this mess at this time. So...I was stuck with a rented scaffold that I built all the way to the ceiling all by myself, a truck rental, a hole in my ceiling, and a mess on my living room floor. I called a couple of places in desperation to clear my living room of this 20 ft scaffold and the mess with the old fan and the new fan that Daniel left behind. I was looking at the scaffold and thinking, “Lord, I know you didn’t let me build this in vain. I rested my head on the scaffold, and I rested my faith and the fate of this situation in God’s hands.” THANK GOD for Crystal and Gerardo Garza of Double G Electric who worked after hours, and Gerardo came to help me out!!!! Crystal requested the pictures from me. I sent her pictures of the scaffold, the old fan, the new fan, the hole in the ceiling…THE BIG MESS Daniel left behind. Gerardo gave me a quote and came out. Gerardo came to the house and left because I didn’t hear the doorbell. When I looked outside, I saw the van leaving. I called Crystal, and she got Gerardo on the line. God bless Crystal and Gerardo because he came back! Gerardo did EVERYTHING Daniel said he couldn’t and didn’t do. And Gerardo did it in no time. He switched the sides for the fan blades, he spliced those wires, he hopped on that scaffold, and he put that fan up in no time. I was able to tear down the scaffold and return it along with the truck to Lowes by 8 PM. AND…I found out that Gerardo missed Crystal’s daughter’s birthday party because he came out to help me. God has something special in store for both of them because Crystal and Gerardo didn’t have to do it. But they did. I did send Daniel a text saying, “God is good even when people are not.” I pray that Daniel and Southwinds Electric never do this to anyone ever again. Daniel may be good for 8-10 ft ceilings. Again, he did a good job with my ceiling fan in my office. But, he might not be the right resource for high ceilings. As for me and my house, we will not be using Southwinds Electric ever again. What Daniel did was unprofessional and inexcusable. As a paying customer, I expect better service than to be left in the lurch especially after trying to accommodate Daniel and the electric company at every turn. But God had a ram in the bush. We’ve found a friend in Gerardo Garza and Double G Electric!!!

Southwinds is the perfect name for this company, as the quality of their work is the equivalent of passing gas. This company sent an electrician as part of an American Home Shield (AHS) call. On one of the fixtures there was power to the switch but no apparent power to the fixture, which the electrician interpreted as being caused by an interruption of power between the two, which would result in tearing out the wall to find it. In a very rare moment of usefulness, AHS called BS on that one and sent out an electrician from another company. He said it simply required a replacement of the fixture, and that the Southwinds electrician obviously didn't understand the fixture. Also, during the first Southwinds visit, the electrician provided me a quote for replacement of fixtures on the exterior of the property (not covered by AHS) -- I figured he should be able to manage that without screwing it up. When the (same) electrician showed up, he looked at them and decided that "he didn't want to get into those," whatever that means. I think it meant that without the other work, it wasn't worth his trouble. Anyway, it was his way of telling me to stuff it. Stratospherically incompetent and galactically unprofessional.

This company sent an electrician as part of an American Home Shield Call. He showed up in shorts and a t-shirt with no tools. He looked at our issue with our AC and said that he would have to run the wire through the attic but couldn't run it down the interior of the outside wall. He never went into the attic and never really listened to my wife or her questions. She went in and got my son because she was done with his rudeness. Once my son came out and asked him "if you can't fix it who in your company can" he got defensive and said the only option was to run the new wire on the outside of the house and that it would cost $550 to $600 to do the job. He then said he would have to check with the AHS to determine if it was covered. I could have told you based on his attitude it wouldn't be. I wouldn't recommend this group to my enemies let alone my friends. I do know some electricians and they said he was just looking for easy money. We are currently getting a second opinion.

These guys are either incompetent or dishonest. My home warranty company sent this group down because a circuit was out in my living room. The electrician, Daniel I believe, only looked at the breaker box for one minute and said a new sub panel would need to be installed and new wiring run in the living room because everything was fried. I don’t know how he came to that conclusion when he never even looked at the wiring in the living room. He estimated it would be $1300 to get everything back online. I had to pay him $75 for this professional knowledge and the 5 minutes of his precious time. I then called the guy I usually do business with. He and his helper spent an hour and a half troubleshooting the real problem and found out the plug in the fireplace was shorted out from wind driven rain. They charged me $120 for the hour and a half of work that included going in the attic and actually looking at the wiring, and the job has held up for the past 4 months. Don’t waste your time and money with these crooks like me.

After troubleshooting, it was determined that the electrical wire coming from the circuit breaker had somehow broken, after explain all of the options and prices, he repaired the problem... AND substantially under the price we were told by other people..