Steve in Toronto

Have been a member for easily 16 years. Used it to purchase all appliances, sofas, etc. when purchasing my first single home and then family home but a lot has changed since then. Internet searching on price comparisons is easier. Boxing Day (now Black Friday) sales are better than DB pricing and even Costco pricing and return policy is extremely competitive. If you are about to do major work on your home or buying a new home and in need of major purchases (not just appliances but everything), this may be the right move for you. If you have the money to buy HIGH end stuff, you will see a significant savings (i.e. $3-400 off on spending $1500-$2k on a fixture) but most folks don't spend that level for a single fixture so your savings might be less than 10% on $400-$500. That's where the 7% handling fee kills the deal. They charge tax on top of that which I believe is wrong. Otherwise, if I had to do it again, I would not. Purchasing in many cases without the benefit of touching and feeling the material/quality is also difficult. Need to spend lots of time trying to find same products in showroom (which is hit and miss). The owner of the Mississauga location is terrible. They tried contacting all our wedding guests (aggressively) that purchased our wedding gifts through DB to get them to sign memberships. Told me (when I complained) that they didn't need my money as the franchise owner paid more in telephone bills each month than my membership was worth (this after I probably spent $15k over a 3 year period). Transferred to the Brampton location where the owners were very nice - unfortunately they closed. Customer Service folks are nice but they spend all their resources on signing new members and little on CS to maintain them and place orders. With the handling fee, picking it up and waiting weeks if not months (that was pre-Covid) to receive it makes this a hard sell. Don't get me started on the pressure techniques when I joined. Membership expiring and don't see the value in maintaining it.

Michael did a really good job installing our shower glass/door plus a full length mirror for a door. Unfortunately, he made an error in the first measurement for the mirror but ended up purchasing and installing a new one for us at no additional charge. I really commend him for doing that. As any reputable contractor, he ate the cost of that given the error. He was honest and was really nice to work with. One of the things I appreciated the most was that Michael was the only respondent from the contractors that responded to me on Homestars to provide me with a quick drawing (of my initial photo) of what he thought would be best for our shower. He took the time that evening to answer all my questions. Most others just send you a quote and you are left with many questions as there's very little dialogue. Really appreciated that.

My uncle and I were looking to re-shingle our 2 roofs and decided to go with Better Contracting. We ended up having 2 very different experiences. The crew that arrived at his house were very professional and meticulous. They covered areas where debris would be falling and 1 employee’s sole job was to go around cleaning. Unfortunately, my experience was nothing like this. The job site looked like a war zone with lots of material that didn’t make its way into the bin all over the grass in the front and backyard. One guys spent 20 minutes at the end of the day quickly picking up only the larger pieces of debris. I had to go to the neighbours property and clean up the debris on their side. The crew tried rushing to get the entire roof done (3100 sq. ft. house) in a day. Originally, all the materials didn’t show up. I had wanted some of the plywood replaced and noted that in advance and was included in my invoice. The crew lead tried talking me out of it likely to speed up the day not to mention when the plywood did arrive, they only brought one as opposed to the 2 sheets that I had reminded them of some 2 hours earlier. I had to remind them of the extra vents plus bathroom exhaust vents which also did not arrive. While I was in the attic trying to install the exhaust vents for the bathroom I noticed a hole in the plywood that could easily fit my fist through it. I told the crew about this who told me that they had already covered it with aluminum. They didn’t as I had to wait in the attic and show them as they returned from their break. The crew also failed to install the vinyl underlay on the top 2-3 feet of the roof (on both sides and along 2 peaks) again as they were rushing to finish the job in a day. The crew also didn’t know that my house required the installation of 2 additional roof vents. Again, something I had to remind them of. They did however ask me where I wanted my bathroom exhaust vents installed so I have to give them credit for that. Following my complaint, Better Contracting did come back and re-do the underlay but I can’t help but wonder that was only because I was home, took pictures to show that they installed the shingles without underlay thereby voiding the warranty on the shingles. Additionally, if I was not home and in the attic and watching the crew, my 2 vents, additional plywood (1 only) and hole in roof would NOT have been fixed. I paid good price for the roof and to this day I’m just not happy with the decision to go with Better Contracting. While the roof looks good now, and I am grateful they came back to fix it, it should have been done right the first time. I paid to have it done right and such would not have been the case if I wasn’t home watching these guys. I also believe that this crew were sub-contractors. The crew (a different one) that came back to re-do the roof was much much better. George was really good, knew his job and did it as if he was shingling his house. I also had Better Contracting re-do my evethroughs and downspots at the same time as the roof and have to admit the crew was awesome and would recommend their metal crew to anyone. Oh, and despite my calling Better Contracting some 8 times in the 2 months following my installation, I have still yet to receive a Final Receipt showing what I paid. I only have an invoice along with proof of downpayment. Everytime I called, they told me they would look into it. My low score reflects the lack of trust, quality of work (original crew) and lack of a final receipt which is just poor business.