Monster Plowing Company

I have been a customer of Monster Plow for five years and the prior 4 years I have been satisfied with the service. There have been inconsistencies/problems but the owner Mikhail has always addressed them and been professional. Over the prior 4 years, I’ve recommended Monster Plow to a number of people.

This season has been one of dramatic change. First snowfall, 30% of the driveway not cleared. Response was “we will do better next time”. With the second snowfall they did do better.

Third snowfall, they never showed up. The snowfall ended roughly at Monday 8 am. Concerned that they were not coming, I emailed to ask if they were going to be coming. The reply at 2pm Monday is as follows:

“As per contract snow would generally be cleared within 12 hours of it stopping or winding down, however we currently have over 8-inches of snow which eliminates all timing guarantees, as per your contract. Likely timing at the moment‎ for Priority clients is between9 AM-1 PM, Complete clients 1 PM-6 PM, and Standard clients between 6 PM and Midnight.”

The contract is BS. Thrown in my face but not honoured.

By midnight, nothing. By 6pm Tuesday (18 hours after the contracted maximum time of cleaning) nothing. When emailed (no reply) and called I originally got an outgoing voicemail stating all properties had been cleared by midnight (not mine). On the second try Tuesday at noon I got through to someone who told me to send pictures (guess they don’t want to see the problem in person) and I was informed that no crews were available to service my property for Tuesday. When I asked if they planned to ever come back to the property, the answer was “we will get back to you”. Per contract, they give themselves 24 hours to correct “deficiencies”. 28 hours later, still no servicing of the property. They have breached the terms of their contract twice within 48 hours. So, if I’m lucky, maybe they show up this season for snow that finished falling by Monday am with it now being Wednesday evening (they did show up wednesday at MN and cleared my stairs -after an email reply from the owner).

So, things to consider with MonsterPlow:

1. they measure cleaning areas to the inch for billing but never clean the complete area they bill you for.
2. if you complain, it wont make a difference. If anything, they will make you feel worthless and not address the problem
3. “Never shovel again” and “24 service hotline” are a fallacy.
4. This was a very good company. I am disappointed in what has happened to them.

i've hired these guys for 3+ years (for 2 properties) and, sad to say, i think this is my last year w them. they're regularly late to plow/shovel at both properties (like 24+ hours after snowfall late), i end up paying for areas that never get shovelled, yet i get told that they were indeed shovelled, as if i can't see the lack of work with my own eyes! i'm often told that they can't come back to do the job properly and to, in effect, suck it up.
really? "blowing snow" is the reason why my path repeatedly remains with 2 feet of snow on it?
i don't need to pay this kind of $ to these guys to be told that or to not have the job done properly (and to not return and do it right!). my tenants complain, i'm complaining... and that, as they say, is that.
i suggest you think about twice before hiring this company. they talk a good game... too bad it doesn't translate to their work, particularly for the price that they charge.

I Had a several Complaint and they promised to Improve the Service . I will inform the the current situation and hopefully everything will be OK. .and they will provide the service according to contract.

Myself and many neighbours have hired this snow removal company to plow the snow from our laneway. We each paid $100 for this service and the main person collecting the funds has indicated he paid $1100. However, this snow was not cleared properly. They have blocked the lane. They have blocked the fire route. They have blocked the city drain, and there will be flooding again (when the snow melts) as there was last year because of this. They have removed the speedbumps. They have blocked the pathway access. They have also blocked my daughters property who lives beside the pedestrian pathway. The company refuses to do anything about it, because "there is nowhere else to put the snow." Well, they should have considered that before taking the contract and our $4100. The service people on the phone are rude. The admin would not advise my daughter when she called who the owner was, or allow her to speak with someone in operations to discuss the matter. She was given no timeline for a response, but it was clear that they have no intention of doing anything about it. Now she is hiring another company to move the snow that we all have paid to have removed. Horrible company do not use and do not be fooled by reviews. I personally find the last reviews suspicious as many were written in August. Who writes a snow removal review in the middle of the summer?

