Gotcha. Thanks for not slamming my spelling of libel. Oops!

I do think hacks should get the equivalent of swift a$$ kicking in places like this forum, though. Then we could point our clients here to "justify" our prices.

I would not be adverse to naming names in cases like this, where I could verify the story. But it can get hairy when disgruntled clients are involved, and you don't always know the real story behind the ugliness.

should have hired a pro!

Sounds like the final card to play in the hand could be... "Since you are unwilling to fix this, apparently this is the way you expect your jobs to look. I'll be posting this picture for you, along with your Business Name, so that others can see the quality of your work for themselves."

I had a bit of a run-in with an electrical contractor myself, about a year ago. There were some pretty clear code violations. Larry was good enough to give me the appropriate NEC sections.

It was a fun conversation. I talked with the electrician, his line was that since it didn't fail inspection, they didn't have to fix it. I asked him to call his boss, he said no need.

I informed him that he needed to tell his boss that if they refused to fix this, I'd call the city inspector myself, and make an appointment for him to come and see the work. I'd also work with my neighbors to have several of their homes inspected. After seeing this, I expect the inspector will cut them no slack on future jobs, and they may very well end up repairing the work for free anyway.

I got a call from the electricians boss 15 minutes later. Five minutes after that, the electrician was in my home, bringing items up to code.

Threatening to shine the light of day on contractors mistakes, can lead to increased cooperation ;-)

Send the contractor a complimentary issue of CE Pro, with a cover letter signed by "Editor at large Julie Jacobson", then circle and highlight the 'Jacobson'.

Thats not fair, you didnt my guys time to bolt the door on the enclosure.

Julie, I can't find the link to the neat-o contest, can someone post the link.

Caveat Emptor.....your brother needed to spend the time getting at least 2-3 competitive bids, this most likely would have prevented this mess. I still see many people anal-yze every thing about their new house but simply forget to remember the low voltage part of the equation.

We do try to make sure that there is ample room in the whole house can, usually by installing 2 side by side. Satellite and Cable TV in one can and Cat-5/ network gear in the other. This will make the job a lot easier to pack in all the gear. However, sometimes customers want to save a buck and pack it all into one can.

I'm sure your brother wasn't given the option.

The rest of that post is a GREAT story!

I might modify the above by printing out this thread and telling him that a picture of his work has already been commented on by an international audience (looky here), and the only thing that will keep you from going back in and naming names would be complete satisfaction.

Sorry, but I must disagree. Getting "competitive" bids would have done NOTHING to prevent a mess like this.

Get competitive bids and you still know nothing about the company, or the quality of work a company will do. You simply know what a company will charge for the system. And even that information can be rather suspect, as each company may have some items of differing quality and cost.

Getting referrals from others who have had work done by a company, or actually seeing work the company has done? Now that's something that can prevent a mess like this.

Trunk-Slammer -Supreme has a valid point. Sparky isn't the only one I've seen come up with this level of quality work. After being in the profession for a while, its just like any other business - some people care, others dont. Check out the thread by Mr. Stanley "What a day".

OK...

Its time to implement an idea I had at IP a while ago. We all see this crap and I have one I'll be photographing soon that looks even worse.

We need a site or area to access called the "Hall of Shame". We can use it as a brotherhood/sisterhood with the stipulation that no one is allowed to name names. I use pictures like this all the time and have a couple of real doozies.

We could share the crap photos as sort of a stock and share our own good ones during bids

At the Home Show i had a few pictures like this next to a well trimmed panel. The caption on the photo said "You wouldn't put up with this kind of finsih work on your Kitchen Countertops... why put up with it in your wiring enclosure". A picture is worth a thousand words... got us a few good jobs.

I gotta real problem asking companies to redo stuff.

If they're not competent enough to initially trim out a panel correctly, what makes you think they know how to fix it????

However, when a potential client asks me if I can "fix" something like this I generally defer to the offending dealer. I kindly ask them to exhaust their resources in holding them responsible and not to let them off the hook. A call (or threat)to the registrar of contractors is a valid next step. So many of these companies just jump from one burning ship to the next. It's good to make these companies hurt badly enough that they're afraid to do a bad job. It's a matter of principle.

Besides, if my day is already filled up taking the time to do my own projects right the first time, how in the bloody #$&? can I find time to clean up my competitor's jobs?


Now if it was a home builder that required the contract with the offending firm, the phone conversation could go something like this:

Client: What are the locations of all of your homes/communities?
Home Builder: Why, are you interested in buying one of our homes?
Client: No, I already have one. I'm just making sure we have enough picket signs for each community..