Brilliant Electric Heating & Cooling

MASSIVE OVERBILLING!
They did some work for me four years ago, and last week they called me out of the blue and asked if I had any work for them. My lighting in the master bedroom had gone out, so I told them that they could come and take a look at it to see if it needed to be re-​done.
Their technician came out and spent 10 minutes checking it out. It was only a hidden breaker, so he flipped it back on and everything was fine again. He then spent some time explaining our options. We decided to put off any major work since it was working.
He then presented us with a bill for $ 189.00!!!
He had been helpful and I was fine with paying him for his time, but $ 189 for less than half an hour??? That was insane.
I didn’t argue with him, but instead called the owner and explained that I thought that the fee was outrageous, especially considering that they had cold-​called us to see if we had any work.
He defended his price saying that they had overhead to cover. He grudgingly offered to knock $ 20 off, which I refused as totally inadequate. I asked him to remove us from his call list.
Needless to say, we won’t be using them again. And if they call here again, I’ll have some choice words for them.

I recently needed to get a new air condenser and was also looking to get a ductless air conditioning unit for my office. I reached out to several companies to get quotes. Brilliant was one of them. From the onset, they were kind and courteous and priced right. Only one problem?!
Unilocal! My hesitation was reading the Unilocal reviews. I explained to Tom (the owner) that I was going to go a different direction because I was nervous with the level of service and attention I would get, after reading Unilocal.Tom was very attentive and understanding of why I felt the way I did and expressed that he really wanted my business and that the reviews here are not representative of him and his business (family owned for over 50yrs).
When all was said and done, I decided to split up the work and give Brilliant part of the work I was looking to get done. I told him I would put up a review, good or bad… based on the work and service that was done. Either way, fair and accurate.
As you can see from the rating above, I am more than happy with the work that was completed. Tom was a part of the entire process. My project was a little tricky and it was done exactly as described. Courteous and professional the entire way.
I have always been more of a consumer of Unilocal vs a review provider. In this case, I feel I need to add some value, not only to Unilocal,but to Brilliant. They wanted my business, performed the task at a great price. That is all I can ask for.
Give the negative reviews prior to my service, I took a chance… I’m glad I did. Tom and his crew are trying to turn the Unilocal perception around to positive. I believe in second chances. I would use and recommend them again. They are a good group of people.

I needed GFI outlets installed in the bathrooms and the garage. The dispatcher said they could send someone the next day. How much would it cost, I asked? She said she had no idea — but there is a $ 39 dispatch fee. The technician comes, tells you how much it will be. If you don’t accept the price, then you pay the $ 39.
So the technician comes as promised, in a very fancy truck. He immediately says the minimum charge is $ 189. Too bad the dispatcher did not have that info!!! He also said they have flat per job rates — again too bad the dispatcher does not have that list — but thought he could just charge the minimum, or maybe only a little more. I needed the work done fast (listing the house for sale), so I figured «whatever». But he said «my other truck is in the shop» and so he did not have a cover plate for one of the outlets. It seemed easy enough for me to go to Home Depot and pick one up, so I said that was OK. But it looked strange. It’s an oblong box on the garage wall. «Why did you install the GFI outlet on a diagonal?». «Just so it will have a ground». «Do they sell covers with diagonal openings?» «No, you will turn it horizontal or vertical, and it will get the ground from the cover».
Turns out: 1) the box is nowhere near deep enough to contain the GFI outlet; 2) neither Menards nor Home Depot sell covers for oblong boxes that fit a GFI (apparently the original installation was incorrect); 3) So I am left with a completely mickey-​mouse electrical job in my garage, just as I want to list the property and have home inspectors traipsing through.
Avoid this company.

the worst. somehow they managed to wire everything backwards. i had to make them leave and hire a professional to do it
not use… LOOK AT ALL THE BAD REVIEWS.

My husband and I just bought our first home and we needed additional inspections for both the electrical and HVAC systems. We were in attorney review so we needed help fast! We called Brilliant Electric Heating & Cooling and they were very professional and accommodating. They were able to schedule both inspections with only 2 hours notice. Both technicians were friendly, knowledgeable and thorough. They took the time to explain everything to me, as I followed them around the house, and they really put my mind at ease. My husband and I plan on joining the ‘family plan’ to receive discounts on future service as soon as we close! THANK YOU BEH&C :) :)

NEGATIVE RATING NEEDED! Brilliant Electric Heating & Cooling are HORRIBLE!
I returned to them after some ho hum service to schedule a large job– something very profitable to them– and not only didn’t their guy show up, when I called, LILY told me that she had left a message (she hadn’t) and that I had been bumped because «a lot of people called in with broken air conditioners today” — MY DAMN AIR CONDITIONER IS BROKEN. THEN, LILY tells me to check my voicemail and she’ll call me back– she DOESN’T– and she DODGES MY CALLS. Double booking, or bumping on accident sucks, but they could have saved it with a simple apology and scheduling the next available technician to come, but NO. Tehy had to be UNDERHANDED and DISHONEST and HIDE FROM ME. I’ve noticed EVERYONE ON Unilocal HATES THEM. YOU SUCK AND I WILL NEVER EVER USE YOU AGAIN.

