Electician problems

[DC]

Can someone explain to me how the electrition guil or union work. I had a house in Texas and it had difficult electricity. They would see it was difficult and leave and just didn't come back. I moved 2000 miles and I heard from everyone they also just walk off of jobs here also. They get $45 an hour per worker so I don't understand whats going on.

I got the one that was supposed to be the best here at replacing knob and tube electricity here. They came and said this house was in great condition and was very easy to do. They did the upstairs first and started on the downstairs. Now I have wires sticking out of the walls in places.  They said we can't come back tomorrow but they would be back in a couple of days. I waited till the day they were supposed to come back and they didn't when I called they said they would be there on Tuesday. Tuesday came and they didn't show so they said they would be there Friday. I told him that it was allright if you have some emergency and you have to finish a job but call me and let me know if you arn't going to show up because I have to cancel things when they are there . This has gone on for a month and they never call and let me know they arn't going to show up. The last time he said I promise I will be there Monday (today). I figure he wasn't going to show so I went where all the electrician meet in the morning and asked the workers if they were coming to my house. They said they wern't and they be there on Thursday.

I was pissed and said they were supposed to call if you wern't showing up. They called him and he said he would call me tonight. When I called he didn't answer. I went on and slammed their bosses character very badly and headed off any excuse they could make. This is in front of all the other electricians in town and his electrical supplier. So I don't think he will come back and the others couldn't get to it for at least month that is before I salmmed the other electrician . The only one that could get to it was an electrician out of Massachusetts that advertised in our telephone book. He is coming on Wednesday. I don't understand how he is doing that because I am a long way from Massachusetts. Something just doesn't seem right about all this. It seems strang that this guy has an opening and willing to travel that far. I am not going to call them and tell them they are fired I will wait until they get here because they never called me. I doubt they show up anyway. This must have something to do with the government because the only things that are this screwed up in my experiences are because of the government.

[MaineShark]

Sounds about right, when folks are working inside a protection racket provided by the State.

I can't really recommend any good electricians.  Good electricians are very hard to find.  I've dealt with one since moving to NH who was halfway decent, but I wasn't the one who hired him, and I don't have his contact info (which annoys me greatly, since I would like to be able to hire him, if I needed to).

Joe

[mvpel]

Some folks seem to be too lazy to work on weekends.  I arranged for a company with a leaf-vac to pick up my thousands of pounds of raked leaves, and it took them two weeks to get out here, while my grass was busy dying underneath the soggy rot.  "You rake, we take" turned into "You rake, we flake."

I'd prefer "Tuesday??  Are you kidding me, you lunatic???  It'll be Friday!!" and have them show up on Friday, instead of "Yes, absolutely, we'll get it done Tuesday." and then have to hunt them down three weeks later.

I'm pretty good at electrical wiring, but the cost of getting licensed to do it is prohibitive.

[DC]

Looks like I should have listened to my dad and became an electrician. I could work weekends and afternoons and get all the work I wanted. You can wire your house here yourself. I guess that is because of the no zoning but I never have been able to get the AC down but I did some DC work. No, thats not what my name stands for.

[ny2nh]

Why would anyone hire a union electrician to do work on their house in the first place?

In NH, an electrician needs to be licensed by the state - and they must be a master electrician to pull a permit for any work being done. A journeyman is licensed but cannot pull a permit. An apprentice can only work on site with either a journeyman or a master.

As far as contractors in general - I'm not sure that they are actually lazy - but more that these companies are poorly managed. They don't be able to schedule the right amount time to complete a job. Add to that the employees who just blow off work and leave the owner in a lurch.

I would never hire any contractor out of the phone book - I always ask around and get a referral that way.

It's really a shame that we don't encourage more kids to go into the "trades"....there are not enough electricians, plumbers, carpenters, etc. We seem to infer that these are professions for those who aren't cut out for college, etc. I don't know about you, but I want anyone wiring my house to have a clue!!

[mvpel]

I've been cleaning up some really stunning and alarming messes from previous people who did their own wiring without the benefit of a clue.  It's not all that hard to find out the proper way to do things, yet people just don't take the time, it seems.

[DC]

As far as contractors in general - I'm not sure that they are actually lazy - but more that these companies are poorly managed. They don't be able to schedule the right amount time to complete a job. Add to that the employees who just blow off work and leave the owner in a lurch.

I had a friend that was a contractor and had two crews. He was about to lose his business so I went and helped him for a while. I told him where he was losing money but he wouldn't listen. He kept telling me how this other contractor told him to do business. I don't know why he was listening to a guy that went bankrupt three times. I gave up and let go bankrupt.

This guy has good workers. We will still be friends after this. The master electrician is the problem. He keeps leaving town and has his wife handle the business. She has a full time job 40 miles away and kids to take care of.

I would never hire any contractor out of the phone book - I always ask around and get a referral that way.

I had two referrals. The first was a professor at Dartmoth that did it in the summer. He had me buying the wrong box and wire. This guy was the second.

[DC]

This situation just got worse. His wife just called and tried to act like they never said they were coming. Then she said we wern't on the schedule that he made out and they wern't coming till next week if at all. I happen to know they start the Walmart job next week and it's at least 8 weeks. So he knew we were months away from getting back to my job and was just lieing the whole time. I am resisting my urge to go kick this guys ass. It is difficult though.

I need some legal advice here. They were at my house for 8 hours and one of those hours they ate lunch. I was charged 8 hours but they only work 7 because one hour is lunch. 2 people at $45 an hour is $90 a day I was overcharged. I don't give a damn what their union says I am not paying $90 for someone to eat luch. How in the world do I fight this? Am I going up against electrcian union lawyers? Is this small claims court?

[Crocuta]

How in the world do I fight this?

Call them up and tell them that you are posting the name of the business and your experience on websites frequented by a tight-knit group of people who are already in NH or are moving to NH.  Tell them that they'll be sure to not get any business from those people or any other people that they talk to.

Then find a new contractor and ask for a contract specifying criteria for completion and payment.

[John Edward Mercier]

This situation just got worse. His wife just called and tried to act like they never said they were coming. Then she said we wern't on the schedule that he made out and they wern't coming till next week if at all. I happen to know they start the Walmart job next week and it's at least 8 weeks. So he knew we were months away from getting back to my job and was just lieing the whole time. I am resisting my urge to go kick this guys ass. It is difficult though.

I need some legal advice here. They were at my house for 8 hours and one of those hours they ate lunch. I was charged 8 hours but they only work 7 because one hour is lunch. 2 people at $45 an hour is $90 a day I was overcharged. I don't give a damn what their union says I am not paying $90 for someone to eat luch. How in the world do I fight this? Am I going up against electrcian union lawyers? Is this small claims court?

I don't think IBEX would protect the owner of a business, but I could be wrong.
Did they bill for eight? You may want to contact the company's billing and complain. They may just drop the extra hour to avoid the headache.