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I've used MES 3-4 times: Twice for electrical, on...

I've used MES 3-4 times: Twice for electrical, once or twice for simple HVAC tune-ups. I have no complaint about the quality of their work, which I would rate 5 stars. My review is lower due to negative customer service issues with Tony, who has proven disinclined to return a phone call when an issue arises after the work is done & the bill paid. This happened twice with me, so doesn't seem coincidental.

My first electrical job was switching out the original 2-prong outlets in my house with 3-prong. Code requires a permit for this work, which MES did not draw. Code also requites GFCI outlets in each room now, plus an arc fault GFCI placement.

After the work was complete, outlets in every room were tripping regularly in a round-robin fashion. This outcome was unexpected and irritating. Sometimes I'd turn on my bedroom overhead light and the television in the living room would go off, none of which happened prior to the upgrade.

I waited several weeks to see if the electrical would "settle" before calling Tony to ask if he could explain what was going on. When I didn't hear back after a week, I left him a second message and called the electrical inspector for the City of St Cloud for advice.

The inspector told me that a permit should have been pulled, then went to great lengths to describe how "sensitive" the new arc fault GFCI outlets are, and said tripping could come from anywhere, even sources totally unrelated to the outlets -- an overhead fan motor, or a lamp with old wiring, or anywhere within the house's wiring. The sensitive nature of these outlets seems well-known by electrical professionals, but the problems they cause are mysteriously difficult to pinpoint and correct.

Tony returned my 2nd call, said he had been busy and forgot to call back, which -- coming a week later as an official response from a business -- is weak. Customers love hearing their matter isn't important enough to jot down a reminder to get back to them.

For the next year, I lived with regular tripping throughout the house as if that's just the way it was going to be.

A year plus later, I decided to change most of my light switches because the bedroom switch regularly turning off the TV in another room was clearly connected. The MES electrician was excellent, but when that job was complete, the arc fault GFCI in one of the bedrooms started tripping every day, multiple times per day, beginning the day the switches were changed, rendering the electrical flow to that room almost useless. Again, I waited almost 3 weeks hoping something would correct itself in the circuitry before calling Tony.

When I didn't hear back from Tony the day I called, I called the St Cloud inspector instead of waiting around. The inspector came to my house 2 days later (Tony still hadn't called by then). The inspector put his GFCI tester in an old-style GFCI outlet in the bathroom which tripped an outlet in another room. He told me the problem could be anything, and said he'd contact Tony to replace the apparently faulty arc fault GFCI.

Turns out, unbeknownst even to the inspector, by inserting his tester in the old bathroom GFCI outlet, it corrected the entire house-wide tripping problem. From that point forward, even though I wouldn't realize it for a couple of days, all tripping stopped completely in all rooms, and has stayed that way so far. I doubt anyone could explain what has happened, or why.

5 days after the inspector's visit, Tony texted me in the 6am hour -- he sure tries to avoid direct contact -- to schedule the outlet replacement. I informed him the inspector had solved the problem.

I still have other electrical work but will look for a different company. Tony is a master electrician and a grown man, but his aversion to problem-solving strikes me as boyish and timid. When I called to set up the work, he was returning calls immediately & having my calls forwarded to his cell. I appreciate that the City inspector made himself available where Tony/MES was not able to.

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