Basement renovation gone WRONG
John, the owner of JAIA Group, comes across as a nice hard working man and you immediately trust him. But be aware of all the problems we had: * He measured the fireplace frame wrongly, and it has nothing to do with the built ins, and it looks weird, and didn't admit to his mistake and refused to correct it, so the contractors of the built ins had to hid his mistake.
* His electrician was responsible for us to be without AC in the summer for 4 days, he told us first than the thermostat battery was off, after changing the battery, he then suggested that the thermostat was broken and we had to change it. He never suggested he will fix it because he caused the damage to the thermostat. Four days after buying a new thermostat, and with our new furnace still in not working condition, he decided to come home (he took time off) and check the electrical connections and he found out the problem. We never knew what happened, as he never explained it to us when asked, he kept repeating "it was not our work who caused the damage". He also did not once apologize for the stress of not having AC in the middle of the summer.
* We asked him to paint the floor of the furnace room to have a cleaner and better finish to it, he did it as asked and almost immediately, the (also newly bought) water tank stop working. He claimed that it was not related to him or the paint. Four days after (long weekend) a technician that we paid (form our pocket) came to fixed it and told us, that, in fact, it was the paint the cause of the furnace service interruption. If he claims all these years of experience, why he didn’t disclose this problem before starting the job? Or perhaps, he is not as trained as he indicates to be.
* He promised to come back after our built ins were installed to instal the bar plumbing, and disappear on us. I left 5 voicemails and at least called 20 times. My husband also called, texted, and emailed him as well during this time. We were opened to any time, we just wanted to have him finish the basement. We were already over 4 weeks behind schedule, and we just wanted to see this work through. The one time he answered in 5 weeks, and he agreed to come at a time that was convenient for him, my husband, who works in Toronto, took the day off to wait for him. He never showed up. Not only that, but he didn't even call him to say "I am sorry, let's reschedule". No news whatsoever.
* Regarding the floor, we picked a very nice and expensive tiles, for some reason maybe just to speed up, he installed the floor before painting the walls. The result was an expensive floor covered with paint. He said that with vinegar and water they will go away, unfortunately it is not the case. I hope with consecutive cleaning they will disappear, but it is still not the case. In addition some of the tile moved and you can see the the wood below. He indicated he will come back and fixed it as well.
In sum, he never took ownership of any of his mistakes.
He tells you stories about bad customers owing him money, and demanding clients, like I am sure he will say about me now. I felt guilty with his stories of having to use his own money to buy materials for my basement and we paid him in full as he came highly recommended. He does not pick up the phone after he asked us to book a day for him to supposedly come. We have had other people do work for us and we were very happy with them.
Finally, if you read this review and you still hire him and things go very wrong, you can’t say that you didn’t know.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $45,000.00
- Company Response
Dear Clarisa,
Thank you for taking the time to write this review. Although we’ve already discussed the following points with you, we feel that we need to repeat them below in order to defend our company against the allegations in your review:
- You paid in full because we have fulfilled all obligations under our contract with you. This was evidenced with photographs as well as your sign-off and your payment of the remaining balance owed.
- The fireplace installation work was not performed by our company and as explained, we are not liable for repairing damage that was caused by another party.
- The bar plumbing work was not part of the contract but we did initially offer to perform the work free of charge after you asked. The reason we will no longer be performing this work is because you were not willing to cooperate with us to find a time that was mutually beneficial to both of our schedules. We asked for flexibility on your part because we have since moved on to other jobs and are committed to meeting the schedule we’ve provided to all of our customers.
- The work for the air conditioner and hot water tank were not contracted to our company.
We have requested that an investigation be launched into your allegations and know that in due time, the statements we’ve provided above will prove to be true. In the meantime, we will continue to stand by our work.