Kevin in York

We have known Ben for 15 years. During that time he has done an exceptional job of cleaning and repairing our collection of Persian carpets. He has also sought out some hard to find carpets for the house. He has amazing taste.What really impresses us though is his integrity - he believes in what he does. He never just "drops and goes". A stickler for detail, he always makes sure that we are completely satisfied.

When I comment on Elte I also include Ginger's and Summerhill Hardware in the mix. I live in an older home that needed extensive renovation which we undertook 8 years ago and we has been ongoing ever since. We have 5 bathrooms - 1 of which was renovated twice in a 5 year span. Ginger's attitude was one of 'couldn't care less' in fact when I described the project the answer was: "yeah, good luck with that." Needless to say we have shopped elsewhere ever since. We entrusted our recent purchase to Elte only because we knew a local designer who recommended some of their products. We went ahead, and while the installation was done in a timely fashion, the after sales service is appalling. The runner is not centred on the staircase - something I resigned myself to 'live with' but after 2 years, it has begun to wear, not on the tread, but on the riser, and in 4 separate places. This clearly indicates a flaw in the carpet. I have now tried for a month to have this attended to and each time I phone I get a different person and a different set of excuses. "we're busy because of the holidays, that person is away, his assistant is on vacation, it is the first time I'm hearing about it" and so it goes. When this company was on Eastern Avenue (yes, I've been shopping there since then) it offered great products and good service. Frankly, nowadays they aren't the only game in town and all that separates one place from another is service - and you certainly won't get that here.