Lightning Service Inc

I was very pleased beyond expectations with the diligence and expertise from Barry, Roy, Devin, Taylor, Matt, Heather, and Jenny. I’m very happy that I got the referral from Billy Hughes. Thanks again, Reuben Bryer

Beware homeowners!!! There appear to be a predator lurking around under the name of Lightening Service, Inc. I have never engaged in business with this company, but was recently pulled into a situation that forced me to defend my private property. Let me explain, on Wednesday, April 19, 2023, Lightening Service, Inc arrived at my neighbor’s residence on Lake Louise Drive, Gretna, LA to install a home generator. During the installation, they needed to transport some wiring/tubing to its location in the backyard. To achieve that task, they would have had to cross that neighbor’s front yard with the bobcat machine. Instead, Lightening Service technicians decided to use my property as a passageway without seeking authorization. They brazenly entered my private property via my long driveway and rolled across my lawn to get back over on the neighbor’s property. Please note, there has never been a use of easement executed by me, the private homeowner, whose property was violated, nor by the neighbor who contracted the work to be done. When I spoke with the driver of the bobcat, his explanation was, “I didn’t want to dig up his front yard.” Utterly poor and unacceptable response not to consider my lawn was professionally laid. To further add insult, my property has “no trespassing” signs visibly displayed. One of the technicians, stocky build, repeatedly walked through my property to retrieve equipment from his truck. Again, I asked him not to use my property and directed his attention to my “no trespassing” signs. His response was, “I didn’t know it was not allowed.” Duh, where is the comprehension of “no trespassing?” It is scary to think a simpleton who lacks understanding of a simple phrase could effectively work with electricity. I called the office the next morning and spoke with Ms. Jenny. I explained my concerns and expressed my surveillance footage would confirm my story, and asked to speak with the manager or supervisor over the Generac installation crew. She told me the person was not in, but she would give him the message. I asked for this person’s name and was given Brandon. It has now been over twenty-four hours and I have not received a return call to date. I guess it’s safe to assume the company does not respect private property as long as they are getting paid. Beware of contractors who enter your property without authorization to perform a job that you did not employ. Their negligence could result in unexpected expenses, not to mention the potential for liability.

Everything has been great and they went above and beyond. Everything was done neatly and they did a terrific job. We would very highly recommend them.

