D'angelo & Sons

Asked for a quote on installing deicing cables. Customer Service said I'd have to pay $149 to have them come out and take a look. I agreed, as our neighbour was satisfied with work that D'Angelo had done. When they came out, the roofers ("techs" as they're called) and the sales manager arrived, climbed up on the roof, bounced up and down and pronounced my roof as needing to be repaired/replaced. I reminded them that they were here to give an estimate for installing deicing cables (not fixing the roof!) and they said "yeah, we can do that ... here's the price".

I then called a couple of months later to ask them to proceed, which they did. Only difference is that it was now a "labour only" job, as I had purchased the deicing cables and a control myself. [A friend and I had planned to do the installation ourselves - not difficult except for the height! - but my friend got sick and I needed this work done to prevent another winter of ice damming ...]

So, I signed the contract on Nov 5 (same day the contract was sent to me) and although only 50% was supposed to be charged to my Visa as deposit, D'Angelo Customer Service charged the full amount. They corrected this a week later when I brought it to their attention.

The installation of the cables and control was done on Dec 11 and my Visa was billed that day for the balance due (less the $149 + tax for the initial "quote").

Over the next month or so, I noticed that the cables were not melting anything on the edge of the roof. They only operate when the control senses temperature below 4 degrees C and there is running water in the eavestrough - in other words, when ice damming conditions exist. There were plenty of times when we had those conditions and there was no ice melting.

I called in January to let our sales rep, Phil, know the cables weren't working and he said he would have Shaun the tech/installer come by to take a look. No follow up by D'Angelo. I had even purchased an extra control in case the control was the problem, so when Shaun does arrive to check things out, we can quickly troubleshoot the problem. Anyway, on Feb 13 - I emailed Phil again. Again, he said he would ask Shaun to come by. Crickets. I emailed Phil one more time on Feb 20. Same response and same (lack of) follow up.
So, I decided to call head office on March 6 to see if I got better results. I spoke to a fellow named Jesse (in Customer Service, I'm guessing) and he assured me that he would check in with Phil and Shaun and get to the bottom of this right away. I expressed my concern that with temperatures warming up, they're running out of time to have ice damming conditions for proper troubleshooting, so they can see if the control is working or not. Want to guess the response? NOTHING ... and it's three days later ... and counting.

I am so disappointed that I chose D'Angelo to do this work. I'm hoping that someone at their head office reads this and gets in touch with me. Not sure how else to get their attention?

D'Angelo is very prompt at collecting money (at times, ahead of when they're entitled to), and appear to not be very interested in fully earning the money they're paid. In my opinion, they appear to be more interested in chasing new money than in completing the work for which they have already been paid. Totally unacceptable. I am a very reasonable consumer and have even explained that if the control (which I purchased) is at fault - and not the installation - then I'll pay them for their time ... but I have run out of patience with these guys.

Bottom line - for those who read reviews - if you believe that your installation will go perfectly (or what you believe is perfect) - then go with D'Angelo. If you think there may be some follow up needed - and how will you know ahead of time? - then, I would not recommend you go with them.

By the way, as a final comment - their vehicles all say "free quote". But that's not true. I asked for a quote and D'Angelo's Customer Service rep said I would have to pay for them to come out. So, what is it - free quote or paid quote? Call D'Angelo to get clarity for yourself ... or better still, don't call them at all.

Never going to use D'Angelo again and suggest you don't either ...