Powell Electric

Same as above. Major rip off, in my opinion. Unnecessary work. Unwanted up-sell. Huge price for something that should have cost a fraction of that price.

i'm unhappy with my experience

I feel I was taken advantage of the job that they did. I am happy with job overall, but it was not worth the $4400 that I spent with them. I asked my regular contractor what he thought the job would cost and he estimated only a couple hundred dollars. He was appalled when I told him how much Powell charged me. I am a senor citizen in a wheelchair and I feel I was taken advantage of.

I had some termite treatment at my home using an environmentally friendly company. During one type of treatment which included drilling holes in to my interior walls in order to inject a foam to kill existing termites, the technician severed some wiring which effected my stair well lights & one wall & ceiling in my upstairs bedroom. Several outlets, light switches & my overhead lights & ceiling fan were blown. This was not discovered by me until about an hour after the termite technicians left my home. Since it was a Saturday afternoon & the manager of that company was gone for the weekend, I took it upon myself to call an electrician to see if the problem could be fixed that day so I wouldn't be without power for the rest of the weekend. The termite company assured me that they would pay for any damage. I saw an ad in the phone book for Powell Electric & they happen to be open for service on Saturdays. I phoned them & they had a technician out to my home in about 45 minutes. I was thrilled! During the inspection, the electrician studied my breaker box & the blown outlets, etc. He told me the repair would require two technicians & about half a day to fix the problem, therefore it would not be possible to do it that day. He explained to me that he would have to rewire the entire line that lead to all of those power sources. That included all of the outlets, switches, & ceiling appliances in my upstairs bedroom, even though no holes were drilled above the stairway. He went to his truck to phone in the recommended repairs to his company for an estimate & was gone quite a long time. He came back with an estimate of $2,690.00! Needless to say, I was shocked, & couldn't schedule the job without first speaking to the termite company on Monday when the manager returned. He also said they would have to cut a very large hole in my wall to access the burned wire!!! On Monday I spoke to the manager of the exterminator company & explained my situation. He was very gracious & met me on my lunch hour to look at the situation. He agreed that it was their fault & it would be taken care of. He said he would have to check with the company owner to authorize the repair because the estimate sounded pretty high. Within an hour, an electrician who has done many jobs at the exterminator company offices phoned me & said he would come out at 7:00 the next morning before I left for work to see if he could locate the problem. He looked over the situation & within 15 minutes he found the source of the cut wire & repaired it!The wire was just inside the switch cover at the bottom of the stairs. There was absolutely no need to touch any of the other wires going to that breaker like Powell told me they would need to do. Also, no need to cut a huge hole in my wall! This electrician said he would be charging the owner of the company a few hundred dollars, not nearly $2,700.00! Powell did identify my breaker box as one that came from a company that lost their UL rating many years ago & that the box was known for catching fire. He said I would find the information on the internet which I did. He gave me an estimate of nearly $6,000 to replace my breaker box with a new one. The electrician from the termite company agreed with the necessity to replace that box but told me he would do it for $2,800! I had that taken care of in a few days. The only reason that I gave Powell an overall rating of a "D" instead of an "F" was because of their immediate response to my call. The electrician from Powell called me a few days later to follow up on the estimate & I told him the job was done in 15 minutes for thousands of dollars less. He just said, ' well, some people have different techniques'! Yeah, unnecessary ones which are very expensive to the customer! DO NOT hire Powell unless you have money to burn! They gave me a list of happy clients but they were all movie studios & David Geffen type people who DO have money to burn! I had to pay $99 for Powell to come out to my home which would have been applied to the job had I had them do it. That was my burden to bear since I was in a hurry to get the job done. Lesson learned!

PLEASE DO NOT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE I MADE...DO NOT CALL POWELL ELECTRIC FOR ANY OF YOUR ELECTRICAL JOBS.THEY WILL RIP YOU OFF!!!

