Mister Sparky

Same as all the other folks, I got them because they came with my membership to One Hour. I have had nothing but horrible response from these folks. They called me to schedule my «included» Electrical Inspection… I set the appointment. Even took work off (but it was slow so no biggie)…they call me 5 mins before they are to arrive and tell me they cant make it. Okay, reschedule… again take a little time off work… they call and say the tech had to stay late on a job and need to reschedule. For me… this was the last time! I rescheduled (a Saturday now so I don’t have to take time off of work)…supposed to be there at 10… nothing…no call, no show, no answer at the office. They called me a month later to reschedule… NO THANKS!!!

Biggest rip-​off company I have dealt with, and I have dealt with many. Not up front with fees and hit with way overpriced bill after job is done. I am a very dissatisfied customer, but last time for sure!

I have to carry on sentiments from others over the years. Still with One Hour, still not a great company. My children come first, so I had no hesitation calling One Hour when my heater went out. I didn’t hesitate when they suggested Mister Sparky. Well, I have two roof top units. One was wired all wrong and going to burn to the ground, one had a bad breaker, oh, and I needed a complete home rewire including electrical panel. $ 400 later I had a new breaker so that One Hour could install my new roof top unit. I had been in the home for less than three days and the home inspection revealed none of the «overall» electrical issues with the home. (The unit was very old and I was prepared for that part.) Just not impressed and looking back now, I feel I was charged a premium for a non-​premium service. There is more to the story but I’ll keep in brief.

One star is too much to give these guys. First, this company is affiliated with One Hour Heating and A/​C; One Hour should cut ties ASAP. Secondly, their technician was an ass.
When my appointment was scheduled, I was under the impression it was One Hour coming out to do a check up on my furnaces, vents, filters, etc. I had not one inclination that someone by the name of Mr Sparky was coming to my house to check my outlets, fire alarms and panels. Apparently, according to Mr. RudeAss technician, it’s part of the annual service contract we have with One Hour. But how I got to finding this out was quite painful.
It goes something like this:
Mr Sparky — did they tell you I was on my way?
Me — yes, she just texted me to let me know.
Mr. Sparky — do you know why I’m here and who I am?
Me — well I assume you’re here with One Hour to do my heating check up, per my calendar comments.
Mr Sparky — Who scheduled the appointment? Who’s she?
Me — My assistant.
Mr Sparky — Oh, one of those…
Me — ummmm… what?
Mr RudeAss (he just turned the corner after that last comment) — nevermind. just funny you don’t know why I’m here. Anyway, I’m going to check all of your outlets, fire alarms and panels to ensure everything’s working properly.
Me — Wait… why do I need you to do that? This is not what I thought was going to happen here today. You’re telling me you have nothing to do with servicing our furnaces, filters, vents?
Mr RudeAss — if you’ll let me finish speaking I’ll…
Me (with finger now in his face) — Look. There’s obviously been a miscommunication here and last I checked you’re in MY home so you speaking to me in a condescending and patronizing manner isn’t going to work. Get done what you need to get done and leave.
Needless to say Mr RudeAss didn’t like my berating him. I showed him where the panels were, he flipped a few switches and then informed me he would need about 10 minutes to complete his report and get it back to me. He went out to his van, wrote his report and handed it to me. No discussion of any findings, just handed it to me. NOTE: I knew there shouldn’t be any «findings» or issues because we’d recently remodeled and had professional electricians in to ensure everything was properly working and which they were.
Mr RudeAss had a different opinion however. His report indicated that there were several light canisters not working (umm, wrong), outlets that weren’t working (umm, wrong), and light switches that didn’t seem to work (umm, wrong). But the best part was that his comments indicated that he’d discussed all of his findings with me and what their plans to repair them would be (umm, wrong).
DO NOT TRUST NOR USE THIS COMPANY’S SERVICES EVER! I’m telling you. They’re rude, they’re liars, and based on the other reviews I’ve read they’re also ignorant electricians. Save yourself time and money and contract with State licensed and bonded contractors. This is a Jiffy Lube version of electricians.
And, if you contract with One Hour, be sure to let them know Mr Sparky’s service will NEVER need to be a part of your annual service check ups.

