Reviews of Electrical Safety Authority (Electrical Technician)

George S

Would rate zero if I could. This organization is a scam! Individuals are forced to pay ridiculously high rates for do it yourself work to be screened. Before you know it, you'll need a permit to change a light bulb. Goodbye common sense!

David Watson

Knowledgeable and friendly inspectors, that take the time to do a detailed job.

v p

Mark Oneill from M5 Electric Richmond Hill , a licensed ESA electrical contractor was to install electrical panel and took on job to finish basement. Mark not only took 15K UP FRONT from my mother who had cancer at the time. He dragged out the job for almost year and half saying he would be back and come 1 time a month. In the end we have no basement and no electrical panel. The issue was the basement was completed before he got involved....it was torn out for him to renovate it! There are wires hanging everywhere and the ESA does not care about electricians who rip people off they in fact have no recourse over licensed electricians who do not do work and take peoples money.

windex hd

The ESA is a scam . How can an inspector come over 3 times and find something new everytime First time the inspector came hr gave us a list . We did everything on the list then he found more things. Again we completed everything on the list . He again found more things that needed to be done. How is this legal ! Everything he has mentioned the third time he could of mentioned the first . Instead they do this in purpose to make money of you !!! I'm sending an email to our local mps and filling a report to the better business bureau

T W

All the complaints on here, should be forwarded to an ombudsman. Put your google review, but we need to stop organizations like this from ripping off the consumers

Dianne Speaker

Absolutely terrible business practices. $400 to have someone show up for 20 minutes and tell you that there are a few minor issues that could be fixed yourself - no electrician needed he says!! Call back to get them to recheck after corrections made - no, we need an $80 permit and then they will come back. Absolute money grab. How to actually obtain the certificate is not clearly explained as this was a simple list of corrections (paint covering co/alr needed to be scrapped off so he could clearly see it, remove excess extension cords, etc) yet more money needs to be paid. TERRIBLE!

Ryan B

An inspection is technically needed to change a WALL PLUG, ESA is just a way for electricians to get rich

Sarah Mourning

-1 Star. I called lat week for an appointment. the office told me the inspector would be here Monday.. I took the day off to meet with him and at 2:50 I called them to see where he was. They told me to call him and talk to him about scheduling after they struggled to find my case file. I called the inspector and he told me that hes not in the area on Mondays. He tells me now that I have to be home for Tuesday. So I lost a days wage due to this and cant be home for the inspection now to go over all the issues. What an absolute Joke... And these guys are supposed to be a government organisation? Too bad its all we've got...

Jess

Garbage

Roman L

These guys are a total pain. Especially David Sinclair in the Etobicoke area. He'll shut down power without any good reason. We've followed all code yet somehow he wants to flex his little muscles to pretend to be a big guy. Fire him ESA. Get yourself a better inspector.

Wesley I

Very disappointing.

ELOHIM M

Scammers. Worst service ever

Frank Z.

I rate ESA a ZERO. This is a robbery organization, whose goal was to screw up home owner/landlord to milk money. Their inspectors always try to stop you to get the permit whenever they can. Here I would like list these for you to judge. 1. When you make an appointment, you have to pay in advance, that's $300 more for initial inspection and the time slot they give you is big, normally from 10am to 2pm or 8am to 4pm.And the inspector always come at the end of the time slot which means you need wait for them about 4 hours to come and they only spend 10 minutes for the whole inspection. They are time killer and money sucker. 2. Then they issue a report of list defections to you but on many of those list items are so confusion even a master electrician can't understand. 3. After you finished all the work you have to pay another $89 to them and wait about 4 hours again for them to inspect your house again. Normally they will find more issue in your house and want you to pay them more. 4. My house was inspected by them for 3 times and I paid $300 +$89+$89 = $478 inspection fees to them and I paid $1000 fees to hire an electrician to do all the work. I paid almost $1500 but still didn't get the permit. This NON PROFIT ORGANIZATION actually is a money sucker. 5. I checked their financials, it shows they only have 379 employees include front desk but their revenues is over $87 million. That means the average revenue is $229,600 per employee. That's why they have so rich. ESA is for profit not non profit from this point of view. Close ESA Please. Victims.

Michael

What did I have to pay for? $75 for a permit and when I requested an inspection. I was told be home from 8-4 and the inspector never showed up. What a complete joke. This company is such a complete scam. I will be filing a complaint with the Ontario government and the ombudsman. Hopefully something will come of it.

