ComplaintsforFirst Choice Electrical LLC

• Initial Complaint

  09/05/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I hired this company to do some electrical work. A date was scheduled. However, right before the team was set to start I received a message saying that the team was behind and could not start. It was asked if the company could start later. I agreed if all work would be finished by the 26th as I had a business trip out of town. On the day before the reschedule, I received a confirmation text saying the workers would show between 8 and 8:30 the following morning.The next day no one showed. I called and emailed and no one responded. Hours later I got a call from the owner saying traffic was bad. However, I learned the workers had not left their houses until after the start time and no one thought to alert me. I reiterated the work had to be completed by the 26th as I needed to leave town. There were some small concerns. Poor notes were left confusing the workers. I had to explain that I did not want an always on light in the laundry room and that putting an outlet inside the kitchen cupboard was not acceptable and instead should go near the refrigerator.On the 26th worker informed me that the inspection would be the following day. I asked him 4times if it was the next day because I had to leave town. He said it was scheduled for the 27th and office would ring me in the morning to tell me the time. I had to miss my scheduled work trip. I missed two days of work. I waited 27th for the inspection. Towards the end of the day I get an email asking to schedule the inspection.I emailed and called multiple times. When the owner did call me back, he implied I was lying. He said his worker would never have told me the inspection was scheduled for that day. I informed the owner he said it multiple times and my housemate heard it too. The employee started to apologize but he went on to tell me how it was my fault. I again for the company to step in and make things right but they have never responded. The company caused me to miss two days of work.

  

  Business response

  09/18/2024

  First Choice Electrical and Solar did everything possible as a team to attempt to satisfy our customer.   We did need to initially reschedule our start date for our customers project 3 business days later than planned.  Our office staff called about a week prior to request to reschedule as long as it was not an inconvenience.  Customer said that is fine as long as the project is complete by the 26th.  They first day of three days scheduled I receive a call first thing in the morning 8am on the dot with the customer extremely disgruntled asking why no one had arrived yet.  We always have a 30min arrival window for all appointments, and the customer is informed of it when scheduling and confirmed via text and email once entered into the calendar.  Customer was screaming and degrading the entire phone call as I attempted to explain that the first day starting a project we have to pick up supplies on the way and the traffic this particular day and the day before was completely out of the ordinary and would be a factor.  She said a few more degrading comments and then hung up the phone.  The team arrived at 9:00am and proceeded to work as planned.  They completed the project on time which was three days as scheduled and completed by the 26th.  During the install we heard nothing from the customer, good or bad.  The next morning after project completion office emailed the customer asking when would be a good date and time to schedule her electrical inspection.  I immediately receive a second hostile disgruntled call from the customer,  stating our employee advised her the electrical inspection would be the next day and that she requested off of work for the inspection.  This was a mistake on our end,  and I apologized about the misunderstanding and explained that the office schedules Inspections, and that he should not have said that.  She then to my surprise stated the guys did a good job and I dont want to get them in trouble.  She continued to then give us an ultimatum that we make up for this in some way or she would reach out to the BBB.  Stating what are you going to do to make this right?  I responded, saying outside of myself apologizing and admitting to the mistake our employee made There isnt much I can do to make this right besides request that he call you and apologize.  She again for the second time abruptly hung the phone up on me.  I asked our employee to give her a call apologizing for wrongfully telling her the inspection date.  He apologized and he relayed to me when he called to apologize that she appreciated the apology and was not upset and cordial about the situation.  Office scheduled her inspection and it passed first go.  My only assumption is that the customer wanted us to discount her project or else 

  1. Project was completed on time

  2. Customer herself said the guys were great

  3. The electrical inspection passed

  Customer response

  09/19/2024

   
  Complaint: 22245119
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  

  Unfortunately, there response is untruthful and unhelpful. I had to miss multiple days of work due to their mistake. I do expect to be compensated for the time missed from work the exact way this company expects to be paid for their work. 

  This company was exceptionally unprofessional and I am disappointed with this response. 

  I look forward to them trying to find a solution instead of a dismissing response. 