If you want to be separated from your money give this company a call. I had a complete unit installed by them in September of 2009. I have no complaints about that installation. Last Thursday 6/16/16 that unit quit cooling. I called them Friday morning and a technician came out at about 1:00 in the afternoon. He immediately diagnosed a bad capacitor and said the contact was pitted and needed to be changed as well.The estimate was $671 (After the fact I called around, This is less than a $300 job). Anyway, I was on the spot and needed the AC fixed. After these two items were changed out, the technician said there was another part damaged that needed to be replaced which was a delay relay switch. He quoted me $335 to replace this part and said he had tested everything else at the thermostat, attic and outside unit and this was the only thing left that needed replacing. After looking at the relay in the unit, I could not see how it would cost $335 to replace, so I declined. I went to Trane Parts Dept in Harahan and they ordered the part for me. The part came in Monday 6/20. It took me less than 5 minutes to install the part. That equates to about $70 per minute labor based on the estimate from Lightning Service Inc. After installing the part, the AC unit still would not kick on. I called Lightning Service Inc. and was asked why I didn't allow the technician to install the part and explained that I felt a 1000% mark up was not right. After that I received a call from the service manager/owner Barry and he said that he would come out the next morning and diagnose the problem for no charge. I met him at the house about 9:30 on Tuesday 6/21. He did an initial check of the electronics on the outside unit and then went and got his pressure gauges from the truck. After hooking the pressure gauges up he said that the unit did not have freon in it. I asked him why his technician did not do the same diagnostic that he did and he said he couldn't answer that and would have to ask him and would ask him why. Barry then said that there could be a possibility that someone was inhaling freon or the unit had a leak. After he left I immediately called Gulf Coast Refrigeration and at about 3:00 they came out. I watched him hook his gauges up to the unit and there was no freon in the unit as Barry from Lightning service stated after his technician had misdiagnosed the problem. He hooked a nitrogen tank up to the unit and sprayed all of the brass fittings with a gel to detect leaks. The leak was traced to a valve attached to the compressor. I saw and heard it with my own eyes and ears as the nitrogen was pouring out of the fitting and this was in fact the source of the problem which causes the low pressure sensor to keep the unit from turning on. Bottom line Gulf Coast Refrigeration properly diagnosed the problem and fixed it immediately after getting the replacement parts. Never once did Barry offer to make it right after his technician with 20 years experience mis diagnosed the problem. Never once on 6/17 did the technician use his gauges to test the system freon. Instead Barry just told me that he wasn't sure why his technician didn't follow the same protocol that he did. He just said that he would have to ask him. I am so glad that I did not pay them an extra $335 to change a relay delay switch that was not bad in the first place and was changed out in 5 minutes for less than $35 part and shipping price. The honorable thing for Barry to do would have been to make it right after his technicians incompetence. He did not offer to do that! A fleet of red trucks, uniforms and an Old Metairie business address does not make a company a good one or honorable one. It just makes them expensive. I don't care how long they have been in business. If you want an honorable company that will shoot you straight, have fair prices and fix your problem contact Gulf Coast Refrigeration. I am not the type of person that would do something like a negative review like this EVER but unfortunately I saw this unfold and feel that this was such a rip off that I feel obligated to write a review such as this. I am only stating the facts exactly as I experienced them. I hope this helps someone else from being scammed such as I was!

Pleasant young man came out and performed what was needed. More updating was needed. He returned and added what was requested. Have use this company for many years because the work was high quality.

Terrible,I called the supervisor and was told in no uncertain language that their " policy" of not calling in for parts under warranty was true.Basically,they did what they wanted to do,charged me, and " tough luck".The sad thing is that this cost them another company getting a generator,new compressor and amperage upgrade for our home.Another company got $20,000 in work over $500.00. Not a smart business move.I hope the owner pays attention to this complaint.

Attic vent fan motor needed to be replaced. New motor was louder than old one. Nothing was wrong with it, but since we weren't happy with it, Lightning Service gave us a reduced price on a solar fan. We have used this company many times in the past. They are very good, but their prices are quite high.