Matthew Irvine

Assuming you have no life and can wait for 8 hours + in a day they finally show up. Then lie to you saying looks good a few minor things. Later emails massive list I must correct for insurance. Then have to wait another whole day for them to attend to check me out but does not arrive in time specified. All this for massive fees for nit picking details! This company is terrible and does not deserve money but due to insurance and electricians they will stay in business.

vicjames2011

Complete and utter scam. My former electrical work tenant screwed up a ton of things in the house, called the ESA who illegally entered my home without me present to give me a list of 42 faults found and a $483 bill for services I never hired them for. Thanks for nothing Ontario Government, no safe guards for home owners anymore.

Laith A.

Waited for the inspector from 8 am and they texted me at 4pm said he can't make it today.. What a joke

Mike Stroh (Mental Health)

A driver on Bathurst st wasn't respecting the traffic signals, holding up traffic and when people were honking he gave the middle finger! Great way to represent the company when the truck is plastered with company logos etc. When calling to complain, I got the run around and was told it has to be submitted in writing etc...blah blah pass the buck story. I'm not one to complain about this stuff very often but this is a good example of not caring about what people have to say about the company and poor customer service.

Domenic Loschiavo

ZERO stars for service. ZERO stars for accountability. ZERO stars for openness, and full disclosure. This is our government at its best, turning over the inspection of all electrical installations over to a private company, who is secretive, and not accountable to anyone. They won't even tell you who owns the company. Inspectors show up if and when they feel like it. One inspector told me the stickers on all of my LED lights "looked like they were fake or forged" and demanded that they all be replaced, but refused to put it in writing, so i can go after the company that sold me the lights, and refused to investigate the company that sold the lights to me. The lights all had to be removed and replaced, but the inspector would not help me to take the seller of the lights to court, and made his decision without any proof that the lights were not CSA approved. Inspectors routinely hinder my ability to close a permit, because they are not available to do a final ESA report so i can close my permit. And when they do schedule an inspection, its NOT a CONFIRMED inspection, so they can cancel at any time, without providing any reason for the cancellation. The building departments in Ontario will not close a permit without a final ESA report, so we are at the mercy of some government employee who reports to no one. Nice arrangement the ESA has with our provincial government, i wonder how they got this nice arrangement.

Shahab Nazarinia

The most ignorant and obnoxious agency ever. They have the worst system of appointment. They just assume people have no life and can spare a whole day so their agent can just come between 8 to 4. What????? Not only they waist your time, they also expect the electrician to drop everything and make himself available the whole day so their agent come whenever. Terrible terrible terrible, but what can we do? We have no other choice.

Alex Hutchinson

Rudest customer service I've ever experienced. The awful customer service combined with the shoddy scheduling (leaving customers to freeze in the middle of winter unless they are able to pay an extra 600 dollars? That's criminal) make this the worst company I've ever dealt with. Just dreadful.

nick smith

What was the cause of all the smart meters causing peoples houses to catch fire ?? How come the meter was stolen in the middle of the night ? Why is everyone staying quiet about this?

Peter Kay

My neighbor works for this organization and their eleven year old son drove their minivan through a fence and into my children's garden where they both spent the entire day, the day before. But for blind luck, they slept in that morning or they would have been crushed. The eleven year old driving the vehicle has a younger brother, who could easily have been run over by his older sibling or had the air bag deployed, the eleven year old could have been hurt or killed by the air bag. This organization reminds me fo the phrase "those who cannot do, TEACH or apparently "REGULATE!".

Mark van den Ende

Had to see what all the bad reviews were about. Seems to me that if you had a problem with ESA, it's because they had a problem with your lousy electrical work. The only thing wrong with ESA is that they allow home owners to work on their own homes. I feel sorry for ESA inspectors who on a daily basis need to hold the hands of 'do it yourselfers' to make sure they don't burn their own houses down. I've had nothing but great experiences with this agency and all their employees. ESA's existence is absolutely necessary in order to protect people from bad contractors and from themselves. Furthermore, I think that the public should be required to carry a license in order to buy any sort of building material from big box stores, especially electrical material. Most of you aren't qualified to build a tree fort, let alone wire your house.

Jeff

This entire organization is the definition of unprofessional. From making snarky comments to customers to doing the bare minimum and using every possible loop hole to have any accountability on their part. This is a toxic organization for the electrical trade. Hinders growth and raises prices for all electricians customers.

mike policichio

If I can give them a zero, I would. Their agents and inspectors are rude with outrageous prices. This agency is redundant and useless and only make money because of the bureaucratic red tape in placed for them to be in existence. But they claim it is for our safety. No, it is in place for them to make a huge pay day... Where are the prices that their inspectors quoted on their website? There is nothing listed publicly. We got to take their word for it and that is it? We just need to spend just under a thousand dollars for a 30 second inspection? Wow, talk about inflated prices and a scam. But don't worry, our safety is their concern.

