Certified Electrical Technologies

The rep arrived, installed the protector, checked my alarms and some problem outlets, and explained the process and costs in upgrading to a new fuse box and fixing the problem outlets. It was very useful and informtive session. Moreover, due to a mixup I was charged more than originally intended, but when I discovered the error, Certified immediately corrected it and charged me the agreed upon amount, even though that amount had actually been less than the Big Deal I had purchased. They were responsive and helpful.

I purchased an Angie's' List Deal for 2 hours of electrical work. It took 2 calls and over a month of waiting for them to be ready to come over. Apparently that was a popular deal. I talked about the project with the owner and he expected 3 or 4 hours of work. The electrician showed up on time. He was competent and was able to finish the work in just under 2 hours. So I was not charged any extra labor fee. They charged me for the parts and their prices were very reasonable. Competent and fair price. I would use them again.

Rick from CEI came over several times to the house we had just bought. The house was old and had out-dated electricals (100 amps, 2 prong outlets, corroded panel box) and fire hazard where the incoming powerline was wrapped in tape(!). They came all-day to do heavy up, next day to replace almost every single switch/outlet in the house, another day 2 weeks later to add a separate circuit for washer/dryer, and once more to do post-inspection work recommended by MoCo inspector. Rick recommended a surge protection addition to the electrical panel as well (CEI will replace the unit for free if it's used up). Gary was responsive at all hours of the day/night by email, and the electrician Rick was a champ, dedicated, and stayed till the job was done, flexible about ad-hoc requests we added (hallway and basement lights replacement), and worked around our kitchen contractor during renovation. They were a bit more expensive than the other quotes I've gotten, but not outrageously higher. Only part that didn't go smoothly was that it took couple of weeks to schedule the inspection after the heavy up, but that was partly due to the kitchen renovation we were doing at the same time. Overall, CEI did a great job, and we recommend them, especially Rick.

The technician, Rob, was efficient and knowledgeable. He explained what needed to be done and how it worked in a simple and clear way. He was also very helpful in giving me advice about some future projects. I will definitely use Certified Electrical Technologies in the future.

The electrician made sure to wipe his shoes when he came in and asked to see specifically what I wanted done. He checked the plugs and switches I had purchased, then went quickly to work. He worked quickly with assurance, then he picked up the residue from each work area.

Although it took a while to set up the appointment, it actually all went very well. Installer came at prescribed time, was courteous and prepared. Promptly installed the fan/light and even had an extra light switch since I had purchased the wrong one.

After reading all of their excellent reviews on Angie's List, I decided to purchase one of their two hour package deals. I made my first call to schedule an appointment and was told due to the overwhelming response to this promotion, Gary would have to call me back the next day to schedule an appointment. Four days later, since Gary never called, I called again. Again I was told about the popularity of this package and someone would call me back in 3 days. The woman that answered the phone would not even take down the information of what I wanted done. I was assured they already had the information that I gave them the first time, although she did not have it in front of her. Sixteen days after my initial phone call, since no one wanted to call me back, I called a third time and had to be a bit firm about getting an appointment. During this conversation, I asked them about what would happen if we did not use the full two hours. I was told that I could use it later as long as the deal has not expired. In an effort to be fair to them, it did state in the deal that it was for two consecutive hours. I did not remember seeing that. Having said that, when I asked said question, the answer should have been the same. It wasn't. On date of the appointment, I did get the reminder phone call and the technician did show up on time. He completed the work under just an hour. To my surprise, my invoice says one and a half hours of service. When I inquired about the difference in time, it was explained to me that the extra 30 minutes included travel time. The package does not state travel time is included in the two hours. In discussing the last 30 minutes of the package with the technician, I was again told I could use this time at a later date. The later date has arrived and in my attempt to use my last 30 minutes, I was made aware that I could not use it. Apparently it doesn't matter what was said to me repeatedly by their employees, as they do not intend to honor it. So given that it took 16 days to get an appointment and they have not intention of honoring a verbal commitment, it further proves to me their lack of good customer service. Now that I wanted them to come back out for additional work, the 30 minutes would have covered travel time only, all work performed would have been strictly revenue at this point. (Given the next job would have been a two man job for them, it would have been double.) I prefer to give my money to businesses with good customer service and no frustration. In my opinion, it would have been in their best interest to concede on the 30 minutes and get the job. Oh well, customer is not always right. After posting my review, I was contacted by a representative from the company. The representative provided information regarding the circumstances that played a role in the experience I had. A full refund was offered. However, I only accepted a refund of one half of the price paid given that one half of the work time was provided. While my initial experience would not have inspired me to recommend this company to others, in my opinion, the company?s follow up does demonstrate an awareness of the importance of providing quality customer service. This company should invest more time and energy in ensuring all of their personnel are thoroughly trained in the parameters of the AL program and how to communicate them to customers. To the customer miscommunication and lack of integrity looks and sounds the same in the middle of a dispute.

