Berkeley Electric

Valerie R.

I am a busy realtor and called Berkeley Electric on behalf of a client who needed some work done. I left a message on their voicemail and someone called me back to schedule an appointment for an estimate 2 days out. First of all, the person who scheduled the estimate was very unfamiliar with the area and told me she was just the scheduling person and was not actually in the area but that was OK. The day following, (one day before my appointment) another woman Jen, their office manager called me to schedule an appointment and I told her that someone else had already done that. She let me know that there would be a fee of $150 to come out to give me an estimate. I said that this had not been mentioned when I scheduled the appointment and she seemed surprised. She asked me if this was an appointment to just get an estimate to put the house on the market. I told her that we are getting the house prepared for market but that my client was intent on bringing the house up to the very best condition possible before doing that and that we had several pages of items from the general home inspector including updating panels and replacing old knob and tube wiring. She said there still was going to be a $150 charge because their conversion rate from estimates to paid work was just too low. This should have been my 2nd clue. At that point, I think her response should have been that they would waive the $150 fee or at least offer to credit toward work actually done since 1. It was their person who neglected to inform me of it up front, and 2. I had flat out told her I intended to have quite a bit of work done and I could have very well been a repeat customer for a long time to come. At this point, she accused me of being argumentative and I apologized but told her I was a bit set back by their tone. She asked me for my email and said she would have to speak to Zalman about it. No sooner had I hung up than I got an email saying they would not be able to keep my appointment the following day. I doubt that she even told Zalman. I responded asking why and letting her know that she now was putting me in a bind because my client was getting ready to go out of town, and I had planned to get the work done while he was gone. I never got an answer and suspect I never will. I also suspect that I will never work with them going forward and will recommend that my friends and colleagues not waste their time or money with them either. Really, I wonder how someone like this actually stays in business by treating their potential customers that way!

Paula B.

They are still 5-star. We called them this morning with our tale of woe and they showed up today. I love these guys. Professional. Efficient. Competent. Rock stars of the highest electrical order.

Maura L.

I am glad that the job is completed and I don't have to worry about it anymore! However, I was a bit shocked by the $150 hourly fee, specially since the job took 4 hours. Identical fixtures and type of job. The first fixture took 45 minutes to fix... my tenant had to go to school and left the apartment.... the second fixture took 3 hours. I am not sure why it the discrepancy between the two different fixtures.

Peggy M.

The electricity in our kitchen went out this morning. I was worried that my refrigerator items would spoil if I could not get a service call pretty quickly. I called Berkeley and the office manager (?) told me how to reset the electrical outlet and circuit breaker saving me a service call (and all the food in my fridge). She did that without making me feel like an idiot too. THAT is good customer service - she could have not said a word about how to fix the problem and booked the appointment. I scheduled a service call anyway to fix another problem and to upgrade an outlet. I'll post again for part 2 of this experience.

Part Two: Service person came on time this morning and fixed the outlet, figured out the garage lights with minimal effort and changed a bulb for me. Still 5 star review. Thank you Berkeley Electric!!

Terry L.

I live in a house built in the 1920, it has it's challenges, but Berkeley electric put in a new breaker box and removed the use of fuses, so we are good to go. Work done on time and within estimate and clean-up was good too. I have used them several times and will call them for any future projects.

Dan G.

I called Berkeley Electric recently to repair the electrical problem at my father's house in North Berkeley. This company had so many great reviews on here, I felt confident calling them. When I called, I got an answering service. They said they would get the message to Zalman and he would call me back. Two days go by, and nothing. I call again. Again, an answering service during regular business hours. I explain that this is second time I am calling. The person checks the phone message log, confirms my message and says they gave it to the office the day I called. They said they would send another message to them. What do you know....no call back at all. I guess this company is so successful they don't need the business. I ended up calling another local Berkeley electrician and couldn't be happier with the service.

Sean M.

We hired Berkeley Electric to do a substantial amount of electrical work in the home we purchased in North Berkeley. Our house was built in 1936 and had much of the original knob and tube wiring. I met with the owner, Zalman, who went over the most critical areas to be addressed as we had a set budget to work with. Zalman and his crew replaced our electrical breakers, re-wired much of the house, and made several improvements to the overall electrical system to make it more efficient and far safer. During the work our contractors for the general construction short circuited the new electric boxes BE put in. Zalman worked with us to replace them at cost even though it was not the fault of his crew. Zalman is very knowledgeable and trustworthy and a person of his word. I would recommend him to anyone in the East Bay looking for an outstanding electrician.

Meryl P.

Zalman installed our new service when we first moved into our house almost 5 years ago. He showed up on time, did the work quickly and for a great price. He was friendly, skilled, reliable and knowledgeable. He was also flexible with our schedule. 4+ years later we haven't had one problem with the service, he did great work.

Kevin S.

I had a small problem and they treated it like it was important for them even though I'm not a ""big money"" customer. I probably asked way too many questions but they were patient and helped me understand what I needed done. Looking forward to working with them when I do some sort of fancy upgrades down the road.

Michael S.

I recently called American Electrical for one of my clients. They were experiencing intermittent power outages and it was causing havoc with their computer systems, (which I service). Zalman did a thorough inspection of the office wiring and uncovered a very serious situation. The main power line into the building was rubbing on the masthead which caused the short, especially in the rain.

The American crew provided an estimate the next day, the client approved the work and it was fixed within a week. In addition, the crew recommended a dedicated circuit for the server and cleaned up some bad wiring left by the former electrician. Since the original work the client has called Zalman back out to add more circuits.

On time, on estimate, and very proactive. I plan to use them in all my clients when they need electrical work.