Beware Mister Sparky in Ocala
 

I had the worst experience ever with a contractor today, and my husband and I do renovation work—so it was really bad. Mister Sparky out of Ocala came to give me a quote on installing 5 can lights in a bedroom, replacing a can light with a pendant and adding a nearby sconce. First, he told me we needed a whole house surge protector. I hadn’t asked for that service. That was $7,000. I told him we already had that. Then he looked at one of our light switches and said the entire house needed all the switches replaced. Only $5,000. The house is 7 years old and there’s nothing wrong with the electrical. And if there is, we know how to change out a switch. To add can lights and the pendant? $3,700. I may be female and 64, but I am not stupid. Oh, and they sent me an invoice for $8.75 for truck supplies. Not sure what that might be. Please don’t contact them for ANY quotes.

Wow!
 

Hope you enjoyed a great laugh. Mister Sparky must have had one jolt too many. Thanks for the heads up.
As to the invoice, it could (if ignored) be a way to put a lean on your home or some other nefarious move. Sounds suspiciously crooked to me.

Riddle answer is ,"a person".

Sounds like (How's your)Aspen Dental. They find more things wrong that a "real" dentist just laughs at. Went for an emergency loose crown and they "found" like $4000 of work they said I should do (which I didn't do). Same thing with RotoRooter in NJ. All these franchise operations seem to be the same. I guess they have to cover their franchise fees so they always find a sucker. Tell Mr Sparky to stick his finger in the wall socket. Does have cute commercials though. :)

That is a shocking story for sure

Thanks for letting us know about your experience.
Just think how many people aren't as savvy as you and your husband and fall for some unscrupulous contractors.

I like when contractors come out and entertain me like that.... it's always good for a laugh...

I am always disgusted by stories about anyone making their life work to prey on seniors. What's wrong with these people.

I sure hope you notified the state's attorney.

nothing new. the people in the village are screwed over by most contractors.. retired, old, and have money the perfect combo for getting screwed over..

Did they also quote a Flux Capacitor?

[QUOTE=frose;2047781]nothing new. the people in the village are screwed over by most contractors.. retired, old, and have money the perfect combo for getting screwed over..[/QUOTE

We frequently see negative reviews on TOTV that are no doubt justified but the real question in my mind is, Why didn’t you search TOTV before you called the contractor/tradesman? Over the years many people have asked for recommendations for plumbers, electricians and other trades people, and a simple search here would have helped them avoid a bad experience.

Good electricians, plumbers, and other skilled technicians don't need to pay a franchiser to advertise for them or to get business. The business comes to them by word of mouth. I would never call a franchise business for that type of work.

i do all my own repairs so I don't have to deal with these contractors.. I listen to people all the time relate horror stories about the way they were taken advantage of.. I really feel for them but will not interfere.

The numbers I will give you are astounding, 20 plus years ago we moved in a central Florida into a senior community and of course the air conditioning stopped one week after we bought the house July 4th we started calling around for new air conditioning units and even back then one of the biggest with over 100 plus vehicles servicing the area tried to quote me over $10,000 for a 3-ton unit, I laughed at the guy as I knew for a fact back then the going price was 3 to 4,000. I won't mention the name but he claims to be the biggest in Florida

There are three or four areas in your home that are ripe for ripoff artists, air conditioning, water purification, painting, and electrical. On the other hand you should be aware that are so there are some wonderful contracting companies here like the DeSantis air, Munns air, McHale's roofing, Kiley and sons plumbing, dunstans plumbing and some really good handyman/woman that do minor repairs as well as things like painting and door hanging,
I'd also mention for lawn treatments and termites Deans and Massey and sons. Your mileage may vary, but I found that they are always fair and reasonable, one or two service people may be off one day but you always get satisfaction from Management on all of the above.

FYI the big home box stores will always be more expensive and they all use contractors and not their own people.
For flooring there are plenty of other people on here that have talked about several of the better places for flooring so you can search the boxes above Roberto's has good reviews and la floors

We had a bad experience with the Mr Sparkey franchise in Port Richie, Fl, trying to get some work done in a relatives home. Did not end up hiring them, due to their attitude. Must be franchise wide!

I usually do all of my own repairs as well. It's just like the service departments at dealers. They want to find all kinds of things to charge you for.
:ohdear::ohdear:

Mr rip off
 

I called them for a standard Tesla hook up. I had the charger all they needed to do was connect it. First they wanted me to buy the house surge protector. Which was nuts as the house already had one which I had purchased a month before and it cost 1/4 what he wanted me to pay . He quoted $2,000 for the Tesla connection. I told him that it should be around $1200 with the Tesla charger as I had one installed in my Atlanta home a few months ago (with Sparky - it’s a Franchise and they have a franchisee there which I used) and that the Tesla charger was $500. He immediately came down to the $1200. I said no and he left. I ended up paying $450 with Cage electric and couldn’t be happier Cage. I strongly recommend them.

My neighbor had the same type of experience with them. Over $350 to diagnose and replace a light switch and got the same pitch about surge protector and the switchs and outlets not wired correctly. Switches and outlets can be connected to the wire in two ways, under the screw or inserted in the back of the device. There is an arugement to me made that under the screw is better, I have no opinion, but both are legal. I think this is what they a refering to.

You need to report it. That’s a huge ripoff.

We had the same bad experience with Mr. Sparky. Instead of what we called them out for, the electrician went right out to the garage and told us we needed a surge protector and all kinds of other work. Never even looked at the issue we were having.