Same experience as everyone else; why are these clowns still in business!!!
The service guy came out and, with a cheery smile, told me that the switch I needed him to fix had never worked in the first place. 1^st time– «Just so you know, it never worked that way.» 2^nd time– «Hmmm…just so you know, it never worked like that.» 3^rd time– «No, it never worked like that.» Every time he argued (as he’s staring in confusion at the light switch) I told him, «I’ve lived here ten years and the switch worked until I changed it.»
SOOOOOOOO insulting! And in the end he couldn’t fix it because he wouldn’t even consider that I was right. He was opening outlets that have never been touched and trying to figure out some random outlet that the switch MUST go to. Refused to use a wire tracker and blew my brakers trying to attach the switch to an outlet it didn’t belong on.
The «dispatcher» refuses to give prices over the phone because if they told you that they were going to charge you FIVE TIMES the normal rate, you’d hang up on them.
$ 156 to change an outlet?! $ 350 to «diagnose» a problem? $ 39 just to show up?
Plus this guy was a scam artist on top of being incompetent. I had a coupon for $ 49 off of service and the guy said he’d let me keep my coupon and just wave the $ 39 service charge. Ummm… that’s a deal? They don’t require you to know math to be an electrician?
Others have said that they wave the service fee if you hire them to perform a job anyway, something the dispatcher didn’t tell me. Total extortion! You have to pay just to find out that they’re going to over-​charge you and that you don’t want to hire them!!!
Incompetent. Rude. Over-​priced.
Don’t be scared of your local electrician that charges by the hour. He’s probably more familiar with the unique problems associated with buildings in your area than some random contractor from across the valley.

I am going to tell you the readers digest version. This company doesn’t follow it’s sister’s companies policy. Because of these clowns I ended up buying a new HVAC through One hour air. I needed a new breaker box as part of my $ 7000.00 bill and they booked it for 8 – 12 and then had the nerve to tell me they were doing the work for free. HUH? Then they lied and said my appt was from 9 – 1 and not 8 – 12. Even still it’s almost 2 pm and he still isn’t here. So stayed tuned folks. I’ll let you know if they can mange to make it over to my house. So then I call One Hour and of course after being on terminal hold. I am told that all the managers and supervisors MUST be in a meeting. Yeah. Friday not at lunch. but no one to figure it out. UGH!

This company takes advantage of your dire situation. After I had spent two days trying to fix what seemed to be an easy problem I googled and found mr. sparky.
They were real friendly and helpful on the phone and assured me that the 29 $ service charged would be taken off the final bill for any other work performed. They were able to accommodate my schedule and come out the next morning.
My issue was with the bathroom light fixtures not turning on. Jason, the technician, came out and told me that to the «diagnose the circuit» would cost 368 $! wow! He then proceeded to unscrew the covers off of various switches and boxes in my house and after about 10 minutes he was able to «correct» the problem. He assured me about how the work was guaranteed for 3 years and not to worry, etc. I asked him if the charge would be less then the 368 $ since it only took him 15 minutes. He said, «NO, it’s a flat rate, and it could have taken 3 hours and the charge would be the same.» I tell him he’s nuts and that he could expect a call from us to his supervisor. He ended up dropping the price to 313 $ (club price, whatever that means). He suckered me in since I was just happy to have the lights on for when the wife came home from her trip. So I paid and he went on his way.
So now for round 2. I then realize almost a month and a half later that my outdoor plug outlets aren’t working and that my GFCI in the garage is popped and will not reset. This time I contacted a independently licensed electrician (see my other review) to come out; I wasn’t about to get ripped off again. When Sergio came out he told me that he charges $ 50 per hour. He checked my plugs and I mentioned the story about the previous issue I had with the bathroom lights. He said that sometimes the bathroom switch is on the same circuit as the garage GFCI (how would a non-​electrician know that?) So he checked out the wiring in the bathroom and made the comment that someone had done a «mickey mouse» job and just pulled power from another circuit. In doing so they hadn’t changed the ground wire and this is why the the GFCI tripped. He then hooked everything up back the way it was before Mr. Sparky came to visit and we went to the garage and reset the GFCI there and it worked! The bathroom lights worked, and my outside plugs worked. Back in business. Sergio spent an hour and a half and charged me 75 $ to fix Mr. Sparkys «mickey mouse» work.
My father in law and brother in law are both electricians and they knew that sometimes bathroom lights are connected to the GFCI in garages, yet when MR. sparky came out there was no mention of that and no one checked it. I certainly was ignorant of there even being a GFCI in the garage, but apparently this is common knowledge to electricians. So I was clearly duped and taken advantage of by Mr sparky and that’s why I am warning all Unilocalers to BEWARE of the scamming here.
We are currently disputing the charges. Thank god we paid with Amex. My wife even tried calling back with a fake name and the customer service lady couldn’t even give out their «prices» over the phone. But oh she was so friendly and wanted to know where we lived and that the 29 $ dollars would be included in any charges for the work done. etc. etc.