Okay, WWS12D about this Dbag electrician?

BPer

So, in response to my email about the 20% overage on our final invoice, the electrician basically said "fuck you".

I had asked for backup for every charge, for example, the $800 because we extended the deck. He said it impacted where he was hypothetically going to put the electrical panel (it wasn't in yet, he just had to think about where he was going to put it when we extended the deck), and it actually moved the panel CLOSER to the electrical pole, requiring less materials, but is somehow an $800 increase.  And trust me, even if he had to spend 100 hours figuring out where he was going to put the new panel (which was 3 feet to the left, btw), his brain power isn't worth $8 an hour.

I brought up that we have 3 light switches that are placed on the wrong side of doors that swing inward (we have to walk around the side of the door to turn on the light for these rooms)

The recessed lighting above the bed in the master flickers when the washer is in spin cycle. He first tried to tell H that it was the grid we were on, and I was all "O, rly? The grid impacts only 2 lights in the entire house, and only when our washer is in spin cycle?"  So he responds saying that it must be the washer.  Yes, it must be my brand new Samsung washer, such a no name brand with such a bad reputation...and it has chosen to ONLY affect 2 lights in the entire house.

The balance of what we owed him was $4200 (though he claims it is $5000, based on the fact that we have only paid him $12,000 so far, but I was able to pull up copies of his cashed checks that prove otherwise)

He added $3600 in charges on top of $5000, only $1500 of which we feel are justified, and that were not included in his original scope of work.

We don't have an agreement with him, we aren't happy with the work that he did, and we don't want him back at the house.

My thought is that we pay him the $4200 + $1500 for the speaker wiring which we felt was reasonable, and tell him to take it up with our attorney if he has a problem.  What do you think?

Sorry, tl;dr

Kissty

Have another electrician (or 3) give an estimate to fix his "mistakes".  Give that estimate to your contractor and pay the difference.  Then he can take the rest up with an attorney.  Just my 2 cents.

AKB090609

Kissty said:

Have another electrician (or 3) give an estimate to fix his "mistakes".  Give that estimate to your contractor and pay the difference.  Then he can take the rest up with an attorney.  Just my 2 cents.

I think that's what I would do too

BeebopandBuddy

I agree with PP. IF I recall correctly, you live In a relatively small area and your DH is in a business where he talks to a lot of people (cars, right?). So you can tell him to take what you think is fair and you'll keep your mouth shut about his crappy work or cause a fuss and end up in court and you'll make sure to tell everyone what a terrible job he did.

hmp1

My parents did a big reno when they bought their house. Can't remember the details but the final bill was a lot more than the estimate. My Dad sent a check that he felt was fair and a certified letter stating if they deposit the check they are accepting this amount as paid in full. Check was cashed.

BPer

hmp1 said:

My parents did a big reno when they bought their house. Can't remember the details but the final bill was a lot more than the estimate. My Dad sent a check that he felt was fair and a certified letter stating if they deposit the check they are accepting this amount as paid in full. Check was cashed.

That's a really good idea.

H tried calling him, convinced he would answer.  I knew he wouldn't because he's not smart enough to come up with bullshit over the phone.  His story changes daily.

I'm so frustrated with it.  Our brand new house has all of these electrical issues.

The man cannot handle a 3 way switch apparently. There's no rhyme or reason as to what switch controls what.  I kind of want to strangle him.

tinyhumantoe

Kissty said:

Have another electrician (or 3) give an estimate to fix his "mistakes".  Give that estimate to your contractor and pay the difference.  Then he can take the rest up with an attorney.  Just my 2 cents.

I would get an electrician in as soon as possible to quote the fixes and explain the issues, then write doofus a certified letter detailing what you are paying him for, and a statement like HMP suggested.  If he would like to decline cashing the check, then he needs to contact your attorney to pursue a settlement in court.

eshee8198

Okay, wait, holy f. $20,000 to wire the house? Is that right? That's insane. Especially if he did a shit job.

BTW, my husband is a master electrician. If you want to get on the phone and ask him questions, just let me know. Code might be slightly different between MA and NY, but he knows his stuff and I'm volunteering him for free advice.

Hyaline

I mean, yeah, it's normal for final amounts to go over estimate, especially if plans change.  But he should be able to back up every charge.  I'd ask for a detailed invoice with broken-down charges, and would get a second opinion to compare it against.  Just in case he somehow actually did do thousands more in work and it's fairly acceptable to be charging that.  

But if he didn't, and he probably didn't, I like @hmp 's idea.

BPer

Hyaline said:

I mean, yeah, it's normal for final amounts to go over estimate, especially if plans change.  But he should be able to back up every charge.  I'd ask for a detailed invoice with broken-down charges, and would get a second opinion to compare it against.  Just in case he somehow actually did do thousands more in work and it's fairly acceptable to be charging that.  

But if he didn't, and he probably didn't, I like @hmp 's idea.

Yeah, we asked for backup including material cost + labor x hourly rate.

He came back with a bunch of bullshit and ignored the request for backup.

Most of the materials when it comes to electrical (aside from copper wiring) are pretty negligible expenses, and for some of the charges, we provided the materials ourselves.

Matt tried calling him to get him to explain it over the phone, and he didn't answer or return his call, probably because he's not bright enough to come up with his nonsense on the spot, and he often forgets what he's already said and tells us something else.

So, Matt sent him an email, told him not to bother coming back to the house for any reason.

We are bringing in another electrician and doing a walk through, getting an estimate of cost to fix his shitty work, plus an estimate on what it should cost to make the changes he's citing for his increase.

If it were $1000, we probably wouldn't have said anything, but almost $4k, without providing any formal quote or estimate as to what it would cost him to do these things is just bad business.

...and we have no signed agreement with him, we didn't formally accept his quote, and because he didn't quote the changes, there's really no legal obligation there.  We aren't trying to screw him out of money he earned, we've had no problem paying other contractors in full, but they did good work and didn't surprise us at the end.

Hyaline

If he can't provide a breakdown of costs, I would feel no obligation to pay them.  That's sheistery behavior, there.