While installing a new furnace and air conditioner the HVAC contractor suggested that we contact our electrician and have him "step-down" the breaker from a 50 amp to a 40 amp service. (The new unit consumes a lot less electricity.) The contractor, and I, thought the job would be small potatoes. The salesman from Powell assessed the situation and immediately began using scare tactics. "Your conduit is broken and you are in danger of burning down the house!" - - - "Changing the breaker isn't enough, you need a new breaker inside the electrical panel or you could burn down the house." We had used them in the past and, mistakenly, trusted him. That would have been bad enough, but the worst was yet to come. He convinced us that the job had to be done right away. ("You are in danger of the house burning down." ) However, he couldn't start the work without obtaining a waiver from the three-day right to rescind provision standard in all California contracts. By obtaining the waiver he effectively sealed off our ability to talk to anyone else for a second opinion. When the crew arrived (two days later) the electrician stated that he could not place a new breaker inside the existing electrical panel, but would need to have another panel installed adjacent to existing one. When told that isn't what we agreed to, he responded that it was the only solution. Two hours and about $100 in parts later, the job was done and they left. When the city inspector came by to assess the work, the first words out of his mouth were: "Why didn't the electrician just replace the breaker with a lower amperage?" Enough said. Be afraid. Be very afraid. . . . of them.

They were punctual, honest and clean. They did not leave a mess behind and got the work done at a very fast pace.

They are very good. They are punctual, and their quotes are very accurate. They were ontime and did they work fast, with no fuss.

I was extremely happy with them, they went above and beyond the service. Very respectful, and professional.

For $5000 they gave us plastic ceiling light covers instead of glass. We did know it was glass until after year until we went to touch it. We were very frustrated with this discovery.

I called to get an estimate on upgrading the electrical on our garage and in our backyard area, also to repair a couple of non-functioning outlets. The guy who answered the phone said that they don't offer free estimates unlike other electricians. I will go elsewhere.

They were very expensive. The entry hall light fixture that they installed now has a short in it and doesn't work properly, When they were installing the bathroom light fixture, they used a heavy duty extension cord and blew out a plug. They said they would come back to fix it, and they never came back. I ended up having someone else repair it.

It costs $99 just for an estimate, which would be applied to payment for the work if you choose to use them. The tech who did the estimate was a nice guy, but the estimate of work was literally 4 times higher than other Angie's list electricians. Consequently, I am not going to use Powell, and the $99 is lost. Do not use Powell Electric, not only because of the $99 estimate but mostly because of the outrageously high charges. You can find other electricians here who will do work every bit as good but at a fraction of the cost.

We already had some work done on the different house to change the whole electrical panel. Some other company quoted us $2000; they quoted us $6000 to do exactly the same job. We knew what it's going to cost; so they were totally ripping people off. They also looked to pool light; basically it was going to cost to me $800 to replace. They also misdiagnosed the problem that my boyfriend called them out in the first place. They were not only way over charging people; they don't know what they were talking about either. They had $49 special offer that's why we called them. They were punctual but they were totally trying to rip off people with their prices. There was a faulty switch outside and we tried to wind them to troubleshoot as light was not working and see what they would suggest. They gave us a suggestion which turned out what they told wasn't correct and diagnosed it. It was like three times what we already paid for the different house to the electric panel and $800 to fix the bulb in the pool. Someone who didn't know about the other quotes might pay it. I have a feeling that they having to pay for the vision commercial. The overall experience was not good because they couldn't diagnose and quotes were way too high. They were pretty good with responsiveness. They didn't know what they were doing.

Horrible. My wife was at home to direct the electrician. The electrician immediately starting quoting services above and beyond the services we asked for. This is a common ploy with Powell Electric. They will pressure you to do additional services at a higher cost whether you need it or not. My wife was so disgusted she asked the service person to leave, he refused. She had to get me on the phone to talk to him and I demanded that he leave our house immediately. That's when the service technician left. I complained to the tech's service manager and the manager tried to justify his employee's actions instead of apologizing. I will never call them again or recommend them to anyone.

