Marty J in Vancouver

NB: this is in relation to the cross-country part of a long-distance move. A local moving company was used as Agents of GCVL on each end so the actual packing and unpacking aspects have been reviewed elsewhere. Unfortunately mentioning another company, even when they have worked as a team on a service, is technically against the reviewing rules of this site so I cannot say who. The driver (and 'crew chief' for the local guys on each end) was superb. Answered my questions, did the job thoroughly, ensured I understood all the forms I was signing etc. No hesitation recommending the quality of the 'on-site' staff for GCVL. The admin side however was less ideal - we ran into issues with accuracy of the quotes and lack of communication, plus the company decided to reroute our driver to Montreal (not exactly en route to Vancouver from the GTA!) for a pickup which delayed our delivery by 3 days past the deadline. That caused us some hassles with booking our building elevator at the new place, but to be fair we were compensated for the delay. If we have to move a long distance again, I would be quite willing to use GCVL again - but those less tolerant of imperfect service should think carefully how stressed they would get if their stuff was late...

We needed to relocate us and our stuff in February 2011. Much googling, Homestars & BBB cross-referencing, and whittling down to a short list of companies - one representing each of the major trucking lines since all long-distance moves end up using one of them! We were eventually choosing between two companies, each with almost identical ratings (including BBB), and Tender Touch was the cheaper by almost 20%. The treatment of our goods, for which Tender Touch in Markham deserve the lion's share of praise, was superb. Of over 9,000lbs of assorted items, we had a grand total of 1 broken desk and a couple of misaligned brakes on our bikes. The desk they warned us up-front would not likely survive (it was a very light, cheap Ikea item). Not even a single glass or dish was busted. We did pack our own boxes, and were sure to use plenty of paper etc. but we were still stunned when after trekking from Markham to Vancouver (via Montreal!) in temps from +25 to -21C (we left an electronic thermometer in one of the boxes), being reloaded onto a small truck for delivery to our downtown apartment that we ended up just losing that desk. The bikes were due a service anyway. Both crews (Markham and Vancouver) were uniformed, prompt, efficient and friendly. Runners were laid everywhere, so no problems with cleanup. The only issues we had were on the admin side - we did have to initiate all the contacts, rather than receiving updates without asking even when the truck was obviously going to be late (due to being diverted to Montreal for a pickup). We did receive compensation for each of the 3 days it was late, which would have been enough for a modest hotel room each night so we can't complain too much. The office staff member doing all of the quotes never managed to actually get us a completely-correct quote despite asking three times - each time she fixed one error, she put back a different one. Eventually we gave up asking once the numbers were all correct, and just called the driver ourselves to correct the apartment number. It's possible that our other short-listed competitor would have provided better service on the admin front - their pitch guy who came to quote really pushed on service & accuracy rather than cost. But spending an extra hour making a few calls & emails was well-worth the almost $2000 difference in price to me. If you demand perfection at all stages, are having your move paid for by your company or don't care about best price, you might find a better option - but when we next move in Vancouver we will absolutely be calling Tender Touch!

Despite the plethora of perfect 10 ratings already for Kevin, I feel the need to add another. I emailed regarding a Carpenter Ant problem which had just appeared and had a response almost immediately by email, with a follow-up call minutes later. Over the phone Kevin was polite, up-front with pricing and likely course of action, took the time to listen to me without just making assumptions, and was not offended when I said I was calling some other folks too (all highly-rated here on Homestars). While the other guys quoted similar or even identical prices, Kevin's full 1 year warranty and enthusiasm made me decide to go with his services. In person, Kevin was enthusiastic, obviously loves his job, and basically did everything he said he would on the phone. He quickly sought out the most likely spots for the main infestation, used a combination of in-wall and surface treatment, explained to me everything he was doing and both arrived and departed almost precisely when he estimated he would. He also reminded me multiple times that a follow-up visit might be required, and not to hesitate to contact him if there were still any ants present after a couple of weeks. In short, I could not have expected more from his services and he is a genuinely pleasant person to deal with as well. I will probably add an update in a month or two to confirm whether or not follow-ups were required and how those went if appropriate, but for now I have no hesitation in giving another perfect rating to Kevin.

