Markham 1699

My refrigerator had been leaking water every once in a while for the past several months. One morning I realized it had blown a fuse overnight, and then it stopped cooling and emitting a chemical odor. I called Gary based on the reviews on Home Stars, and his service was excellent. He answered the phone right away, and was at my place within a few hours. My low rating is based purely on the price for the work (or rather, lack of work) done. He quoted me about $100-150 for the labour, plus parts, when we spoke on the phone, and that didn't seem too outrageous for a city repairman. Unfortunately, when he got to my place, he looked at my fridge for a few minutes (less than 5), and then told me I had to replace it - that there was no freon, so it was not cooling. I know nothing about appliance repairs, so I don't know if that is something fixable or not, but to charge me $86 + taxes to tell me that, the service is overpriced. I should have gone with the local company here who had a service charge of $60. After Gary left, I put two and two together myself, and figured the fridge was leaking the freon, so I disconnected the power (as the smell was extremely pungent). Gary had never encountered the smell before (and didn't seem sure if it was freon or not), which seemed strange to me for a repairman with over 30 years experience. Instead of getting a second opinion, I decided to cut my losses (food and service cost) and buy a new fridge. A word of advice to those shopping around: Ask what the cost will be if the repairman is unable to fix your appliance. Bad news is always easier to take when expectations have been properly set.

I had Dmitri and Zeev out to give me a quote at the end of February for the replacement of my corner shower door and walls. They had the best price out of the 3 companies I looked into and they were able to come out to my house quickly to take the measurements, so I hired them. Their time estimate for installation (2-3 weeks) was accurate, however I had to follow up with Dmitri a couple of times to get him to come out and install the shower doors. During installation, some of the ceramic tiles broke, but Zeev assured me that he would replace them with something of my choice, and at his expense. I was impressed with the customer service at this point. Unfortunately, everything went downhill from this point onwards. He had to reschedule the installation of the new tile about 3 times (which took about 3 visits, since it could not all be done at once). This was very inconvenient. Then, once the job was finished, the shower door was leaking water. Whenever I called Dmitri, he always told me that they were so busy, and that he would call me back. Never once did he return my phone calls. Finally, he told me to call Zeev directly. I did, and the same thing: he said he would call me back, and he did not. Then, he told me he would come on Friday, but that he would call back later with the exact time. Well, needless to say, he did not call back, and he did not come on the Friday. I finally had to get more assertive with them (after I don't remember how many calls and conversations), and they came at 9pm on the day they said they would be there at 6pm. (Again, there were another couple of calls I had to make between 6 and 9 to make sure they actually got there.) End result: They came back out in June to "fix" the leaking shower door, but it is still leaking. A little bit less, but still leaking nonetheless. I have given up on them. I will add a bit more caulking myself to see if it solves the problem. It was way too frustrating and exhausting of an experience working with them. They give extremely poor customer service and do not respect their customers' time. Do not be fooled by the price. For 100 or 200 dollars more, you could get another company out to do the job properly.

I would highly recommend Ewen for any type of carpentry work. He replaced the wood cabinet surround of my hot tub in the fall. I was very impressed with how professional he was. He was not only quick to return phone calls and follow up, but he was also honest and down-to-earth. (It was very refreshing to not feel like you were dealing with a shady company or someone who was just plain trying to rip you off.) Ewen took the time to quote me on three different woods/wood-composites, which also helped in guaging budget. I was impressed with his innovative, practical design for the hot tub, including a custom door to access the pump and a bonus ledge for the hot tub cover. I wouldn't hesitate to contact Ewen again for any carpentry work.