Hartland Electric LLC — Local services in Hartland Township

We purchased a whole house Generac generator from Hartland Electric in October of 2021 with a 10 year warranty. Hartland Electric claims to be a Generac authorized dealer. We had to pay for it up front, at that time. We were told it would be at least 6 months before it would be available. Eight months later on July 5, 2022 it was installed. It exercised weekly as it should have. Our first power outage was in late August. The generator worked as it should have according to the Mobil Link app. Imagine our surprise when we returned home only to find the outside cabinet covered in oil. When we opened the lid, the entire contents were covered with oil and black flecks. Upon contacting Hartland electric they came out and tried to clean up the mess. Jeff changed the oil and filter and let it run while he went to other calls. He came back 3 hours later and again, everything was covered with oil. He gave us a customer service phone number to Generac and washed his hands of us. Jeff and the owner (his wife) did not return any phone calls after that. Basically took our money and left us high and dry with a defective Generac Generator. Very poor customer service.

Response from the ownera day ago You're correct, we are a Generac Authorized Dealer and your generator is still under warranty. That being said, any warranty related issues have to go to Generac directly. We are not the manufacturer, just the installer. Jeff did come out, service your generator and needed to do a test run so he could diagnose the issue. Once it was diagnosed, we could address the repairs, to see what was needed. Keith informed us that he was a mechanic & wanted a brand new generator. We returned your calls several times and weren't given the opportunity to correct/repair this issue as you informed us that you would deal with Generac directly and we've had no further communication.

Thanks for responding 14 months after the problem. Here is my response to your post.

Jeff sat at our dining room table with my wife and myself and told us he had been to Generac training and was a qualified service person. Jeff said he would be able to correct any issues that arose. It was not interpreted that any warranty issues had to be dealt directly with Generac at the point of sale. Once the issue was diagnosed, Jeff gave the 1-800 number to Generac on a piece of paper and said, “Good Luck.” I said, “I’m not a mechanic, but I know that any motor that ran for 66 hours with little to no oil in it would have problems.” And I wanted a replacement. This unit was less than 2 months old. We paid a premium, in full, 9 months prior to installation. Calls were not returned by Jeff after his visit. In addition, numerous messages were left for the owner of the company, Jeff’s wife, were not returned either. You were given the opportunity by Generac to correct the issue and Generac told me that Hartland Electric was “too busy.” So Generac sent out another company to do what Hartland Electric...

Follow up to Hartland Electric's response:

This is directly from your response in quotes, can you explain this sentence?

"never once performed a tune-up service or repair service to the generator in question, and have no history on the unit and its performance in the past. We performed a 1 time visit to the home owner (you purchased the home from) who said they are selling the home and need to have the generator tuned-up for the next resident/owner. We dispatched our Certified and Licensed Generac Generator Technician out to the location to perform a simple generator tune-up."

You say you never did a tune up, but then admitted you did. Regardless, you guys left one of the cylinders spark plug caps off. When I originally called you for service you referred me to your authorized repair company because you wouldn't come out and look at it. Their tech (that you recommended) said you left the cap off and it would clearly still run, but not put out enough amps and would run very rough. He charged me $150 to put the cap back on and suggested I go back to you guys to make it right, once again this is from your own recommended tech.

Also, the real issue is that I called after this occurred and talked to your receptionist about it and she said someone would call me back. To date...now two months after the occurrence my phone call still wasn't returned, so no, that's not good customer service when I'm just trying to inquire with you guys what happened. Instead, when I post the review publicly, now you decide to respond although with incorrect facts.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Original review:

Hartland Electric was hired to do the scheduled maintenance on my generator. A short time later the power went out, the generator went on but would not run properly, ran rough, and would not power the house. I contacted Hartland Electric to come take a look and they referred me to a partner of theirs that does repairs instead. I scheduled the repair and when the technician arrived, within 5 minutes he found that one of the two spark plug wires was not reconnected after Hartland Electric did their maintenance. The cost of this unnecessary service call was over $100. I contacted Hartland Electric to inform them of their employees mistake in not reconnecting the spark plug wire, and they said they would look into it and call me back which they never did. Very poor and unethical customer service to not stand behind their work. I would recommend a different...

I have had two major jobs done by Hartland electric this summer, and I can give them my unqualified recommendation for the quality of their work, their competitiveness, and their customer service. I was first led to them through a solar installer, who uses them for their electrical work. You definitely want an electrician for hooking that all up, and they were very familiar with what needed to be done, from my own observations, and from the recommendation of the solar installer--Solar King. My neighbor, a local long-time businessman, who has an eye for detail and quality also used them for a generator install. His referral was meaningful, too. I had finally become fed up with DTE power outages, so I thought that while I had solar installed, I'd get a quote on a generator as well. I figured it might be more complex installing both. (For sure) Well, when A.J. from Hartland came over, he was just so incredibly detail-oriented (and knowledgeable) in assessing the situation, the best wiring route, the necessary pieces (down to the foot of wire and each little piece). So I was not surprised there was no "missing items" when Alex and team came. Also, I got a quote from a large local heating and cooling company, that also does generators. Not even close! Their knowledge, assessment of the needs, and the complexity of the solar/generator interaction was entirely underwhelming. And they quoted a smaller generator for substantially more money! . Anyways, I have been impressed from the initial quote process, to the detailed quote and contract, to the follow up planning and installation. I had one minor issue with the generator that was just a fluke thing, nobodies fault, and they resolved it quickly and professionally. I got a couple calls from the owner, Toni, who researched the issue, called back, was delightful to work with as well. It's not terribly often that you are left with a great deal of satisfaction with a service company. Mostly I am just "satisfied". But in this case, I felt I wanted to congratulate them with a great review, for great work and service. Thanks Hartland. Hope you find this...