Beacon Home Services, Inc.

Smoothly

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First, an appointment was scheduled for an estimator to come out and look at the job.  It turned out he was one of the electricians who had installed four pot lights in my living room two months earlier.  That Big Deal came with a whole house electrical inspection, and one of the questions I asked at the time was how much it would cost to upgrade my electric panel.  When I saw this Big Deal, I thought that it made sense to get it done for about 55% of the price he told me it would run (the price he told me virtually matched the value of the upgrade listed in the Big Deal).  When he arrived, looked at it again and then sat down to cost it out, imagine my surprise when the "extra" costs made the job nearly twice as expensive (or, the same price I was orignally told two months before!).  There were no "savings."  He felt bad about it, and he took off $100, but that didn't make a dent in the cost.  His boss called me shortly thereafter and took off another $200, but again, the $300 was insignificant to the total cost.  I went ahead with the project because I had already paid for half of it, but I was bitterly disappointed that the advertizsed price didn't come close to the "real" price.  I find it hard to imagine what house would fit their narrow requirements for not incurring extra costs, and if such a house existed, it wouldn't need an upgrade!  The next problem I encountered with them is that on the day the work was scheduled, one electrician arrived--promptly--and worked at my house alone from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and still was unable to finish the job.  Clearly, this big a job needs two elecricians, not one, and it made me feel like I was being short changed because I complained about the cost, or because I used a coupon.  The electrician was very nice, and very accomodating, but he shouldn't have been sent on a 12-hour+ job alone, and the company should have informed me that it was going to go beyond the regular work day.  I answered that I would use them again, but I only selected that because "maybe" was not an option.  I would have to think long and hard about whether I could afford their services because the coupon does not represent the real cost, and isn't even close.  The electrician is returning to complete the job--another two hours of work I will miss--in about another week.  They tried to reschedule the third appointment quickly, which I have to give them some credit for, but I will need to take off yet a third day for that appointment, and a fourth day for the inspection.  Not knowing the time commitment up front is frustrating and affects the value.

No problems scheduling.  The owner initially responded.  The company kept the dispatcher informed to the minute.  I received updates on arrival times.  He was professional and cordial identified some issues right away.  We scheduled a second visit to order parts and have the technician return for the repairs.  After receiving the quote for light installation we did not pursue that service.  On the second visit the technician was prompt and knowledgeable.  They did not try to sell me on unnecessary repairs.  However, they did make recommendation on things I could do to prevent future problems. 

I first contacted Beacon and talked to Dee in the office to inquire about the work to be done under a 'big deal' under Angie's List.  I wanted to include a whole hose surge protector and wanted to know about cost.  She suggested that someone come out for a no cost estimate which I agreed to.  Bob came to the house at the agreed upon time.  We looked at the exiting panel, discussed the work to be done and he explained the process in detail.  We covered all of my questions and Bob sent me the estimate via email.  We had gone over it in detail on his IPAD and I agreed to proceed.  He sent me the estimate by email.  When I went back to look at it later in the evening, I discovered that some pages were missing and I emailed him about it.  I did not hear back from him regarding that until he sent a follow up email confirming the date.  There was a bit of a lag there but I did get the other pages before any work began.  Everything was on the estimate as agreed.  On the scheduled day, Jessee, the electrician showed up to begin the work.  We walked through the planned work before he started.  Shortly there after, he called to check on the arrangements to have the power company and county inspector at the site.  Apparently there was an oversight in contacting the power company and we had to reschedule the work.  Jessee made sure that I received a credit against the bill for the inconvenience and we rescheduled.  Jessee came back at the appointed time. Both he and the power company rep were here about 20 minutes early.  From that point, things went smoothly.  Jessee did a great job.  He worked through from before 8 AM until almost 3 PM before he took a lunch break.  When he returned, the work was completed within a couple of hours.  He was very meticulous in his work and everything was as expected.  I gave a B for responsiveness based on the incident with the emailed estimate and the oversight with the power company  scheduling.  Other than that, I was very happy with the service and would recommend this company.

I found Beacon on an Angie's List Big Deal. They gave me no problems scheduling the work and they arrived on time; took a few minutes to figure out how the track lighting fixture worked and completed the job in about an hour. I asked them to install 2 other light fixtures outside and fortunately they were able to accommodate me. I would definitely use them again.

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Started with contact from Dee, who was wonderful in helping with scheduling and great about communicating any changes.  I find that any firm that has someone efficient, pleasant, and professional in that key position is off to a great start and Beacon has that in Dee.  Jesse, the electrician, called and asked if he could come earlier, which worked for us.  He kept us updated as he was understandably delayed on a Friday before a holiday weekend.  He was efficient and helpful, describing any issues he found (fortunately few) and also detailing his work.  Given we're in the storm season, I thought it was a good time to replace an old whole house surge protector, especially since the warranty for the new one through Beacon was good and it has an indicator light so we have a visual cue as to whether or not it is still working.  Jesse found the old one hadn't been wiring correctly.  He replaced some annoying switches the previous owner had put in and traced how some worked as well as replacing one outlet two outlets.  I am very glad that Angie's List and Beacon offered this opportunity to save on services that were needed and done very well.  Thank you!

We purchased recessed lights through one of Angie's List "deals" and this was the service provider.  When the company arrived, the lights we were shown to have purchased were sub-standard, so we paid additional money to upgrade.  In addition to the unexpected extra cost to upgrade to decent lights, we were informed that they would have to cut holes in the ceiling to install the wiring which would have to be patched and fixed by someone else as they were electricians, not contractors.  Since they were there and we had already paid, I proceeded with the install.  However, the "deal" ended up costing us over $400 more after paying for the "upgrade" and patching and painting repairs.  Lastly, since they were here, I had asked about fixing a loose plug upstairs.  They billed $50 to put in a longer screw, which I thought was unacceptable.  The owner said he would reimburse me a small amount, but he never did.

The worker showed up on time and installed the ceiling lights He completed job quickly and did a good job.