BOWIE ELECTRIC SERVICE

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On March 6th I contacted Bowie Electric Service & Supply about providing a quote to install recessed lighting in my kitchen and living room.  Chuck Cubine, the estimator, took my call immediately.  I was pleasantly surprised when he stated he could come to my house that same day to take a look at the scope of work and provide an estimate.  A day later he emailed the quote and we were able to set an appointment for the following Thursday.  Jon, the installer, arrived on time (early even!) and got to work.  Everything was performed exactly as Chuck and I discussed the week before and Jon was done in no time.  The quote was spot on-no surprises.  As I move on to other upgrades in my  house I will certainly keep Bowie Electric in mind if & when I need additional electrical work performed.

The first contact I spoke with was very helpful.  He came out and gave me a quote of around $1750 based on the estimate that it would take a day to install the outlet and a half a day to come back and install the individual meter in the electric room.  They showed up earlier than agreed (which was a problem as the building manager did not arrive for another 30 minutes).  At most, he spent 3 hours on the job that was scheduled to take a full day.  I know this as I left the building when he was getting in his truck.  The addition of the meter, I was told, should take less than an hour but the initial quote was based on a half a day for that work.  According to the building manager, when the meter was installed, he was there for less than an hour.  I was surprised to see the initial bill be at around $1500.  I responded immediately to receiving the invoice and I was given a revised price of about $1300.  When I asked for more information, the detailed breakdown included a total amount of labor was 7 hours, which is clearly almost twice what was spent and almost half of what was in the original quote.  There were no complications and so when I inquired I was told that is what their records showed and no additional information was provided.  I told them that the 7 hours was clearly not reasonable but they would not budge.  After receiving the detailed invoice, he requested I write a check and that he pick it up the next day.  I took the total from the email that was sent to me ($1307) and wrote the check that day as requested and he picked it up the next day.  I then received two additional invoices one including tax and the other including a finance charge.  I still thought $1300 was a lot for a job that took 25% of the amount of time that was predicted with a decrease in the invoice of only 75%.  Frustrated to see another bill as I used the number in the email provided, I told them that I wrote the check for the amount in his email and that I felt that I was done.  I was then accused of having no integrity or he inquired as to whether I was having financial problems.  I felt his response was unprofessional, insulting and rude and he took no responsibility for their own part in the miscommunication and they never explained how they got to 7 hours of labor for, at most, 3.5 hours worth of work.  The only thing we could agree on is that we both had a bad experience.  The work they did seemed to be excellent quality, though I am not a good judge, but the price really felt like I was being gouged.  I also think insulting a customer is never a good policy.

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Bowie did an excellent job overall. They showed up on time for all appointments and finished the job in two days as they had estimated. They managed to snake new wires in our walls with out cutting any holes. They also found a way to snake wiring for two new circuits into our attic without using any conduit outside the house. While doing the job they discovered that wires in junction box on our back porch were shorting intermittently. They ran new wires to this junction box at no additional cost. They did a thorough job of cleaning up after they were done. I thought their price was fair. I recommend them.

Service and estimate were both prompt and responsive. Price was pretty comparable to other bids.  Overall good experience.

They were very efficient, finished 2 days ahead of schedule and left no mess behind.  Very limited holes in walls, which was a relief.  Very professional. 

Bowie seemed competent for this task when I got an estimate, but on the day of the actual job the different guy seemed under-prepared and uneducated about what I was after. I thought I had made it pretty clear I wanted the fastest, most top of the line cabling, but what was actually installed was Cat.5e, a lower-end cabling. Furthermore, the guy who installed the ports didn't bring a Cat 5 testing tool, so he was unable to detect the fact that it didn't actually work on the day of the install. He came back promptly and fixed it at no charge, but when I realized all the work was done with lesser cabling, the (yet another different) guy who did the work seemed brusque and a bit condescending/defensive about it. All in all, they didn't do bad work and they weren't a terrible experience, but I would never again hire them for any kind of Internet/high tech work, and after the whole experience I'm inclined to go with the smaller electricians I had over to do some of our outlets. Bowie talks a good talk during estimates but I'm not so confident now about their being any better than a more mom-and-pop operation that costs less.

