Mister Sparky of Olathe

TLDR: They over charge and try to scam people.

I hired Mister Sparky to address a failed 200-amp main breaker. Their sales rep told me that replacing the main breaker was “impossible” and that I had to replace the entire panel. He said the breaker was no longer manufactured and that there were no retrofit options available to replace it with and that I’d have to get a used one on eBay, but that would be a guaranteed fire hazard. I asked multiple times if it could be replaced or not and he said definitely not.

Then I was then given a three-tier quote, with the top option coming in around $20,000 (for a whole bunch of random work I didn’t ask for!!!!) and two lower options that were still relatively expensive. During the sales pitch, the rep used aggressive scare tactics, including implying that my house could burn down if I didn’t move forward and that I had numerous code violations (not true).

I opted for the lower tier option for a full panel replacement, ground rod installation, surge protector in panel and a few other things for about $6K.

During the work I started to second guess what just happened, because of their aggressive sales techniques. At the end of the actual work, I talked to the technician (who wasn’t the sales person who gave me the quote) and asked him to explain again why I needed a full panel replacement so I could understand it better. I got cagey answers, so I looked it up and independently confirmed that a manufacturer-listed replacement main breaker DOES IN FACT EXIST for my exact panel model. Home Depot sells it for less than $200!!!! At that point, I had the technician call their office on speakerphone so I could complain because I got LIED TO and severely uncharged for work I did not need.

I explained to the office what happened and they acted like I fabricated everything and was trying to swindle them. They said they record audio during visits (which they didn’t ever tell me when they came in my house!!!). I said, “Great, send me a copy of that recording!!” because I knew I was right. Their tone immediately changed. I was then told they would review the audio to confirm whether what I was saying happened, or whether I was lying.

The technician went into the service van to listen to the recording with the office rep. About 10 minutes later, the technician came back inside with the office on speaker phone. They confirmed that what I said was accurate, acknowledged the issue, and offered 50% off.

While I appreciate that they ultimately acknowledged what happened, this experience completely eroded my trust. A homeowner should not have to independently fact-check a licensed electrician, invoke recorded audio, and escalate to get honesty about available options, especially when the difference is thousands of dollars.

The work was completed, but the misrepresentation, aggressive sales tactics, and lack of transparency mean I will never use Mister Sparky again. I strongly recommend other homeowners get second opinions and ask very direct questions before authorizing major electrical work.

To wrap things up, I am still in disbelief that I had an issue with a $200 part and their first quote was for $20,000. Insanity!

Lesson learned: (1) always get quotes from multiple contractors, (2) trust your gut, (3) complain when you get lied to, cause that was basically fraud on their part.

My repair man was nice but when he called in his supervisor that's when we got the arm twisting into a loan. It was so fast. We didn't have any power, it was 10° in the middle of the night. We found out that what they charged us over $7000 for, we would have paid $1400 for with a local licensed electrician.

Mr. Sparky is crazy on pricing - the whole chain, not just this location. I needed simple repairs and they gave me an estimate for my house of a good, better, best that ranged from 7k-20k in repairs or upgrades. My repairs that were actually needed ended up only costing about 1200 in total.

I am so happy with the service. Alex Kirkpatrick took care of our outlet electrical system and our panel. He informed us so much and now we feel so much more safe knowing that our chance of an electrical fire has went down so much because of his help.