Who can u trust

[mistaforty]

There was a whole string of landscaping lights out on my property shortly after we bought the house. The people that installed the landscaping and irrigation came out and said you need a new transformer looks like a lightning strike... $700. ok cool. first home and semi handy, i decide to investigate it and figure out that its not that complicated pretty much plug and play. I figure out that I need a 300w low voltage transformer get online and see that its only $200 (the cheaper ones i saw had bad reviews) so i order it. I get it go outside and realize I dont have enough com terminals and that i really needed a 600w transformer because the existing transformers are both 300 x2. ok well lets test the terminals and see whos gettin power and just use 300w from wichever existing transformer has a live com and 300w from the new one. turns out all the terminals are live on BOTH old transformers. well hell whats wrong? go around to the lights: all the damn bulbs are burnt out. so im not sure whether to be more upset at them trying to get me for $700 for a $300 unit or them trying to get me for $700 for a problem that really only needed $70 worth of lights. sometimes I pay for shyt cuz i dont have time to do it not because i CANT do it. but if i cant trust a pro to even diagnose the problem right then wtf?

 

[RussellJ]

Yep, that is why it is good to be a handyman or at least know a little bit about everything. You cannot trust greedy people and it is always cheaper to do it yourself. Plus, I find there is a lot of pride in doing everything yourself. Good on you for knowing better than to trust them

 

[The Big Red One]

There was a whole string of landscaping lights out on my property shortly after we bought the house. The people that installed the landscaping and irrigation came out and said you need a new transformer looks like a lightning strike... $700. ok cool. first home and semi handy, i decide to investigate it and figure out that its not that complicated pretty much plug and play. I figure out that I need a 300w low voltage transformer get online and see that its only $200 (the cheaper ones i saw had bad reviews) so i order it. I get it go outside and realize I dont have enough com terminals and that i really needed a 600w transformer because the existing transformers are both 300 x2. ok well lets test the terminals and see whos gettin power and just use 300w from wichever existing transformer has a live com and 300w from the new one. turns out all the terminals are live on BOTH old transformers. well hell whats wrong? go around to the lights: all the damn bulbs are burnt out. so im not sure whether to be more upset at them trying to get me for $700 for a $300 unit or them trying to get me for $700 for a problem that really only needed $70 worth of lights. sometimes I pay for shyt cuz i dont have time to do it not because i CANT do it. but if i cant trust a pro to even diagnose the problem right then wtf?

Unfortunately you can't trust anybody till they have a proven track record with you, and even then sometimes you'll still get the shaft Thats life......

 

[mistaforty]

im even wondering now, had i paid him the 700 if wouldve given me some crap as a replacement and then kept my good one to use again elsewhere. or worse given him 700 and cleaned up mine and put it right back on the wall lol ...damn

 

[lil charlie]

glad you got it fixed.

 

[Ludicrous Speed]

Or maybe they weren't smart enough to figure out the bulbs were bad

 

[Turbo-Torch]

All the bulbs going bad off one transformer is a bit of a coincidence. If it's a multitap you better make sure it was wired up correctly to begin with.

 

[mistaforty]

All the bulbs going bad off one transformer is a bit of a coincidence. If it's a multitap you better make sure it was wired up correctly to begin with.

it is a multi tap and from what ive read it looks to be wired up correctly. I figured out the runs added up the total wattage of bulbs on each circuit and checked the voltage at most of the fixtures. i do have at what i beleive is the end of the run, 4 lights that arent getting any voltage. I am going to go in the mulch bed and pull up the wire from where the last working light is and check it. any advice is welcomed

 

[dadofthree]

No one


Best of luck with it.

 

[mabupa]

No one

Best of luck with it.

+10000000000

 

[lankeeyankee]

What I used to have on my Crossover delay box when I used to drag race to remind me..

 

[RX1Jim]

I have given up on hiring people to handle jobs around the house for me. Even after I check them out, I always seem to get a poor quality job. As someone else sad, it takes experience with people to learn who you can trust.

 

[dadofthree]

I know a local handyman. Good guy, his price is usually half that of the others. When he gets in the hole or has an electrical or plumbing problem he'll call me for my opinion or sometimes for help. He installed a new hotwater heater one day without calling. Called me because he couldn't get hotwater. Long story short. When filling the new hotwater heater he didn't burp it allowing all or most of the air out and burned the element. I came out, went to town and got a replacement and had hotwater for the customer in an hour. He charged the man for the parts and labor. I didn't say anything, but I didn't agree with charging the customer for your mistake. No excuses, but I'm sure that he was thinking that he still did it cheaper than anyone else would have.

 

[mistaforty]

well i have to get some work done that i KNOW is beyond my scope so I guess ill have to do some research and get some referrals. Im still wondering if the guy was trying to beat me outta some dough or he really just misdiagnosed the problem. I guess knowing as much as u can about the problem helps though. the more I read the more i was like ill just do it myself.