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People these days...... (long post)

2K views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  57_Hemi 
#1 · (Edited)
A friend of a friend (I dont really know the guy) gets a hold of my number thru his friend and calls me up the other day asking me to try and figure out a problem at his place.

His dryer stopped working.......well it runs but no heat. He had called a small appliance repair place and they came by told him it was the electrical in the house and not the dryer.....$115 charge for 1hr.

He had called another guy ("licenced electrician" apparently) to check wiring. He came by and slapped in a new 30amp double pole breaker + 4 prong dryer receptacle and takes off.... $175 charge for 1.5hrs (labour & parts)........dryer still not working.

I show up, check panel and meter this "new" 30amp double pole breaker..... I get 120v to ground & neutral on each line....fine! but no 240v across the pair......and this is right at the panel. As I look into things further I notice half his panel is energized which would explain why the dryer was not getting its full 240v for it to work properly. I look at the main 100amp breaker and notice it's 1/2 tripped. I talk to guy and asked if anyone had done some electrical work in the home recently. He ofcourse says NO but did mention he just had a new kitchen backsplash and counter installed. So i put 2 & 2 together head to his nice new kitchen and notice 4 nice new decora (split cct) receptacles. YES!!! for those of u who know electrical probably know where I am headed with this.

I ask who installed the receptacles and he claims he did them himself...... So sure enough I remove them and he seems to get a bit upset with me. I told him i was just "checking"...........

WELL !!!..... NO "HOT SIDE" BRIDGES BROKEN OFF ANY OF HIS 4 KITCHEN SPLITS". So I break bridges off all 4 plugs and re-install them PROPERLY head down flick main off & on and now dryer, kitchen splits etc etc all working just like new. Well it's obvious his incorrect kitchen plug installation was causing his main to 1/2 trip.

Now what burns my a$$ is that I spent about 1.5hrs total and in the end I tell the guy "just give me 70 bucks" (btw I drove about 40mins just to get there)..... he turns to me and says...."$70 bucks but u barely did anything".

I WAS READY TO DROP HIM (after he payed me of course)...

Now u guys tell me who the real "GOOF" is here......

a) home owner who decides to install 4 kitchen splits in correctly & in the end costs himself $115 + $175 + $75 ($365 total)
b) home owner who decides to pay an "electrcian" $175 for nothing
c) home owner who has the nerve to complain about a $70 repair that actually repaired his problem.
d) licenced electrician who did his thing then took off leaving things in same "non working" order after charging $175.
e) ALL OF THE ABOVE

Im going with option "e"

I know this was a long post and all but I had to get this out there so some people can realize just how stupid and ignorrant others can be.

BTW: after he payed me my VERY REASONABLE $70 I told the guy to
" :censored: " and never call me again........lol
 
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#2 ·
I really can relate to your post and the stupid people in the world.. They will pay top dollar for some AH and when the guy who really knows what he's doing and is honest gets the shaft. I wish I could afford to buy an island and have everything delivered.. Of course what am I thinking ? the delivery would be wrong.

The guy needed to be dropped, but you told him. Wait till the p tells the other guy man your buddy is a rip off and he overcharged me.

Can you tell I have been jaded?
 
#3 ·
Wait till the p tells the other guy man your buddy is a rip off and he overcharged me.
haha...... ur probably right.

This had all just happened within the last few days so Im sure my buddy will get a hold of me. I'd love to hear what the other "bonehead" had to say......lol

DARN !! I drive a V8 p/u truck and it cost me about $25 in fuel just to get there & back to the guys place after a hard days work.

In the end, Im lucky if I made $45.....:furious:

LIVE & LEARN I GUESS
 
#4 ·
it's f


the guy with the desire and ability to actually fix the problem that allowed himself to get into such a situation without defined rules of engagement.


1st rule; if you are going to charge somebody, that gets discussed right up front.

Driving time can be, and with a 40 minute one way ride, should be, chargeable.


Hopefully you didn't suggest the guy try to get his money back from the other folks. He surely is due at least some of it, if not all of it. Given the guys, ah, willingness to pay you handsomely, I think I would have omitted that information.
 
#6 ·
1st rule; if you are going to charge somebody, that gets discussed right up front.

Driving time can be, and with a 40 minute one way ride, should be, chargeable.
Ur totally right.......

However, considering it was a friend of a friend etc etc I was thinking of just asking him for $30 - $40 or something.... until he started to question my troubleshooting teqniques and his attitude worsened as I got deeper into the repair........ESPECIALLY when I doubted his work and went ahead and removed the kitchen plugs he installed to "re-check".

Thats when I knew in my head I had found the problem and told myself "screw it....it's his own fault" so i went ahead and asked for a reasonable $70 and when he turned and questioned the $70 I didnt budge and waited for him to pay up.

Once he handed me the cash I put my shoes back on then gave him a piece of my mind and left. I didnt even mention the fact that he should call the "electrician" back and complain about his nice new 30amp breaker and dryer receptacle that are no better than the previous ones installed........lol lets see if he's smart enough to even realize he got "hosed",,,,:eek:
 
#5 ·
Wow that's brutal. The worse is that licensed electrician did not even test his work before leaving! Heck, he should not even have replaced all that before testing everything to determine where the problem is.

The HO should have also realized that his new installation may have been the culpit, and at least turn off that breaker and reset the main to see if it now works. Some people...
 
#7 ·
Wow that's brutal. The worse is that licensed electrician did not even test his work before leaving! Heck, he should not even have replaced all that before testing everything to determine where the problem is.

The HO should have also realized that his new installation may have been the culpit, and at least turn off that breaker and reset the main to see if it now works. Some people...

Yup! brutal is right...... btw I found out the name of the electrical company he called up (which I wont mention)....... I feel like calling them up and giving them a piece of my mind.

As for the HO.....ya well u know how some people are....
I guess PRIDE is more important than ur own 100amp breaker panel working properly........ big deal if u burn the house down or risk ur families health/safety........lol

As long as u dont look like a goof right?..............haha PLEASE !!!!
 
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