February 4th, 2022

By Amber Galea

Answering customer calls is part of my job at Cassy Electric. So when a new customer called requesting a ceiling fan installation, I thought it would be a routine job. We replace ceiling fans all the time. Then the customer elaborated. She needed a new fan in her guest room because the old one had dropped out of the ceiling. Yes, you heard that right. The customer pulled the cord and then the fan dropped straight down. It dropped straight down from an eighteen-foot peak of a cathedral ceiling. It dropped straight down, out of the eighteen-foot ceiling, and onto her head. She then pushed the falling fan away to keep it from landing on a grandchild who was laying in the bed below. This grandparent-hero, thankfully, was safe and not injured. But she needed a new fan.

Welp. I scheduled the installation for a day when one of Cassy’s electricians, who happens to be my husband, was available. Then I volunteered to be his helper on the job. The day we arrived, we felt super-prepared with one of our biggest ladders. The customer greeted us as their dog woofed “hello” from another room. We entered the guest room, and saw the sad hole in the peak of the ceiling where the fan had once hung. As soon as we folded the big ladder into the room, we climbed up and discovered a bracket that held up the fan had broken. This is unusual. A solid, metal bracket doesn’t break under normal circumstances. We concluded that the break must have been caused by a bracket manufacturing error.

Then we got to work. We installed new brackets, a new down rod (the pole that places the fan at the right height for use in a cathedral ceiling,) and the new ceiling fan provided by the customer. The installation was uneventful, the new brackets were strong, and the new fan was remote controlled. Nobody in that room will ever again be pulling a cord on a ceiling fan. In the end, I’m not sure that I helped that much. I spotted my spouse on the ladder, delivered up a few screws for the fixture, and cleaned. But if exciting electrical problems happen in your home, please call us. If the story is exciting enough, I might show up myself to help with the repair.

Amber Galea is Cassy Electric’s Chief of Staff. She has 10 years experience in information management and customer service, and like 2 days of experience in electrical work. She is an advocate for respect, fairness and transparency in business.

Stay safe out there, and don’t get mauled by rouge electrical devices.