Thomas Edison Electric Incorporated

This company is definition of PRICE- GOUGING! I had a breaker that needed to be replaced. I called their emergency service at 9pm on Aug 15th, an electrician named Patrick arrived at 11pm. I knew up front it would cost $195 for him to show up (OK , it was an emergency) ...however the company refused to estimate the repair cost on the phone. Patrick arrives and says it will be $320 to "as" the problem, after he already confirmed it was the breaker as soon as he saw it; then he says it will cost $820 to replace the 100 amp breaker!!! $1300+ to replace a $50 breaker. When I said no thank you, he offered 10% off...I offered to pay him $300 to fix it...he said he was worth much more than that. I sat in the heat/dark all night and got an honest, top-rate professional to fix it in the morning for $250. Only after the fact did I read the numerous complaints against this dishonest company. CBS Philly even did a TV segment about them: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2015/02/25/3-on-your-side-big-repair-bills-from...⇄

I contacted Thomas Edison Electric on a Saturday afternoon after seeing smoke coming from the electrical panel in my home. I was concerned for the safety of my babies and home and contacted the company because they provided service on weekends an evenings. An electrician arrived after 5:00 p.m., examined the panel, said that it was the "worst water damage to an electrical panel" he had ever seen, and asked if I wanted the "good news" (he could fix it) or the "bad news" (it would cost $9200 and take 5-6 hours). Fearing an electrical fire in my home and feeling stuck with needing a repair done as darkness approached, I authorized the repair.
Now that I knew what the problem was and what was needed (replacing a 200-amp electrical panel), and having a sinking feeling that $9200 was probably very overpriced, even for a Saturday night, I started to look online for estimates of what that repair should cost, and I saw several estimates that confirmed that we were grossly over-charged, and it should cost a couple of thousand dollars, max.
I asked the electrician and his "friend," a non-Edison employee who came after the fact to help him, to stop work. I asked to speak to the supervisor. The electrician put me in touch with the owner, who immediately became defensive. I explained that I feared for the safety of my family and home with a potential electrical fire, panicked, authorized the repair, but after seeing what exactly the problem was, I found that $9200 was an outrageous amount for a job that other providers online estimated should be $2000-3000. The owner continued with his defensive, rude backtalk. I told him that I could not allow being charged $9200 for this job. He finally agreed to charge us $6500, and refunded the difference to my credit card - they charged my card for $9200 before they even started work. The owner told me that I could submit a claim to my homeowners insurance company to be reimbursed. The electrician and his "friend" completed the job by 9:00. It took them 3 hours, not the 5-6 hours quoted when I was given the estimate.
My homeowners insurance company estimated that replacing a 200-amp electrical panel should cost $2786. An electrician who has worked in other homes in my neighborhood told me that he would charge $1500 to replace the panel, plus $300 for working on a weekend. After receiving this information, I called the owner and expressed my displeasure at being taken advantage of, and that I believed that they took advantage of a family who feared for their safety on a weekend when they wouldn't have an opportunity to get other estimates or find other service providers. I was met with more rude and unprofessional backtalk from the owner. This is an unethical company that takes advantage of homeowners in difficult situations.

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]
 Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:While I don't refute that they came to the house on Saturday and that my mother agreed to their proposed work, the core of my issue with them rests on the following issues:1. What they did had nothing to do with the original complaint2. What they charged for doing this work was grossly excessive even after the refunds that we have gotten from them.3. By removing the old service box they took evidence that would have likely been useable in legal proceedings to prove our point.4. We are willing to allow them the very highest possible allowance for this unnecessary work but, even after their refunds, it is still unreasonable according to every single electrician we have shared this story with.5. accepting their numbers, an additional refund of $4578 which would drop their invoiced total to $2,000 would be satisfactory. 6. The core issue is that telling a 90 year old who fears for her safety that $8,001 worth of unrelated electrical work needs to be performed on a Saturday night precluding any kind of second opinion  is a gross violation of ethics and informed consent.Regards,
[redacted]

Hello [redacted],We provided emergency electrical service to [redacted] and Jeannine Zarazowski on Monday August 29, 2016 at 11pm.Our emergency dispatch fee just to arrive onsite at that hour of the night was $350.00 which was clearly communicated upfront to [redacted] over the telephone...

upon scheduling the appointment.Patrick arrived made a visual electrical inspection of the multiple rooms without power and quoted upfront in writing our $675.00 cost to perform the needed trouble shooting category six to identify why the loss of power in multiple rooms existed.[redacted] agreed and asked us to perform that work and we completed it in a professional manner.Please see the attached written contract and note the two signatures of [redacted] indicating he is 100% satisfied with the work completed and nothing further is owed.Please see the two attached photos of the damage to the electrical panel and wiring that Pat shared with [redacted] that night.We respect the fact that [redacted] and [redacted] were able to find a lower cost service provider to help them resolve their electrical problems.We stand behind the diagnoses of our electrician Pat as noted on the contract.We are not willing to discount our billing $675.00 for providing first class on time emergency night time service.However, as a matter of good will our website offers $100.00 off any job over $1000.00 and we would like to extend that offer.Thank you.Thomas Edison Electric Inc.

Hello **. [redacted],
We appreciate your help in this matter.
We have communicated directly with [redacted] the attorney for [redacted].
We have offered a good will refund of $12,000.00 to settle this matter.
We continued to attempt to contact [redacted] numerous times for over two months via phone and email communications to correct the eleven items on the inspectors list FREE of any charge.
That is our final offer to settle this matter in a good faith effort.
We hope this continues to show our efforts to act in good faith as a Revdex.com member.
Thank You!