Lightning Service Inc.

Lightening Services

They’re horrible. Basically an answering the phone service. No one of import is ever there, don’t return calls, don’t respond to emails. I got my Generac Whole house generator through Home Depot. Took YEARS to finally get it installed. Been trying to get upgraded service for a year, where you can use a phone app & pay monthly. Sent me a contract but won’t finish the deal!! Use anyone else…Lightening Ssrvices suck.

This dealer is unreliable

Never use Ready Power!! They are so unreliable. You pay a lot of money up front for service, they schedule a service appointment and then never show up. It is a joke to try to telephone them. They have about 6 buttons to press and you think a lot of people work there. But there is only one person who answers - and that person never really answers. You have to leave a message. You think someone calls you back?? No way. You have to keep calling and calling. Beware of Ready Power!!

Great dealer/installer, highly recommended.

Here in Louisiana, we have to deal with Hurricanes from time to time. After being without power for Katrina and many other hurricanes, we felt it was finally time to buy a generator. My wife and I purchased a Generac 22kW Guardian series home generator from Home Depot. They recommended Lightning Service as a dealer/installer. Lightning was straight forward about the install price and process. It was installed in one day and the work was very professionally done, as my two neighbors commented after reviewing the new generator. They both have Generacs but had other dealers install them. Lightning may be a little expensive but we believe you get what you pay for.

Good work Lightning Service

Our lights went out for no reason, no storm, no wind and within a few seconds our generator turned on and we had power! Lights on in a sea of darkness. Everything went as promised Thank you Generac.

Tech never supplied quote

After spending time reviewing requirements for installation and being told I would see a quote in a few days nothing happened. I call asking for a return call and even emailed the tech's address on his card but also no response. My install was nothing out of the ordinary so I have no idea why he even came out. They are either very busy and not in need of business or very unprofessional. Either way it was a waste of my time. Good thing I got other quotes.

Good Installation - 20kw Generac

This is a long and detailed review. Motivation - After being without power for over a week during Hurricane Issac, I decided to finally get a whole home generator. Research - After contacting Generac to determine the generator size I needed, I shopped around for prices, including Home Depot, Lowes, and 2 other local New Orleans generator suppliers. All estimates for my generator and installation were within $1000 of each other and for the most part, would be performed by sub-contractors. I was not comfortable with using sub contractors. I called Generac back to get recommendations. Lighting Service was listed as one of their Elite Dealers for New Orleans so I called them out. During their inspection, they were the ONLY ones to advise me that I needed to upgrade my gas meter through my utility company as my existing gas meter would not supply enough gas for the genny to run properly under load. They stated that a lot of people buy from Home Depot or Lowes or others that just install a generator cheaper, but when it comes time for the generator to work during an outage, the generator does not work properly as it is not getting enough gas to handle the load. No one else told me this. Estimate - Lightning's estimate was on the upper range compared to the others but I figured you get what you pay for so I went ahead with the purchase from them as they were the most thorough in assessing the installation for my house. Lighting estimate also includes a heavy duty steel pedestal / stand for the generator to sit on, which is installed a foot deep into the ground with concrete poured around the 4 legs. Very solid and thus the genny is pretty secure. Lighting also files all the permits with the city and organizes the city inspection. None of the other estimates included this. Lighting state that they do not sub-contract out and do everything themselves.This has been true thus far. Salesman - The salesman they sent out was a bit pushy. Probably the least favorite part of the experience, but I presume this will differ depending on who you get. Even though he was pushy (which does not bother me as I am more than capable of deciding what and when to buy regardless of someone's pushiness), he was knowledgeable and thorough. Purchase - I purchased the unit on Sept 26th, 2013. I took advantage of a Generac promotion including 12 months no interest. I was told that my generator would be available to install in January and that after installation it would take about a month more for city inspection, filing of permits, meter upgrade and initial break in period and load test which is when the warranty is activated. This was fine with me. Installation - Lighting called and set up an appt to install the generator first week of Jan as promised. A supervisor came out to assess my house prior to installation. He recommended a different approach for running the electrical conduit from the genny to the electrical panel vs. the original set up from the Salesman. Rather than running conduit along the exterior of my house from genny to panel box, he recommended we run conduit from genny up into the attic and then down from the attic to the panel box. This made much more sense and is definitely more aesthetically pleasing and just looks more professional. Even though this cost about another $800, I was happy to go this way. The two technicians they sent out the next day were friendly, well mannered, hard working and knowledgeable. It took them two days to (a) dig trenches for the gas pipe from the meter to the genny, (b) install and concrete in the heavy duty stand, (c) mount the generator onto the stand, (d) run gas pipes to generator, (e) install electrical transfer switch (which is as big as my existing electrical panel and now they sit side by side), (f) run conduit from genny up into attic, across, and down to transfer switch panel, (g) secure all pipes, conduit and caulk all holes, (h) re-route electrical service from city into their panel, then out and back into my panel, (i) replace dirt and fill all trenches and clean up. Most of the work was done the first day and had it not been for the freezing temperatures not allowing the concrete on the stand to cure quickly, they would likely have been finished in one day. Permits - They advised me that they would contact me when the city inspector was available to inspect work and file the permits. This time frame is apparently up to the city. City inspector and Lighting Supervisor came out final week of Jan to inspect and file permits. During inspection, Inspector commented to Lighting Supervisor "You guys really do good work". Inspector told me it would take a week to file permits and that I could then call ENTERGY and request a meter upgrade. Calling ENTERGY for the meter upgrade is something I was told I had to do myself. Lightning gave me the information and first week of Feb I called it in. ENTERGY then scheduled a time to upgrade my meter the following week. Meter Upgrade - ENTERGY Supervisor called to verify that Lighting had installed gas regulators going into the house and a regulator at their generator to accommodate larger meter and thus larger flow capacity of gas. I verified that they did. Next day, Feb 13th, ENTERGY upgraded my meter (took 45 minutes) By the way all of the gas pipe work including the new regulators was included in the price for the genny. Start up and Break in - Lighting maintenance rep came out same day to perform initial start up, break in and load test as well as warranty activation. He went over everything from maintaining the generator, how it operates, oil changes and how to use manual mode and explanation on the transfer switch and how everything works. We started genny, ran on light load and then added load until I had every electrical appliance, light, AC, fans, etc. running in my house. It handled the load fine. The only notation I would make is that when my AC compressor kicks on, there is a second lag as they genny speeds up to accommodate the load. Other than that, there was no noticeable difference for anything in my house running on the genny. The lag time from losing power to the genny starting is 10 seconds but this is programmable if you want a quicker start. They recommend 10 seconds to allow for brown outs before the genny starts. The only other thing now is to get my optional "mobile link" connected which allows me to monitor the genny remotely. This mobile link apparently is sent out by Generac once the generator is activated. Final Thoughts - It took 5 weeks from Generator Installation to operational generator. Most of this lag time was waiting for the city inspection and meter upgrade. Lightning was present to break in genny on same day as meter upgrade so no lag time due to them. During installation, the cover of my generator was scratched (cosmetic issue only) and they have ordered a new one for me at no cost to be installed when the mobile link unit arrives. Overall, I would say I have been pretty happy with the experience and with all of the people I have had to deal with including the ladies who work at their office, always friendly and helpful. If you're looking to install a genny yourself and save some bucks, then yes, you can do it a bit cheaper and quicker, especially if you are not filing it with the city but Lighting's cost was not much more than Home Depot, or Lowes or the other contractors I called and I feel that I got a lot more for my money, especially good insight and follow through with regard to setting up correctly and the installation is very professional and properly documented and filed with the city which was important to me. Good luck and hope none of us have to use these generators for long.

