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| - *UPDATE AT BOTTOM OF REVIEW*
We just had a spa installed by Creative Spa Designs and were referred by them to Penny Electric for the wiring of the spa.
Wiring Installation: The install went without a hitch and the hot tub turned on as expected. With regard to the wiring itself, Penny Electric did a fine job. The cost of the job was pricey, but I imagine it was in line with whatever other local electricians would charge, despite the high price tag.
Communication: This is the category within which Penny Electric still has a lot of room for improvement and growth.
The first sign of this is when we scheduled Penny Electric to visit our house on a Tuesday but, after coordinating with Creative Spa Designs themselves, they moved the appointment to the Wednesday when the hot tub was being installed. While this made much more sense than the original date, Penny Electric did not tell me of this change and I did not find out about it until the original appointment day came and they did not show up. This created a logistical burden on my end as taking time off work is not an easy task. Penny should have called me in the first place to let me know of the change. This happened again when, after the wiring installation, we were told by the on-site electrician that the city would come the following day to inspect the wiring. Once again, I called the next day when the city hadn't shown up yet and they informed me that the city inspection was pushed back yet another day. These are things that I should be called about when they make/find out about the changes, not that I should have to find out after I proactively make the phone call.
Secondly, I paid for their services in full a week before the job was actually carried out. Despite this fact, after the job was completed, the on-site electrician asked me for payment. I had to show him my credit card statement on my phone to clarify that I had already paid. A day later, Penny sends me an email with my invoice attached (with a "PAID" stamp on it) but in the body of the email, they asked me to "remit payment at [my] earliest convenience." By using a cookie cutter email that should've only been used with an unpaid invoice, they created additional confusion that had to be clarified with additional emails.
Finally, the most frustrating part of the experience came after the wiring was completed. To install the spa wiring, they had to dig an 18 inch-deep trench across my backyard from the house to the spa itself (this was where the wire was laid). Understandably, they left this trench exposed so that the city could come by later to inspect it. However, when I called Penny Electric to arrange for the trench to be buried and the surrounding red rock to be put back into place after the inspection (since, after all, their technicians dug the trench), they conveniently informed me at that time that this would require a "backfill charge" and that I'd have to pay additional money for their workers to clean up the mess that they created. Because I had already paid in full, I had little leverage with which to dispute this, which is why I am taking the time to write my first negative Yelp review.
If this backfill fee was a pre-established policy, this should have been clearly communicated to me before any services were rendered as, after all, it seems common sense for a contractor to "leave things the way they found them" when completing a job like this, especially given the high price tag. It is unacceptable for a customer to be informed of this fee after the trench has been dug and the backyard is already disheveled. In the best case, this was poor communication but in the worst case, this came off as a petty attempt at extorting additional money out of me. Now, as if the earlier poor communication about appointments hadn't caused enough of a mess of my limited free time off of work, I now have to spend a weekend cleaning up the mess in my yard created by Penny Electric.
Due to the wiring job itself being done well, I cannot give Penny a 1-star review. However, their poor communication throughout the course of this job has made them, in my mind, no better than a 4/10 (or 2-star) company. If using them to wire your spa, I would suggest shopping around and, if you do end up selecting them, anticipate at least a few amateur missteps in communication.
*UPDATE*
Dolores from Penny Electric contacted me and cleared up some confusion with regard to the spa wiring. It turns out that there wasn't supposed to be a backfill charge associated with our job in the first place and that I was misinformed by an associate. However, once she found out about this mix-up, she was proactive in reaching out to me to figure out how to mend the situation considering I had already filled the trench myself. I appreciate this sort of effort from a business. By reaching out, Penny Electric demonstrated that they do not receive as much of a knock for their communication. 4-stars!
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