Search for Licensed Electricians Turns Up Questionable Characters

Dear Brownstoners:

  The other day a post appeared on this site asking about the cost of electrical upgrades to a house.  I responded by saying that with any trade job like that, that customers should get three quotes.  I also included the names of three licensed and insured contractors known to me and known to other members of the community; these are people who operate above board, responsible businesses.  To my surprise, my recommendation was given a demerit by a user.  

During the course of the day, I called two of the electricians recommended by ???others??? in response to that post as I have a customer who needs some work done that my electricians will not do.  The two electricians, Earle and Erick, both assured me that they were licensed.  With Earle, I went into more detail telling him that I was a contractor vetting an electrician for a customer of mine and that I would follow through with the DOB before I gave her his number.  He went ahead and gave me the name of the company he works for (or owned) and told me the firm is licensed by the DOB.  Well, I went to the DOB website to inquire about the status of the companies licenses; in both cases, the people answering the phone numbers listed on the license info at the DOB had not heard of the people I was talking about.  In one case, the man got angry and asked me to call the ???electrician??? to my house and get a picture of him so he could take this further. I declined but gave him the phone number of that individual.  

In thinking about this, I was afraid that my exposing these unlicensed people might annoy some Brownstoners.  I have met many people who don???t mind using unlicensed help because it saves them money.  Also, without the cheaper, unlicensed help in the market, legitimate businesses can charge more; it hurts all around.  But what these individuals are doing is more than just working unlicensed (which means their competency has not been verified by a government and is open to questions of safety) but they are also riding on someone else???s license and insurance without their knowledge, which is downright illegal and corrupt.  In exposing these people for what they are, I have exposed two individuals who are not only unlicensed, but are uninsured, are probably falsifying business records, and misrepresenting themselves by stealing someone???s (or a companies) identity.   

I honestly believe that what these people have done are crimes that could put them behind bars; I hope Brownstoner???s do not mind that I exposed these people.  I hope they understand that this is far more serious than a small HIC contractor working without a license (I am a licensed HIC contractor and I promise you I will not squeal on the unlicensed HIC contractors you recommend here).   You know, it does help us all ??? both the homeowners and the businesses using this site, if we keep the integrity of this site at a fairly high level.  I hope many Brownstoners find what I have done acceptable in this environment.  

Steve

www.thetinkerswagon.com

stevecym

in Electricians 13 years and 9 months ago

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BKHomer | 13 years and 8 months ago

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i hope steve told you all that he has a parnership with the companys he recommended.

housebywe | 13 years and 9 months ago

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A reliable licensed electrician is one of the most difficult things to find.  Shoot us an email we’ll recommend someone for you if you still need help.

brooklynjennie | 13 years and 9 months ago

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Hi
I think that I hit the vote button. I did not mean to. I clicked in the wrong place. So I am sorry, if I did it. (I know it happened at some point when I was here) This new forum DISQs  thing is kind of sucky
Thank you for finding out about the shady electricians.I was going to call Erick, now I will not be.

Kensingtonian | 13 years and 9 months ago

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Steve, those two, Earle and Erick, always only promote themselves with fake sing-in names and monikers. I reported it to Mr. B a bunch of times but he has done very little to monitor this situation on the forum. It’s super easy to figure the fakes out on here. They also claim they are Contractors and licensed plumbers as well (at least one of them does). They are a total fake.

I had a hard time finding smaller licensed electricians on here. Same few solid names keep on coming across who pretty much everyone knows in brooklyn who do good work and are licensed (Cerillo amongst one of them and I can’t think who else of the top of my head).

tricks73 | 13 years and 9 months ago

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Thanks for sharing this experience. I think it confirms the importance of vetting your contractors – following up on multiple client references, getting proof of insurance, and checking validity of licenses

stevecym | 13 years and 9 months ago

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I am sorry about the formatting errors in the above post.  I originally wrote this in MS Word and pasted it; some of the formatting between words did not carry.

Steve