QuestForKnowledge in Mississauga

I would like to share my very recent experience with an air conditioning issue and resolution. Here is both my quick, two sentence, feedback for those who just want the punchline, followed by my longer full story for those looking for more details. In short, this is not a recommendation on which AC equipment to go with, as mine is too new yet to offer any real feedback, but rather on who I recommend contacting if you have an issue. I just had my AC replaced and I would highly recommend Ash from Fair Deal Heating & Air Conditioning. Now, here's my long story, I do hope it helps at least one other person. Tuesday, June 30th, I came home in the early evening to find my house several degrees warmer than it should have been, despite the air conditioner being on. After investigating a little, I found the cooper line outside to the condenser covered in ice, and the same in the basement where the line came away from the coil. A little internet research told me I likely had a leak in the system and no longer had sufficient coolant, which I couldn't simply recharge given it used R-22. Long story short, time to replace the AC. But of course, it's Tuesday night before Canada Day as we are headed into at least a week long heatwave. After a little research, in addition to leaving a couple of messages for a few of the bigger companies, I decided to text Ash at Fair Deal on WhatsApp, given some strong recommendations for his company. Despite it being 10:20am on Canada Day, Ash texted me back within 2 minutes (no exaggeration) asking if he could call me in 10 minutes. We talked for almost 30 minutes about the issue I'm having, some specifics about my home and what I'm looking for and then he answered a bunch of my questions and provided me some options and recommendations, as well as a quote on what sounded like the right system for me. Based on the positive reviews I had already read and the fact that he got back to me right away, on a holiday nonetheless, I did something I have never done before and booked the work with Ash right away without shopping around or getting competing quotes. He was able to schedule my new AC installation for Friday morning at 10am. If you don't want to read further, I'll sum up by saying I'm glad I did. This is where it gets even better. Within 10 minutes of getting off the phone with Ash, he texted me the details, including full model number, of the AC unit we had discussed, so I could research the specifics and make sure I was comfortable with this one. Less than an hour later, he calls me back, tells me he's at his supplier and they should be able to get the unit the next day for my Friday AM install, but of course, can't be 100% sure until the equipment is in his hands. But then he also offers me the option of using a similar, but slightly more expensive unit, which they had available immediately. He also said he would honor the quoted price regardless of which unit I wanted and he sent me the details of the second unit as well. I did some quick research and selected the unit that was available right now, to essentially guarantee nothing would delay my install and because it wasn't increasing my cost. He picked up the unit for me right then. Again, this is all happening on a holiday. Thursday morning I get a few call backs from some of those other companies I left messages for the day before and two of them agree to send someone out to look at my system and provide me with a quote later that same day. I figure, why not, peace of mind, I'll at least have 3 different quotes to compare. None of the quotes were apples to apples, but here is what they looked like. Of the other two, Company 1 came the closest to quoting me on something similar to what I was already getting. They tried to pressure me into signing right away by offering me 'great discounts', which were still roughly $1,000 higher than what I was already booked for. In all fairness, not the exact same equipment, but similar enough that the price difference should have been very small. Company 2 was very much interested in overselling me on all kinds of 'bells and whistles', such as air purification systems, two-stage AC units and thousand dollar thermostats. The sales person obviously was more of a 'sales person' than a 'technical person' as well, as they did not really know the equipment outside of specifically what they sold. They were also more interested in showing me texts from other happy customers than focusing on my situation. Their lower quote, with less bells and whistles, was also nearly double Fair Deal's quote (their high-end quote was almost triple). Again, not quoting on the same things, but I found it interesting how focused on up-selling they were. One other note, both bigger companies were not shy about 'scare tactics'. Basically warning that if I go with a smaller company, the company probably won't be around in the future if I need them, or they won't respond to me quickly if I have a problem. I found it a little funny, since the "small company" I was going with already showed a level of responsiveness and customer service that exceeded my expectations and my experience with both bigger companies. I was now even more satisfied with my choice to select Ash and Fair Deal. Back to my experience with Fair Deal. While Company 2 was still at my house, Ash called and asked if I would be okay if his team came by in about an hour to look at my install and if simple, to do it right away. I, of course, said yes. Raj and his son got to my house around 5pm and after examining my situation, realized this install was going to be quite complicated, as they needed to run new cooper piping and I had a finished ceiling in the basement that they were not keen to damage. They took stock of everything they would need and we agreed to stick to the original install the next morning, as it was going to take a while (and I didn't love the idea of them working til midnight, although based on some other's reviews, I'm sure they would have if I was desperate). Sure enough, they arrived exactly at 10am Friday, already had everything they needed and set to work right away. They were very professional, obviously knew what they were doing and didn't mind me hanging around and asking questions (although I'm sure every professional actually hates this...they did not give me that impression once). They did a very neat and tidy job and were very good about cleaning up along the way. It took them 6 hours on Friday and I couldn't be happier with the work done! Ash followed-up with me after they left to inquire about how satisfied I was. He also followed-up with me again this morning to make sure everything was working to my expectations. Obviously, as my new AC is less than 1 day old right now, I can't speak to the longevity of the equipment, but my intention with this review is to possibly help others find a great company to work with regardless of which equipment you are interested in. Based on my experiences alone, I would absolutely recommend Ash and Fair Deal Heating and Air Conditioning to my friends and family. Hope this helps!

