I am not new to renovations and have had several large projects undertaken at my home and cottage. On the whole it has always been a very positive experience until I was involved with Binns in Pickering. We wanted to expand our ensuite master bathroom into a bathroom/dressing room, complete with a large shower, cabinets for clothes and toiletries, heated floor, etc. We were working with one of their newer designers who was under the supervision of a member of the Binns family. It was a disaster. The plans were drawn up, with a budget and we signed off. From then on it was a very unpleastant experience. Significant changes were made at the direction of the designer that were not even discussed with us never mind approved by us. A wall was moved 10" which would have resulted in a lost of 20" of hanging space for clothes. The cabinets were too short and had to be raised with a false bottom to allow for suits and shirts to be hung properly. The vessel sink was too high and had to be lowered. If we hadn't done a daily inspection and caught the problems quickly, we would not have had anything anywhere near what we had planned for. Binns did eventually fix the problems but only after we did battled with them. When we wrote to the president of the company we did not even receive a response. Most renovations do not occur without some wrinkle along the way, but these problems where fundamental to the project. How a company responds to a problem often reflects their integrity and your view of the overall experience. Needless to say, how Binns responded to the problems along the way was beyond dismal.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $70,000.00
- Company Response
Thanks for the feedback. We do remember this project, it was sold in 2006, installed in January 2007 and as it states in the review, the client was working with one of our newer designers. That designer is no longer with Binns, so I cannot give an account of what happened on the job site before I was involved with the client, I can explain what happen after I was involved.
We received a letter from the client stating they were not happy with certain issues regarding their project. We had a meeting with our Project Manager who informed us that most of the issues had been resolved. However there were items that still needed to be addressed. We discussed these items and came up with solutions, our Project Manager had a meeting with the client, he presented our ideas, the client said OK to the changes, and we made the changes and the project was finished. Our Project Manager made sure the client was happy with the work. We spoke to the client about a credit for three ceiling fixtures that were returned, we issued the credit, invoiced the client and the client mailed in the final payment. We did not argue or “battle” with the client, the client had issues that needed to be addressed and was correct in asking Binns to look after those issues.
The client had issues and Binns looked after the problems. We do understand that fixing a problem makes the problem go away, but does not undo the disappointment felt by a consumer when something is wrong. We have apologized to this client.
At Binns we strive for perfection and when something happens, we come up with solutions, discuss it with the client and move forward to complete the project.
