Jacob Northington, the proprietor, agreed to install a new Frigidaire microwave/convection oven…read morestack in our kitchen, replacing an older unit that was failing. He said we needed to schedule around the availability of "his helper." That turned out to be his father, Dick. When the two of them came to our home to do the install, it became clear very quickly that Dick knew more about the electrical work than Jacob did. Jacob was the helper, and his dad was the brains on the task. As part of the work, they needed to install two trim plates to cover gaps in the existing opening due to our older unit being 7" taller. Dick said he would bring back a couple of wood boards to put behind the trim plates, because the metal plates by themselves were flexible and unstable. Sounded good to me.
I asked Dick if he would be able to install whole house surge protectors at our electric panels, and he said he could take care of that. He quoted a price less than half what my usual HVAC company had quoted, so I asked him to proceed. He drove to Home Depot and Lowes that same day, supposedly also to get the wooden boards for the trim pieces. An hour or two later they returned and said they couldn't find the suppressors they needed so they would have to come back the following week. They did get the wooden boards to back the trim plates, and they took that material home with them. Under the heading "no good deed goes unpunished," I offered to pay Jacob in full for the oven work right then, rather than wait a week for the suppressor installation. Jacob happily accepted the Venmo payment in full.
The following week they missed their first scheduled time to come finish the installation and asked to push it later a day or two. Fine. Then Jacob told me his dad had to drive to Memphis for a funeral, so we needed to push the installations (oven and suppressors) early the following week. I said there really was no hurry to get it done within a couple of days and they should schedule it as they need to. That was on a Friday.
Over the weekend, I began to wonder about Dick's qualification to install two surge suppressors on two 200-amp service panels in our home, so I asked Jacob to confirm that his dad was a licensed, certified electrician. Jacob did not respond, nor did he contact me on the following Monday as he had promised. I asked him to cancel our request for suppressor installation and just finish the oven trim installation. A day later Jacob emailed to say "we have both been down real sick with some bug, will let you know when we will be able to make it by." I told them to both get better and let me know when they could come do the hour's worth of work to install the trim pieces.
That is the last I've heard from Jacob. We paid him $463 the day they installed the ovens (a bit higher than his initial estimate, but there was some extra cost involved in getting the two boards to back the trim pieces). I figure about $100 of that was for the cost of the stainless trim plates and wooden backers, plus installation. I've texted Jacob several times and left at least one phone message telling him we need him to finish the install that we've already paid for in full. Crickets. I asked him to refund the installation expense, if he didn't want to come back with the plates and finish the installation. No response. I told him I would post an honest review here (and elsewhere) if he didn't get back to us soon. Silence.
My wife and I tend to be trusting. We figure you can either trust a new acquaintance to stand behind their words or doubt their honesty right out of the gate. We choose to trust until that trust is broken. That's what has happened in our experience with Jacob and his dad. We'll never work with him/them again, of course, and I'd be gobsmacked to receive a refund from him via Venmo. Not holding our breath.
Our advice to customers who may choose to work with him: Pay nothing until he has completed the work. This young man has proven himself undeserving of our trust, and we're out the money he has kept without completing the work and the money it'll cost us to buy our own trim plates and backing boards to cover the gaps ourselves.