Terrible, just terrible — bad customer service (never call back when promissed, didn’t call when technitian was running 4 hours late or the appointment was cancelled), unexperienced technicians. They installed A/​C and furnace for one of our apartments, we picked them because they were the lowes bidders… The furnace start giving problems a year later, I called Brilliant, technician came, took a look just to tell me that everything is fine… to make story short it took 6 times (with 2 no-​shows) for technitian to come over and every time he was saying that everything is fine when actually the furnace was malfunction every other day. We scheduled a different heating company to come over and take a look just because got tired of this «everything is working» business. The other heating company found out that the initial installation was wrong! After I called Brilliant to tell them about it, they send the technitian who showed up 1,5h late (we were the 1^st appointment, so no excuse!) dressed up in a dress pants! He said he needs some part and left for the hardware store (which is 7 min drive from us) and came back 2 h later… dressed in jeans! What that has to do with anything I don’t know but kind of strange. Then he left again for some part for another 1,5h, honestly I think he was going to other calls while working on my furnace. After he fixed what the other heating company told us to fix the furnace is working! So why that wasn’t checked right away? Why the owner of the company was talking to me like I’m an idiot and that «furnace is just fine»? Don’t know and don’t care — my advice never use them! They are checp, so yeah, it prooves once again YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!

Terrible follow up, rescheduled 3 times, only to get another reschedule because their technician couldn’t make the job. It was like they didn’t want the work. I think Brilliant is exactly what they are not.

If I could give a NEGATIVE rating, I would. The thermostat they installed for me in the Fall worked until the cooling season. Found out that my furnace fan wire was CUT, sliced in half, breaking the connection to run the A/​C (not needed for the heating). That’s a low-​down, dirty way to get me to call them back, thinking I would have to replace the old furnace (and hire them to do it). I spent HOURS interviewing many companies for furnace replacement, a large and expensive job. My usual guys (Sanitary Heating/​Cooling) discovered the snipped wire, fixed it, and now my A/​C works just fine. Brilliant never returned any of my phone calls, nor have they worked with me to repay this cost and it’s been over one year. So I had to pay TWO companies to get something that was NOT broken fixed. Please, DON’T HIRE THESE PEOPLE!!!

Please don’t use these guys, they don’t know what they are doing and they do not keep their schedule. They charge you for nothing, they unscrew a few face plates on the electrical outlet and says they don’t know what the problem is and they charge you. They are a rip off use, Colburn instead.

Terrible. Don’t book with these guys.
I booked an appointment 2 months ago for a «Family Service Plan» which was a deal where you book (and pay) for your AC and furnace cleaning for the year and you get them service separately by season and a free electrical inspection of your home. Sounds good, right?
The day before the appt, the technician called and said he was on his way. I told him our appointment wasn’t until tomorrow. I asked him if that meant I still HAD an appointment for tomorrow and he said, «uh, I dunno, they will call you.» Well, no one did. So I called that night asking for clarification of whether or not my appointment time would be upheld. No call back. I called again the morning of the appointment. No call back. i called again as the 4-​hr arrival window dwindled down to 2 and they put me on hold for 20 minutes and never came to the phone. I called a 4^th time! They promised someone would call me back. It was a technician who knew nothing about my issue and said he could only do the AC cleaning and not the electrical check, which was their «value-​added» sell and the complimentary part of the package. I asked if someone can please call me who can discuss my issue with me. Guess what? No call back!
I called another service who has a similar family plan. It was actually far less expensive and they were able to come same-​day. I guess it was good that they never showed up for my appointment. I will stay away from them in the future!

I called Brilliant to come check on my AC because it was running too hard to keep my apartment cool at 75deg. Hector came and noticed my Humidifier was running and said to turn it down. Then went on the roof to find so, etching to fix. This is how they make money. Fixing so, etching that doesn’t need to be replaced. They hunt for things and this is why I am dissatisfied. go elsewhere for HVAC.

Brilliant was called out to fix the HVAC in my home… which is still not working after two technicians, one of whom showed up 2 hours late for an appointment. Basically their failure to diagnose the issue led to my entire condenser being damaged beyond repair. They claim I should have known to request a specialist to do a proper diagnosis. Additionally their manager was rude and curt with me on the phone.

They are a ripoff… They were just at my home today to look at a ceiling fan light that was flickering on and off…
They charged us $ 350.00 dollars to tell us the light kit assembly was bad…
they didn’t replace, repair anything…
If we wanted the fan replaced labor charges would have been $ 492.00 dollars.
that’s a complete ripoff, almost a $ 1000.00 dollars for a simple ceiling fan

This place kept rescheduling with me without notice, I took off work and at the time of the appointment nobody showed and when I called there like oh he is stuck on a job how about tomorrow.

VERY happy with the service we received from Tom and his crew at Brilliant. Tom was able to come out for an estimate right away. Once we settled on the work to be completed, he was able to schedule people to come work on our job for the following work day.
We had a large job replacing all the cloth wiring in our old house. His employees were efficient and did an amazing job from start to finish. They did an excellent job of cleaning up at the end of each day, too.
They guarantee their work for five years so I know I can be assured of the quality of work both now and in the future.

I really do think that this electric service company IS as good as it gets. (Maybe if their services were free, it might even be better, but that’s not going to happen.)
Anyway, I’ve dealt with them twice and both times they did the job right and the cost seemed reasonable. The job finished today was the replacement of a low voltage transformer in my kitchen. Kevin was the technician who did the work and he was thorough and polite, being very careful of my floors and other property.
I can highly recommend Brilliant Electric for electrical work.

Our furnace gave out on Thanksgiving, and the furnace people were no help. It turned out to be an electrical problem. The electrician from Electrical Services Group (I guess they changed their name) was excellent. He made several repairs, kept us informed while he was working, and gave us a thorough write-​up so that we would know what he did.

Spent about 2 and half grand, got pretty much nothing for my $$$. I am not saying the electrical in my house is not a major legacy screwed up situation with some bad things that were done probably before I was alive. However, they are contractors in Chicago. Certainly they have encountered evil old wiring before. When they showed up at my house it certainly didn’t seem that they had ever seen old wiring in their life. They screwed up light switches that were working fine before they arrived, and they ended up having to send a fix it crew to undo/​straighten what the 2 guys that were there for 13 hours the day before did wrong.