The work required two visits, owing to a malfunction in the switch for the exterior, heat sensitive, programmable light. The light would not turn on though it had worked when first installed by the Certified technician. Somehow subsequent work he did on wiring in the kitchen related to the exterior light switch caused a problem, which became evident after the technician had left when the light wouldn't turn on. After several calls to Certified and a letter that I sent explaining the problem, a second visit was scheduled at no charge to me, consistent with the company's guarantee policy. The same technician returned and corrected the problem. The company asked that prior to the second visit I buy a second exterior light in case the problem was traced to a malfunctioning light rather than its installation. I did so and later returned the back up light, unopened, to Home Depot. I chalk up this installation glitch to the advanced age of my home's interior wiring, which has become brittle and in places faded making it difficult to identify the various wires. I have no quarrels at all with Certified, who stood by their guarantee and who provided excellent service.

Completed work on each of our problems with accuracy and efficiency

Overall, our experience with CET was disappointing due to very poor and disrespectful customer service provided by Gary, the manager at the central office. Our experience with the technician who worked on our house, Ric, was fine. We would not recommend CET. After purchasing a Big Deal for two hours of work with CET, I scheduled an appointment on the phone with Gary to take care of some items that had been identified during our home inspection (we purchased a home built in 1923 in December - the inspector identified the need for a heavy up, closing open junction boxes, and upgrading outlets). Ric arrived early and spent several hours at the house looking at the electrical board and existing circuitry / wiring. At the end of this visit, he provided a comprehensive recommendation to begin work on the heavy up, rationalizing that it didn't make a lot of sense to fix minor aspects of our system while there was some major work to do. We agreed, and so set a time two weeks out for the heavy up. Ric gave me a job invoice that day describing his recommendation and also included a price of $125, which was equivalent to the Big Deal. Ric left, and I called him shortly after to 1. request a written proposal and price estimate, and 2. confirm that we would be credited with the two hours of labor toward the heavy up since no work had actually be done that day of his visit. He agreed to both. The week before we were scheduled for the heavy up, we had not received any written proposal from CET and had also received a couple of referrals from friends, so got some additional estimates. I called CET to request the written proposal for a second time and explained to Gary that I had made the request a week prior but had not received anything. Gary said he would get me a proposal, and also asked me "to be sure to let them know as soon as possible if we were going to cancel our appointment," as they schedule personnel and procure supplies in advance. I assured him that we would give the required notice if we decided to cancel the appointment, but thought it was overly aggressive of a firm courting our business to make demands of future customers. Gary sent the comprehensive written proposal, which reflected Ric's verbal proposal, and we committed to the work / appointment. Gary notified us that we were scheduled to begin work on a Saturday and to continue the work on the following Monday. Ric showed up on the Saturday and spent approximately 15 minutes at the house. For unrelated reasons, we had torn down some of the dry wall and ceiling in our basement, so Ric did not have to do any prep work for the heavy up and so left for the day, noting that he might come back and drop off supplies later after going to other appointments (he never did). On Monday, Ric and his co-worker arrived on time for the appointment for the heavy up. During the course of the day, Ric identified some original-to-the-house knob and tube wiring, which took some time away from the original scope of work. The team did not finish the work in the original scope that day. We were not able to schedule an appointment with Ric to complete the original scope until several days later, and to his credit he came after 5 PM on his own time to complete the work. It was frustrating that CET 1. did not actually have us scheduled for a full day of work on Saturday (we had cleared our calendars based on Gary's confirmation), and 2. did not have an apparent system in place to shift schedules so work can be completed in a reasonable time frame. After Ric's second visit, we scheduled another appointment with him two weeks out from that date with a new scope of work to replace the knob and tube wiring, figuring that we had invested in the effort