   

  Sincerely,
  
  **** ******

  

  Business response

  09/24/2024

     Complaint is about employees arriving at 9:00am the first day due to picking up the materials for the job in route, plus there was unusual traffic, I-5 and 167 were closed.  I can confirm this because I was preforming estimates that day and experienced the traffic.  Second complaint is about employee telling her the day we completed the project that the inspection would be tomorrow.  This was a mistake and we addressed it.  However in our terms and conditions it clearly states we will request final inspection upon completion on a date and time of customers convenience.  We emailed her asking when she would like us to schedule and that when she called and said she was told inspection was supposed to be next day.  We did make a mistake by staff answering a question that is not in his job scope.  Just curious as to why she did not contact our admin in the office about when to schedule final inspection per out explanation of our order of operations in our contracts terms and conditions.  

  Customer response

  09/24/2024

   
  Complaint: 22245119
  
  I am rejecting this response because, to answer your question, we asked your employee multiple, multiple times if it had to be that day and he said yes. It was not offered as an option which you already know because you had him call and admit that over the phone. You also know that you told me on the phone that first day that your team was late (and they were quite late) because they had not yet picked up supplies because you were understaffed. And again, not saying there was not traffic, but that someone should have informed me as you made me confirm that we would have someone at the house ready to greet you. I held up my end you when you asked me to confirm a date/time. You failed. And I am annoyed at the first day. I am very upset about having to miss work because of your mistake. 

   

  You're right, you did email about scheduling the inspection but that was after I had missed work and waited around all day for an inspection that was apparently never happening, an inspection your employee confirmed multiple times had to happen that day. Your team made me miss work, miss a very important out of town work event, and then it never was scheduled in the first place. I missed an incredibly important work event for no reason - just to sit around and wait for you all day. As you had already demonstrated, you have a tendency to not be on time so I sat and waited all day knowing I was missing a work meeting that I had told you so many times over I truly couldn't miss. 

   

  That's the incredibly simple truth. You knew I could not be home that day. Your employee told me I was required to be. I then skipped that very important work meeting to wait for the inspection you said had to happen that day. Turns out the employee was wrong, and nothing had ever been scheduled. I missed my work event to sit around and wait for something that had never been scheduled. You have no idea how this has affected my job. This was a huge, huge meeting I told you I could not miss and I missed it because of your company and as it turns out, I missed it for nothing. This is simply not acceptable. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  **** ******

• Initial Complaint

  05/03/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  Contracted with First Choice Electrical to replace the electrical panel on the new home I purchased. A deposit of $2,500 was paid on 3/14/2024 and the work was performed on 3/18/2024 which was when the balance owed was paid (********) which was understood as this was written in the contract I approved. The contract also states "The final inspection will then be called in, if any corrections we are responsible for making them and calling the re-inspection until final is passed and permit is closed out. (Permitting is open in the name of First Choice Electrical LLC so we are liable and responsible for everything). Resulting in customers re-assurance in all aspects of the project and contract.As of today 5/3/2024 the work hasn't received final inspection and they are asking me for an additional $415 to complete the work as they are stating they need to pull another permit. They city of ********** has provided in writing that they do NOT need to pull another permit the corrections needed to pass final inspection fall under the scope of work on the initial permit pulled. (I can provide copies of the email chain) The city is advising them of the National Electrical Code 240.15(B) and the company is not adhering to their direction. The email exchanges have been going on all week and include ************************* the Assistant Building Official validating the inspectors direction and corrections.

  

  Business response

  05/04/2024

       I was out of the country for about 9 days and none of my employees could address this issue or reach me by phone that is why this is just now being addressed... I do sincerely apologize for these circumstances.  What we have going on is we pulled a permit for a panel replacement and invoiced for a panel replacement only, that is what the customer was charged for and paid for as you can see per the paid in full invoice attached in the complaint.  The electrical inspector of the city of ********** is requesting multiple corrections outside our scope of work, that we did facilitate twice over and initially to be free of charge, and now he is requesting we completely redo the 200amp meter-base,2" rigid mast, 200amp service conductors and 2" weather-head.  If you review the invoice ************* attached and the electrical code stated above you will see that there is no description or charge for installing a new 200amp meter-base, 2" rigid mast, or new 200amp line side service conductors, customer only paid for a panel replacement and permit. ************* knows we have come out twice over completing what inspector requested initially we do to be free of charge just to dissolve the issue and move on and now is on his 3rd revision.  ************* can confirm that the electrical inspector never even exited his vehicle to inspect the work he requested we facilitate the first two times (initially to be free of charge) when we requested two re-inspections after doing what was requested the first two times, and now he is requesting we completely redo and permit a 200amp service upgrade resulting in us needing to replace 200amp meter-base, 2" rigid mast, and 200amp service conductors.  If you review the invoice and the Electrical Code stated above you will see there is no description or charge for replacing these things.  We cannot simply do this part for free because it is about $2500.00 in overhead, and we have already come out twice initially to be free of charge addressing two of his requests outside our scope of work and that is what the charge of $415.00 now is for because we must re-coop.  Inspector has a bias against us for some reason and we are now stuck as the middle man between the city and the customer requesting we preform $2,915.00 in additional work for free.  We simply cannot do this.  I left ************* a voicemail today 5/4/24 which is a Saturday, so I cannot call into the city myself to defend ourselves until Monday 5/6/24.  Monday I will call into the city and will file a formal complaint against this particular inspector and his asinine requests hopefully resulting in them sending a different inspector to review these terms and permitting.  ************* will not answer my call or return my call which seems to be an admission of a misunderstanding, I will not facilitate $2,915.00 for free when we are the party acting with integrity.

