Budget Electric

Dusty And Patti B.

I had Budget Electric come out on a home warrantee. Michael arrived within the scheduled window, same day I first call to the warrantee people. Found the problem and replaced the duplex causing the problem all within 30 minutes. Outstanding response and workmanship.

Jim M.

I assume Budget Electric is a company designed for low-ball, get by, service to home warranty companies and perhaps is willing to take the hit for last minute cancellations, failing to provide service, horrid communication, and a willingness to waste your time as if it had no value. As with JYOTSNA B my claim to Fidelity National Home Warranty was assigned to Budget Electric. Mike, a tech for Budget, was assigned to do an evaluation of whether an old ceiling fan we had stopped working due to normal wear and tear -- if so, he was to fix it or replace it (we supplied a replacement fan b/c we could tell the other was not fixable). I informed them that the ceiling fan was from a vaulted ceiling -- Mike showed up with a step-ladder. Luckily for Mike, I had the ceiling fan removed after it had stopped functioning for reasons obvious to the naked eye or by simply hooking up some power to it. He acknowledged that from the look of it, that it was obviously not going to work and told me that ""old fans fail"" - when I asked why. He then said he did not have enough time to fix it and would have to reschedule to come back. That was a little annoying, as I took time out of a work day to accommodate them -- as did my tenant. Later, the warranty company rejected our claim, saying that because we removed the fan from the ceiling, it was like we never had a fan at all and it was a ""new installation."" I called and waited the many minutes to get to a manager to discuss. The manager said that since it was not installed, it was not covered under a section (that only applies where the modification is the cause for the fan's failure -- not the case here). He said I could have it re-installed but did not say it would be covered if installed. I noted that the section he was referring to was inapplicable, that the technician said it just failed because it was old, etc. -- there was no reasoning. By the way, this was in early December 2014 AND we still were asked to pay the fee for diagnosing the fan.

So I contacted Budget to reschedule to have the fan installed to the extent Mike or another person from that company could do their diagnostic work. This was still in December.

I again took time off to meet the electrician, who called and canceled minutes before the appointment, saying he was too far away and couldn't make it. So I called again to reschedule, perhaps this was now January 2015. However, Budget canceled again, claiming it was a two-man job and they didn't have the people available. I contacted them and said I'd be available any time Budget could schedule the techs. Weeks went by with no reply. I sent emails as well, with no response and clearly no courtesy. As infuriated as one might expect a reasonable person to be, I only left pleasant messages of flexibility. We also called Fidelity to see if they could help us with the scheduling. First in mid-January, the response was that Budget was scheduling and would get back to us in a day. No response. Further emails and calls in late January, no response. Further emails and calls in early February, no response. We called Fidelity again to let them know there was no response -- one imagines Fidelity high-fiving Budget for the irksome delay. Again Fidelity reported that Budget would get back to us in a day, time ticks on with no reply through mid-February. We again call Fidelity who then reports that Budget has declined to do the diagnosis and that Fidelity would not provide another electric company to do the diagnostic.

Boo Budget Electric, we have wasted three months due to what one hopes is merely your irresponsibility and lack of courtesy. Perhaps after reading this review, you might question competency or perhaps integrity. It is still inexplicable to me why Mike seemed so satisfied that the fan failed due to age during the first visit but then his evaluation was not accepted by Fidelity. In fact Fidelity said he could not do the diagnosis. When I later spoke with Mike (the first time he called to cancel) he said all he'd have to do was hook it up to power to do the evaluation -- why didn't he do that the first visit? Why did he bring a step ladder when I had reported to Fidelity that there was a vaulted ceiling?

All in all, I didn't think Mike is a bad guy personally, he was polite enough during his visit in December. I didn't get to evaluate his work due to his not doing the Fidelity required evaluation the first trip and due to the subsequent cancellations. My guess is that he thought he did the evaluation (as did I) but despite the clear old age failure confirmed to me by Budget's tech Mike, Fidelity instead decided to misinterpret the warranty in a unilateral rejection of their responsibility to repair or replace (and upgrade if necessary) under the terms of the warranty.

The Continental Life X.

Nice people, but a total lack of follow-through, and zero communication/coordination between team members forced us to judge them as unprofessional and not worth your time/money. Sad....

Mary H.

My AHS warranty service used Budget. They never called or showed up and I had a hot wire exposed. Stopping the warranty service and would never call Budget!

Dan G.

Budget Electric was sent out by my home warranty company to fix my father's house in North Berkeley. The house was built in 1929 and still had the original fuse box, however half the house was out of electricity. Mike arrived to diagnose the problem. I must say, he was a very nice guy, claimed to know how to work on these old systems, and said the entire fuse box needs to be replaced with breakers, and the home warranty company would not pay for it. He said he could do the job next week, and that the office would call me with the estimate. After two days and no call, I called the office and left a message, no call-back. I called again the next day and the person said she would have to talk to Mike and will call me back with the estimate. No response again. I called again and she repeated the same thing to me. After a week of this, I finally figured out they didn't want the business. Maybe they are just so successful, they don't need it, or not competent enough to do the job. All they had to do was communicate. A crucial part of running a good business. I would steer clear of this outfit.

JYOTSNA B.

Terrible service. Did not show up in the 2 hour window and were totally unprofessional
in reassigning saying 'they had too few people and too much work"". They did not bother to call until the end of the window and the receptionist hung up on me saying I could not talk to the manager/ owner.
This company was assigned by Fidelity National Home Warranty and should be avoided at all costs.

Nitesh K.

Mike seemed like a nice guy but as others have pointed out, my home warranty company hooked me up with these guys. Mike was late for first appt and we had to reschedule, just to do that I had to call multiple times with no return call. Finally after several days got a return call and we set up another appt. Mike called on the day of the appt to say he will be late again. Very unprofessional.

Cindi R.

Today I had a urgent need after smelling an electrical type burn coming out of a bedroom outlet. Since my computer was at work, I went to the good old yellow pages. After calling a number of electricians, Mike answered. After explaining the situation he came right over (10 minutes). He gave me a thorough explanation of what his assessment was, quoted a very reasonable price and did an incredible job. Mike was professional, friendly, thorough and efficient. I would definitely call Budget Electric and request Mike. Thanks for the prompt and reasonable service!!

Bob N.

Today a technician from Budget Electric did a superb job
in replacing a circuit braker and fixing other electrical
wiring problems.He was very professional and quick to
identify the problems.I highly suggest using Budget Electric
from the Fremont office for all your home electrical problems.
Bob in Daly City

J F.

Horrible service. Also was assigned by American Home Shield. The electrician, Mike arrived. He required so much assistance I could'nt get anything done. Are the lights on/off, knock on the floor. He didn't even had a ladder and he knew it was a ceiling light. After an hour, when he was yelling for me again and complaint about the attic, I told him I couldn't talk because I was on the phone. Next thing I know he storms out without repairing the problem!
Left a mess also and stood on my kitchen counter with nasty workboots on, no booties. Extremely unprofessional. I guess you get what you pay for.