and so should finish it up. In the meantime, we had a kitchen renovation that was ongoing, and our contractor did not want to begin work until the inspection for the heavy up was completed. Ric had communicated that as soon as the heavy up was complete, CET would call in the request for the inspection. A couple of days prior to the start of the kitchen work we called CET to check on the status of the inspection (it had been approximately two weeks since the heavy up was done). My spouse spoke with Gary about the inspection, and he informed her that the inspection would not be called in until after all of the work at our house was complete, including the new re-wiring work that we had requested. This was contrary to the guidance we had been given by Ric, and we considered the re-wiring work to be a second scope. Moreover, we were a bit frustrated by the lack of communication from CET, particularly when we had a kitchen renovation pending (which had been communicated several times to Ric, who spoke with our contractor directly). Gary responded very aggressively, at one point saying to my spouse "You are a liar, and you and I both know it," after she asked him to pull up the permit and original estimate to determine what work the permit was pulled for. When she asked him to do this, he also said, "I don't want to because I don't feel like it." We were flabbergasted by his behavior and had never been treated so poorly. Based on his response, we can only surmise that Gary felt we were trying to get out of the second scope of work by calling in the inspection before the work was completed - whereas in actuality, we were trying to hire them for additional work! Eventually Gary must have realized that the permit was not pulled for rewiring, and his tone changed completely during the course of the conversation. He scheduled an appointment for the next day with an inspector and emailed us shortly after to offer two free hours of labor. After this poor treatment, we canceled the appointment for the following week for re-wiring. I just couldn't stomach paying this company an additional $1,500 or so after being treated that way. CET contacted us immediately and notified us that we would owe them a cancellation fee because we did not cancel with 24 business hours in advance. I notified them that they lost the appointment due to their poor customer service, and that in no way would we pay a fee. They never followed up on this. They did, however, schedule an inspection. The inspector came and the heavy up failed the inspection because CET did not have a copy of the permit on the electrical board / onsite and because the external line was not secured sufficiently to the side of the house. I had taken a day off of work to be home for the inspection, so this was frustrating. However, Ric came out that day and fixed the issue with securing the line, and Gary responded by email to re-schedule the inspection, which passed the second time (but which required my spouse to stay home on a second day). After 3 - 4 weeks, PEPCO had not yet hooked up the new connection, and I emailed Gary, who responded right away with a phone number to call. I called, left a message, and PEPCO called back that day to confirm that they would hook up the new connection the next day, which they did. Again, CET had put the burden of ensuring that the heavy up hook up was complete on us, just as they seemingly had with the inspection. It's not clear why all it took was a phone call from me to get it done, and why CET would not take responsibility for that when they had the contact information. We're very reasonable people, and we understand that miscommunication and scheduling conflicts can happen. However, our experience with CET was completely aggravated by the company's blatant disregard for our concerns and scheduling needs, particularly on the inspection and kitchen renovation timeline. Moreover, the language and tone used by Gary was exceedingly disrespectful and completely unprofessional. Shocking, in fact. At no point in this month long exchange did CET proactively take responsibility for miscommunication that was a result of poor planning, scheduling, and follow up between its field staff (electricians) and home office, which is responsible for inspections, etc. In my opinion it is an organizational and functional inefficiency that they have different parties involved in the same aspects of customer service, but these parties clearly don't communicate well. Unfortunately, instead of taking the opportunity to hear more of what customers want / need, CET took a stance that was antagonistic and unresponsive, and ultimately not customer friendly, which was quite surprising given that we spent over $3,500 on their services and had been in the process of trying to hire them for a second round of work before we had to walk away. Needless to say, we would never consider using them again. The work was fine, but the customer service is nonexistent.

