Beware of price gouging with prices 2-to-3 times h...

Beware of price gouging with prices 2-to-3 times higher than average fair market values of other electricians!! Do yourself a huge favor for electrical needs: call any number of reputable, independent licensed electricians before you call Curtis.
We used Curtis Total Service to replace an outdoor electrical outlet with a GFCi outlet to meet inspection standards for the sale of our home in Allentown (we were in a bit of a hurry to get the work done). Prior to the service visit, Curtis would not give any ballpark estimate of the project cost by phone (even though Curtis admits to having "flat rates" for projects). Upon arrival (which involves a sunk cost of $85 for the service visit) the service man quoted $850 for a GFCi replacement. We were astonished, but we assumed that Curtis was charging fair-market prices, so we (stupidly) paid for the work. Shortly after, both an Allentown City inspector and a separate commercially licensed electrician each independently said we had overpaid for that work by a margin of 2-3 times. We called Curtis to report the possibility of a pricing error. A manager returned our call, and dismissed our complaint, saying that it was "your job as a consumer" to shop prices up front (though the only way to get his price "quote" is through an $85 visit). He also claimed that we shouldn't compare his prices to "small independent contractors" since "they only have one truck" and don't have the large corporate expenses of Curtis. He essentially acknowledged that his higher prices reflect the overhead of his larger company. We said we felt that we shouldn't be paying for his overhead, versus the much lower prices of his leaner competitors - i.e., that his company should offer competitive pricing to consumers, or at least be upfront about his higher pricing. He countered that that would amount to "collusion" (an absurd argument since collusion obviously refers to price fixing at higher prices, not competitively meeting lower market prices, which is done all the time!). He dismissed our argument for transparent and fair-market pricing by telling us we were "making no sense at all and can't even make one valid point." He said he didn't want to "waste time explaining how business works" to us. He used an analogy which claimed that bigger companies in every profession charge more because they offer more services. He used the example of an auto repair shop charging more because they offer a courtesy shuttle service (which, of course, is a ridiculous example since replacing a simple GFCi outlet is a universal service which requires no such extra variables). He dismissed our pricing complaint with an insult and an abrupt end to our phone call. His position was essentially, Hey, you signed for and paid for the work as priced - tough luck.
Do yourself a favor and save yourself from bloated prices - call other electricians before Curtis.