Our nearly 30 year old cedar fence had reached the end of it's reliable life and was slowly collapsing. We had several key factors in mind while looking for the right replacement. - No or low maintenance - Durability - Privacy - Longevity - Curb appeal No traditional fence we considered met all our requirements until we started looking at stone or concrete fences/walls. We viewed and interviewed several products and firms and Duracrete came out far ahead of all others in every aspect. The high performance concrete noise attenuation wall installed is the most beautiful residential "fence" I have personally seen (yes, I'm biased) and meets or exceeds all our requirements with the added benefits of significantly reducing street noise and added safety from a possible errant car off the busy street just outside the fence. Duracrete hired a top notch installation team, took personal responsibility of all aspects of the purchase, installation and service after sales and has been very responsive to any questions or 'tweaks' along the way. Their product is warrantied for many, many years and backed by one of the largest fencing companies in Ontario, so no fear of a shody product or install with nobody to call later. Also, they have remained extremely responsive to us after the sale, so again, no fear of a company that will take your money and run. I would highly recommend Duracrete products and service to anyone. Warning: this is not a product to consider if you are on a tight budget, as you can expect the cost to be double a quality, traditional fence, however if you are looking for the best value over the long term, this is hard to beat.

We had used California Closets in 2006 to transform our master bedroom closet in our condo, upon the recommendation of a good friend who had used them. We were so happy with the work they did for us then that when we bought our new home, we called them again. We had them do both a custom master bedroom closet and a custom walk-in kitchen pantry for us. Our salesperson and designer visited us and we showed her the spaces, talked how we'd like to use them and she threw out some great ideas we hadn't thought of. Afterwards she went back and did some fantastic computer designs of what she was proposing. We tweaked a few things together and agreed on pricing. The installer Dean then showed up to take all measurements. Afterwards, everything was pre-made and pre-cut exactly for our space so that the install would go quickly and not create much mess. Since we had just moved in, we were warned ahead of time the raised panel drawers we wanted would take a few weeks. To accomodate us and so we didn't have to live out of boxes for weeks, they did the install of everything about a week later, except for putting in the actual drawers. Dean returned a few weeks later to put the drawers in. That was great of them to accomodate us like that. The master bedroom closet is about 6 feet wide and a little over 12 feet long. They turned it into a fantastic multi-functional space, with 3 different height hanging spaces, 8 fancy and very sturdy drawers and lots of shelving (including slide out tie and belt racks). We added a sitting cube, hung a mirror and now call it our dressing room. The closet is so perfect that we were able to move our dressers to our second bedroom instead of having to purchase new and we have no dressers in our bedroom with plenty of space for all our clothing (and even a little room to add). We are just as happy with the pantry. Previously it was an ugly 6x6 cube with two long, sagging shelves. We now have lots of fantastic adjustable shelving and a sliding storage basket. They even hid an ugly HVAC vent that ran along the floor. This work was done in October 2009 and 2.5 years later, everything still looks new like the day it was installed. They used high quality, durable materials and the installation was great. We are very happy with all aspects of this work and would recommend California Closets to anyone. We had gotten numerous quotes just for comparison, even through we were already biased towards California Closets based on past personal experience. Even after negotiating the price down a bit, they still were not our cheapest quote, but were reasonable and we decided to go with them afterall because we knew what we'd be getting. Have not regretted that for a moment and will use them again.

We had replaced the wall-to-wall carpeting in our condo with Empire Today in 2006, so after we moved and purchased our new home in 2009, we tried to call them again. We instead got in touch with Empire Tomorrow, who we were told hired many of the Empire Today employees when they pulled out of Canadian operations. After meeting with the salesperson Tony, viewing samples, and getting a quote, we decided to go with Empire Tomorrow. We got 3 quotes total and Tony was the most willing to work on price to meet my budget without compromising on what we wanted. They estimated the whole job would take 2 days. We were replacing carpet for four very large rooms upstairs and the majority of the finished basement, including the stairs. The installation team was punctual and did a good job. They worked until about 10 PM the second day to finish the job. Tony paid numerous visited to check on progress during the two days. Overall, we are quite happy with the entire experience. Carpets are high quality and installation was done quite well. We noticed two places where we weren't perfectly happy with the seams, but in all fairness, never called to have them come try to hide them better, as it was minor. This work was done October of 2009 and I had since recommended them to 2 other folks who were also happy with the work.