David in Old East York

Gardenzilla provided decent service last year - kept my lawn looking healthy and removed the burden of having to fit mowing into my busy schedule. Michael (the owner) took great care in ensuring that issues were resolved to my satisfaction. Would recommend to anyone looking to break free from the monotony of fiddling with lawns.

Had a quote done for window cleaning only the outside portion of our windows and set an appointment based on that quote. When the rep from White Shark called to book the appointment, he didn't know about how I could pay, nor did he provide any information about work needed in advance of the cleaning (even when I specificially asked about internally mounted screens, I was told they could work around them). When the team showed up to clean, we were asked to remove all screens (taking an hour out of a busy work day to do this unexpected work) so they could get started. They completed most of the windows (skipping two for some unknown reason), tidied up, and left. Two days after the work was done, we received the invoice and payment instructions. We were being billed an additional $50 because some of the windows were very dirty. They apparently had someone come out to look at the windows in advance of providing their quote, but didn't notice this? Repeated attempts at communicating with the company to get the extra charge reversed (as no one mentioned it before work started or while on-site) have been unsuccessful. Would not recommend as there are many other companies. Now I'll be looking around at eavestroughs to make sure there isn't any damage (as other reviewers have mentioned).

EDIT: Received a call from Nimo, the Customer Experience Manager, who turned things around. He listened intently to the issues I raised, provided helpful go-forward suggestions in dealing with a system that was sold/installed incorrectly by another HVAC company, and helped recover the relationship. His expertise and his plan for quality repair was most appreciated. This “hiccup” will not dissuade me from using AtlasCare’s services again soon. The on-site technician, Leonard, was very helpful and got our system up and running. Thanks! * * * * * Noticed late evening on Sunday that my air conditioning is not working. Thought that my service plan with Atlas Care and their 24 hour service would be useful - I was wrong. I called in at approximately 9 PM and got the answering service. Got a prompt call back from a technician who said that he would not be able to make it out in the evening because it was “too dark outside“. He insisted that I simply call back in the morning to schedule an appointment. He finally offered to send an email message to dispatch on my behalf to have the tech visit scheduled. In the morning, I didn’t receive a call, so I called in myself. Spoke to an agent [Marlene] who kept asking the same questions over and over, who insisted I was on the wrong service plan [despite being on this plan successfully for many years], and who eventually hung up on me when I questioned why I need to be on a different plan all of a sudden. Thoroughly unimpressed with the low quality of service for an emergency service call.

I had a Sales rep come out to quote me on full multi-level gutter guard installation. He spend an hour or so taking photos and writing information down. I got a call a few days before the planned installation asking if they could install a few days early (I agreed). He sent someone out with the wrong color gutter protection who could not complete the job. On my planned installation date, an installation manager came out and said they’d be back to me the next day. When I didn’t receive a call, I called in and was told that I would either have to pay for the rental of a lift (approximately $1100) or wait until spring. Needless to say, very unprofessional.

I don’t have enough good things to say about Alex. When in submitted a quote request via Homestars for the repair of a dryer that wasn’t heating, Alex called within 60 seconds of submission. He came out same day, quickly diagnosed the issue, and replaced parts fixing the issue on the spot - even cleaning out the dryer duct. He was friendly, efficient, and on time. He had his own PPE (making us feel safe) and even wished my daughter a happy birthday when he noticed some birthday decorations. I’m shocked that he was able to come out same day (Saturday) with parts readily available. Downtime was approximately 4 hours! I would definitely call on Alex again for future appliance repairs!

Arranged same day appointment for junk clean up. Cody and Kyle called as promised and made it out early. They were most courteous and helpful. Clean up was a breeze and cost less than their competitors. Definitely would use again!

We hired Mike to come out and build us a new cement path along side our driveway and leading to an existing path. His price was less than we expected and his crew worked hard and kept the area clean afterwards. Terrific work!

We bought light fixtures from Royal Lighting three years ago and needed replacement parts and some new fixtures after our home renovation was completed. The service staff rush you and make you seem unimportant. While they have a large selection, some fixtures (and parts) can take weeks to arrive. Go there to get an idea for style and buy elsewhere.

John from The Gas Company came out to install a 1/2" gas line from my furnace, through the basement, to the back yard for a BBQ hookup. When he came he throughly explained my options and suggested I use a 3/4" gas flexible gas pipe instead to allow for future expandability. The work was done quickly, professionally and quite inexpensively (compared to other companies that wanted to charge ridiculous amounts of money for travel from closeby, service charges or drilling fees; all beyond the fee for installing the line in the first place!). I'd definitely use John again for this sort of work and would highly recommend him to others!

When we bought our 1940s bungalow, we were told by our home inspector that we needed to get a damper installed in the chimney leading to our basement wood-burning fireplace before it could be safely used. This work would apparently run us around $750-$1000. We were also told that we needed to get our two chimneys repointed. We called Wilkens Contracting to come out and have a look at the chimneys to see what work needed to be done and weren't disappointed. Ernie Wilkens himself came out the same day we called and right on time. He did a through inspection of our fireplace and chimney, taking the time to kindly point out why it was safe to use. He discovered that there was an original cast iron damper that became unseated and worked better that new dampers - no replacement necessary and no upselling! He worked on the damper to make sure it was once again seated properly and showed me how it worked. After the fireplace was deemed safe to use, I discussed the chimney repointing with him and he again explained what work probably needed to be done. Because it was dark outside, he said that he'd happen past at some point over the next week and look at the chimneys from the outside and drop a quote off. He was out bright and early the next morning and provided a great quote for the chimney repointing. With the speedy fireplace repair under our belt, there's no reason we won't use Wilkens Contracting for our chimney repair and all sorts of other masonry work in future!

I called Mr. Rooter on New Year's Day to have someone come out and check for a suspected mixing problem that caused us to have insufficient hot water. Our Customer Protection Plan priority service got us Ziggy the next day. He was very professional - laid out a red carpet at the door to wipe his boots and removed them when he came inside. He thoroughly checked around the hot water tank and all faucets to see if there was indeed a mixing problem as suggested by Direct Energy (there wasn't). He quickly replaced cartridges in the kitchen and downstairs bathroom faucets for a single low price, as opposed to charging for each cartridge individually, saving us quite a bit of money. The work was done well and we've not had a problem with faucets since. I'd highly recommend using Mr. Rooter for their quick and professional service. Get the Customer Protection Plan for lower pricing, no premiums on evening/weekend/holiday visits and priority scheduling (if they're not too busy).