ComplaintsforShuman's Electric

• Initial Complaint

  09/18/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On 7/8/23, my husband and I signed an electrical services agreement with Shuman's Electric which was to be effective 7/11/23. The agreement was for two jobs. Job #1 required a $530 down payment on 7/8/23 with the remaining balance of $795 due upon completion of services on 7/11/23. Job #2 required a $587.50 down payment (to be made before 7/21/23 when Job #2 was to be started and completed) with the remaining $1762.50 due upon completion of services on 7/21/23. Per the agreement, Job #1's time of completion was to be 7/11 and substantially complete the work on or before 7/12/23 and Job #2's time of completion was to be 7/21/23, and shall be substantially completed on or before 7/22/23. Job #2's services to be completed included an electrical panel replacement and upgrade. Although Shuman's Electric arrived on 7/11/23, a quarter or less of the listed services to be completed were actually completed. Therefore, arrangements were made with Shuman's for them to return to complete the remainder of job 1 on Sunday, 7/16. Again, not all of the work was completed. As the date for Job #2 was upon us, we were asked to pay that down payment even though work on Job #1 was not completed. Shuman's also then shifted all incomplete work from Job #1 to Job #2 so they could get paid for the first job, however this also increased the down payment amount for Job #2 to $802.50 which was paid on 7/17/23. Although we were hesitant about this change we allowed it to be made. On 7/20/23, we received an email from Shuman stating that they needed to schedule because the electrical inspector would not be able to get to our house in a timely fashion after the upgrade so there was a chance our electricity would be shut off by the power company. The service upgrade was then rescheduled for 7/27/23. Shuman came, but only completed the remaining jobs from Job #1, not the panel upgrade. I have requested a portion of our deposit back for the itemized work that was not completed, they wont respond.

  Business response

  10/01/2023

  With the original agreement, there was an agreement about a few outlets in the property that the ****'s requested to be tested. Upon going to the property on the first day for Job 1, there were sticky notes throughout the property, in rooms the electrician never went in. When addressed about these and advised the entire house was never quoted, the electrician decided he would test more than what was quoted because he was going to complete a service upgrade at the property, giving the homeowners a break, as he works with customers all the time with discounts. The electrician had to make several return trips because he did not have the material for every outlet and switch in the property, as that was not discussed. The electrician also advised in the original quote that the homeowner would have to purchase a track light to cover the hole or patch the ceiling after, the homeowner stated they understood but when the electrician was there to complete this work, the homeowner was not prepared and the electrician had to make another return trip. The homeowner was supposed to move the items in the basement blocking the panel so the electrician could get in to fix and the homeowner did not move a single item, making the electrician have to move these items, taking time, that was never charged for. At this time, because of all the added items the customer did not want to pay for, and them not moving items for the ease of the electrician to get to, the invoice was sent to the homeowner for all the extra work the electrician had to complete. There were multiple trips, the electrician could not help, because the homeowner was not prepared. These were not charged originally, because he was going to complete the service for the homeowner. The homeowner asked the electrician to add multiple GFCI in the kitchen that the electrician advised would cost extra and the homeowner did not understand why. The invoice attached was mailed to the customer and never paid. We figured it would be a loss, as the contract agreement stated we would go to arbitration if there was an issue, and for the balance that would be due, it was not worth our time, as we are extremely busy with many customers who are extremely satisfied, understand if they add something they will be charged, are prepared for when the electrician arrives and if they are not, understand there will be a return fee added to their invoice as the proposal stated "This is an estimate and subject to change depending on items that are added or subtracted",  and make their payments on time and in full. It is unfortunate there could not be a resolution as they were offered a refund when the electrician was at the property and the homeowner denied. At that time we decided that because of the difficulties with this customer, we would cut ties, and we generated an invoice for the work that was completed, since we were no longer going to complete the service and the customers were unable to understand there would be added charges to add items as they pleased. We are sorry this customer is upset, and wish them the best of luck in the future with whatever other company they end up working with to fix all of their issues, and hope they understand in the future that time and material are not free. Best wishes!

  Customer response

  10/02/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  The business' response contains many inaccuracies, the greatest of which is that we were sent an additional invoice dated 8/10/23 and did not remit payment. The business stated that we were sent this invoice through the mail, however, no invoice was ever received. Previously all communications had been through email and text correspondence with all invoices being sent via email, typically with email or text follow ups to confirm invoices had been received. All invoices when submitted to us were paid within 3 days of receipt. The first time we received the new invoice was on 10/1/23 at 9:47PM.

  Regarding the multiple references to specific jobs and requests for additional work outside the scope of the original agreement, we disagree with their assessment of these situations. All of the days that the electrician was to be on-site he showed up late if at all. The first day, he was just shy of 3 hours late for the job and left without notifying us that he was leaving for the day. Each time he was to arrive after day 1, he was no less than an hour late including one day when he never came at all. When the electrician was on site, his communication with us was poor, most notably we were never asked to move items for the running of the subfeed wire (which they are now trying to charge us for). Had we been asked to move these items we absolutely would have done so. In fact, we were unaware that the items in the pictures would be in the way of that particular part of the job. Additionally, the claim that we were offered a full refund upon arrival for the panel upgrade that was not going to be completed is inaccurate, as at the time, the electrician pulled out a roll of cash and without explanation started to try to give us money to which we responded that everything up to that point had been done through the contract process and through email communication and therefore we did not feel comfortable taking cash off the books. Additionally, we were caught off guard by the inability to do the job for a second time, as we had confirmed during the first day of rescheduling that the work would absolutely be completed on this rescheduled day and we had received no communication prior to that moment that the job would not be completed as scheduled. This includes a lack of a response to a text message the previous night asking for the electrician's arrival time. At no time was it our understanding during this final conversation that the electrician was offering not to complete the remainder of the work only that the panel upgrade could not be completed. We took two days off of work in order for the panel upgrade to be completed both of which could have been rescheduled had we known in advance that the panel would not be done.

  We will not be paying the invoice that was presented to us on 10/1/23 as we disagree with the charges stated within this "new" unexpected invoice. In the end, it is obvious that the two sides will never agree on how the situation occurred and the events that took place. Although we do not agree with the contractors response we feel that additional back and forth will not be productive and therefore are withdrawing our request for a refund. 
  
  Regards,
  
  ******** ****

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