Pat from Victoria

Doug has great customer service and is very knowledgeable. He was prompt, amenable, and cleaned up after himself. He explained to me the downside of having dark coloured organizers (dust shows easily) and he was right! Having said that, I wanted the dark ones for the particular look. His product appears to be of better quality than some of the products that I researched. There are no metal rails that show, et cetera. I am extremely happy with the closet organizers and Doug's knowledge and service.

We had Clint and Tim install a new Fireplace Xtrordinair gas fireplace, BBQ hookups, gas stove line, and a Rinnai Tankless hot water system in our house. They were on time, professional and thorough. I also got a better price buying my gas fireplace from the shop that they deal with in Nanaimo than by purchasing it here in Victoria. On top of that, Clint picked the fireplace up from Nanaimo and brought it down to Victoria. I was very impressed with their service.

Joe McLean (owner of Heritage Hardwood Flooring) laid a Peruvian Acacia Hardwood floor in my house. Within 5 weeks the floor started to squeak and move beneath your feet. This progressively became worse the more floor was walked on. As well, some of the boards had to replaced because they were cracking on the edges. He called Europlex International (where Joe had purchased the hardwood) and it took them a couple of months to get Ken, their representative, out to assess the situation. Joe had agreed with me that the wood should not be behaving like this and that there was something wrong with it. Ken came and told Joe and I that my house was too dry (in Victoria in the Spring-Summer). Joe had his own hygrometer which showed my house to be between 30-42% humidity at the time. I have since purchased a thermometer/hygrometer at Lee Valley which shows my house to be between 50-60% humidity (too high). Ken told Joe that once the humidity was higher , the floor should not do this anymore, unless I had already damaged the floor (which had only been down for about 6 months). Joe finished laying the rest of the hardwood floor in my house. Within 4-6 weeks, the new part of the floor started to do the same thing. I withheld the last money owed from Joe and told him that when he gets me a new floor from Europlex, I will pay him the balance. I told him that since he (Joe) sold me the floor, it was ultimately his responsibility to stand behind the product that he sold me (and made a profit on) and the floor laying work. I have never heard back from him. My floor is now 2 years old and is worse, not better. It squeaks everywhere that you normally walk and moves beneath your feet. It is also lifting on the edges and splitting. Apparently, that is a fault with Acacia Hardwood. The product that he sold me is terrible and he never fixed the situation.

Within 5 weeks of my floor layer nailing down the Peruvian Acacia Hardwood planks, they started to squeak and move beneath your feet. The more that they were walked on , the worse it became. My floor layer refused to finish laying the hardwood in the rest of my house until the representative, Ken, came over from Vancouver to assess the situation. My hardwood floor layer, Joe from Heritage Hardwood, agreed with me that the floor should not be doing this. Joe is the one who sold me the hardwood. The rep from Europlex came over (in the Spring-Summer) and proceeded to tell me that my house was too dry (I live in Victoria BC). My house measured between 30-42% humidity at the time. The Canadian government recommends that houses stay between 30-50% humidity. He said that once the humidity came up, the floor would stop doing this, unless I had already ruined the floor by having my house too dry. At no time was my house ever too dry and the floor had only been down for 6 months or so. It has now been 2 years and the floor has gotten worse in high traffic areas. The boards literally move beneath your feet in spots. I purchased a thermometer/humidity reader from Lee Valley and my house has consistently been between 50-60% humidity this past Spring-Summer (too high). I phoned Shell Busey and he gave me the name of someone from the National Hardwood Association. The man from the Hardwood Association said that there are no fixed rules for what is acceptable movement and squeaking of hardwood floors and that it is up to the company to stand behind their product. Europlex International has a nicely worded warranty written on their website which is not worth anything. They do not stand behind their product. I even tried to contact the owner of the company and he refused to speak to me. In my opinion, their product is substandard and the warranty is worthless. I would never recommend them or buy any of their products again.

I gave this company 1 star because they showed up promptly. I needed the pipe from the kitchen sink snaked out because it was plugged from the garburetor too far down the pipe for us to reach the clog. The plumber, Ryan, was here for a total of 1 hour and 7 minutes, during which time his snake broke down at least 3 times (and I was paying for the repair time as he took it apart to fix it each time). He charged me for 2 hours @$95/hr. plus a drain machine charge of $12 (for the broken machine) plus parts and tax. Apparently, he charged me for significant travel time which should have taken approximately 15 minutes one way. As well, I paid for extra time to clear the drain because his machine (snake) kept breaking down. There was no deduction in the fee charged for this repair time or inconvenience. He said that since I had a garburetor I would be calling him again. Obviously, I will not be contacting this company again as I feel that I was overcharged.

I received a written quote and references from Don prior to starting the job. I told him what type of tile I was using, the work required, et cetera. After asking for a cash advance, he walked off the job without finishing it. He said that I never told him it was glass tile and that he didn't realize how much work it was going to be. I did tell him but he did not listen to me. Don told me that he was on medication, so I am assuming that was why he did not remember what we had discussed. He told me when he was here that he had walked off of jobs before when he got angry about something. In this case, I believe that it was the fact that he had under-quoted the job due to his own lack of attention. He told me that he always get a cash advance part way through the work. He then asked for cash (which I reluctantly gave him to try and keep him on the job as I didn't want to have to find a new tile setter mid-job), packed up his tools, took the grout that I had paid for, and left saying he was returning on Monday. He never returned to my house and he wouldn't return my phone calls. I lodged a complaint with the BBB and they contacted him, but ultimately the BBB (and Don) did nothing to resolve the issue. Even though we are out about $500 and were left with a partially completed tile job, my husband said it was worth it just to have him out of our house. The whole situation was extremely unpleasant. I am writing this review because prior to hiring Don, I looked on the internet for reviews and could find none.