As a single mom of 4 kids & with hurricanes & neighborhood power outages, I decided to get a generator. I chose Clinton Electric because they came highly recommended by my friend & I believe in supporting local, small businesses.
I discussed my needs & budget with Mr. Bedard & went $5000 over budget based on his recommendation of a higher quality, more dependable unit with automatic features (power outage detection, power on/off & weekly runs to maintain the battery). The maintenance service offered also sold me.
In August 2016, my generator was installed & as promised, technicians came August 2017, August 2018, & July 2019 for annual service. When they came July 2019, they said I had not paid the August 2018 invoice, so I checked, apologized for my mistake & agreed to pay for both 2018 & 2019 that day.
The technicians discovered the generator was not powering on properly & suspected a problem with the battery. They took it to run a diagnostic test & said they would return the next day with the battery & to complete the service. THEY NEVER RETURNED!
After a few days, I called Clinton Electric & nobody answered so I left a voicemail. From July 2019 until May 2020, I called & called & called, numerous times, leaving a message each time, unless the mailbox was full, which most of the time, it was. I never received a call back from anyone, & I know this for a fact because I checked all my phone activity statements.
Concerned that leaving it inoperable so long might be damaging, I had to research & determine the battery I needed & purchase a new one. After installing the battery, I could manually start the unit, but it would not automatically power on during outages nor would it perform weekly runs.
Finally, May 2020, I found an email address on the BBB website & decided to give it a try. Rick Bedard, the "Service Manager" & Mr. Bedard's grandson, responded & said the owner tried to call me (untrue, I checked my phone statements) to talk about my battery & somehow my number was blocked so he had not received my calls. He said I owed service charges for 2017, 2018, 2019 & now 2020 so I sent copies of paid invoices & agreed I owe for 2018. I said I would pay for 2018 & an additional year when the service was completed & my generator was running properly. He agreed & set an appointment.
The technician came, I paid the invoice & he completed the maintenance, but when he finished, he said the automatic features were not working & Rick would come to fix the problem. Rick came out & said it was the Controller, a factory defect since there was only 22 hours run time, but he had to check the warranty coverage. He sent an email that said the warranty expired August 2019 & I had to pay over $400 for a new Controller. I said that he should pay for the part because if he had returned in July 2019 like he was supposed to, it would have been under warranty. Rick never responded & will not return my calls. In the meantime, he cashed my check despite the agreement made that the additional year would be paid when my generator was running properly.
I called Rick on Friday & he would not answer the phone. A minute later, I called from my friend's number, & he did answer. Rick said he sent everything to the owner & it was the owner who said I had to pay it because it was not under warranty. I asked if he told the owner that he blocked my number, avoided my calls & the part would have been under warranty if he had come back when he was supposed to rather than nine months later? Then Rick said, he had not talked to the owner, he just forwarded all of the information to him. Which one is it Rick? Did he say I had to pay for it, or did you just forwarded the information, & not talk to him?
This was a good company. I heard that Mr. Bedard has retired, & Rick has taken over. It is a shame that Rick is going to run his grandfather's company into the ground with his poor management & terrible customer service, after all of Mr. Bedard's hard work. read more