The electrical problem was worse after the tech, Doug, inspected everything and prepared a work order estimate for $2500. When he left, one outlet and the oven wasn't working. I called another electrician and the problem was fixed for under $100. And a loose wire in the electical panel was found that was the cause of the oven and one outlet not working after the tech did his "inspection". I would never call this company again and warn others to beware.

It?s a big company and they are very good. They are extremely professional and I think they have knowledgeable employees. They are fairly expensive but they sent out a person that is first-rate and they fixed the problem. They come in uniforms and they put on shoe guards and everything.

I called to make an appoinment, had it setup between 12noon and 3pm. 3pm came without a phone call. I called in and was told the electrician was running late, and they would call me when he was ready to meet with me. No phone call again. I would not recomend this company.

They are a big company that is terrific. Their prices are so high. They are the most professional company that I have ever used for anything. They sent someone out and took pictures. They give you a contract and they spend a lot of time talking with you to plan out what they are going to do. They also offer financing. I live in an older home and need lots of electrical work. I would use them again if I can afford them.

Our dining room fixture (lights and fan) were not working properly. Lights were not coming on to full brightness and the fan would only work at super-slow speed. Doug came at specified time (we have used Doug a lot), figured out that we were using new fluoroscent bulbs that were not compatible with a dimmer. Replacing with regular bulbs solved the problem. He also tightened all the bulb seatings. Found that the fan was OK, my husband had inadvertently pulled the chain that controlled the fan so the remote wasn't working properly. Everything is working perfectly now. And while he was here he asked if we had any other electrical problems and fixed a loose light switch in a bathroom at no additional cost. We really like Powell Electric.

Powell Electric are highway robbers. Their overhead must be astronomical to think they can charge the prices they quote. The stupidest 99 dollars (consultation fee) I have ever spent. To install a ceiling fan I would be providing, in a space that the electrician thinks is already wired with Romex, over $900. He didn't have a high enough ladder, as I'd requested, to check for sure so it was really just the same guess I had come up with myself. To install the fan if the obvious spot was NOT already wired, over $2700. Quote to install 4 recessed lights in a bedroom not larger than 11 x 11, $3600. Quote to completely replace, not repair, a bathroom fan that went kaput recently, over $1100. Then a very nice man from Powell called to follow up on my satisfaction and to strong arm me into scheduling an appointment. I told him I couldn't emotionally justify spending $900 plus the cost of a fan to have a little more airflow in my condo. He went back to his supervisor to see what he could do, and they can back with the absolutely insulting "discount" of 10% off the quote. The prices I was seeing on Angie's List that other members paid for a similar install with other electricians seemed much more reasonable. Closer to $100-200 for a ceiling fan. I would absolutely NOT recommend calling Powell Electric.

Everything that Powell Electric has done for us has been quality work. I have never had to call them back to fix any job they have done. They are dependable and they stay until the job is finished. If the electrician feels they cannot handle the job, the company will send out another electrician to help. I think that the cost is a little high, but its well worth it.

They were always friendly, professional, and on time. They did the job and always cleaned up. They just cost 3 times as much. I had used them to fix a European lamp before and that had gone well so I did not bother getting other estimates. I should have. Also, an iron gate was too close to the box "according to the code". Although I was present in the house at the time, they did not advise me or ask if they could cut the gate before they did it. They showed me a few minutes later what they had done. By then there was nothing to do but let them get on with it as half of the house was without power.

The company I think is very professional. They look respectable and that impressed me. They charge about five times the norm though. Their prices are absolutely ridiculous.

I was naive enough to take them at their word. What I got was an inflated estimate, and a bill for the privilege of getting the estimate. I ended up hiring a friend of a friend who worked for a large commercial electrical contractor to do the job for cash. I also ended up with a serious distrust of electrical contractors. Do yourself a favor and use the $79 you'd pay for an estimate from Powell to buy a searchable PDF copy of the National Electrical Code from the NFPA online.