Hi Lite Electric Inc.

At the time my wood floors were being installed (see another review of mine, for which the floor installers got 10 points), one of the circuits in my house failed... the floor nailer gun had drawn too much power off a particular circuit. I tried to reset the breaker but the power just wouldn't come on.

I didn't have internet at home during the construction (modem went AWOL - got packed away inadvertently), so we couldn't look for an electrician on Homestars. We needed power a.s.a.p.

I went to the Yellowpages and found Hi-lite. "Small jobs done immediately. Save money! Upfront pricing - no guessing."

The person I spoke to on the phone told me that I would get things fixed in an $80 visit, and that was the beauty of the upfront pricing. "Would there be any additional costs?" I asked him. "I can't discuss that now," he said. "Wait till the electrician comes." That should have been a red flag for me.

It cost me $80 to get the electrician to the door with a little presentation and a glossy menu of service levels; to actually do ANY work would cost more than the $80. I was already $80 in the hole, and trapped. $319 (yup) and 15 minutes later, I was told that one of the circuit breakers had a small flaw on it, and that it would cost another $600 to pop that switch out and put a new one in. Over $1,000 for this job!!! Shellshocked, I said: "No, thank you. I can't afford to have this work done by you. I'll have to get it done another way." (BTW, a new replacement circuit breaker costs around $40.)

I cut things off at $430 ($80 + $319 + tax), paid the bill and couldn't get the serviceman out the door fast enough. Throughout, the serviceman was very polite and professional. However, his company is obviously laughing all the way to the bank.

Shameful.

I had a ceiling kitchen light go out a few weeks ago and so, being a handy type I attempted to fix it myself. I discovered that the wires had "arc'd" and there had been some damage to the wiring. I felt it necessary to call a licenced electrician in this case.
The initial response over the phone from Hi-Lite Electric was excellent. They seemed knowledgable and really wanted to help. I was told that it would cost a $120 service travel fee to get an electrician to my home. This is where I should have said "No"... but assuming that travel and labour is expensive I agreed. My assumption also included the belief that for $120 I would also get this simple job done. I was wrong!
Two uniformed and clean guys showed up. One was an apprentice. They put booties on and came in, inspected the problem and went to the basement to look at the electrical panel. I was told instantly that they were going to do a "single circuit diagnosis" to find out what the problem was. This is when the alarm bells started to go off- the problem was simple. It had nothing to do with electrical panel. It was simply a screw that came loose in the wiring box above the light on the ceiling and, over time had shorted and burned the wires and caused the damage. Simple enough and easy for an experienced electrician to see. How do I know this? I'll get to that soon.
The Hi-Lite representative knew full well that the solution was simple as well but he chose to sit me down and put me through a 5 minute "company overview" including his qualifications and experience, show me the company written guarantee, explain their company philosophy blah, blah, just to "soften" me up and instill confidence that Hi-Lite Electric is not to be questioned and would do what needed to be done...for a price!. I am sitting there looking at this guy do his best to pull off the script- he was not good at it and had absolutely no sincerity in his "act" His apprentice is sitting there with us shuffling his feet, eyes to the floor- he is obviously uncomfortable with it as well. I am equally uncomfortable. I dont need to hear this garbage. I have paid $120 for two guys to arrive and fix my little problem...at least that is my assumption.
The Hi-Lite representative then proceeded to shove a price list in front of me. He explained that they use this price list to explain exactly "to the penny" what it will cost me to fix my problem. The price list (which I still have a copy of and have gleefully showed to lots of people who are shocked by this thing) consists of a ten level cost structure starting at $59 for simple things (and I assumed my problem) up to level 10- $1139 for tough stuff (which was not my problem). To my disbelief the Hi-Lite representative pointed to level 5 as my problem- a $319 charge to do a "single circuit diagnosis" to see "exactly" what the problem was. I blinked, looked at him and asked him to repeat himself. He without hesitation- while his apprentice shuffled his feet, eyes to the floor- expained again.
Now I am no moron. I looked up at the ceiling light and said "you want $440 to fix that?" "We will diagnose the problem and then offer you ways to fix it after that. We may have to pull wire" blah blah he said. We bantered back and forth and once I really understood that for $440 he would "diagnose" the problem and then for $XX he would fix it I said enough and asked them to leave.
I paid $120 for a courtesy call. "What" you say! "You paid them!". Yes because I agreed over the phone. And they took it without hesitation. Acceting this travel service fee over the phone- that was my first mistake.
Upon a casual check of other electrical contractors later the most expensive "travel service fee" was $90.
Now back to why I know it was a simple problem for sure- I called another guy who showed up promptly, came in, knew exacly what to do, explained it to me, fixed it and left- in 15 minutes! He quoted me $80 to get to my home and charged me nothing more to do the work. Just like I expected in the first place! I got away with a total $200 dollar charge to fix what should have cost $80 or so. I consider myself lucky though. Oh by the way- I had a bunch of other electrical work to be done in the future. The new guy quoted me and will be back soon to do it- this will cost about another $2000- Hi-Lite had it in the bag if they didn't try to cut my legs off on the first place.
Moral of the story- dont belive all that you hear, use your head, call around and compare pricing before you buy and dont take any crap form insincere tricksters!
Oh and dont call Hi-lite Electric.

I called Hi-Lite Electric Inc. and right from the initial phone answer I knew this was a professional company. They answered their phones cheerfully.
When the electrician came, he explained everything clearly informing me of everything I needed done and exactly how much it would cost. Safety was this companys 1st priority. They repaired my electrical problem and the following day the office called to make sure we were happy with their services, which I thought was neat! I will certainly use this company over again and refer them to my friends!

I wanted an electrical inspection and continued to have breakers flip. So I called this group to come in and take a look. The guy on the phone was very accomodating and knew what the issue was. He said that it was a minor fix. The phone operator (who wasn't an electrician himself said it would cost $98 to get them there, which would probably cover the costs)

However, when the guy came in, he was straight out brutal! First off, he wouldn't take off his boots (and thus dragged snow in my house), then to my surprise, wouldn't bring in his tools. He added that in order for him to actually open the electric panel, he would have to get his tools, and therefore charge me a "901". This "901" would charge an immediate charge of $450!! This didn't guarantee anything would actually get fixed. If it would be more "involved" (a term which he couldn't explain!), it would start to become an hourly fee. The service man was rude, curt, didn't care about the problem, or even look at the solution. I will definitely not use this contracter in the future and highly recommend against using this contractor!