Bid for generator install was way too high

July 14, 2014 My 20+ year old A/C system in an old 1940 house I recently moved into stopped working. I think the condenser fan motor stopped working. This happened late at night. Lightning advertises that technicians are on call 24/7 for emergency services and I have to say that in 2010, they did that for me when my heater stopped working, they came out at night and fixed it , great service but the last 2 times I called them in 2014 in the evening, the answer service (live person) takes your name/number but they will not come out at night any more. Anyway, they did come out the next morning and it would have cost about $500 to fix the old unit but I decided to purchase a new unit figuring it would keep breaking due to its age and I have several pet rescues that I do not want to risk having them swelter in a hot house while I am at work. The sales person that came out is thankfully no longer with this company. He was like a used car salesman and said I could get a $10K Lennox system which would be a piece of cr@p OR I could get a $25K system with solar panels and get a 15K rebate from the government the next year. I asked him if he would lend me the extra 15K and he said he did not have that to lend and I said I do not have that to spend and we agreed on the Lennox (which is a fine system by the way). That sales guy is no longer there and I hear that another sales person they have (Paul) is reported to be excellent. They charged me $9034.00 to remove the old system and install the new system. They charged an additional $400.00 for a steel stand so I could have it raised off the ground. I debated with the sales guy for a good bit and he finally agreed to include 1 year of maintenance on the new system and the system came with 1 year labor and 5 years of parts. October 2, 2014 - Less than 3 months later (this week) my $9434.00 system stops working at 9pm at night. I call the 24/7 for emergency services number and the answering service pretty much indicated she would send the message but could not tell me if anyone would call me back. I said to tell them to call me in the morning. They open at 7:30am. I called the next morning and they agreed to come out between 10am-12pm. The service technician arrived around 10:30am. All good. Their service technicians are always excellent. The issue AND LEARN FROM ME ON THIS MATTER -- is that when they took my old system out, they left the old PVC pipe that was attached to the old system in the attic from the drain pan area to the side wall where it drains outside the house. That old PVC pipe was clogged up and full of crud so the sensor on the new system turned the unit off automatically. SO IF YOU BUY A NEW SYSTEM FROM THIS COMPANY, REMEMBER TO ASK THEM TO REPLACE ANY OLD PVC DRAIN PIPING. Because.... if you do not, your $9434.00 dollar system will cost you an EXTRA $500 to run new PVC pipe from the new unit to the side wall to drain. I wish I was smart enough to think of that at time of purchase but after spending the night in 88 degrees in your house hoping the floor fans are keeping your pet rescue dogs somewhat comfortable, you are so excited to get AIR, you are not evaluating the situation with a rested mind. To be FAIR, they would have blown the lines out for free but they were so full of crud, I figured I should take the financial hit (as punishment for being so stupid) and have the entire system set up in the most optimal manner. IN SUMMARY -- I definitely think their service technicians are THE BEST ..... but when making large purchase decisions on your own, get your brother, dad, neighbor, someone with some knowledge of A/C units to help you --- so they can help you figure out what should be included/evaluated during the install and get several quotes. The problem is that when its 88 degrees outside and you have several pet rescues in the house and you cannot take off of work to get a bunch of quotes, you are not well positioned to take a week to figure this out and they know you want that AIR working right now while they are there because no one is coming out at night or on the weekend to fix your A/C.... so if you need something repaired, I would say call them - you will get good repair service. If you are making an expensive A/C purchase, get someone to come help you talk with them and remember to request new PVC pipe for draining with your new A/C system, even if it is an up-charge at time of install. They will likely charge you less as part of the install rather than an a-la-carte charge at a later date because then they have to charge you for the service call. I would also highly recommend getting a window unit installed in one bedroom in your house too (very inexpensive on walmart.com) because if your A/C system breaks at night, no one is coming out and you will be so grateful to have one cool room to stay in (and your pets will be grateful too) until the next morning as you wait for a technician to arrive to make repairs - especially if you do not have the luxury of just taking off of work as needed. You may have to wait a few days to take off work so I think it is worth the investment to have at least one room in your house with an installed window unit. Hear me now and believe me later! Now that my 3 month old A/C system is working again ..... I am pleased with my new system.

It was okay, I probably wouldn't use them in the future.

The tech was very nice. I felt bad because I am sure that he was only following Lightning Services orders. Estimate to wire and install 2 ceiling lights was over $800.00. We felt as though that was entirely too high. Just to run 1 wire the charge was $275.36 less the $200.00 Angies list discount, then I was charged a $99.00 service fee but they took part of that off I wrote a check for$ 120.36. I WOULD CERTAINLY NEVER USE THIS PROVIDER AGAIN NOR WOULD I SUGGEST THEM TO ANYONE THAT I KNOW.

Way overpriced. The original problems that I called this company for were not fixed and they created additional problems and charged me for them.

Performed the work very professionally.

I bought a "the big deal" on Angie's List, $111 for $200 worth of electrical work on 14 March and indicated some dates that were good for me to get the work done. I did not hear from Lightning Services after the purchase. Angie's List emailed me asking if I had been contacted by the provider on 26 March. I emailed back that I had not been. I finally called Lightning Services on 28 March and talked over the situation with the representative, Destiny. She asked if she could try to track down what happened and called back within minutes asking if they could have someone over that day. Roy came by about 30 minutes later, diagnosed that I needed a new Ground Fault Indicator and made an estimate. I agreed to the work and he switched the GFI out and replaced a cracked outlet. Somewhere along the line they didn't seem to know that I bought this particular deal. I don't know if that was Angie's List or Lightning Services' fault, so I can't dock them too much. Other than this miscommunication by or with the provider, the work was fully satisfactory, I'd use them again, and the value for me through this deal was outstanding.