  Customer response

  05/05/2024

   
  Complaint: 21661927
  
  I am rejecting this response because: it isn't factual.  I have forwarded the email exchanges from last week.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *********************

  Customer response

  05/05/2024

  Hello

  I have texts from ******* on 3/20/2024 stating he completed the work and send me photos to which I replied that he needed to share the photos with the inspector/city as I am the homeowner.  

  This issue is with First Choice Electric and the City.  He is not stuck in the middle, I am and it has an impact on my family as we have been told they are sending someone over and nobody shows.  

  Sincerely

   

  *********************

  Customer response

  05/06/2024

  Hello 
  
  I read *******'s response and there are multiple untrue statements starting with his opening line -  "I was out of the country for about 9 days and none of my employees could address this issue or reach me by phone"  
  
  1. ***************************** stated in an email dated 5/3/2024 @ 8:02am that she spoke to ****. 
  2. This is 2024 and there is technology nowadays to contact anyone all over the world.  I am Irish, born in **** and have contact with my friends in *******, *******, *******, ******** and ********* weekly.
  2. **** called me on Saturday morning at 9:46am and left a voicemail and called at 10:49am which I missed.  For **** to state I will not answer his call, missing 2 calls is not me failing to return his call, it is me composing myself for a response to which I sent via email this afternoon.  (I'll share the email chain that began last Monday the 29th of April.  "************* will not answer my call or return my call which seems to be an admission of a misunderstanding" 
  
  The email exchange is lengthy and will show you the reason I filed this complaint.
  
  Sincerely
  
  *********************
  ************

  Customer response

  05/06/2024

  
  Hello 
  
  As mentioned in my reply to ****'s response, this is the email chain regarding the work done on my home and the recipients included City employees. 
  
  Thanks
  
  *********************
  
  

  Customer response

  05/06/2024

  Hi Zoie 
  
  I also wanted to add that the new invoice isn't for $415 it is for an additional $3,879.  
  
  If I am being unreasonable please let me know but I think the email I sent a few minutes ago with the communication from last Monday shows my patience throughout this process.
  
  *********************

  Customer response

  05/22/2024

  Please accept this email as my withdrawal of the BBB complaint.  I reached out to the Assistant Building Officer and he came to my home and the issue is now resolved and I received a final on the permit.
  
  Thanks 
  
  ******
  

  
  

• Initial Complaint

  10/26/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  Had First Choice Electric LLC install rooftop solar panels and a battery backup system in August 2022. Over this past Winter we had an issue where it got too cold for the batteries and they stopped charging. I had to negotiate with First Choice to have them come remedy the problem since it was an issue with the system. We get our power bill bi-monthly, and in June it seemed a little higher than expected because of the solar panels, but not too much higher. In August, the bill was close to $200, which is way over what it should have been with the solar panels providing power to the house most of the day. I went out to look at the control panel, and the system had faulted and shutdown. There were no blinking lights or notifications sent to me though the app that this had happened. When I tried to contact First Choice to have the system fixed I had no calls back. Twice I tried before I finally got a call back. The person I talked to said that they would need to get us on the schedule and need to call me back. That was on the 17th of September. My wife and I have both tried calling again after this. We've still gotten no response back or have had anyone come to fix the system. I got fed up and opened the battery panel myself, jiggled some wires, and it has now partially started to work again. However, I'd really like it if they would just come fix it because obviously it's something in the wiring, which could be unsafe.

  Customer response

  11/02/2023

  I was contacted by the business owner 2 days ago. We have resolved the issue.

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