Sandra

Jul 19, 2023: I love my new deck! It's absolutely beautiful. Patrick, Owen and the rest of the team did a fantastic job. I really appreciate the professional service and top quality work!

2022-10-20: I was impressed by the professional service. Jeff fixed the sink quickly, cleaned up afterward, and provided tips on keeping the sink from clogging in the future. I would definitely use The Great Plumbing Company again.

2021-01-11: The hot water lever on the bathroom shower tap was not functioning properly, was hard to turn, and was loose. It looked like the cartridge also needed replacing. Jeff fixed the tap and replaced the cartridge, explaining everything he was doing. He was professional, Covid-conscious, knowledgeable and organized. Before he left, he also took a look at the water main, which I had concerns about, and made some adjustments. Excellent work. I recommend The Great Plumbing Co and would definitely use them again!

Oct 20, 2020: Great job! I love my new fence and gate! Patrick and Owen were professional, on time and did solid work. The price was fair, and Patrick took the time to explain options and approaches. I will be using Whites Renovations again.

May 28/18: Rob from Dodd's Garage Systems inspected my garage door and made some adjustments. He also provided feedback and tips on maintaining the door. I was impressed by his professionalism and the excellent service, and will be using Dodd's again.

Aug 2016: I hired Jewitt Masonry to do some repair work on my house. It involved coating the front porch, sealing the sides of house, and parging the back wall. Great quality and service, and very professional...as always!

Jul 8/2013: Excellent service. This was a move to a two story detached house from a two story row house, both with narrow halls and stairways. The move was done professionally and quickly. Some of the furniture was difficult to move and the guys worked hard to get the job done. I really appreciated their courteous manner and calm approach as moving day can be stressful. I will definitely use Firemen Movers again! My apologies for the late review.

Chris Sotiropoulos, General Contractor, June 9, 2012: This person was recommended by an electrician I used. The electrician himself was recommended by a friend. As this was a kind of "friend of a friend" thing, I thought I was safe, and didn't check references or question his expertise. Chris talked me into refreshing the floor by lightly sanding it and adding two coats of a medium flat stain. I'm planning to sell the house. The floor looked okay to me the way it was, only maybe a little tired. Refinishing wasn't really necessary. He insisted it would be free of charge if I wasn't satisfied, and would only charge me $350 for the work. When he was done, the floor was a disaster. Unfortunately by the time I realized this, I had already paid him. I sent several text messages and left voicemails asking for my money back. He hasn't to this date replied. The electrician who referred him also failed to respond to my emails and voicemails. Chris was highly recommended by him. I feel like I was used as a training ground for this person, as in hindsight he did not seem to have the skills for the job. Here is what he did: Light sanding of my maple kitchen floor by hand, then two coats of medium oil based stain, one within four hours of the other. Prior to putting the second coat on, he moved the fridge back into place and made long deep smears in the floor. Moving the fridge was my idea, however he was supposed to be the expert. He said he would fix it the next day when everything was dry. He asked for some of the money, and I paid him $200. The next morning, most of the entire floor had bubbles in it, with most of the bubbles formed around the fridge smears. It was obvious to me at this point that he didn’t have the skills to do the work. I called and left a voicemail offering to let him off the hook and said I would hire someone else to fix it. He didn't respond at first, then called to say he would be late but would fix it. He showed up four hours late. He spent a couple of hours hand sanding the scratches and bubbles. The result was messy and blotchy. The fridge smears were still there, and more prominent then ever. Then he said it was time to put a clear coat on. When I questioned the logic in that, he said not to worry. He told me I worried too much, which was his response when questioned about anything, which I didn't appreciate. He said it would be a flat clear coat and that he would fix the fridge streaks after by feathering them in with stain afterward. So, I let him put the clear coat on. It turned out to be super shiny. He assured me it would dry flat, and asked for the rest of the money, which stupid me handed over. He said he would be back in a few days to feather the stain in. The floor remained as shiny after it had dried (I suspected it would). At this point I called him and sent text messages, asking for my money back. He did not respond, or offer to try to fix the floor. The floor was so shiny and breathtakingly ugly I was absolutely mesmerized each time I stepped into the kitchen. After two weeks, the clear coat started flaking off. I could list here what went wrong, but it’s not my job to train people. This person misrepresented himself and knows next to nothing about wood floor refinishing. He also demonstrated very little professionalism and a complete lack of accountability. He was always late, with attitude, and responded in an arrogant manner when questioned about anything. The ONLY reason I hired him was because he was a highly recommended referral from a trusted source (who I won’t be hiring again either). I give myself a zero too, for not doing my homework before hiring this person. In the future I will always go with established professionals. Over the years, I’ve given other small businesses breaks and am sorry to say it has almost always been disappointing. The kitchen floor, spectacularly so.

