Bene Electric

Thank you very much Mr. Bene!  I was successful in resetting the GFCI plug in the garage.  The reset button popped out, so I just pushed it back in according to the instructions on the GFCI plug.  The power is all back in both bathrooms and the outside patio.  You are absolutely right, they are the GFI loop.  I forgot I used the reset button in the garage to bring the bathroom power back a very long time (decades?) ago.

It's disappointing that the two young electricians from the HVAC company didn't know anything about the GFCI plug.  The second electrician took 5 hours to diagnose the problem and made a wrong assumption that an active wire in the master bathroom outlet was cut by the first electrician and it dropped inside the wall.  The second electrician suggested cutting open my master bathroom wall to look for the assumed cut wire behind the wall, drilling a big hole in the stud next to a light switch to junction power to the adjacent outlet, or fishing a wire and junction power from the light switch up to the attic, then coming back down to the master bathroom outlet that lost power.  He said he only repairs drywall after it has been cut, but he doesn't do wall texturing and painting when I have the drywall compound, knockdown texture spray, matching paint and supplies.  He said it would take him a whole new day to do the wiring.  I refused to have my wall cut open or stud drilled with a big hole when his diagnosis was based on an assumption.  I felt something was not right so I called in the pro by emailing you for your help.

Mr. Bene, you have just saved me from nightmare suggestions by inexperienced electricians.  I will stay away from journeyman electricians without their boss on-site from now on.  I am very grateful for your help, advice and guidance.  I respect that you are a sincere, helpful, professional and exceptionally experienced licensed electrical contractor.  I would highly recommend you to anyone.

I will keep your contact information handy for my next electrical projects - repairing non-working outlets, updating old outlets, upgrading the main panel, installing new lighting, etc.

Thank you so much again!

The nicest and most helpful electrician I have ever talked to. Unlike other electricians who are all about money, Mr. Bene teaches me how to troubleshoot and fix small outlet problems. He called me to give me step-by-step instructions on how to troubleshoot my outlet issue. I have GFCI outlets that were not working. All bathrooms and backyard outlets connected to the main garage outlet were not working. Mr. Bene told me to check the ground wire inside the outlet and observe how the tripping happened. He was so patient and keen on helping people that he spent 50 min on the phone to help me fix it.

If you are someone who is looking for good trustworthy electrician, I highly recommend Bene Electric, he is very experienced, and super helpful.

Mr. Bene is a wonderful, wonderful man.  

I had an issue on Thanksgiving Day where my panel was destroyed over a tree root entangling the PG&E live wire, and PG&E was forced to shut my power off.  The initial electrician I contacted unfortunately ghosted me after a week in a half.  

Still homeless, I reached out to Mr. Bene.  

One thing I was impressed with Mr. Bene was that he KNEW the problem right away just by looking at the pictures and could even IDENTIFY the brand of the panel.  He was very truthful and honest and even came the next day to look in person free of charge.  

But one thing I appreciated is how Mr. Bene went out to bat for me.  He constantly communicated with PG&E for me and navigated through their bureaucracy and advocated that I was without power for nearly five weeks (at that point).  He has contacts with the city and was able to get the permitting done just like that.  The day he came to actually replace the panel he was considerate, wearing masks and feet covers, and finished extremely quickly.  I expected a full day; he was done in only two hours.  All while cracking jokes and making me feel less alone in a miserable situation.  

Mr. Bene takes care of everyone, especially those who live in Pleasanton.  Reach out to him first.  He is simply the best.  His prices are reasonable and he cares for those who get the raw end of the stick.  He is very responsive via email, cell or on the phone.  I've recommended him to every single one of my neighbors, and those who met him while he was working on my panel asked for his business card because he is someone we all know we can trust.  

You wont' regret using his services.

Had my electric go out on part of my house and didn't appear the breakers had tripped. Called Cole and he walked me through some trouble shooting and came to the conclusion that one leg of my 220 from PG&E was the likely culprit. Called PG&E and had their technician out and Cole was right. One leg of the 220 in the box under the sidewalk had failed. Replaced the connector and everything was back up and running within 10 min.

First time using bene electric and will be a lifelong customer. Cole is very knowledgeable, responsive and honest. He knew exactly what the problem was and fixed it very quickly. I would highly recommend him for all your electrical needs!

He was wearing a mask, covered his shoes with shoe cover and a superb person ... did the job so quickly. I would love to recommend him for any electrical job !!!

Cole was great to work with.  The fastest person to get back to me when I called a bunch of electricians and came out on a weekend to give a me a quote.  He was very reasonably priced, friendly to work with, and passionate about the job.  Very happy with Cole's work.

Cole came out to our house early last month after we had a series of incidents where our circuit breakers kept tripping. He made a minor fix, though didn't seem to get to the root of the problem. Charged us a reasonable sum, $210, and said if the problem recurs to call him and he'll pop right out.

Three weeks later, the problem recurred (though in 2 different rooms). We called him at 8:30 in the morning on a Friday and didn't get a callback. Called his cell phone at 12:30 and he answered while on a job in San Jose. He remembered us and said he'd be out to take a look in 2 hours.