Allan Byrnes

I’m a very satisfied with there professional Service !! Awesome!!!!

Bobbie White

Esa i am the girlfriend of James m a David and check electrical jobs on island Allan Thompson electrical sed my license numbers and it should be revoked turn the power off each job fine them...go back as far as 2018 see if others are using my numers sue them all and i want nothing to deal with thieves and identity theft and zero compensation.note to verify my numbers with any duplicates of my number...

Jim W

No good

H Patel

Unprofessional. No sense of urgency or accountability. Cannot let government office be run wild with our fee and tax money. Will be reporting to Ombuds office .

Josh & Fannie M

The ESA had made pulling permits and completing electrical work around the house easy and hassle free. I've probably pulled around 6-7 permits to date with them as an unlicensed property own on my house and a rental of ours. Both inspectors I've met have been kind, helpful, full of great advice and patient with me. Because of Shane, Kirk, and the friendly staff at customer service, I will continue to pull permits for all the work I do as I feel I don't need to worry about the horror stories that people sometimes tell. Thank you again for the great work you guys do.

Gaurav Kumar

Scammers and corrupt Organization ! My licensed electrical contractor did all the work and I had one inspector coming to the house who did not even enter the apartment but at the end I got the completion certificate and contractor said it passed inspection !! - without inspector - haha

Barb Morse

I have had a new generator installed. I have been waiting for weeks- through two long hydro outages -for a 15 min inspection. Apparently the inspector is running three months behind. He only comes to our area once a week and does only one inspection. Only through a government agency would this be allowed to happen.

Stefan B

Inspector was very rude

Scott B (Canadian Moose)

No accountability and completely centered around money, not safety! As an electrical contractor I can confirm almost every complaint on here, except that ESA makes electricians money. I have spent more on a permit to replace 1 exit sign than I charged the customer for the work. Here's just a couple problems I've experienced: -Called 2 inspectors on the same day for a technical question & got 2 opposing answers. -Waited 10 hours on site to allow access and the inspector never showed up, called or even texted to say he wasn't coming. -On a different day. Ran into that day's inspector @ 2pm at Subway. When asked when he would be on site, he responded, "Oh, I was thinking maybe tomorrow." I was 4 hours from home and only on site to open the door. -Charged for 4 separate permits to inspect 1 meter base on a house. -Inspector had a hissy fit when his office made a paperwork error & left the site instead of doing his job and sorting the paperwork out after. Leading us to not be able to get hydro connected until after hours, thereby costing the company over $800 in overtime costs. -Worst of all: Their "master's" license that we pay for, in their words, "Doesn't mean anything. You still have to pay for the electrical license also" I could go on for 10 more pages. They don't care about how they look, because they have us over a barrel. We can't do any work without them & if we get caught doing so, the fines can be enormous! They want their permit & fine money and that's pretty much the end of it; their promise of safety is simply marketing.

Hotsunny Verified

this body pretty much exists to make electricians rich. Safety is not the issue, electricians' pocket line is. Every time I had a dispute over money with an electrician, the electrician made a vengeance call to ESA so an inspector comes to harass. ESA is like the collection agency for electricians. Look up to see when was the last time they actually disciplined an electrician for anything ! If you complain about an electrician's workmanship regarding safety, the complaint will invariably be dismissed without any action. They will tell you to take it up with the BBB instead !!!

