Dora from Scarborough

We renovated our powder room in October this year (2013). We wanted to add a shower using up space from an adjacent closet. We asked for quotes in Scarborough. Several companies didn’t bother to come in to see the place or even return our calls. We ended up with two quotes from Crystal Bath and Tapworks. We researched for customer satisfaction reviews and decided to go with Tapworks K&B, although the quote was higher by a couple of $Ks. They seemed more professional from the start. My husband and I were greatly impressed with the job done. The project got slightly behind schedule but Teodoro (the person who did the job) compensated by coming in to work on a couple of Saturdays. He was very careful to cover surfaces so the dust wouldn’t spread around the house; he was a perfectionist: If a wall didn’t look good he’d redo it again before we didn’t even notice. He was part of a team: if he was short of tiles, grout or any other material, he’d call the project manager and he’d have it delivered shortly. He worked quietly without stopping. We didn’t even notice when he took a lunch break. He would ask at every opportunity for our preferences about how we wanted the tiles laid out, the colour of the grout, the height of the shower, etc. giving suggestions when necessary. The quality of the materials was excellent and so was the workmanship. We liked that they got a permit, scheduled a City inspector and everything was done to code. The people that came to install the shower glass door are from another company, but they did a good job too and actually ahead of schedule. As for negatives, just a minor one as renovations go: the electrician was very good and efficient but didn’t show up at the agreed time. That happened twice. He could have called to let us know so we could have rescheduled our other commitments instead of waiting for him. But otherwise, we were very satisfied with the work done. Actually Tapworks exceeded expectations. Would I call them again? Yes. We have a kitchen project and we hope they can match this experience.

After hearing so many horror stories with Direct Energy, I’ll add my own. We are in Scarborough. Our furnace started acting up a few weeks before we were scheduled for maintenance: it would stop when the house was heated but it would not start up again until we turned on the switch manually. At first it was inconvenient because he had to get up a couple of times in the middle of the night (this happened in the middle of winter) but little by little it became scary: the furnace needed many tries until it finally would get started. It was clear that something was very wrong and it could possibly be about to stop altogether. The maintenance guy and the first technician that came in said there was a sensor that was dirty and just needed cleaning. They both assured us that we would have no more problems after they cleaned it. Not true. As soon as they left the same issue came up. The second technician even said that he was on call that day (Dec 24) and we could call again if necessary. The problem persisted. We called many, many times but nobody picked up. We got another technician on Dec 26. He said that two parts had to be replaced. It was late in the day but he said he’d order the parts and we should receive them the following morning. No parts arrived. When I called at 2:30 p.m. to find out the status of the delivery, they said that they were short staffed and that they had not placed the order yet. The parts arrived in the morning of Dec. 27. We called again to schedule a technician. They said he’d come in between 9 pm and midnight. Nobody showed up. No calls. No apologies. The technician showed up at 6 p.m. on Dec. 28. He found out that the switch was the wrong part and he ordered another. He said the problem was not with the motor and he wouldn’t replace it. Next morning the new part arrived. The technician came in at 1 p.m. He changed one of the parts (the other was the wrong part again!). The furnace seems to be working fine now. In the mean time, my husband did a lot of research in the Internet and found some advice in a forum: to blow some hot air into (I don’t know what part of the furnace) with a hair dryer. He did that and it worked much better while we waited for DE to fix the problem. We still need to switch it on manually but only once (not 5, 6 or 7 times every time). We maintained heat in the house all along, but we are on vacations now. What would have happened if instead of being in the house for the holidays we would have been out of town? The pipes would have burst with all the mess and expense it would imply. The maintenance guy should have fixed it at first try. What if we had been working? We would have had to miss several days of work waiting for all the technicians they sent during the week. We pay for service that’s very, very bad. Some of the call centre people are nice and courteous, but others have zero customer service training or are plain dumb. They don’t know anything about technicians’ schedules and usually put you on hold for as long as 15 minutes while they connect with another department. Some of the technicians complained privately that many times Direct Energy sends private contractors whose only concern is to get in and out of the house as soon as possible. They are paid per visit so they are not going to fix something that takes long to fix. They’ll leave it for the next guy. As soon as I can leave without penalty I’m off of the plan. Given the amounts that we have been paying monthly over the years, I’m sure I can purchase a new furnace every few years and deal with a local, more responsive gas company in case we run into problems. Direct Energy demonstrated to be extremely unreliable.