[DruannB]

I had the worst experience ever with a contractor today, and my husband and I do renovation work—so it was really bad. Mister Sparky out of Ocala came to give me a quote on installing 5 can lights in a bedroom, replacing a can light with a pendant and adding a nearby sconce. First, he told me we needed a whole house surge protector. I hadn’t asked for that service. That was $7,000. I told him we already had that. Then he looked at one of our light switches and said the entire house needed all the switches replaced. Only $5,000. The house is 7 years old and there’s nothing wrong with the electrical. And if there is, we know how to change out a switch. To add can lights and the pendant? $3,700. I may be female and 64, but I am not stupid. Oh, and they sent me an invoice for $8.75 for truck supplies. Not sure what that might be. Please don’t contact them for ANY quotes.

[fdpaq0580]

Originally Posted by DruannB

I had the worst experience ever with a contractor today, and my husband and I do renovation work—so it was really bad. Mister Sparky out of Ocala came to give me a quote on installing 5 can lights in a bedroom, replacing a can light with a pendant and adding a nearby sconce. First, he told me we needed a whole house surge protector. I hadn’t asked for that service. That was $7,000. I told him we already had that. Then he looked at one of our light switches and said the entire house needed all the switches replaced. Only $5,000. The house is 7 years old and there’s nothing wrong with the electrical. And if there is, we know how to change out a switch. To add can lights and the pendant? $3,700. I may be female and 64, but I am not stupid. Oh, and they sent me an invoice for $8.75 for truck supplies. Not sure what that might be. Please don’t contact them for ANY quotes.

Hope you enjoyed a great laugh. Mister Sparky must have had one jolt too many. Thanks for the heads up.
As to the invoice, it could (if ignored) be a way to put a lean on your home or some other nefarious move. Sounds suspiciously crooked to me.

Riddle answer is ,"a person".

[EdFNJ]

Sounds like (How's your)Aspen Dental. They find more things wrong that a "real" dentist just laughs at. Went for an emergency loose crown and they "found" like $4000 of work they said I should do (which I didn't do). Same thing with RotoRooter in NJ. All these franchise operations seem to be the same. I guess they have to cover their franchise fees so they always find a sucker. Tell Mr Sparky to stick his finger in the wall socket. Does have cute commercials though.

[Speedie]

That is a shocking story for sure

[Dana1963]

Originally Posted by DruannB

I had the worst experience ever with a contractor today, and my husband and I do renovation work—so it was really bad. Mister Sparky out of Ocala came to give me a quote on installing 5 can lights in a bedroom, replacing a can light with a pendant and adding a nearby sconce. First, he told me we needed a whole house surge protector. I hadn’t asked for that service. That was $7,000. I told him we already had that. Then he looked at one of our light switches and said the entire house needed all the switches replaced. Only $5,000. The house is 7 years old and there’s nothing wrong with the electrical. And if there is, we know how to change out a switch. To add can lights and the pendant? $3,700. I may be female and 64, but I am not stupid. Oh, and they sent me an invoice for $8.75 for truck supplies. Not sure what that might be. Please don’t contact them for ANY quotes.

Thanks for letting us know about your experience.
Just think how many people aren't as savvy as you and your husband and fall for some unscrupulous contractors.

[MrFlorida]

I like when contractors come out and entertain me like that.... it's always good for a laugh...

[Seasonal]

I am always disgusted by stories about anyone making their life work to prey on seniors. What's wrong with these people.

[BobnBev]

I sure hope you notified the state's attorney.

[frose]

nothing new. the people in the village are screwed over by most contractors.. retired, old, and have money the perfect combo for getting screwed over..

[Caymus]

Did they also quote a Flux Capacitor?

[REDCART]

[QUOTE=frose;2047781]nothing new. the people in the village are screwed over by most contractors.. retired, old, and have money the perfect combo for getting screwed over..[/QUOTE

We frequently see negative reviews on TOTV that are no doubt justified but the real question in my mind is, Why didn’t you search TOTV before you called the contractor/tradesman? Over the years many people have asked for recommendations for plumbers, electricians and other trades people, and a simple search here would have helped them avoid a bad experience.

[retiredguy123]

Good electricians, plumbers, and other skilled technicians don't need to pay a franchiser to advertise for them or to get business. The business comes to them by word of mouth. I would never call a franchise business for that type of work.

[frose]

i do all my own repairs so I don't have to deal with these contractors.. I listen to people all the time relate horror stories about the way they were taken advantage of.. I really feel for them but will not interfere.

[Luggage]

The numbers I will give you are astounding, 20 plus years ago we moved in a central Florida into a senior community and of course the air conditioning stopped one week after we bought the house July 4th we started calling around for new air conditioning units and even back then one of the biggest with over 100 plus vehicles servicing the area tried to quote me over $10,000 for a 3-ton unit, I laughed at the guy as I knew for a fact back then the going price was 3 to 4,000. I won't mention the name but he claims to be the biggest in Florida

[Luggage]

There are three or four areas in your home that are ripe for ripoff artists, air conditioning, water purification, painting, and electrical. On the other hand you should be aware that are so there are some wonderful contracting companies here like the DeSantis air, Munns air, McHale's roofing, Kiley and sons plumbing, dunstans plumbing and some really good handyman/woman that do minor repairs as well as things like painting and door hanging,
I'd also mention for lawn treatments and termites Deans and Massey and sons. Your mileage may vary, but I found that they are always fair and reasonable, one or two service people may be off one day but you always get satisfaction from Management on all of the above.

FYI the big home box stores will always be more expensive and they all use contractors and not their own people.
For flooring there are plenty of other people on here that have talked about several of the better places for flooring so you can search the boxes above Roberto's has good reviews and la floors