AL, USA
My girlfriend and I bought a home this past May. Part of the closing agreement post-inspection was to have some electrical work done. We really wanted it done before closing, but the electrician was supposedly too booked to get it done prior to our closing date. Most of the wiring is old 2 wire, not up to current code. There are a bunch of old 2 prong outlets as well and no GFCIs in proper places. It's not a huge house (the currently finished portion being ~1600 sq ft).
We were allowed no part in the selection process for the electrician. The sellers selected him, I'm guessing because he provided the cheapest quote. It's clearly stated on the work order, signed by the master electrician, dated 5/7/18 that all wiring in the house will be up to current codes and the labor and material for these tasks will cost $2,000. He was apparently paid all of the cost outright by the seller before the work was even started. This was somehow allowed in our closing agreement with my girlfriend and I having no knowledge he had already been paid. Not sure why this is allowed to happen this way.
Fast forward to now, and the work still hasn't been done. We are doing a pretty significant remodel of the home and not having the electrical work done has held us up on several occasions. Since we've removed a couple walls and built up floor to laundry room, I've been doing some of the wiring myself with the help of an electrician friend. It really has been a major inconvenience.
Every couple of months, I get in touch with the electrician. He himself has never once called me or initiated any kind of effort to get the work done. He never remembers who I am or the house he's supposed to have worked on sometime over the past 8 1/2 months. He never remembers the exact work on the work order. When I remind him all that (and this is probably 10 or so iterations of this same convo intro), He says "Oh yeah man tell ya what I'll be over there tomorrow (or a few days from then). We'll get it knocked out." He never shows up.
I work all 3 shifts at my job so I often have irregular sleep patterns and have to plan my schedules around this. On multiple occasions, I have stayed up waiting for him after a midnight shift until 1, 2 pm wrecking my sleep for that week.
In November 2018, I talked with him about getting over to my house. He said he'd be available the next week - to text him the address. I texted him the address. Never heard a response from him. Texted and called him over the next couple of weeks. Never an answer or any explanation. Took a break for the holidays, which leads to me to the week before last. I call him and ask him why he never contacted me back. I remind him I texted the address per his request. He says "Ahh man, never text me. I get so many texts, I never read 'em". I brushed it off and asked him when he could do it. He came to Saturday and then asked me to call him Saturday morning 1/20/19 at 7 AM. I felt this was weird and unprofessional, but I nonetheless agreed. . I was coming off a midnight shift. At work the night before, since some of my house is in a construction zone, I wrote up some notes to go over with the electrician and his team when they arrived regarding some stuff they could just avoid doing. I've lessened their work load out of necessity to our remodel over the past 8 months.
I called him at the end of my shift, 7 AM sat morning. No answer. Left a voicemail reminding him he was supposed to come out today. Waited a while, called again. No answer. No response the whole day. The guy, himself, still to this day hasn't called me.
Monday, my real estate agent calls him. He says that we cancelled the appointment!!! He says he can be there whenever we want. We don't really trust that this guy is even competent to do the work at this point, and would rather have the money and work with our friend who's also now a master electrician. I got a call from an unrecognized number Monday. I didn't see the voicemail til the next day, but it was one of his workers asking if they could come out. I had another midnight shift to go to and was sleeping when he called.
On Tuesday 1/22, I called the electrician and asked why he didn't come on Sat. He neglected the question and said he'd be there tomorrow at 7 AM. I said "No sir, you won't be. My girlfriend and I both have work and we had agreed upon Sat. Why didn't you answer". He says he never saw my call and "must've been in an area of bad service". I tell him we'd rather have the money. I bring up his reviews online (2 out of 3 are 1 star reviews documenting this same exact situation I'm describing, except he hadn't been paid for those jobs already). He says "Google?! I'm not even on google. Listen man, to be completely honest with you, I've had my cell phone hacked, my computer hacked, I even had my TV hacked. I have a crazy jealous ex wife man. That's the truth. Ask anyone in this town, I do good work. I clean up all the other shit everyone else messes up. But fine, call company X or company Y and pay a ridiculous amount if you want. Just don't slander me, ok don't slander me (repeated this several times)".
He says if that's what we want to do, write him a formal letter and he will refund the person who paid him the amount MINUS the cost for the time it took him to look around originally. I reminded him that he had already been paid prior for coming out to look and that the $2000 was the quote for the labor and materials.
Even if I wrote a letter, I'm really not optimistic to hearing any kind of response to such a letter. Then on top of that, I am not confident he would write me the check instead of the seller, since the seller paid him.
Another one of his workers left me a strange voicemail Sat 1/26 - "hey, uhh this one of them boys associated with Electrican's Company. The master electrician's out sick with the flu, but I was calling to see if there's any electrical work that may need to be done and I was wondering about dates and stuff". << It's this kind of incompetence and miscommunication that makes my girlfriend and I leery of having them work on our house at this point.
Does anyone have any advice on how to proceed? I haven't really been able to find similar issues discussed online. Is small claims court a viable option to get $2000? This money would go towards fixing another defect with the house we were unaware of prior to closing (despite the inspection) - a damaged laundry drain that desperately needs replacing.
Thanks for taking the time to read this monster! Please let me know if I left out any important details.
