There seems to be a lot of angry customers in here and I wanted to make a fair review for this company. We were with appleseed for 3 years and no problems. They changed their name to metro and so far we still have not had major problems.
I'm a bit confused why so many dissatisfied reviewers are giving this company 0/10 when clearly they've come and cleaned their driveway on almost all occasions. A 0/10 is when they literally do zero service so I think a lot of these reviews are pure hyperbole. They have good equipment, gps tracker, send email updates, and are reasonably priced. Problems with them showing up late? OK -- but at least they showed up! That's not a 0/10.
That being said the company isn't without fault. There was one occasion when we were snowed in because the driver came in a bit late (mainly because city plow came late as well). Two other instances where I had to shovel my way out of the city plow's second 'dump'. To be fair, most of my neighbours are with a different company and they were in the same boat (and happened when we were with appleseed). We also did not let them know that we leave the house fairly early.
Surcharge seems fair except I'm not a fan of the $50 invoicing and would prefer to pay $10 per sweep. They say they will refund the money if less than 5 snowfalls but only if you re-sign with them (e.g. what if we decide to move out of Ottawa or simply decide to go with another company?).
- Approximate cost of services:
- $310.00
- Company Response
Thanks for this Sam for this well balanced and constructive review. I'm pretty much known for being blunt and 'upfront' with customers and maybe that upsets some. Here's why we have so many '0'/10 reviews in a nutshell...
Being the largest, most visible company doing snow in Ottawa we obviously attract the most 'new,1st time users' who sign up with us. They are new to using a snow removal service. So, they sign up with the 'largest and most credible' company they see from the many stakes out there. Now, as much as the contracts and services are clearly spelled out, as much as we try to 'educate and indoctrinate' new customers about 'how we, and ANY company usually operates' through many emails AND unless we are there immediately or 'when they 'feel' we should arrive'...they just dont 'get it', don't understand their contract and and 'time thresholds' and simply lash out, rant and criticize. I dont take this all personally but yes it frustrates me each season. I feel comfortable in the knowledge however that we have a 92% 'Renewal rate' each season. This speaks volumes on our service.
So where do these negative reviewers go?
They 'shop around next season' for a cheaper service. They get No email alerts, no GPS alerts, no updates from their new 'company'. They 'fly blind' through storms with their 'new service provider', rant and rave at him and return usually to Metro the following year. Im not being arrogant here but after 25 years doing snow I see this every year.
What I'm considering doing actually is implementing a 'rebooking' fee for those many clients who return a year after trying another contractor 'after they have basically trashed my service' and now want to come back.
RE: $50 250 cm surcharge:
With over 11,000 clients we cant possible bill each client $10 every time out snow....people wouldn't send a $10 cheque in once let alone 5 or 6 or 7 times...Ive tried this before in 2009.
A one time 'rebateable fee' seems the safest and fairest option to clients and most people have readily paid this graciously.
I've learned in life..."you cant unring the bell". My reputation ,integrity and image are paramount to myself and my very hard working people in the company and we always try to protect that.
Thanks again
Ken Dale
President