ComplaintsforThe Electric and Solar Specialist

• Initial Complaint

  12/07/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Dispute Business -Travis S*****, Electric and Solar Specialists Problem – had verbal agreement, ½ down and the rest when job completed, and I have written proof. Business has failed to finish job; “breach of contract” because he “was afraid we wouldn’t pay him”. He is currently suing us for “nonpayment of invoices” outside our original agreement. Has forced me to hire another contractor to finish the work. Apparently intends to place a lien on our property at 9906 Fox Ridge Drive, Cheyenne outside our contract terms. He has repeatedly wanted to “change the agreement terms”, has repeatedly “demanded we pay him in full even though he hasn’t finished the job”, and to date has refused to come back to finish the job. Because of his demonstrated smart-mouth, hot-headedness, egocentric nature and trigger temper, he has shown a great lack of business knowledge, no customer satisfaction knowledge, and gross lack of personal or business integrity.

  

  Business response

  12/08/2022

  We have made many attempts to reach out to the *******'s in regard to finishing this project. ******* and his wife ***** have not returned calls or answered the door when we have shown up to their house. They also have not replied to any emails that we have sent them in regard to finish this project. All communication between ******* and The Electric and Solar Specialist was required to stop and only be done with ***** due to the disrespect and language used towards our employees. All on site meetings are audio recorded of ******* cursing at Travis. On June 21st our guys were on site to start the project to remove rock that ******* requested and approved be done. While our guys were working ******* came outside and yelled and cursed at our crew that they needed to be quite because he was a day sleeper. Our guys turned down the radio and placed the rock on tarps on the asphalt as to not damage the lawn in the process. Then they dug the trench and gradually settled it up to grade as requested by our boring contractor to do his job with this project. The last week of June the coring contractor was able to be on site to place his machine on the dirt area and bore under the concrete sidewalk going to *******s detached motor home garage.  Multiple phone calls were made on July 6th as an opening became available on our schedule to complete the trench. ******* requested that Travis call him back, Travis called ******* to talk about what needed to be done to finish the gas line and that is when ******* approved us to come over on the 7th to finish the trenching.  On July 7th when our guys were scheduled to go out and finish the gas line trench, ******* had called the office that morning at 6:00am and left a voicemail to which our office manager called back, and ******* requested Travis have a meeting with him at the house and to not send a crew over that was already in route to the project. Travis called ******* and talked to him to discuss any issues that he had with the project and let ******* know that due to the lack of appropriate cancellation of his appointment moving forward her would be charged a cancellation fee. In return to that information ******* yelled and cursed at Travis over the phone, Travis then ended the phone call and sent Rcihard a message when he was done at the other job that we had scheduled and let ******* know that he could come out to the project that afternoon. Travis arrived at the meeting and ******* came out cursing at Travis and had to be calmed down by his wife in order for the conversation to continue. Travis informed him that if he could not talk to him like a human being the conversation would end there, and he would leave. *****, *******'s wife continually told Ricard to stop. The final straw of that meeting was ******* asking if our employees even a brain to which Travis had informed him that this conversation was now over, and he gathered his things and left. The next morning Then sent ******* and ***** an email with the options to finish this project moving forward "Good morning, *******. After yesterday's conversation with you and ***** I wanted to send you a few options to choose from in order to move this project forward towards completion. Due to the way the conversation went yesterday, the options I have come up with are the following: Option 1 - We are willing to complete the project as stated in our above contracts and even willing to put in the weed barrier that you mentioned over the phone that you have when we move the rock back into place when the trench has been completed and inspected, but we will not allow you to have any communications with our employees on site or our office manager as you have already yelled at her over the phone and cursed at her. ALL communication will need to go from you to your wife *****, and then to us. ***** will be the only person we are willing to communicate with on this project moving forward. I WILL NOT subject my employees to you yelling at them, cursing at them, or calling them stupid. I will also not subject any of my sub-contractors to being berated. Option 2 - I will refund your deposit, minus the gas line and tracer wire, the labor hours already put in to move the rock and trench, the directional boring cost, the permit fees, and the labor hours for all on site meetings that have taken place. If Option 1 is selected, the final requirement for us to complete this job is both approved invoices (the one for the generator installation and the one for the additional trenching and boring) with a total of $8415.50 will have to be paid in full and your agreement to not talk to, communicate with, speak to, or yell at our employees and sub-contractors is non-negotiable. Due to already threatening me that I will be hearing from your attorney, we are unwilling to budge on the invoice being paid as we don't want a fight to be paid at completion. If these terms can't be met, then I am afraid that option 2 will be the only one available. Feel free to take the weekend to discuss these options with ***** before getting back to me." Travis left this issue alone until receiving a phone call from ***** July 13th at 1:14 in the afternoon giving excuses for *******'s behavior as well as apologizing for it and stated that she can't control him. She also stated that she would still like to have our services to install the generator and when we brought up the required payment option due to the conversation the prior week, she said that we would be paid without any issues, and we agreed to move forward with the project with the agreement that ******* would not talk to our employees or contractors that were on the job. We rescheduled with ***** for our guys to finish the trench and complete the gas line inspections, we then put the landscaping back together at *******s request of using his wee barrier and we have photos of the landscaping to show that it appeared nobody had been there to disturb the ground. Our guys placed the gen pad in its location so when our other crew came over with the generator, they could make the final adjustments to level out the pad before placing the generator on it. ******* took it upon himself to move the pad and tear up everything that we had done within a 5' radius of the generator location. When our guys arrived on site Monday to install the ATS and generator that is when it was noticed that ******* had undone work that we had already done. Our employees informed Travis that the landscaping was messed up, so Travis went to the job site to access the situation. ***** came out and apologized for what ******* had done and stated that she could not stop him. Travis informed ***** that we will not be held responsible for the work that ******* had torn up and that we would not be replacing that location. She apologized profusely for *******s's behavior and repeatedly asked us not to leave site that day. We obliged her request and completed the ATS install with the coordination of the local inspectors and the utility company. We completed all the electrical work and connections to the generator on July 25th. On Thursday July 28th we sent the invoices due to ******* tearing the work up and knowing that all we had to complete was the gas connections to the generator. Ever since the final invoices were sent over, we have made several attempts to schedule the gas line by voicemail, text message and even going to site. Where the *******'s would not even answer the door. For 4 moths we have tried to make contact to complete this project as well as receive payment for the project and they have refused all forms of communication. We were given no other choice on how to recover our funds other than to have our attorney draft a demand letter that it would go to court and that they would be responsible for attorney fees, late fees and interest. It has only been as of recently of the *******'s receiving their demand letter that the *******'s have sent complaints and showed interest in wanting to finish this project. 

