A-1 Dependable Electric

A-1 Dependable Electric is a one-person shop — just Richard 'Richie' Wingert, out of Hyde Park — working under Massachusetts electrician license #12223, which the state currently lists as active. Its eleven online reviews split almost evenly into two very different stories. The Better Business Bureau gives it an A+ file with 36 years in business and no complaints on record, though it isn't an accredited business there. The five-star reviews describe a responsive, hands-on operator. The two most recent, from this spring, both describe quick, same-day emergency response. In a January 2026 review, a New Year's Eve call about an arcing breaker got a same-night fix and a rewired 30-year-old panel. In a 2024 review, a customer who panicked after driving a nail through a wire got a free quote within a short window and a same-visit repair. In a 2023 review, Richie fixed something outside the scope of the job at no extra charge. One five-star review from May 2025 — arriving right after a run of negative ones — pushes back directly, describing a Sunday emergency call he fit in with a full walkthrough of the work. That run of negative reviews sits between January and April 2025: one customer says a promised 2-hour appointment window came and went with no call and no visit; another says Richie claimed to be out of state rather than turning down the job or naming a price; a third, describing emergency work on a broken outlet, says he asked personal questions about the family, performed repairs the customer felt were unnecessary, and charged $585 with no itemized breakdown and no mention that it wasn't billed as emergency-rate work. A 2021 review raised a similar concern about unnecessary work on a job the customer believes the utility would have handled for free. BuildZoom's own license history for #12223 shows a stretch listed inactive or expired around 2016, well before the state's current active verification — not a live issue today, but worth asking about if licensing continuity matters to you. Given the split record, get a firm, itemized price before work starts and confirm upfront whether a call is being billed at an emergency rate.