Our experience with Certified Electrical Technologies was great from start to finish and we will be using them again in the future for our electrical needs. We bought an Angie?s List coupon for two hours of electrical work ($125.00) and when we called Dustin to set up our appointment we asked for an estimate of how much they thought they could get done in that time. Dustin felt that they could get to all most if not all of the priority jobs we mentioned. He was professional and patient with us as we called back several more times to re-prioritize our list, find out how much it would cost if it went over the 2 hours, etc. On the day of our appointment, the electrician (Alan) called us 20 minutes out to let us know he was on his way. He arrived right around when he said he would and after a quick rundown of the work to be done he got right to work. Alan was a machine and worked steadily for the two hours and was able to get everything done in that time. We had been a little concerned that with a two hour deal, there may not have been a sense of urgency with the electrician, but I actually think Alan was more invested in getting it all done in the allowed time than we were! We were so impressed with his efficiency and the quality of his work that we extended him at the regular rate ($125.00 for all of the extra time) to knock out a couple more things from our list. Worth every penny! The whole time Alan was polite, professional, and very understanding of our hyper dog who was barking her head off. We have a couple of additional electrical jobs that were a lower priority and are probably a little more time consuming, but as soon as we have the money to get the work done we will be scheduling our next appointment with Certified Electrical Technologies. Would absolutely recommend the company to friends and family and look forward to using them again ourselves soon.

Great experience. In advance of the appointment the company manager asked for a list of , the items we needed to have fixed so that the company could make sure the electrician had all the equipment he might need upon arrival. This was a first, and a good indication of this companies professionalism. Alan arrived on time and was friendly . He was completely knowledgeable and quickly located the source of problems and quickly fixed them. He had puzzles to solve, and that he did. He got straight to work! My husband and I both liked Alan and his professionalism. We would hire this company again, and will certainly recommend Certified Electrical Technologies again and their electrician Alan. \.

He found that the wiring needed to be fixed for the outside light. We were quite pleased with him, he was such a nice guy.

The technician was punctual, extremely efficient, knowledgeable, and friendly. We will definitely be using Certified Electrical Technologies in the future.

I paid $125 for 2 hours of electrical work from this company through "The Big Deal". The work was supposed to be quite easy, installing three recess light in the totally unfinished area of our basement. I bought all the materials that will be needed for this project except the wires (installing three recess light on beams in our basement). On the day of the installation, the electrician came about one hour later than the scheduled arrival time, however he called to say he was running late. He proceeded to go to the location and he immediately began telling me how difficult it will be to run the wires (the home fuse box was about two feet away from the third location of the recess light in this totally unfinished basement). He claimed it will take over two hours. I agreed and also needed to replace two wall switches with new once I bought. He claimed that additional work would run over one hour at $90.00 per hour (change out two light switches???). At the end, one of the replaced switches did not work and he gave several reasomns why it would'nt work. The additional cost for this less than satisfactory service was $30.45 for wires plus the hourly charge of $90.00. I had to call in my regular and reliable electrician [NJ Electrical Services]. Richard from NJ Electrical Services came the following weekend and within a short time fixed the problem and completed a few other electrical tasks at an additional cost of $150.00. Richard wondered why I did not call them in the first place ......"The Big Deal". Safe to say, I will not use the "Big Deal' to complete any more project in my home. Just the good old fashioned search in Angies List which has worked for me multiple times. Less than satisfied customer, Potomac, MD

Good experience overall, called and spoke to Dustin who was able to determine what I needed done from my descriptions, got an appointment within a week. Danny arrived in the 8-12 window provided, was personable and got down to business, getting everything done in a reasonable time. Labor was $45 per half hour, so with coupon I felt this was a good deal and I got a number of projects taken care of. Will call them when I have the next projects ready to go.

I was very pleased and plan to use them again. Got the big deal of 2 hrs for $125.00 Got an immediate call back from scheduler after sending email. Appointment set and electrician called prior to arriving to let me know he was on the way. He worked efficiently, cleaned up after himself, and answered a couple of questions I had on some other work I want done. I will definitely use them again.

I was told that to come out and give an estimate would require a minimum 1 hour charge of $125. No one else I called charges for estimates. In order to evaluate a fair price on a large job I feel it's important to get 3-4 estimates. I'm not comfortable paying over $100 just to get an estimate.