Two, three, four hours passed and nothing. At 4:30 I texted him, no response. At 5:30 I called him, no answer. At 5:45 he called me, but thought he was responding to someone else. Would he come out that evening, or the next day? Can't. I'm on an important job, he said.

Which told me everything about his priorities.

I can't speak highly enough of the owner Cole, who did a lot of electric work for me like fan installations, lights over bathroom vanities, install of wall TV. Cole was honest, concerned, great prices and very professional. Other electricians wanted to tear my walls up to get the job done but he went around that saving me $ for patching, and painting. He employs good electricians also.
Fast, reliable, good work, thanks to these guys for taking care of all my worries!

Cole is very personable and responds quickly.  I had him fix all kinds of electrical problems with my house that were bugging me, put in new power outlets, hung a ceiling fan, ran an outlet to the outside of my house and even suggested great solutions to problems that I had.  His ideas and suggestions are great.  His prices are reasonable and he has been upgrading his skills to handle whole house batteries, generators and emergency power to homes.  My girlfriend used him to fix a fountain that was not working, installed new outdoor lights, is there anything that he does not do?  I cannot recommend him highly enough.

Cole did a full LED retrofit of one of our clients offices in San Ramon. One of the lamps he installed was damaged and he knew it. When the client asked to have it replaced Cole was unresponsive. After multiple attempts to reach him, we were forced to use another vendor to replace the light at our cost. They now have another light out, which will be at our cost again.

Cole is great. Our electric box on the side of our house got fried so we called around for a good electrician. Most didn't call me back. One that did came over and told us we need to get a permit, and that he doesn't have the time to handle it. Cole, however, not only handled that for us, but did a great job in upgrading our box to a much better performing, reliable version. He's also just a great guy who is very professional and knows his job through and through.

Cole completed a panel upgrade and backyard lighting project for me recently ,I reached out to a few electricians for a quote and he was in line with many of the reasonable quotes and on finally working out schedules etc. I went with cole. He had a very open and clear communication style and i was able to let him know what i needed exactly and he completed the work in time and ensured the small changes were accommodated as the project progressed. One thing i liked about him is follow up  , he followed up on a item that retailer  had shipped and came back and installed it  as part of the initial contract. He also left things they way they were supposed to and fixed my drywall to my satisfaction. Overall I will definitely recommend him for projects.

We had emergency situation at home where half of the phase blew away. Cole from Bene Electric looked at it and provided very detailed scope of work and answered all my queries with fullest satisfaction. Even cost to fix was lowest. Unfortunately, I was not able to avail his service as issue had to be fixed quickly. But I would really recommend him for his professionalism and knowledge. For my next project, I am certainly hiring him.

I called Cole for him to come out  to fix my ground fault problem. He was professional, knowledgeable, and patient. Over a total of three phone calls he was able to help me fix the problem without coming to my home. Saved me time and money. Call him first. Even if he charges you for the phone support it will save you time and money.

I needed some help with converting a exterior porch can light (LOW VOLTAGE CFL) to a drop down hanging light.  I went to Home Depot and asked someone there because the electricians that I called wanted up to $400.00 to do the job.  I am fairly handy but I really don't know much about electrical.  I had low voltage wiring and had to get it converted back to the 110.

Home Depot directed me to Red Beacon to search for someone.  Cole was the 1st person that called me back.  Without even hiring him he gave me so much details on what needed to be done.  I was able to get to transformer or converter box of the can that transferred it into low voltage.  I just didn't know what to do.

What amazed me about Cole is that he told me its fairly easy.  So easy that he said as long as I am handy and comfortable enough that he would walk me through it.  I didn't quite understand what he was telling me to do so he asked me to email him pictures which I did.  Later that night he called me back and gave me instructions based of what I was looking at.  From there I finally understood what he was telling me to do and figured it out fairly easily.

I have never written a review on yelp but I was honestly amazed by Cole's customer service that I felt I had to.  That really was going above and beyond and with his help I was able to get this done myself and save a ton of money!!

I will absolutely be keeping Cole's phone # handy in the even I ever need any kind of electrical done.

Our oven/stove kept shorting out and we were afraid to use it. I spoke with Cole Bene and described what we observed. He came out the next morning and diagnosed the problem. He not only fixed it promptly but he also evaluated other possible sites of problems and made sure everything was safe and in working order.  We also had a problem with our outside lights that a handyman and another electrician could not figure out. Cole resolved this problem as well. If you need an electrician I highly recommend him. He really knows his business.

A friend of mine who renovates homes for a living recommended Cole at Bene Electric when I was remodeling my home. I'd had a few bad experiences with other independent electricians so I was wary. Cole really surprised me. He arrived on time, stuck to his quotes (which were extremely reasonable) and helped me solve some serious problems that come with the territory when you try to retrofit an old house with modern equipment and up-to-date code compliance. He was even able to retrofit recessed lighting into my living room and we have no crawl space - so it was completely custom. Highly recommend Bene electric.