I relied on Yelp to find Tom from The Spark Shark. I deeply regret that decision and I am here to warn others.
Long story short: Tom took advantage of my trust, repeatedly lied to me, and kept my family and I in the dark without power for days. Even though he agreed to refund me the cost of the entire job, he has not followed-through on his word and since he has stopped responding to me, I now have to sue him in small claims court in order to get my money back. Given my experience, I would not recommend Tom for his services and I strongly urge you to look elsewhere.
Details: (Judge for yourself if this is someone you should trust.)
When reviewing the timeline below, keep in mind that Tom never got the required permit and never scheduled the city inspection despite his claims.
Day 0: There is damage to our house's electrical panel. SMUD turns off our power completely because it was a fire hazard and said the panel needs to be repaired before they will turn the power back on. We call several electricians before we land on Tom. He said that he will need to obtain a city permit first before he can do the repair on the electrical panel. He sounded like he knew what he was doing, had good reviews on Yelp, and we were desperate so we agreed to hire him for the job.
Day 1: Tom tells us that he will go to the city to pull the required permit and then come over to our home to do the repair. He eventually completes the repair and says that he will help us schedule the city inspection the next morning. (A city inspector has to review and approve the repair before SMUD will turn the power back on.)
Day 2: Followed-up with Tom in the morning and he said that the inspection was scheduled for later that day from 3-5pm. 4:30pm rolls around and still no inspector. Tom texts us and says that the inspector just called him and said he is still on other inspections and he can't get to us until the next morning, but we will be his first stop at 9ish. [Hindsight: A city inspection can only be scheduled once a permit is in place. Tom never obtained the required permit. He lied about scheduling the inspection and he lied about the call with the inspector so we were kept in the dark for even longer because of his lies.)
Day 3: Stayed at home all morning, but still no inspector. Texted Tom and asked him for the permit number and the inspector contact so that I can follow-up directly. Tom responds saying that he is on the phone with them right now and does not update me for nearly 4 hours. Frustrated, I called City Hall directly to ask why there was a delay with the inspection. The City Hall representative informs me that a permit was never issued (and therefore no inspection was ever scheduled) because when Tom arrived at City Hall to obtain the permit on Day 2, his contractor license was expired so they couldn't issue him the permit. (Please keep in mind that the city requires that a permit be obtained BEFORE repair work on the electrical panel is performed and Tom had informed us that he was going to get the permit before starting the job.) Tom subsequently texts me to tell me that his license expired 4 days ago, he didn't pull the permit, and that he would refund me the permit cost. I confronted him via text (since he wouldn't pick up my call) and told him that I had called City Hall to get an update and know that he had been lying to me for the past few days. [Hindsight: Tom said that his license expired 4 days ago, but when I looked up his license later, I learned that it had actually expired over a month ago.]
Day 15: After some back and forth correspondence, Tom agrees via email to refund me the entire job and says that he will do it later the same day or the next day.
Day 48: Still no refund and no responses from Tom. (I followed-up with him in between.) He has clearly lied to me yet again. I am now preparing to sue him in small claims court to get the money back that he agreed to refund me.
I can understand if Tom hadn't known that his license had expired and that it was an honest mistake, but instead of coming clean and telling us so that we can find other ways to restore power sooner, he decided to continue the lie at the expense of me and my family. We were without power for days, which already comes with its own distresses and inconveniences, and we also took time off of work to wait for an inspector who was never scheduled in the first place. We suffered lost wages and valuable time as a result of Tom's repeated lies and poor choices,
Tom's actions showed a clear lack of honesty, integrity and professionalism. This is appalling for any individual, but especially for someone who calls himself an "honest electrician".
Given my experience, I would not recommend Tom to anyone. If you are still considering hiring him after reading my review, I strongly urge you to look elsewhere. read more