geet g

Electrical Safety Authority and Ontario College of Trades require three fees and three mandatory redundant licenses for self-employed residential electricians to do basic, often rudimentary residential electrical work. Is it a legalized robbery by OCOT, ESA and Ontario government? Is it also a crime? Plus mandatory inspections and of course even more fees after a LEC with three licenses adds a new outlet, a basic switch or runs a piece of wire. And both OCOT & ESA charge ever increasing fees for every step electrical workers make. What's the result? A) ESA's high salaries, wages, allowances, reimbursements, paid holidays and vacations, benefits, pension plan, and more, and more, and more ... 1 An inspector in 2013 received salary beginning at $42.12/hr increasing to $48.25 after 3 years, based on a 40-hr work week 2 Nearly 4 weeks paid vacation to start increasing to 5 weeks after 3 years 3 Paid statutory holidays 4 Company vehicle 5 Membership in the Pension Plan 6 Comprehensive health & dental benefits coverage including prescription drugs & eyeglasses 7 Monthly Working Remote allowance 8 Annual ESA clothing allowance 9 Reimbursement for safety boots 10 Reimbursement for daily lunch meals 11 Reimbursement for tuition of work-related training courses 12 3-month inspector training program 13 Confidential Employee Assistance Program 14 Opportunity for career advancement 15 Overtime for work beyond 40 hrs B) Most self-employed residential electricians (who are now called Licensed Electrical Contractors) are forced to pay ESA even for things that we, small LECs, can't afford to get for ourselves! We do all the hard work, take all the risk but the ESA gets all the rewards & benefits! How many of us get all 15 points listed above? Probably none! C) ESA, a not-for-profit monster, has 71.57 of million of (taken from us) dollars in coffers (cash, cash equivalents $1,867M and long-term investments of $69,703M). It is a pure profit of the not-for-profit organization! $71.57M after all the high salaries, allowances, reimbursements, holidays, vacations, benefits, etc. have been paid to selves. Does the ESA need to just figure out a quiet, indirect, unnoticeable, & legal way to channel these millions into their pockets now? Does it plan to expand the 15 point self-rewarding list above to 25? Or just to increase the existing amounts per point? Or both? D) It gets even more weird because ESA allows some homeowners to do the identical electrical work in their homes without a single license! So a self-employed electrician must have three licenses + years of experience and a clueless homeowner needs zero and zero! It's either only the miraculously capable DIY homeowners reside in Ontario. Or residential electricians are so damn incompetent that they indeed need three licenses & years of training to do the same work. Or is it a criminal conspiracy? Is it true that most, if not all clueless homeowners do a huge amount of code violations and errors? Does ESA find defects over & over again and make DIY amateurs pass several inspections and pay multiple fees? Isn't it a self-made gold mine? Do we, the silently obedient (or obediently silent?) Ontario residential electrical workers, pay our money to make this very exciting, beautiful dream come true? Haven't we created the safe and real life Bonanza for the ESA? Haven't we helped it to parasitize, grow, gain unlimited power and become such a cancerous monster? Electrical Safety Authority makes & passes laws, enforces them, punishes the offenders, hears appeals and complaints, approves fee amounts, collects some fees, forces LECs to collect ESA inspection fees from customers, and then ... doesn't IT DISTRIBUTE VICTIMS' MILLIONS AMONGST THEMSELVES? Such an ideal & absolute mini monarchy! All is done openly & absolutely legally. Yet, is it something extremely fishy about this ESA wonderland? This review doesn't allow URLs. For more info google these keyphrases (copy & paste) stopesa blogspot com ESA cash and cash equivalents 1,867 Long-term investments 69,703

0657826

If I could rate a 0 I would, this organization is more about profits than safety. Very difficult to get in contact with inspectors. Always confusion on final inspections and inspectors forget to sign off on their inspections they have passed so you receive notifications stating the project hasn't been inspected when it actually has. Embarrassing level of service for the fees you pay.

Weiling Wu

I would give a negative rate if I can, this company is ridiculous of collecting of payment, they don't send the invoice on time, but they expect you to pay before the due day, other wise they charge you interest. What the A/R explained, the invoice was dated June 1, and they mailed on June 1, our company received on June 8, due day was July 1, so there is about 30 days prepare payment, but it has been delay for a week, as soon as we got the payment and mailed out on June 28, they said they don't receive until July 6, that's why they charge on interest. So they can delay on send out invoice but we have to pay on time. How this company can be survived with this ridiculous policy.

Scott Ed

Pathetic waist of electricians money, this corrupt organization is worthless. They take zero accountability for anything all of these inspectors make up their own rules.

Lain Coulas

Its mafioso extortion at its best... under the guise of safety ('just give us our fee and you'll be 'safe'.) If I had a dollar for every wasted dollar I, or my employer has been forced to spend on ESA I'd be able to retire at 40. I'm 38 and thinking of changing my name to something Italian and joining the ...union. -electrical safety engineer

Mark1

Wish I could give 0 stars. ESA is the worst. Total pain to deal with. Be prepared to take a full day off and wait for them to possibly show up at any given time. I can't understand how an organization can provide such poor service.

Jeff Johnson

I'd be happier to leave zero stars. Was told they would be in for the inspection anytime from 10am to 2pm, requested a 15 minute call to make sure the landlord can be on premises with the keys, who ever took my appointment "guaranteed" they'd do that to not waste anyone's time. Dave shows up at 1:55pm and throws a tantrum when I told him the landlord will be 10 minutes since I never got the call, says they don't do that, yet when you first show up your on the phone with some buddy complaing about having to wait for ket access. The inspection was 5 minutes of Dave continued moaning about having to wait. You kept referring to the "window appointment", well it's not my fault you show up at the last 5 minutes and say your rushed. Your lucky I was forced to pay upfront thanks for wasting a small business money and time. I'll go back to the dark ages with candles before ever contacting these "professionals" again.