I had two outside lights that weren't working. He hung them up, and in the kitchen under my stove I two hanging wires. I also had 3 outlets that weren't working and he said they were working but the outlets still aren't working. It ended up costing way more than I'd expected.

It was fine. The gentleman came on time. He was very professional and went right about doing what he needed to do. I thought the cost for the job was quite expensive. The electrician was very nice, knowledgeable, and I was pleased in every way. He got the job done in about 2 hours, but he did have to leave to go and get some parts during that time.

It went okay. They're really great for what they did but they're expensive.

It was fine. They came out and did the business. It cost me more than I thought it would be but it was fine. They are very professional and all the prices are documented and recorded ahead of time.

I purchased this deal in hopes of getting multiple things in my old house fixed. We had an issue with power surges and things that were plugged into our outlets were frying. We also wanted to wire and install two fans in our living room. My husband was the one that stayed home and met the tech at inspection. He said that the tech was very professional, succinct, thorough and efficient. We were however, not prepared for the cost of two fan installs. Two wire and install 2 fans would have cost us $1,700. We decided to just focus on solving the surge issue and the tech suggested that we purchase the whole home surge protector. I am happy with the quality of service, I just wish we could have afforded to add the fans. We just didn't see the ROI on it. Thanks

The service was fine. I found it ridiculously expensive. It was $350 just to swap out a light and I thought that was just ridiculous. If I hadn’t had that coupon that saved me a $100 and I think $250 is high for that. I was very happy with the work. The technician obviously knew what he was doing. He was friendly and easy to work with. I had no problem with the service, it was just the cost. The work came out fine and my interaction with them was good.

It went extremely well. The serviceman, Roy Kraemer, obviously loves his job. He arrived on time, after a verification phone call from the home office. After reviewing the work that I wanted, he wrote up an estimate and got my approval. I had purchased all of the switches and the fan earlier. He was able to install all of them without turning off the power. He disposed of all of the debris and old fixtures without my aid. He also replaced an outdoor light bulb that I had been unable to loose out of its fixture. He was finished after approximate 1.5 hours.

It was fine. I called them and scheduled an appointment. They came out, did the work, and everything was fine. They were competent and punctual. They realize the problem quickly and corrected it.

Everything went well. Roy was punctual and very professional. He explained everything in detail and offered suggestions to my other electrical problems. I'm very satisfied and plan on using this company again. Thank you Roy and Lighting Service, Inc.

I was charged a service fee of $84 dollars, and the estimate he gave me for the work was about $1376. I was quoted by 2 other companies and they told me it was about $375 worth of work. He was very nice and very personable, but it was very sales-y. I felt kind of taken advantage of and that he was also taking advantage of Angie's List.

After I purchased the deal, they should have contacted me, they did not. So I called them and set up the date of service. I took off from work to get this done, because they told me that all work had to be complete during the week, no weekend work. Took off Monday, no one came or called. I called them and was told that the tech was busy and could not make my job that day. I told them that I had taken off work, so because they missed, we needed to do the job on the weekend to prevent me from missing any more work. She told me that only a supervisor could approve that and that she would call me the next morning. Once again, no one called. So I called them and I was now told that they had no record of my job or that I had called the day before. Now they were saying that I was not in the system. They are losers. They seem not to really want to do the job. I guess that they did not see where they would make a lot of money doing these little jobs. But for the record, I did not sell the job to Angie's List, they did. I would stay clear of them, if you can not do the little jobs, how will you do the big ones.