Voltman Electric

Hired Dustin following an inquiry through Angie’s List to repair a recessed light that wasn’t working. He fixed the light, and knowing we were getting the place ready to sell, he offered to look around to see if there were any other electrical issues that we might want to resolve before a home inspection. He then said the smoke detector wasn’t compliant with a 2018 Maryland law that requires smoke detectors to be hardwired and include a sealed 10-yr lithium battery. He offered to go buy a compliant detector and install it the next day. As promised, he came back the next day with a new detector and installed it, and said he’d send me a receipt by email. Fast forward to the home inspection and the home inspector said the smoke detector was not compliant because it contains a 9-volt battery and the buyers want a new one installed. I contacted Dustin about the receipt and told him what the inspector said. Told him the realtor said we need the receipt and his statement that he installed a smoke detector compliant with the 2018 Maryland law. I truly believed that Dustin would not risk his reputation and that of his business by purposefully installing a noncompliant detector and that the home inspector hadn’t really checked the detector. Dustin told me the smoke detector was compliant and he would get me the receipt. Five weeks later and after a number of text and email exchanges with Dustin, I was still waiting for the receipt. Not wanting to risk losing the sale, I finally decided I had no other choice but to go purchase another smoke detector and hire another electrician I had previously found through Angie’s List. His guys came out yesterday and took down the detector installed by Dustin on January 29, 2020. Unbelievably, they showed me that the new, supposedly compliant smoke detector put up by Dustin of Voltman was NOT compliant because it contained a 9-volt battery. A project that should have cost about $200 caused me a lot of headache and about $400. It’s extremely disappointing that there are contractors out there who can so easily rip people off. I could give Dustin the benefit of the doubt that perhaps he was tired after a long day (it was around 7 pm when he installed the detector) and he innocently picked up the wrong detector, but since he had weeks to make this right before I had to spend more time and money, I think any trust or belief in him would be misplaced