BE WARY OF PRICE GAUGING!
When I purchased my home, I was looking for some electric work to clean up my breaker box, as well as work on an unattached garage. They had given me an installation before they came out (in email). Now  I understand prices vary from estimate to installation, but the difference in price comes out to be twice the cost, that is absurd. After I saw the extreme price change I asked the electrician if there was extra material or work was involved he said no. He was also confused as to why there was a price difference. He even called in for me and double checked the price and told them about my previous estimate. No change, and he didn't understand why the price changed. 
I emailed Bowie to try to get things straightened out, and they never responded back. That is until I wrote a negative review on Yelp. Apparently they don't care about customer satisfaction until it starts to sting them in the butt. 
They hire free lance electricians, so I think the quality varies, as you will see from review to review. 
I highly recommend Kemly as a result. I was very happy last time I used them. 

It was not an emergency, so made an appointment for a week out. He arrived on time, put booties on over his boots, and fixed the problem quickly.

They had a better price than the other two bids we had. They were in and out and did the whole job in 6 and 1/2 hours. We have had no issues.

Chuck seemed to understand and sent someone out for a half day and they produced no documentation.  I talked to Chuck on the phone and he seemed to understand what I was looking for.  Since Bowie had been recommended by a friend, I decided to try another electrician, but I wanted to talk to him first.  I explalined to the second electrician what I was looking for and he seemed to understand, but again at the end of the day, no documentation was produced.  I gave up.

Some contractors have 30 years of experience, some contractors have one year of experience 30 times.

This is not a electric service for a homeowner to employ directly.

I got an appointment for the bid within two days of calling. The bid came by mail within the promised time frame. The electrician, Jack, showed up right on time and carefully considered and discussed all the options for wiring with us before starting. The job took 1 1/2 days and was finished on time with minimal inconvenience to us. Jack left the work area as clean as he found it and did a fine job.

Overall I am happy with Bowie. I have found cut wires..., that I had to cleanup after they left. They gave the most expensive bid, but I felt they would do the best job. And from what I saw, looks like they did a very good job.

The electrician arrived on time and did the work we asked him to do for the price I expected. Super nice guy, I would use Bowie again for future work I may need done.

They really did a very nice job. They were subcontractors. It was little more than a kitchen remodel. The finish work was good. They seemed very responsible. Everything was good, and it was where I wanted it. I think the price was a little high. I would use them in the future if needed.

Great......as described.

Excellent. On time, did the repairs very quickly and explained issues to look for in the future.

They had a good price. They were very professional and timely. They got it done fast with a minimal mess. I was very pleased with them.

They were prompt and they were always on time. They worked efficiently. They had cleaned up after themselves. Their quote was reasonable. I will continue to use their service in the future.

I had recently removed some very old insulation from the attic areas and when I was told I would have to hire an electrician to come evaluate the safety of the knob and tube before the insulation could be added, I decided to have all the knob and tube wiring replaced prior to adding new insulation. One company told me the "only way" it could be done was to replace all the wiring in the house (which added up to a pretty large estimate), but Chuck from Bowie suggested I could save a substantial amount by replacing just the wiring in the accessible attic. It was projected to be a good day's work for two electricians; however, apparently, there was a bit more time involved than had been originally scheduled. Regardless, one of the workers came back the following day to assure that all the work was completed and I was grateful that I didn't have to wait additional days for time to open up on the schedule. They were all very pleasant to deal with, everything was left neat and tidy, I greatly appreciated Chuck's suggestion which saved me a substantial amount of money and I would use them again in a heartbeat!

Fine, felt nickle and dimed but was fine overall. Be very specific with them and get everything in writing, especially if you ask for additional items included on to your estimate.

Bowie went from our garage, over our entry way, along the side and back of the house and down the side to run the electrical for the backyard we were doing for our new hot tub. They did a really nice job because they went through the header on the walkway and you can't even see it. They did a really good job. They were here all day, from like 8am to 7pm. Another person came to help at 3pm because it was a big job. They were good. They did not clean up as well as I would have liked.