Lee Company

I learned a valuable lesson today. I scheduled an estimate to have a few new outdoor receptacles put in. When booking the appointment, they make you agree to a Service Call charge - even for a quote.  Assuming their quote would be in line with other quotes I was getting, I agreed.

This should have been the first warning sign.  

When the tech got there, he was polite.  However, his estimate was way higher than others I've received. In addition, other electricians provided different installation options which will save me a considerable amount of money than the way they wanted to do the installation.

When I commented on how high the estimate was, he magically dropped the price a bit - but not that much.  He told me he has to quote a certain way and has no control over it.  This might be so the techs can't charge what the service should be and instead charge what the company wants.

So it appears their business model is to charge people to come give an estimate that is way too high so they don't have to do the work and still pocket the service call fee.  

Nice racket.

I've had two experiences with Lee Company, one for electrical work and the other for a HVAC quote.

For starters, I booked an appointment and was given a four hour window of when the technician would arrive. I ended up having to reschedule because an hour and a half past the scheduled time slot, they still did not arrive. I ended up having to cancel and reschedule.

When the technician came out the next day, he was courteous and knowledgeable. He was somewhat pushy with trying to pitch additional services and work.

All in all, the technician was courteous, knowledgeable and the rate I was charged was reasonable. I was disappointed with the sales tactics and the tardiness but the technician did good work, the rate was reasonable, and he was courteous. I'm somewhat understanding of the tardiness due to the pandemic, but it was still pretty late even factoring that in.

I followed up with a HVAC quote (the first technician set that up). The second technician I worked with was also late. He was extremely pushy, and rude. Not only was I not told the truth (as I came to later find out), but he was incredibly rude and I had to pry to get basic information.

For example,

Me: What is the model you are quoting me?
Salesman:Why do you want to know? You wont find anything on it.
Me: Well this is potentially a big investment, so I'd like to do some additional research.
Him: How do you plan to research? Do you know people in the industry? You won't find anything.
Me: Well I would appreciate this basic info.
Him: Well I'll have to look up the model.

He also quoted a price and then used scare tactics if you go with another company, your house could be permanently damaged and you would be stuck with that damage. You dont want that, do you?

He also asked what other companies quoted the work. I was honest and told him that I planned to get 3 or 4 quotes, as this is a big investment.

He sneered and told me If you want to spend the time you can. You won't find another company that will do it cheaper, and if you do, they won't know what they are doing and you'll have some kid fresh out of school installing your HVAC and messing up your house.

He also asked what brand of unit I had been quoted and I said American Standard. He then said that We use Trane, which is better.

Me: Isn't Trane and American Standard the same thing?
Him: American Standard is a lesser make than Trane and is made differently.

When he left I did some research, and come to find out that American Standard purchased Trane's HVAC division in 1984, and they are now identical, with the exception being the name plate on the unit. Turns out they are made in the same places too.

I could provide other examples, but suffice to say, I couldn't wait until this guy left my house.

Needless to say, I will not be using Lee Company to meet my HVAC needs.

Worked with Lee Company to add an outdoor junction box and an outdoor outlet to my house.  They came out looked at what I wanted.  Quoted me a price.  Told me when someone would be out.  They were there on time, got the work done quickly and without disturbing anything I had going on at home.  They were done quickly, they did not have to even turn off the power!  Everything looked perfect, very professional polite people.  I would use them to do work at my house again.

I wrote a review about the ineffectiveness of Lee company technicians, but needed to add a bit more information.  When one of the Murfreesboro technicians put in the 2nd plug, I told him 2 or 3 times where I wanted in.  He installed in 10 ft or so from where I wanted it...his response was that that was close enough for my extension cord.  That's not what I call customer service.

first the good:
provided a very clear quote with the work and service involved. we were given details on the equipment and parts to be installed
when some issues with the electrical came up, they found solutions and got it to work without added charges
the installers and then the electricians who came were super nice and professional, staying a lot later than expected

the neutral:
they are rather expensive, even compared to prices/quotes I got for my properties in Boston (generally speaking Boston is about 30% more expensive than nashville on average, and even more when you factor in boonies). but, they felt solid enough
I am not a fan of Gov Lee at all and if not for florida and texas would say he's the worst governor in the entire country. I know he's no longer afiliated with the lee company, but it is his family's business and i'm sure he still has a lot of $$ interests, etc.

the negatives:
the electrician folks had to come a day or two later to do the wiring correctly, but they had no information at all related to what the installers did, and then they ended up ripping it all out and redoing it, which is just an awful lot of extra time and hassle, and as a result we lost the very last open slot in our electric panel. a small thing but the electricians kept repeatedly asking me technical questions that I would have assumed should be handled between them and the installers as they are all employees of Lee.
they wouldnt really even look at or help with any of the ductwork and randomly threw out a quote of $7k to completely redo it all--it just had some unattached ducts and mediocre settings for the airflow (too much to some spaces, too little elsewhere). An hvac professional could have gone in and adjusted it all in less than an hour with less than $100 in material. I did it myself with some trial and error and help from a family friend over the phone (hvac pro, but over 1000 miles away) so we got it done, just took me the better part of a day plus a couple return trips to the crawlspace. I would have paid $400-500ish for them to do the work, but I can also respect if it's not part of their general wheelhouse. I'm including that in the negative solely because their website implies they would do this sort of work as well. In boston, I had a few indepentent hvac guys I could have called and woud have  shown up and taken care of it quickly and easily for under $200. But, we're new to TN and dont have a super trustworthy network of people yet.

Overall, happy with the job done and the system works well. In the future, I'll likely purchase equipment myself and just hiring an electrician. But, if its for something complicated and/or involving a lot of moving parts and I'm pressed for time as well, I won't hesitate to use them again. I'll add some photos soon! 2 months or so later and the system works really well.