Colette Downtown

Called Dimitar on the recommendation of a neighbour. Made an appt to have 3 deadbolts installed on 3 bedroom doors. He arrived on time (actually a few minutes early), showed me the locks before he installed them to make sure they were acceptable to me, and then quickly and efficiently installed them. He was polite and very tidy, cleaning off his drop sheet after each lock was installed. I could not ask for more. Highly recommend.

My next door neighbour and I wanted to have the steep, weedy and neglected slope from our downtown houses to the street hardscaped into terraces. We hired John and we are so happy with his work - everyone walking by now says it's the nicest garden on the street! It wasn't an easy job: no parking and nowhere to have the stone delivered (requiring him to make a trip to the stone yard every day before starting), and uncooperative weather. It took him longer than he estimated but he worked every day until it was done as long as it wasn't pouring rain, and it looks fantastic.

I have an air conditioner/furnace service plan with Enercare. Yesterday, on the hottest day of the year, my air conditioner stopped working. I called Enercare, and within an hour a technician arrived to check it out! It turned out my unit, from 1989, finally permanently gave up. No charge for the service call, thanks to my plan. Within another hour, a salesman was there to give me an estimate for a new one, and explained the different options between owning and renting. I decided to go with a monthly rental, and then at 8am the next morning, installers were here to put the new one in! From start to finish, everything, from my initial service call right through to the installation of a new air conditioner, happened in less than 24 hours! And everyone, from the woman I spoke to on the phone, to the repair tech, to the salesman, to the installers, were courteous and professional. Now that's what I call great service.

Chose Greensaver over others because it is a non-profit company in existence, it seemed, more for reasons of environmental concern over making money. I should have gone with a profit-driven business because I realize now they have more to lose with an unsatisfied customer. They came in August 2011 to insulate my exterior brick walls and my attic. The arrangements were that they would arrive by 9am and that after I let them in I could go to work and they could work unsupervised. On the first day of what was supposed to be a three day job, I waited and waited for them as 9am came and went. Nobody called me, so I called Greensaver. They said they'd look into it and get back to me, because the manager was in a meeting and couldn't be disturbed. Nobody called back for at least half an hour, so I called again, and was told that they were unable to contact the driver, although they did admit the driver had a cellphone, but apparently wasn't answering it. And the manager was still in a meeting so they still wouldn't let me speak to him. Fifteen more minutes later they called and said they had been able to speak to the driver and he would be there "soon". When the two men finally showed up, around 10:15 or so, they offered no apology or explanation. I had to press them to explain why they were so late, and I was told first "traffic was bad", then as I pushed further, they said they had to stop at Home Depot. I do not feel they were truthful with me. In addition, one of the two men had obviously been drinking and I could smell the alcohol on his breath. I was extremely uncomfortable leaving these two in charge of my home, but I had to get to work and I really had no choice, so I left them. When I got to work, I called Greensaver and told them all of the above, and said I was not comfortable having them in my home alone. The manager I spoke to agreed that he would take a visit over to my home to see how it was going. He called me at lunchtime to say that after visiting with them, he was fully confident that they were fine and doing a good job. When I got home that first day, they were already gone. I walked into my house and I found a mess like you would not believe. Plaster dust, from drilling the holes in the wall into which to insert the insulation, was covering EVERyTHING in my home. My computers, my electronics, my kitchen counters and appliances, everything. It was unbelievable. They didn't even bother to close bedroom doors and so there was dust all over my kids' toys, beds, everything. What a nightmare! When I made the appointment, and when I had the estimator in my home, at no time did anyone ever tell me it was my responsibility to cover everything I wanted to protect from plaster dust. If they had said so, I most certainly would have done it and so much woe for me could have been prevented, so simply. On the last day, when I got home from work there was a new guy there filling the holes. He had some customer service skills and so that's probably why they sent him to present me with the bill and collect payment. There was some work they were unable to do because of existing insulation, so he adjusted the involce. After I paid them and they left, I reviewed the invoice again and I saw their math was incorrect and they actually overcharged me. SO I had to call them again and get them to refund me for some $500. Altogether a horrible nightmare of an experience, and I wouldn't recommend these guys to my worst enemy.

We hired Ken to remove knob and tube wiring that was not everywhere but almost everywhere in the house. He provided a detailed quote beforehand, and as work went along we discovered extra faulty wiring that we hadn't expected. Because we weren't home when these discoveries were made, Ken made video and took photos of the problems on his iphone so we could see for ourselves. He started work exactly when he said he would, and came with three other electricians. They worked for five straight days from exactly 9am until about 6pm every day, until the work was done, including patching the holes they had to make in the walls. There is nothing more we could have hoped for. We recommend Ken Lam and Bastone Electrical very highly.