  Customer response

  12/09/2022

  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because: we had an agreement to put down 1/2 ($7500) which we did, and the rest upon completion.  He accepted by starting work, but later wanted full payment even though he had not completed the work.  S***** left the job unfinished and evidently is suing us even though HE BREACHED OUR CONTRACT.  In Wyoming, a verbal contract is an enforceable contract.  I've had to hire additional contractors to finish the generator install.  So no, we reject everything except calling this job over with S***** with no more money due from us.  We do not accept his billing us for "services rendered" which he hasn't done and refuses to do.  Oh, by the way, did he share he's suing us - OUTSIDE OUR AGREED UPON CONRACT?  And likely will place an illegal lien against our property?

   

  Regards,
  
  ******* *******

  

  Business response

  12/09/2022

  We have made every attempt possible through email, phone calls and text messages to complete this project under the original scope of work in which the *******'s have failed to communicate. They will not return emails, phone calls or text messages which is the reason for us sending them their final bill. The second invoice for the additional work has been completed since July 7th and ******* has failed to pay that invoice for completed work which has resulted in late fees. We have not failed nor breached the contract due to them not communicating for 4 months. The final invoice shows a credit for the remaining gas line that needs completed as well as a credit for the break in service as we are completed with this job due to the *******'s non communication. They have only been billed for the work that was completed. Again, it has just become recent that the *******'s want to communicate about this project due to us filing the demand letter for the work completed. The verbal contract would also come from ***** stating that we would be paid and that has not happened. At the beginning of the project during the discussions about being paid for this project there were concerns about being paid for this project and ***** reassured us that we would not be going through a legal battle to be paid and yet here we are. The only part of our contract that hasn't been completed is referenced in the final invoice which is the break in service and the completion of the gas line. 

