Vine Electric

Emily L.

**EDIT** updating this review; I now have a doorbell that rings! The quick resolution and service was appreciated

**EDIT** noting that the company has reached out to as Hector noted and they are working to resolve the issue. Editing this to 3-Stars; I appreciate the responsiveness of the business.

ORIGINAL POST
Our home did not come with a doorbell installed and so I hired Vine Electic to install a smart wired doorbell.

INITIATING AN ESTIMATE
I found the company via Yelp which is where our communication began. The team was very responsive and accommodating when I had an emergency and had to reschedule my appointment at the last minute (unfortunately due to an accident).

CONSULTATION
Joel was my estimator and he was incredibly nice and prompt. We had bids out with other companies with comparable prices. We ultimately went with Vine because I really like and trusted Joel.

My consultation included estimates for 3 diff jobs so that I could prioritize and consolidate as needed. For the purpose of this review I will focus only on what I actually hired them for. We did a walk through of the placement and what I was looking for. I didn't have the hardware on me at the time but I mentioned to him I would be purchasing the smart video doorbell and pointed out that there was no doorbell there previously.

GETTING THE ESTIMATE
Estimates were provided same day. Joel provided the estimate initially for all 3 jobs but as that was more than I was ready for, I asked him to break out the jobs a la carte. He was responsive and provided that shortly after (maybe hours no more than the next date).

HIRED!
I signed off on the estimate and aligned with their support team on timing since I needed to wait for the doorbell to arrive. Response times were quick. Waiting for my hardware was a benefit since where is some lead time to scheduling work to be done.

INSTALLATION
One thing I really appreciated are the auto text to let me know someone is on the way so I can manage expectations as I work during the day.

Two men arrived who were very kind. We aligned on placement and where a hole would need to be made for the transformer to power my doorbell. They did unfortunately make a larger hole in the dry wall. I did comment at the time that the doorbell was hard to hear and I was told they didn't know anything about that.

WHY 1-STAR
Is my doorbell installed? Technically. Yes.
Does it function as a doorbell? No.
I realized the only reason why I heard the doorbell is because it is connected to a smart display I have in another part of the house. I contacted Vine and they sent someone out quickly to look into it. Turns out I was missing a chime.

Here's what went wrong as a customer:
1) even though I was providing the smart doorbell, it wasn't made clear that I needed to provide a chime. As a consumer I wouldn't know this would be required (hence we hire professionals).
2) even if I was providing this, my assumption is this isn't Vine's first rodeo when it comes to smart doorbell installations. It should be something proactively communicated that not all smart doorbells come with this. It should not be on the consumer to figure this out on their own.
3) the job was to install a doorbell where there wasn't one previously. This should have been part of the discussion at a minimum during the consultation OR pointed out by the team who was sent to do the job.
4) there's a pretty large gap left in my wall. Repair of drywall isn't included. Not even rough patching. I didn't think rough patching was not included.
5) technically what was excited is per the work order but this is just bad business. I wanted a functioning doorbell. I don't have one. I was not aware of the requirements or what I was responsible for when I took on purchasing the hardware myself. This isn't a fair way to treat customers.

WHAT WOULD HAVE MADE THIS BETTER
There needs to be better communication on what is required from the customer when they are providing their own materials. If there are assumptions this should be included in the SOW/estimate. It cannot be on the customer to figure out what they need for a job they are hiring a professional for. The business needs to come, provide their recommendations, outline risks and assumptions and then the customer can make their choices.

I'm pretty disappointed. I have asked the business to absorb the cost to install the chime since it's not really working and a miss on their part because I provided the doorbell. So basically I paid a lot to install a camera. I do have future work that I will need help with but this interaction has left me a bit in the dust and unlikely to reach out for future work/quotes again.

BOTTOM LINE
If you are looking to hire them, it sounds like you need to be pretty savvy to ask the right questions since they are not proactive in their communication. That is the difference between 1-stars and 5-stars. In the end I don't actually have a doorbell that works.

Kayla E.

Edit: they did contact me to fix this problem and I appreciate that so I added a star. I already had the work done by someone else so nothing more can be fixed but I appreciated the kind phone call from the manager and message from the owner.

Original review: I had gotten estimates for two projects originally. Went forward with one and it was done well.

Called back later to see about moving forward with my second project but wanted to see if the estimate was still valid, since it had been months, or if they could give me a new one. Each time I called, they were unsure what the project was, and gave me THREE different estimates, each one being different with each phone call. Finally they decided just to honor the first one (although they admitted it was incorrect- said the technician didn't work for them anymore and so they were confused about his notes and prices), and when I went to book, I found out they were only going to do HALF of the work. What?! I needed a ceiling fan installed and they were *only* going to install the fan, but no light switch/fan switch, no rewiring the outlet, nothing else. I would've been out $500 and no way to use the light/fan.

And that's even after I had someone from their company out and we discussed the project in length, so one would think they wouldn't known between the many phone calls and having a tech out that they would've understood the project. guess not.

I went with a different electrician who did ALL of the work, three rooms with fans/lights, light switches and outlets for $700 total. Less then half of what Vine would've charged, and with WAY less confusion and was WAY less sketchy. Almost wondering how they even get projects done with being so disorganized.

Napa D.

Great job installing my new Tesla wall charger. Fast and thorough and great communication.

Lindsey S.

Hi Hector. The first text I received about the account was 9/2/2021. Apparently your company had my email address spelled incorrectly (Lindsay) and not once did I receive a phone call, text, email or anything in the mail until 9/2/21. I spoke with someone in the office back in 2020 and gave the credit card information a second time and after that, assumed it was resolved. You can check with Samantha, she fixed the email error on your end. I was given very little time to go through my credit card statements and since it had been a great length of time, could not check through the app and had to go to the website from a computer. I needed to check a couple of accounts to ensure this hadn't been paid.

T F.

Joel was great. He arrived on time with a delightful attitude, gave us a free estimate, and was able to complete the bathroom fan/light installation within the estimated time.

Brit D.

Great service from start to finish! Samantha was very pleasant and made scheduling appointments easy. Hector was very efficient and made the consultation go smoothly. Joel and Patrick were great! They were polite, knowledgeable, and efficient. After the work was done, I was very pleased and will definitely reach out to Vine electric for any future lighting needs! Having dealt with 2 no shows from a different company prior to giving Vine electric a call, I really appreciated the txt and email reminders/confirmations that were sent. This company was pleasant and professional and I have no regrets!

Jenn V.

I was in search for installing Tesla wall charger. Vine Electric got back to me pretty fast. Highly recommend Vine Electric. Joel did a good job, friendly, very professional, and knowledgeable. The job was done less than an hour. Told us what he was going to do and explained the whole process. Would use them again for future work.

Corazon B.

I will use them again for any electrical job at my place.
Fast & efficient & got the job done.
Thank you.

John A.

From the office to the job the team at Vine is as good as it could be. On time, quality, price, along with great communication. Thanks Ryan, Samantha &Rosa

John A

Kathleen S.

Showed up on time and did two repairs for exactly the estimate. Explained to me what went wrong and what he did to fix it. Will definitely use again.