Hi,
I made the Mister Sparky mistake when I got here in July. They came out to install 2 electrical boxes, that I provided for a spa. The cost was 1,600$....ridiculous....it was all labor..9(less than 2 hours)..STAY AWAY FROM MR. SPARKY YOU WILL GET BURNT. Glad you wrote this to remind people....if anyone can recommend fair electricians please do, thanks

Who do you recommend for electrical? I have a puzzle on a light fixture. I can’t turn it off!
I also have a few small things, do you have a reasonable handy man? Thanks

Under Menu look for Search. You will find many fine electricians recommended.

We’ve used Lenhart Electric in Wildwood and have found them to be excellent. But there are several that consistently get rave reviews here on TOTV.

Thieves
 

It might be best to place this repairman's tongue along with his boss's into a socket until they are brown and crispy LOL. Thieves should be reported. Call 60 minutes. They tried to sock me too.

You can get a surge protector that looks like a double pole breaker and installs in your breaker box.

same type problem
 

We had the same type problem with Precision Door. Our garage door wasn't working, so I called Precision Door. He told me I needed cables and all kinds of work done and was going to cost close to $900. One of the repairs were to replace the cables because they were fraying. I looked at the cables and they look good so I knew he was crazy. I had another local guy come by and fix the door for under $100. Unfortunately, some contractors will do this.
Same as car oil changes. I had Jiffy Oil try to sell me a bunch of other fluids. I checked them when I got home and they were all good. Fortunately, I am a handyman and being a women I am sometimes taken advantage of.

That bill of $8.75 sounds interesting on many levels. Typical for electricians and plumbers, they bill roughly $85.00 to come to the house and then so much per job.
You come out ahead if you have them do several jobs, having covered the arrival charge.

That $8.75. It reminds me of a guy who was caught a few years ago. He would invoice major companies for small amounts. It was too expensive to research the bill and they would decide to just pay it.

Not worth fighting? Most would say a priority mail letter disputing the charge will cost roughly $6.00.

I would not be surprised, with all the posts about surge protectors and Mr. Sparky that they are running some sort of bonus program for selling and installing surge protectors.

"I had the charger." You are asking the person paid to install the part to warranty a part that he does not know the history on and on which he has made no profit.

I have a friend who said once about repairs and the price quoted. They take the cost of the part and double it. Installation is doubled the already doubled parts cost. It sounds crazy but it is often close to the quote.

Franchise Business
 

I have been an electrical contractor, journeyman electrician and apprentice for over 50 years. These type businesses are FRANCHISES and franchises business models dictate they always find other things to advise you of to make the bill go higher. They will check your panel, receptacles with a tension tester, your ground fault receptacles or circuit breakers with a testing device. Then they will tell you the news that this or that needs to be replaced. All businesses are there to make money, however some are more pernicious than others. Electrical contractors generally charge between $80 and $100 for a service call with one electrician and the truck and $90-$120 for two men and a truck. Service is gauged as travel time and time on site, some will provide travel and the first 15-30 minutes of labor depending how much time they spend in traveling to the site. The billing then is either by the quarter, third or half hour or portion thereof. The pricing you received is truly exorbitant and simply a high ball price. If you bite they make a profit of up to 70% on these jobs. Way out in left field as to their pricing. Again it is a franchise so they must pay a franchise fee to have the use of the logo, advertising, name recognition and use and any other amenities the franchisor offers under the franchise agreement. There are a lot of things that are not seen by the consumer regarding franchises and the costs associated with franchises.
In the best case scenario, call a local company and inquire about their service call charge and hourly rates. Then when they come out tell them what you would like done and about how much time and manpower [number of electricians] they think it will take to accomplish those tasks. You may then do the math and see if the estimate you receive is in line with their, or anyone else's charges, they quote on the phone.
Businesses are in business to make money. If you want cheap you will get cheap. Just remember a licensed and insured contractor has to cover all costs in their charges to make money. Licensing, insurance, worker's comp, 7.5% SSI, truck operating costs, inventory, office staff and the list goes on. If you have never run a business and think you are paying too much for a $120 per hour service call, think again. People don't think twice of paying an attorney $300-$400 per hour for their service. Their service won't potentially burn down your home!!! A well trained and reputable contractor in any business is well worth what you pay them. The yellow pages is not the place to find a contractor. Talk to your friends and neighbors and find out what their experience has been for any job you would like done. Word of mouth is the best advertising, yellow pages are the most expensive way to advertise. Food for thought.

False advertising on WVLG, “if you don’t want to put up with any malarkey, call Mr. Sparky”?

I was told that the Mr. Sparky Employees are independent contractors and they will be paid on what ever work they can get you to do.

My wife called them to get an estimate to hook up 3 ceiling fans that we had purchased. Two ladies came out and the first thing they did was go to the circuit panel and say that we needed a surge protector which we said that we already had. Then they quoted us $900 to hook up the three fans. We told them no thanks. We ended up paying a handyman $150 for the same job. I think the "spark" is really a "shark".

Agreed. Immediately contact BBB or local county Consumer Affairs department to get the invoice cancelled.

I am a new home owner for about 15 months and had contractors come to the house.
I recently had a garage door company to replace a broken spring. A new spring set that’s 2 springs and a center bearing cost retail about $180.00. I was charged $430.00 for parts. Yikes, that’s robbery. Now I have heard comments like you live in The Villages you must be Rich. Is that what the locals think?? I have NY plates on my car. Next time I call a contractor I am parking my car up the block. Double whammy Ownong a home in The Villages and being a snowbird.

They should have given you 2 quotes, one for a dry Flux capacitor, and one with the Flux fluid installed.:popcorn::ho:

Regardless of the crazy prices this company is charging, the fact that they are suggesting a whole house surge protector is a good thing. $900 is way too much since you can get one installed by our power company for $300.