  Customer response

  12/09/2022

  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because of previous reply.
  
  Regards,
  
  ******* *******

• Initial Complaint

  01/13/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I had called this business on 11/2/2021 concerning a circuit breaker that kept resetting on my dishwasher. The individual I spoke with indicated that someone would get back with me that afternoon in which I didn't receive a call until 2 days after the fact when I was about to place a call to another electrician company. I received a call from Aaron in which he stated that he was in the area and could pop by to look at the problem. My fiancé met with him and within 5 minutes, Aaron indicated there was nothing he would be able to assist with and to contact an appliance expert. Fast forward to 1/12/22. I received an invoice from this company for $85.00 plus a late fee of $25.00, total invoice of $110.00. Upon speaking to the owner (Travis) of the business I explained the situation and how I had just received this invoice and questioned the charge in its entirety considering the employee looked at the dishwasher and within a short amount of time explained he wouldn't be able to assist us. Travis then stated that he had sent out 4-5 previous invoices to which I never received, hence the late fee. Travis continued to explain that he was doing us a "favor" and didn't charge the nominal $150 diagnostic fee but rather the service call charge. As I continued to debate the charge, Travis continued to be confrontational and stated "Well then just pay what you feel is fair". I don't feel any type of charge was fair and especially attempting to include a late fee since I was under the assumption there wouldn't be any invoice. Travis continued to state that the own-us was on me to call and find out what my bill was in which a phone call would have been the best way to handle it since they hadn't gotten a response from original said "invoice" that I never got. The owner continued to be varying in what was owed as he originally stated half of the late fee and then verbally imposed it at the end of the conversation which is considered unfair and deceptive collection practices.

  

  Business response

  01/13/2022

  We were called on 11/2/21 about an issue with a breaker tripping. Our office manager took the call while the owner was in the field helping on another project. Travis reached back out to the family and let them know we would try to get to them as quickly as possible. One of our employees who happened to finish their project and had availability to go over to troubleshoot their circuit made contact with ** and went to their home. Our GPS on our van shows a 14 minute travel time to their property, 13 minutes were spent onsite to troubleshoot the circuit in which we found the appliance to be faulty. We then explained that an appliance repair company is who would need to be reached to repair their dishwasher and we even provided the number for a local company. Our employee than traveled 16 minutes from their home to our shop. We as a company have a $150 diagnostic fee for troubleshooting in which we though it was fair to only impose an $85 service charge. The troubleshooting took place 11/4/21 and the bill was mailed out 11/5/21. No payment was received, so a reminder was sent out on 12/1/21, then a late fee was imposed on 12/19/21 and mailed out on 12/21/21. Still no payment was received and another reminder with a past due notice was mailed out on 1/4/22. **'s fiance called on 1/12/22 acknowledging the bill and late fee but expressed that they felt it wasn't necessary to pay for our employee's time to troubleshoot their circuit that was tripping. She was adamant that the owner call her fiance to dispute the charges. While on the phone with **, he stated that he never received the prior mailed invoices and didn't feel responsible for the late fee. We expressed to him that not one of the invoices came back to us as undelivered but we acknowledged that the USPS has made mistakes in the past when they had been receiving their mail. Travis stated he would be willing to split the late charges with ** but ** wasn't satisfied with that and threaten to leave bad reviews all over social media as well as file a complaint with BBB. We explained that we don't tolerate threats to get out of your responsibilities and that we are no no longer willing to split any late fees and that ** was responsible for the bill in its entirety. Within 5 minutes of this phone call, **'s fiance ****** attacked our company on multiple pages on Facebook in which many responses told her that it's standard practice for a service fee to diagnose your issues.

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