I received a $500.00 gift certificate for Mr. Handyman.com from my sister. There were a couple of projects around the house that we knew needed to be done, but both my funds and time are limited. She thought this service would make a great gift. Wow - was she ever wrong! This generous gift has turned into a nightmare. I contacted the local office in Oak Park, Illinois and inquired about having some electrical work down. At the time, I specified that I did have a gift certifcate and also, that if the electricl work proved to be more involved, that I would prefer to use the gift certifcate on another project. They sent their "handyman" whom they claimed was also an electrician. The man was not licensed. He spent more than 5 hours in my home and when he left, he had not repaired what we had asked him to repair, he actually made some things worse, told us we needed a "real" electrician, left an open junction box in our ceiling and charged us the full value of the gift certificate. They sent an unlicensed electrician into my home, a man who caused more harm than good, and charged over $90.00 and hour for his "services." I realize now this had to have been a scam from the start. He took our gift certificate and left us in a position where we would have no choice but to either bring them back or hire yet another electrician. When my mother (who was at home) would not sign off on the work he had done, the owner of the franchise called. She expressed her displeasure, and then I called him and expressed mine. Keep in mind that I am the homeowner and the gift certificate they took was in my name. After some discussion which included some veiled threats from him, he offered to apply the full value of the original gift certificate they took from us towards a complete electrical upgrade which they claim we need. I wasn't happy with the offer but since it is an older home and there are issues, and also because it seemed to be the only way I was going to get any value from the gift certificate, I agreed to look into the work they proposed. I told them I needed a written estimate before I made any decisions. I also clearly told them I wanted to be there when the new "real" electrician came out because unfortunately, I was not at home when the first person came out. The owner instead deliberately sent the electrician over at a time when he knew I could not be there. After 4 days, I finally received their proposal last night. Now, in addition to the $500.00 they already took from me, they want another $1,000.00 to repair the damage their man caused and upgrade our electrical. The proposal is also written in a way that allows for unlimited "extra" costs. Bottom line - they took our money and caused further damage to the electrical in our home and are trying to get even more money from us.
While my problem may be limited to the local franchise, I have to say - Do not ever purchase a gift certificate from this company! Your good intentions could cause the person you are trying to help a lot of headaches.
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