I have used Tom from McDevitt electric for about 20 years. They did good work but were always a little expensive. We have flipped homes on and off so we had a lot of experience with them. In addition, we have a large customer base of almost 2000 accounts for our maintenance company. We regularly refer customers to him. Recently, I called McDevitt to move my pool pump timer about 5 feet to a new location. The trenches were already dug from the pool pipes so it was a fairly easy job. I knew from experience that it was really important to be clear exactly what I needed done. I explained and showed his Tech's about four times what needed to be done. I left and came back and hour and a half later. They were doing several huge things I told them not to do. They were re-running all the wires all the way back to the junction box 40' away instead of continuing them just the 5' like I requested. Also, he was talking about installing the pool light pipe just 1 foot over from its original location. I told him that under no circumstances could the light be any other place then next to the timer box or under the existing hedges out of sight. I gave them my cell number and left again. When I came back they had installed the pool light pipe just 2' over from its original location. I explained to him for the 5th time that it could not be there. It was the whole reason for the project in the first place.... to clear that area. He said it was impossible to move it any other place without the pool light wire needing to be replaced. I said fine, we did not even need the pool light and we could get the new wire in the future. I asked why they didn't call me 1st before spending valuable time and he would not respond. By the way. The tech was so rude throughout the entire job even though I went out of my way to be nice + offer them drinks. But now we were going to be billed for hours of labor for something that should've never been done. I was so so clear with them. I made sure they had my cell # in case there was any trouble. Also, he did go ahead and finish running the wires all way back to the junction box (40'). When everything was finished it cost me $750 just to move the electric 5 feet along a pre-dug area. If they had listened to me the bill would have been closer to $300. When I kindly ask Tom to consider adjusting the bill (I never said how much... I would have been satisfied with $100 just for the principle), he told me he would not and that the tech who did it was the best he had. I sent him a few more emails but he refused to do anything with the invoice. If they are treating 20 year clients in this way (in addition to us sending them referrals) I can only imagine the situations new customers would encounter with them. I do not trust them at all and would not recommend using them unless you don't care about your money at all.
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