My Mother hired a licensed electrician to install 1 ethernet drop in her home office. She already had a preexisting tp-link setup in the basement. She showed me the invoice today which totaled $958.00! I’m shocked and disgusted. Feels like they took advantage of my Mother.

I told my Mother to call them first thing tomorrow morning to see if they possibly made a mistake. If not, I advised her to never do business with that company again. This seems like highway robbery. Is there anything else she can do?

https://preview.redd.it/bcwk77klz63c1.jpg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e5867d3241e035638a0504562ca5027488e6cf71

https://preview.redd.it/ulaih3klz63c1.jpg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5b76a5d053ec93120dff1e68755478034954f27e

  • Kawai_Oppai@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    Get 3 bids. Choose the bid you like.

    Only time there’s a problem is if the price you are told is a bait and switch tactic and the price they at the end have you pay is vastly different than the beginning.

    If your mom was told the job was a million dollars and she agreed to it. That’s on her.

  • jashow@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    Field nation seems like it’s geared towards commercial? Maybe can find someone on there to do a residential job though.

    • justintroubleshooter@alien.topB
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      1 year ago

      It’s definitely a commercial driven platform, but you might be surprised as to how many commercial companies outsource residential work on here 💫

  • divakerAM@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    Looks cost seems excessively high for a simple Ethernet drop installation, and it might be worth seeking a detailed breakdown of the charges

  • zmeul@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    sparkies have no business installing network cables

    Every time I inherit a job from a sparkie I want to punch them in the nuts

  • localremote762@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    I think was all the posts here are missing is that she hired a licensed electrician. If it would have been one plug that would have been a similar cost without anyone batting an eye. The money is not for the knock, it’s knowing where to knock. I wish I could say I’m defending them because I’m an electrician but I’m not. We lose work to those guys all the time, and they never have the right low voltage trainings.

  • SelectionOk7702@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    Outrageously overpriced, but I don’t think they were being dishonest about it. It really isn’t worth it to do a dinky LV job installing a single drop. It would have cost 60 bucks and a YouTube video of you DIYd it.

  • Wushufoodz@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    Yeah way over paid. I run low voltage for a living. 1cat5-6 drop is $80 per line and $144/hr for labor, and even I think our prices are a little high but I am also poor so everything is expensive to me.

  • electrowiz64@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    What city are you in? I’m not too surprised for electricians especially in pricey states. Unfortunately it is a bit of work to run cable between floors, and worse when digging out drywall.

    I feel an AV company might be a better help

  • Polodude@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    LV guy here. Sorry,but your mom got F’d by that sparky. Show a pic of the actual cable he ran. A clear shot of the jack at the wall and the end at the rack.

    CAT5e thru drop ceiling, no certification just working test, $150 - $200 tops depending on area.

    Did she already pay him ?

  • maxwelldoug@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    I did ethernet myself earlier this month. 2 60 foot cat6 runs, through a wall, down outside the house, then back up and in at the other end, cable running through the crawl space. It was about 40$ in material and took me and my father an hour with full termination on both ends and so far stable gigabit. Ethernet is not something that needs an electrician (no notable current) to install, although some of the same skills apply.

    Overall, a single ~25 foot cat5e run? Based on information in the posts and comments, if you paid more than 100$ you got ripped off, and I would probably have done it for 75.