As for their response, what they said is not true at all. We carefully explained where the snow was to be placed, and it was not in that location it was on the north side. We did understand that the service was ploughing and not removal as they indicated removal costs would be $1000+/per snow fall. However, most importantly, where they have place the snow is a FIRE ROUTE for emergency access vehicles. This was carefully explained. This was a pedestrian path and city property and they are not allowed to put the snow there. If they couldn't plough the snow somewhere legal then they ought not have taken the contract.
All previous years the snow was not piled there. We came back to this company because the company we used for the past 2 years would have to be reminded to come plough, but they never put the snow there.
Finally, they replied to this posting and not my daughter's email complaining about the snow. I think that shows their lack of communication on the matter.

We work in and out of town, and rely on snow removal service to ensure that our sidewalks and driveway are cared for during winter. We had used Monster Plowing, and they were pretty good (see my 2011 review), but the last time we used them, they were awful - that is, IF they came at all, and often they did not. We fielded constant complaints from neighbours and locals regarding the state of our sidewalks. We had to do constant plowing ourselves. Please note that this was the case with even minor snowfalls, not just storms. They created a huge pile of snow (which turned to a solid block of ice), in our driveway, rendering the parking spot unusable for the rest of winter. They did not come for days after snowfalls to plow. They insisted our property had to be hand shoveled and charged us a premium for this, but used a truck - which, as they warned us, did a horrible job. They still charged the "by hand" premium. They charged us for a portion of our property that they NEVER plowed despite multiple reminders from us. The manager was near impossible to reach by phone, and when we finally heard back...he told us to just wait until the snow melted by itself. This is not what we paid for.
NOTE: This review was written Oct 2014, but actually published in Feb 2015, as Monster Snow Plowing company tried to block my negative review by claiming that we were not their clients at all. An obvious electronic money trail submitted to Homestars showed that we were clients, and thus the review was published. The next company tactic was to attempt to discredit the review by character assassination of the client, claiming that they were threatened and blackmailed. Not only does Monster get 0/10 for snow removal and service, they also get 0/10 for integrity. Consider this before you give these people your money. Multiple recent reviews clearly state that others experienced the same horrible service that I did. This company should spend more time improving their service and less time trying to evade honest reviews, even if they are negative. It is not clear to my why the company service declined after 2011. Perhaps they do not care much about their residential clients, and focus more on the commercial property contracts. They were an 8/10 back in 2011 (they were good, not great, but they tried hard...at least the owner Mikael did). They could be good again, or even great if they chose to be...they just have to care, and as numerous reviews state, they simply do not. Mikael, you had a good company once. Take charge and make it good again.

We have been customers of Monster Plowing Company for the last three years. My Mom owns a rental property near Greek Town with a driveway and parking area of over 180 feet. Monster is by far the most professional reliable snow service provider that we have dealt with in over 25 years. They communicate provide follow-ups, newsletter emails on weather conditions and when they clear the snow and deliver on every detail that their contract outlines. Their provide individual customer care and service and without a doubt I would recommend Monster Snow Plowing to everyone, especially since our winter season has dumped more snow on the city in the last couple of years with more snow than we can remember! Lina K. ~ East York, Ontario ~ PS: We want to emphasize on how reliable this snow service provider is.

We are a non-profit organization and as I am sure you can imagine every penny we save in operations goes directly to service we provide to our clients and families. Monster Plowing Company has been an amazing contractor for the past three years and as you can see we keep going back. They are always willing to work within our budget to assist us in our support for the community, excellent customer service, always there during a storm, always on time with all of our buildings (3 buildings on the same street). Safety of our staff, clients and families is extremely important during the winter season and Monster Plowing plays a very big role in that and we have complete trust in them which is hard to find in the snow removal industry. They have even been generous enough to come by and salt at no charge during extreme circumstances which we truly appreciate. Thank you for the great service over the past few years and we look forward to continuing our partnership with Monster Plowing Company.