Exellent Service

I got my Generator installed by someone else in 2007 and over the years I have had a few problems and I tried to contact the guy that did it, but I see that he has since gone out of business. So I had to find someone else to service my generator, that's when I found Lightning Service, They now do all of my service on my Generator, every time I call they set me an appointment right away and they always call before they come on the day we scheduled the appointment. There service is so good I would recommend them to anyone that needs service or a new generator. Mark

Terrible all around

From beginning to end when the dealer rep arrived at my home my son & I were securing the 20kw unit to the slab he began to complain to us for doing this. He began to state why did I call him sense we already have unit. I told him what I told the person on the phone that I purchased my unit and that I needed someone to install it could I get a estimate.He then began to negatively question everything we had already done an saw it was up to code an said he would send me a written estimate I'm still waiting. Went with another local Generac dealer here in the southern region couldn't be more happier.

Unhappy consumer

I just recently moved to a new neighborhood in the New Orleans area, while getting to know my neighbors they told me they had a Generac home standby generator. I was very interested in purchasing the same item with three small children and animals in case of a power outage or possibly remaining in my home during a hurricane. I called the same company as my neighbor, Lightning Service. Office staff was polite and set up an appointment in a timely manner. When the sales representative arrived he was kind but also abrasive. He asked me a few questions then asked if my husband was home, I told him no. At that point he was very short and would not give me a price, would only set another appointment when my husband & I were both there. On his second evening appointment he was there almost two hours before giving a price. When he presented the price, he stayed for more then an additional hour trying to scare us into signing an agreement and giving a deposit that night. When we told him we would call him back he was disrespectful. We asked our neighbors about their experience a few years ago and they said it was completely different. They also showed us their proposal and their price three years ago was over 5 thousand dollars less. This whole night mare of an experience has made me put this purchase on hold

lack of knowledgesh

After a 3 hour estimate by there salesman that I felt took to long I still went with them. I had 2 estimates by other companies that where cheaper, that is when I first thought well you get what you pay for right? After looking at other jobs by other companies and talking to the home owners of the other jobs I knew then I payed too much, way too much! After one of there employee that was on the job try'ed over and over to sell me work I did not need, not knowing I was a electrical engineer I let him show me just how much he did not know .That is when I started checking there work and questioning there knowledge. Bottom line to charge what this company charges for there work and to have kids with the lack of knowledge that they had, I am not happy with the job and very nervous when or if this generator will work or last!