My girlfriend and I bought a home this past May. Part of the closing agreement post-inspection was to have some electrical work done. We really wanted it done before closing, but the electrician was supposedly too booked to get it done prior to our closing date. Most of the wiring is old 2 wire, not up to current code. There are a bunch of old 2 prong outlets as well and no GFCIs in proper places. It's not a huge house (the currently finished portion being ~1600 sq ft).
We were allowed no part in the selection process for the electrician. The sellers selected him, I'm guessing because he provided the cheapest quote. It's clearly stated on the work order, signed by the master electrician, dated 5/7/18 that all wiring in the house will be up to current codes and the labor and material for these tasks will cost $2,000. He was apparently paid all of the cost outright by the seller before the work was even started. This was somehow allowed in our closing agreement with my girlfriend and I having no knowledge he had already been paid. Not sure why this is allowed to happen this way.
Fast forward to now, and the work still hasn't been done. We are doing a pretty significant remodel of the home and not having the electrical work done has held us up on several occasions. Since we've removed a couple walls and built up floor to laundry room, I've been doing some of the wiring myself with the help of an electrician friend. It really has been a major inconvenience.
Every couple of months, I get in touch with the electrician. He himself has never once called me or initiated any kind of effort to get the work done. He never remembers who I am or the house he's supposed to have worked on sometime over the past 8 1/2 months. He never remembers the exact work on the work order. When I remind him all that (and this is probably 10 or so iterations of this same convo intro), He says "Oh yeah man tell ya what I'll be over there tomorrow (or a few days from then). We'll get it knocked out." He never shows up.
I work all 3 shifts at my job so I often have irregular sleep patterns and have to plan my schedules around this. On multiple occasions, I have stayed up waiting for him after a midnight shift until 1, 2 pm wrecking my sleep for that week.
In November 2018, I talked with him about getting over to my house. He said he'd be available the next week - to text him the address. I texted him the address. Never heard a response from him. Texted and called him over the next couple of weeks. Never an answer or any explanation. Took a break for the holidays, which leads to me to the week before last. I call him and ask him why he never contacted me back. I remind him I texted the address per his request. He says "Ahh man, never text me. I get so many texts, I never read 'em". I brushed it off and asked him when he could do it. He came to Saturday and then asked me to call him Saturday morning 1/20/19 at 7 AM. I felt this was weird and unprofessional, but I nonetheless agreed. . I was coming off a midnight shift. At work the night before, since some of my house is in a construction zone, I wrote up some notes to go over with the electrician and his team when they arrived regarding some stuff they could just avoid doing. I've lessened their work load out of necessity to our remodel over the past 8 months.
I called him at the end of my shift, 7 AM sat morning. No answer. Left a voicemail reminding him he was supposed to come out today. Waited a while, called again. No answer. No response the whole day. The guy, himself, still to this day hasn't called me.
Monday, my real estate agent calls him. He says that we cancelled the appointment!!! He says he can be there whenever we want. We don't really trust that this guy is even competent to do the work at this point, and would rather have the money and work with our friend who's also now a master electrician. I got a call from an unrecognized number Monday. I didn't see the voicemail til the next day, but it was one of his workers asking if they could come out. I had another midnight shift to go to and was sleeping when he called.
On Tuesday 1/22, I called the electrician and asked why he didn't come on Sat. He neglected the question and said he'd be there tomorrow at 7 AM. I said "No sir, you won't be. My girlfriend and I both have work and we had agreed upon Sat. Why didn't you answer". He says he never saw my call and "must've been in an area of bad service". I tell him we'd rather have the money. I bring up his reviews online (2 out of 3 are 1 star reviews documenting this same exact situation I'm describing, except he hadn't been paid for those jobs already). He says "Google?! I'm not even on google. Listen man, to be completely honest with you, I've had my cell phone hacked, my computer hacked, I even had my TV hacked. I have a crazy jealous ex wife man. That's the truth. Ask anyone in this town, I do good work. I clean up all the other shit everyone else messes up. But fine, call company X or company Y and pay a ridiculous amount if you want. Just don't slander me, ok don't slander me (repeated this several times)".
He says if that's what we want to do, write him a formal letter and he will refund the person who paid him the amount MINUS the cost for the time it took him to look around originally. I reminded him that he had already been paid prior for coming out to look and that the $2000 was the quote for the labor and materials.
Even if I wrote a letter, I'm really not optimistic to hearing any kind of response to such a letter. Then on top of that, I am not confident he would write me the check instead of the seller, since the seller paid him.
Another one of his workers left me a strange voicemail Sat 1/26 - "hey, uhh this one of them boys associated with Electrican's Company. The master electrician's out sick with the flu, but I was calling to see if there's any electrical work that may need to be done and I was wondering about dates and stuff". << It's this kind of incompetence and miscommunication that makes my girlfriend and I leery of having them work on our house at this point.
Does anyone have any advice on how to proceed? I haven't really been able to find similar issues discussed online. Is small claims court a viable option to get $2000? This money would go towards fixing another defect with the house we were unaware of prior to closing (despite the inspection) - a damaged laundry drain that desperately needs replacing.
Thanks for taking the time to read this monster! Please let me know if I left out any important details.