One of our eavestroughs came loose with the volume of snow & ice we had over last winter - only noticed when we got some recent downpours that the wrong end, furthest from the downspout, was lowest so water was pouring over. In addition, our roof vents were not animal-proof as we discovered when a squirrel decided to abandon his tree for our house! Had three quotes, varying from Kavanagh's sub-$600 to over double that, plus one guy who didn't even bother to show up. What clinched it for me was not the price, but the fact that the guy who came to do the quote took pictures of all the various things to fix. He attached them to an email, and send both the photos and a .PDF quote to me. Combined with the length of time they've been operating, and that they are a local Markham company, I had no hesitation in asking them to do the job. They were round within a week, had three men working and were done in a couple of hours. Payment was made in full at the time, but I had been told if I was not in when they came round they would just leave an invoice - considering that I was not even asked for a deposit, I was also very impressed with the trust shown. I would have no hesitation in using Kavanagh again, or in recommending them to anyone else.

Moved into a c.20yr-old home over the winter, which still had its original furnace. Wanted to upgrade this functional-but-gas-guzzler to a new High Efficiency model. Called five HVAC companies, including Airworks. Jerry was the salesman: he came armed with all the info I could ever have wanted in terms of Energy Audit and other rebates; took the time to explain anything I asked about; did not talk bull or leave info out; and was a genuinely nice guy to chat with. After deciding to go with Airworks for the installation things got a bit more problematic - Lisa in the office consistently failed to impress: forgetting to fax confirmation; getting our file confused with someone else; failing to call back promptly on several occasions (although to be fair at least one of these was possibly due to a failure of another coworker to pass on a message to call). In addition to these issues, there were frequent references to office system problems - going down/needing to reboot/having been offline all day for repairs. Combined with a phone system which seems unable to transfer calls at all (or staff who do not know how to use the feature if it is available) I was becoming a bit concerned about having made a mistake in choosing the company. Fortunately when install day rolled around (which was quite prompt initially, and a cancellation allowed us an even quicker install date) both installers showed up very promptly just before 9am; were pleasant, polite, and efficient workers. Every join was properly connected and sealed; old chimneys were not just capped but sawn off right at the ceiling, reattached to the beams at their new ends then sealed; new air intake/outlet were beautifully aligned to minimise the damage to brickwork and thoroughly sealed. Tarps were laid down; any remains were neatly tidied away - as I said to them at the time, if it wasn't for the new furnace I would never have known they were even here. One problem did come to light at the end of job, when I was being walked through the new thermostat & shown the system functioning (obviously in the current late June climate, a full test of the heating was not on the cards!). Our electronic air filter, which worked quite happily and we wished to retain, had ceased to work. Woody took it apart again, checked for power and confirmed that the unit was being supplied - any fault must be within the front panel. I was offered a paper filter of the right size for a stop-gap measure. Immediately after signing the paperwork (and being given all relevant copies for the Cool Savings rebate, including a preaddressed envelope!) I called to confirm installation and the problem with the air filter. I was told that Chris would call me back. I did receive a call from Chris within about an hour. He had taken the time to speak to Woody about what he had done on-site, and asked me what make & model it was; proceeded to tell me where to find the front air intakes and that I should check them for dust or other blockages, since this would be enough to prevent it turning on. I said I'd give it a scrub, let it dry and call back if it continued to be a problem - but Chris nailed it first time. Dismantling the front panel revealed many years worth of buildup, some of which had been dislodged from a fine layer throughout the interior to fall across the inside of one of the air intakes in a big clump - once it was cleaned, *poof* and a functional air filter once more.