THIS WAS MY FIRST (NAIVE) REVIEW - a 10. Mar 21: My KitchenAid refrigerator had been acting up for months, and finally stopped cooling. I scheduled a service appointment for Mar 21 through the KitchenAid 1-800 number for Canada and took that day off. Unfortunately, I discovered on the day of that that they put me down for the wrong week. The best they could do was reschedule for three days later which would have meant taking another day off. I found Service4Appliances online. Within an hour of calling them, the technician (Roman) showed up, and within about two hours systematically investigated, diagnosed and fixed the problem - a faulty sensor. I was impressed with the professionalism and reliability, and will be using this company again. MY SECOND (REALITY CHECK) REVIEW: Jun 11: The exact same problem with the fridge again. Roman no longer works with the company. The company does not guarantee their work. They claimed the charge was only for 80, and that it was for a faulty thermostat not sensor (?). The total charge was for 169.5, so I'm not sure if Roman pocketed the difference, or if they were referring to labour only. While Roman was very nice and very professional, he obviously knows very little about refrigerators. Basically he defrosted the fridge, claimed it was the sensor, and supposedly replaced it. Just defrosting it alone actually fixes the problem - which I explained to him. Extreme changes in humidity seem to trigger the problem. I WOULDN'T USE THIS COMPANY AGAIN. THEY DON'T STAND BEHIND THEIR WORK, AND PRACTICALLY BEGGED ME FOR THE HOME STARS REVIEW. I ALSO WILL NEVER BY KITCHEN-AID PRODUCTS AGAIN. THIS FRIDGE IS ABOUT 3 YEARS OLD.

Wedgewood Home Improvements, Apr 14, 2011: Wedgewood replaced the shingle roof in the front of the house, including the porch roof, the wood trim on soffit and facia on the front porch, and installed a new ceiling in the porch. The work included priming and painting the new wood, and also included replacing the eaves troughs and down pipe. The work was performed efficiently, quickly and professionally. I am very happy with the quality, and am planning to use WedgeWood again later in the summer. It was a pleasure to deal with Don who coordinates all the work. Once again, excellent work by the Wedgewood team!