The Certified Electric dispatch/office staff were very professional, sending an appointment reminder card prior to both visits. They responded quickly to my estimate request and even sent a follow-up thank you note. Alan, the technician, was on time for both appointments, very professional and courteous, performing the tasks quickly, efficiently and accurately. He also took time to answer questions about possible future work, and went out of his way to accommodate. I would highly recommend him and Certified Electric, and will definitely use them again in the future.

Overall, it was a great experience. The electrician was prompt, professional and informative. I did not have any power in my bedroom and the electrician informed me it was because of a bad outlet and some loose wiring on the devices. He replaced one switch and three outlets, which I already had on hand. This was the second time I have used this company and they were great both times.

We used an Angie's List deal and had to pay for some material (junction box). We were very pleased with the quality of Certified Electrical Technologies (Dave). They originally only thought that they would be able to do one of the two jobs completed, but Dave was effecient and completed the first one in a little over an hour, and was able to move the DR light as well. They rocked...courteous, professional, and a good job of cleaning up after the work. The only part that they don't deal with is any holes they create in the drywall/ceiling to run wires. Thanks...Mark

For years, I have been meaning to install an outlet along this wall in the foyer since the table lamp has been connected to an extension cord running into an adjacent coat closet light plug. I purchased the Angie's List "Big Deal" with CET based on the positive company's reviews. I scheduled the appointment on-line and received a timely call from the company to schedule an appointment. In addition, I received a follow-up post card confirming the appointment. Rob, the technician, assigned to my job, called the morning of the appointment to let me know that he was on the way and his ETA. Rob was both polite and professional and didn't seem to mind me hanging around to watch - since this was a job I have been putting off doing myself. Rob completed fishing the wire through the wall and ceiling and installing the plug in about an hour. Even though I had two hours of labor on the "special", I couldn't be happier. He did take time to answer some of my questions about future work and took a look at a family room circuit for me. I highly recommend CET and will use them again and, hopefully, Rob will be available.

The price was great because I used an Angie's list Big Deal. This company normally charges by the hour. For straight forward jobs I would definitely use this company (especially their fantastic electrician Eric Carlton). For more complicated jobs then you might want to get 3 quotes or use a company such as J&G Electric who charge by the job.

had to run wiring in attic and through kitchen wall. did all work within expected time period

Certified Electric's technician showed up for my appointment right on schedule. I took him to the master bedroom and explained to him how suddenly that only one outlet had stopped working. Within a minute the technician noticed that a wall switch had been mistakenly turned off as it only controls that electrical outlet. Once he turned the wall switch on "SHAZAAM" everything's working connected to that outlet and everythings back to normal. Yeah...a little embarrassing to say the least. Although the technician was very reluctant to charge me for my own oversight I was billed approximately $125.00. I didn"t have a real concern with the charge as the initial problem was corrected and I'm in the service industry myself and can understand any time and fuel related cost just to make the appointment. Would I have accepted a $0 charge, absolutely but that wasn't presented. I had the technician while still there to provide me additional estimates to have a celing track light in the loft area of my master bedroom and a wall sconce in the lower level installed. The technician estimated it would take him a couple of hours labor to wire and install both lights and the charges would be around $250.00. After the technician left I called the main office and set up another appointment to have both lights installed. On the day of the appointment the same technician as I had requested showed up right on schedule and started right away on the work to be done. The tech was very friendly and personable just as he'd been on the first visit. I got to see for the first time his degree of skill level as both installs weren't a snap to do basically due to the home builders method of non-standard wall stud configurations. At any rate the technician showed excellent skill level and resourcefulness to complete both jobs. The finish product looked exactly as it should've "Professionally Done". The technician even took care of another problem that I had created with a single pole switch that he didn't charge for correcting it. I was charged approximately $374.00 for wiring and installing both lights and while that was a bit higher than the earlier estimate I understood there were a few hidden challenges that could not have been forseen with the first estimate. At the end of the day I feel if I or any of my friends ever need any electrical related repairs made Certified Electrical Technologies will be our only call. Thanks again C.E.T. you truly provided great service.