Review of
SUNDIAL SOLAR TRAX INC. (Reid Aldridge and Keith Luckhardt) London, Ontario microfit solar panel installers London Ontario
Another group we recently had to deal with tried to play these games:
1. Billed for time not even on the job
2. Sat on roof for more than 1 1/2 hours saying that they didn't know what to do. They were shown the four wires that had to be joined together as soon as they arrived and had to be instructed step by step on how to do the simplest job. They had wired the original system.
3. Caused the problem in the first place by not following the engineering specification so that they could save some time and wire.
4. Tried to charge $30 for a $1.50 part and over charged for other parts while lying about the real cost
of the parts.
5. Estimated 1 man hour for job and tried to bill for 7 man hours while they played around (that is called stealing).
6. Refused to run wire through the attic as they had done before.- damaged roof
7. Told me to my face that he does not markup the cost of materials yet markups reached 2000%
8. Tried to play the game, we forgot parts over 5 times so that they could increase the time on the job: Again, that is STEALING
9. Laughed every time they tried to extend the time to do the job
10. No respect for customers and having a job
We had to back charge them for not running the wire where we told them to and have to hire someone else to finish the job. A back charge is a reduction of the invoice because the job wasn't done to specifications. It normally means that you have to remove the work that was originally done and re-do the job making it costly. You don't have to pay twice for doing the same job. I worked as a Tradesman for 10 years. Do the job correctly and you will not have this problem. I also do not pay for someone doing the above nonsense. This is childish behavior from a person who has retired and should know better. He thinks that he is smarter than other people and it is all a game to him. I had a much better opinion of them until this day. Your mileage may vary. We gave them hot coffee when it was cold and cold pop when it was hot. This behavior was not accidental but intentional. Apparently they had made a lot of money earlier in the day. My guess is by triple charging people. You make pennies in the solar business and have to watch your costs closely.
A manager in Ontario Hydro taught me this:
They drive a big white diesel truck with a large trailer. It is just fine for someone to write off the cost of their vehicle. It is not right for you to pay for their toys. In this case, the large truck is used to pull his boat. You should not have to pay for that. I call the smart one GREED (Reid Aldridge and Keith Luckhardt) his laborer. They hail from somewhere near London, Ontario. Two more people who will lie to your face and steal from you.
Who would hand over $40,000 for them to install your solar system?
Email me if you have bad dealing with them.
If you are using these people, use them through a middle man and get the cost up front. They will try every trick in the book to over charge you as they did not make any money last year and want to double/triple up this year.
Trust is a key element when hiring people to do work for you. They can do a fair job when working for other people. On this day they decided to get Greedy and to try to steal from us. Job was NOT done according to our requirements. Told never to return to our house and if we see them, then the police will be called. I FIRED BOTH OF THEM.
What was the job they had to do?
The original engineering specification stated two strings per inverter. They installed 1 string per inverter saying it was better and not needed. (see my blog on why this is not true). The job was to return the system to two strings per inverter as per the original specification and all wires to go though the attic.
You simply have to cut each string some where in the middle, join the two lines and run 4 more wires back to the inverters, The system was naturally divided on this account where it went from the south roof to the east/west roofs over the garage.
Time needed to cut the four wires --- under 1 minute.
Time to join two strings together with MC4 fittings about 5 min. (there is a 3 min video on U tube showing you how to make the crimp MC4 fittings). With the right tool, you can strip the wires in 5 seconds. I have such a tool and the MC 4 crimp tool also. There were 2 MC4 fittings required in total.
Time to run a wire back to the inverters No more than 20 min through the attic.
Time to make connections in a electrical box on the roof no more than 20 min.
Total is less than 1 man hour.
They arrived at 1:45 pm and Reid tried to tell me that he arrived at 1:00 PM I said to myself, He just lied to me, what ELSE is he lying about?
They did nothing for the first 1 1/2 and then did the dog for the next 1 1/2. I had to show them the wires to cut 3 times and how to pot the lines and validate the strings back at the inverters. They claim to be the experts. Total time billed 7 man hours. Total time on the site 2 hours 45 min. Not working is called stealing by one of the electricians that I spoke with.
Reid knew exactly what to do. He is not stupid just Greedy. The helper is color blind and can't do any wire connections. He had worked the night shift and most likely went to sleep in the truck out of sight.
Reid spends most of the winter on some southern island and dosn't return until April.
The previous year they gave themselves a 25% pay raise. With the way they charge people, they want to get paid $150 each per hour. Neither one of them is an electrician.
They love to tell people we charge for two hours up front and $150 per hour after we arrive. If you pay for two hours of work make sure you get two hours of work and then pay more if the job really takes that long. They are just charging people triple time. Don't buy into this scheme.
Note: Get yourself proper material quotations from an Electrical Supply Company and document everything that was done. Any Judge will then be able to see though their dishonesty. Hold back any funds that you know are dishonest. Pay them for what they did and not for what they didn't do. Back charge them if they didn't do what you told them had to be done and then must be done by someone else. Personally, I don't believe a word that they say anymore. I FIRED BOTH OF THEM!!
1. Billed for time not even on the job
2. Sat on roof for more than 1 1/2 hours saying that they didn't know what to do. They were shown the four wires that had to be joined together as soon as they arrived and had to be instructed step by step on how to do the simplest job. They had wired the original system.
