Rasha from Vancouver

It’s unfortunate that I am writing such a review about Mike especially after a long work relationship that we have had for several years. But I guess one never knows until you actually experience the quality of the service/ product provided over time. My intention is to share my experience regarding his ethics as well as warn against the acclaimed knowledge as a builder/building inspection provider. Mike built the back deck of my house 2 years ago in Apr 2018. I have contracted & compensated Mike approximately $20,000 to build a water proof deck as well as the front porch of my house. Mike has provided a 1 year warranty for his work from date of completion. The deck was completed end of Spring and after the first rainy winter, I have noticed that the deck is leaking in Apr 2019. I have contacted Mike immediately and he assured me that he will take care of it. And hence I have waited patiently trusting that he would. He would promise me a date to show up and I would move all my heavy plant pots and furniture inside my house and wait for him to come by but he won’t show up. I would contact him time and time again and he would come up with excuses of why he couldn’t make it that day and reschedule for another. Meanwhile we could not use our deck and were crowded with furniture inside our house. This went on for 2 years for which he came by a couple of times after many text messages and every time he would come by, he would say that he repaired it. I believed him but the deck leaks again. I proposed that he could hire a specialist or I could hire one too (if he covers the costs) and he seemed to agree to that suggestion but changed his mind about it and decided to give it a go again himself and again it didn’t work and the leak is never repaired. Finally, he is now claiming that the pre existing wall of the deck is what is causing the leak and he has warned me about that wall before building the deck and that I insisted to keep it; inspite of the fact that he has actually admitted to finding holes in the waterproof member he installed last he was here in Jun 2020 caused by screws that he has used to secure the top flooring and claimed to have sealed it. I have no recollection of that warning and wouldn't it have made sense that he gives me something in Writing to that effect to clear his responsibility towards something I " insisted" on him doing that may have such major negative effects?In addition, he did charge me for a Waterproof deck so he charged me for a service that was not delivered, not only that, according to him, was doubtful all along that it will cause problems down the road but still went ahead and built it. I wonder if Mike would pass a deck like the one he built in an inspection! Mike is clearly backing out of his responsibility completely towards repairing the deck, claiming that the 1 year warranty has expired and pre existing structure has caused the leak . Even though the defect was reported to him within the 1 year of warranty and he was never able to repair it. In other words he never delivered a waterproof deck that he was contracted to build and received full payment for. I have saved all dated text messages and correspondence to prove all information I provided above. And currently went through the process of suing him to discover that he has put a Name of Company & Business Number on the Invoice that has dissolved in 2017 before he was even contracted to build my deck ( 2018). I would not work with Mike or any company he represent again nor recommend him after showing such poor business practice and lack of knowledge when it comes to building construction, an area he claims expertise in.

Sept 10 2020, I called them to service a bloomberg dryer in my suite. The first appointment they had was 1 week later. Technician came by and mentioned that a part needs to be ordered and replaced . I asked how long will that take he said about two weeks. The next day I received an email from Totem, that the part for my dryer has arrived . I called to schedule a call as advised in the email but they said that even though the part has arrived the technician will not be available until Oct 5th,2020 which is 18 days from his visit and 25 days from the time i called them to schedule a service call. Inspite of the fact that I was promised by the technician at the initial visit that the dryer will repaired , " as soon as the part arrives ". In summary the part was available & delivered to Totem , 1 day after it was ordered, but the Technician is the one who is not available to install the part for over 2 weeks. I have contacted several other service companies and they were all ready to send a technician in a matter of a couple of days ; which makes it clear that Totem is either understaffed or have some internal logistics issues while us customers have to pay the price of waiting as they are not able to fulfil the service in adequate time. I have contacted their office several times and 1 . Requested a sooner service Result : didnt happened and the receptionist responded when asked after numerous calls " we can't force the technician to answer his phone". 2 . To Talk to a manager (about 1 one week ago) . Result: I have never heard from a manager for over 1 week in spite of being promised that a manager will call me back in 24 to 48 hours. 3. Purchase the part so that I can arrange to have it installed sooner by another service company. Result : The receptionist responded that its not possible. 4. I have asked for a refund for the initial service call of $139.93 Result: they never answered my email or returned my call. I finally ordered the part myself and reached out to another service company. The part arrived and dryer repaired in exactly 3 business days.

Unfortunately somethings never change - please read my most recent review. -------------------------------------------------------- Below was my initial review of Totem. However after I posted my review management did contact me and apologized for the poor service as well as fully refunded me everything I paid. As a customer I consider that an honorable thing to do from a business and show that they do stand behind their service. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I had an issue with a Beaumark dryer that made loud noises every time I used it. I scheduled a service call and technician came by the first time and didn’t check the dryer but assumed it needed a roller. He came back for a second visit with the roller but Discovered That this Model Does Not Have Rollers. So only changed the dryer belt, inspite of the fact that he had it on him all along at the first visit. He charged me for 2 visits inspite of the fact that he said that he will only charge me for 1 visit. $268.26 later for replacing a belt that cost $10 & the dryer is not repaired and made the same noise!! I called Totem and explained what happened and here is what receptionist who was super unfriendly told me :- 1. Sorry the technician made the wrong diagnosis but we still have to charge you for 2 visits 2. We guarantee our work for 30 days only so yes we will send you the Same Technician again but if he finds out that it’s a different problem we will charge you again for his visit ! To summarize they will charge me for every visit regardless; even if the Technician makes the wrong diagnosis every time! I asked to talk to the manager, she said I can’t but she will talk to him and get back to me. She came back saying the same thing. At this point I decided to end the bleeding and I called an another service company who did look at the machine before deciding what was wrong. Ordered the parts needed and the dryer is repaired!

In short one of the worst customer service I have ever dealt with .. they have no clue what they are talking about .. My whirlpool front load washer has been broken now for more than 8 weeks! I have contacted them for service and paid their supposedly "certified" technician $118 and still the washer is not repaired. They have even sent me another independent service technician to look at it. The problem seems clear and simple according to the technician , but for some reason they are not able to resolve it; mainly because they are not able to say when the parts will arrive and they keep missing date after date. I also believe that the 1st service company "Platinum" were under qualified and wrongly diagnosed the problem which caused even more delay. I have talked to many supervisors and finally asked one of them to start a prorated exchange for my 3 years old washer since it seems not clear on when the parts will arrive but he mentioned that I will have to wait for 2 more weeks on top of the 8 weeks without a washer to process the exchange. I asked him if he could keep the maintenance call open and see which will happen first, taking in consideration that they are not able to set a fixed date and it has been that long, but he refused and insisted its one or the other. It seems that i will end up buying a new washer not because mine is beyond repair but because their technicians or the parts cant make it here to Vancouver!