Bathroom renovated by RenoCanada, December, 2008: What happens when you cross good intentions with an inability to plan, organize or communicate? A whole lot of rework: · Heating vent had to be moved twice before it reached its target. · Vanity mirror was the wrong size and too short for the space. It looked ridiculous, and had to go. The new mirror was much better, but the clips that held it on the wall looked like they were coming off. It turned out the wall was curved. · All the walls were curved. · I picked out the sink and vanity cabinet when I was in the showroom. The cabinet they had in the showroom was hacked away to accommodate the sink as the two pieces were not originally made to go together. It was as if a ten year old had done the work. Peter, who was the person managing the project, assured me that cabinet was done in a hurry for the showroom and my cabinet would be done properly. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I opened the door of my new cabinet after it was installed to find the inside was hacked away just like the one in the showroom. That it very likely was the one from the showroom. · The disfigured vanity cabinet was also the wrong height. It went back to wherever it came from. Probably the showroom. · The shower curtain rod was of a style that was too big for the small bathroom, and hung interestingly over the toilet. It had to go. · Unlike the walls, the window sill was perfectly level. I checked. However unlike the walls, the sill should have been on a slight angle so that the water could drain off (as the window sits above the tub and participates in the daily shower). Peter admitted that was a mistake. He seemed proud of his admission, but didn’t offer up anything in the way of compensation or recommendation, or even an apology. Not even an apologetic glint in the eyes. I weighed in my mind the inevitable daily sponging down of the sill against the onerous task of getting RenoCanada to redo it correctly. It stayed. · The guys showed up whenever they felt like it. Or followed some secret schedule. I couldn’t tell. The elusive Peter who was supposedly managing the project even scheduled them for December 24, without telling me (when they promised to finish the work before Christmas they weren’t kidding). · As requested, I clearly marked off the locations for the light switch, towel rack, electrical outlet and toilet paper holder. In keeping with RenoCanada’s Russian roulette approach to design, all markings were ignored. The location of the electrical outlet was at least in the ballpark. It stayed. The others elicited more feedback from the acting project manager which as it turned out was me. · On the first try, the light switch was installed on the wall behind the door so that you would have to enter the room and grope behind the door to turn on the light. On the second attempt it was installed in the vicinity of the spot I marked off. Close enough. · The towel rack was too long for the space it was meant to occupy. It had to go. I suggested they move it to the opposite wall and marked off the spot, and it landed, thankfully, somewhere near the markings · The medicine cabinet was never ordered. According to Peter I never ordered it. We negotiated it into the contract early on and revised the price over the telephone but he didn’t remember. In any case it never made it in the contract and my bad for not noticing. I reordered the medicine cabinet at an additional cost of around $400 and followed up every spoken communication after that with an email. Lesson learned. · The old severely warped bathroom door had to be reversed so that it opened on the opposite side. The person doing the work spent a long time sanding down the door and frame to make them fit nicely. I tried explaining that the door was going to be replaced, and that it was good enough the way it was, to no avail. He did not speak a word of English. So I gave up and left him diligently sanding away. I honestly couldn’t tell the difference when he was done. · None of the guys who did the actual work could speak English. All communication was supposed to be done through Peter who was only around when it was time to collect a cheque. He did not have a cell phone. · The front door was repeatedly left open. This was in December. Heating costs aside, anyone could have walked in. I did. I wandered about downstairs loudly for several minutes while the guys worked upstairs, and no one ran down. Not really their fault. The door is old and tends to swing open if not properly shut. Once the guys finally understood, with the help of my frantic gesturing, the door was never left open again (I spied). · The tub hot water pressure was half of that of the cold water pressure. The RenoCanada team was unable to fix it. But I am impressed that they showed up and tried (as this was after I had paid in full for the work). Peter said he would investigate with the manufacturer and call me back. He never did. I had my plumber fix it. It was a minor problem that took less than an hour and cost $157 to fix. He also redid the seal around the bathtub tap while he was there. · Painting was supposed to be done behind the sink and toilet. It wasn’t. · There was some minor collateral damage to the walls (requiring about $50 to fix). RenoCanada refused to cover the cost. Instead they said they would give me a “gift” as compensation. It consisted of some cleaning detergents, two small candles, and two face cloths with the company name in very large print which delegated them immediately to dust rag status. · The bathroom vent for the fan was not installed. I was told that they couldn’t get a roofer in the winter. Apparently they couldn’t get one in the summer either as I had to hire another company to do the work at the end of August at a cost of $450. To be fair one guy did show up in the spring. He stared up at the roof and complained he wasn’t being paid enough, then realizing there was no laneway access (it is a row house) lost enthusiasm. I never heard from him, or from RenoCanada, again. I should point out that while the last four items were not completed by RenoCanada, all other items on the list were. I received a demand for payment shortly after completion of all but the four items. I informed Sam (the owner) that I was going to hold back $1000 until everything in the contract was done. His response was vitriolic. After some angry sputtering and vague threats, he said he would take care of the outstanding items as part of their warranty. So I agreed to pay the entire amount. I was curious to see if he would keep his word. He didn’t. I sent an email last month requesting reimbursement for the cost of completing the remaining work (about $957). Sam responded with an offer to send a cheque for $300 in the spirit of reaching an amicable resolution. I accepted his offer, in the same spirit. I was curious to see if he would keep his word and send the cheque. Nope. Issues aside, it has turned out to be a very cute bathroom. The tiles on the walls around the tub and on the floor were beautifully done. Friends and neighbours were duly impressed. Credit all goes to the guys who did the work under difficult circumstances and to me who designed the bathroom and managed the entire project. We get a 10. RenoCanada gets a 1. I wish I could flush the experience away. ***UPDATE*** The $300 cheque arrived the day after this review was approved.

Wedgewood Home Improvements, Aug 5, 2009: Wedgewood replaced an old tar and gravel flat roof in the back of my house, as well as three eavestroughs and the connecting downspouts (also located in the back). The house is an old row house with no laneway access. The pieces of old roof had to be carried over the top of the house and deposited into a bin in my front driveway. This was a very dusty dirty job. I was impressed with the care with which the task was undertaken. I was also impressed with the speed and efficiency with which the job was completed, and with the overall professionalism displayed by the crew. They were polite, pleasant, and all business. It was a pleasure to deal with Don who coordinates all the work. I love my new roof! I have used Wedgewood on two previous occasions. They replaced the siding in the back of the house and replaced the porch roof. This was about two years ago and I was also very happy with the results. The cost may be a bit higher than what others quote, but not much. And the quality is worth it. Excellent work by the Wedgewood team! I will be using them again.

Fraser Thomson/D.J. Lemmon, Mar 13/09: This was a medium sized move that involved one pick-up and three drop-offs in different locations of the city. I was very impressed with the speed of the service and the care taken by the team to ensure items were not damaged and were delivered to correct locations. The job required carrying a large and heavy dresser up a narrow stairwell - the guys made it look easy! Cost was less than estimated. Well organized, pleasant, and efficient team. A friend suggested I use AMJ Campbell and I am happy I did!

Tom/Chris, Mar 07/09: Quality service. Punctual, fast, and efficient. The job involved removal of old furniture, particle board and drywall, and miscellaneous junk, and required a second trip. I was surprised by the speed and efficiency of the team, and impressed by their professionalism. I will only use Just Junk!