3. Caused the problem in the first place by not following the engineering specification so that they could save some time and wire.
4. Tried to charge $30 for a $1.50 part and over charged for other parts while lying about the real cost
of the parts.
5. Estimated 1 man hour for job and tried to bill for 7 man hours while they played around (that is called stealing).
6. Refused to run wire through the attic as they had done before.- damaged roof
7. Told me to my face that he does not markup the cost of materials yet markups reached 2000%
8. Tried to play the game, we forgot parts over 5 times so that they could increase the time on the job: Again, that is STEALING
Note: One of the first things that a tradesman learns is to organize their work. You get all of the parts you need for the job and put them in you tray. You do all the work that you can on the ground first and then go up to the roof.
9. Laughed every time they tried to extend the time to do the job
10. No respect for customers and having a job
We had to back charge them for not running the wire where we told them to and have to hire someone else to finish the job. A back charge is a reduction of the invoice because the job wasn't done to specifications. It normally means that you have to remove the work that was originally done and re-do the job making it costly. You don't have to pay twice for doing the same job. I worked as a Tradesman for 10 years. Do the job correctly and you will not have this problem. I also do not pay for someone doing the above nonsense. This is childish behavior from a person who has retired and should know better. He thinks that he is smarter than other people and it is all a game to him. I had a much better opinion of them until this day. Your mileage may vary. We gave them hot coffee when it was cold and cold pop when it was hot. This behavior was not accidental but intentional. Apparently they had made a lot of money earlier in the day. My guess is by triple charging people. You make pennies in the solar business and have to watch your costs closely.
A manager in Ontario Hydro taught me this:
"If it appears a certain way, then it usually is that way."
They drive a big white diesel truck with a large trailer. It is just fine for someone to write off the cost of their vehicle. It is not right for you to pay for their toys. In this case, the large truck is used to pull his boat. You should not have to pay for that. I call the smart one GREED (Reid Aldridge and Keith Luckhardt) his laborer. They hail from somewhere near London, Ontario. Two more people who will lie to your face and steal from you.
Who would hand over $40,000 for them to install your solar system?
Email me if you have bad dealing with them.
If you are using these people, use them through a middle man and get the cost up front. They will try every trick in the book to over charge you as they did not make any money last year and want to double/triple up this year.
HIGHLY NOT RECOMMENDED 5 STAR GREED RATING
Trust is a key element when hiring people to do work for you. They can do a fair job when working for other people. On this day they decided to get Greedy and to try to steal from us. Job was NOT done according to our requirements. Told never to return to our house and if we see them, then the police will be called. I FIRED BOTH OF THEM.
What was the job they had to do?
The original engineering specification stated two strings per inverter. They installed 1 string per inverter saying it was better and not needed. (see my blog on why this is not true). The job was to return the system to two strings per inverter as per the original specification and all wires to go though the attic.
You simply have to cut each string some where in the middle, join the two lines and run 4 more wires back to the inverters, The system was naturally divided on this account where it went from the south roof to the east/west roofs over the garage.
Time needed to cut the four wires --- under 1 minute.
Time to join two strings together with MC4 fittings about 5 min. (there is a 3 min video on U tube showing you how to make the crimp MC4 fittings). With the right tool, you can strip the wires in 5 seconds. I have such a tool and the MC 4 crimp tool also. There were 2 MC4 fittings required in total.
Time to run a wire back to the inverters No more than 20 min through the attic.
Time to make connections in a electrical box on the roof no more than 20 min.
Total is less than 1 man hour.
They arrived at 1:45 pm and Reid tried to tell me that he arrived at 1:00 PM I said to myself, He just lied to me, what ELSE is he lying about?
They did nothing for the first 1 1/2 and then did the dog for the next 1 1/2. I had to show them the wires to cut 3 times and how to pot the lines and validate the strings back at the inverters. They claim to be the experts. Total time billed 7 man hours. Total time on the site 2 hours 45 min. Not working is called stealing by one of the electricians that I spoke with.
Reid knew exactly what to do. He is not stupid just Greedy. The helper is color blind and can't do any wire connections. He had worked the night shift and most likely went to sleep in the truck out of sight.
Reid spends most of the winter on some southern island and dosn't return until April.
The previous year they gave themselves a 25% pay raise. With the way they charge people, they want to get paid $150 each per hour. Neither one of them is an electrician.
They love to tell people we charge for two hours up front and $150 per hour after we arrive. If you pay for two hours of work make sure you get two hours of work and then pay more if the job really takes that long. They are just charging people triple time. Don't buy into this scheme.
I learnt this in life. If they steal from someone else, then they will steal from me also. If they lie, then they most likely also steal.
Note: Get yourself proper material quotations from an Electrical Supply Company and document everything that was done. Any Judge will then be able to see though their dishonesty. Hold back any funds that you know are dishonest. Pay them for what they did and not for what they didn't do. Back charge them if they didn't do what you told them had to be done and then must be done by someone else. Personally, I don't believe a word that they say anymore. I FIRED BOTH OF THEM!!
The Union Mindset
This reminded me of a small job done in Ontario
Hydro. The electrician had to connect 3
wires. He took 8 hours to do the first 2
wires and billed 4 hours overtime for the last connection at time and half. All of that work could have been done in 15
min. He exploited the system. 