Sandra in the Beaches (Toronto)

I live downtown Toronto and was not aware that they were going to be charging me travelling time from VAUGHAN. To make matters worse, they came during Rush hour and didn't need to, there was no emergency. They were in my unit for about 20 minutes to unclog a drain hose in my A/C unit. They had serviced this unit about 3 months prior, so it appears they did not do a thorough job or wouldn't have needed to come and unclog the hose again. But they were polite and efficient and gone within the half hour, so I was shocked when I got their bill. I don't expect to be charged for 20 minutes, but a 1 hour service call is what I was expecting. Instead, they charged 2 hours for travel time! I called the office to complain and ask them to adjust the bill, they said they would call me back, but never did. I would NEVER use them again and caution anyone who is not in the north end of Toronto that they are dishonest in their billing. $344 for 20 minutes and no parts --- Outrageous!

I have used Benini Movers several times in the past, and they did an outstanding job each time. I sold my house, the closing on my condo got delayed so everything was put into storage, then 6 months later, I had them move me into my condo. Each time, they showed up on time (Early, actually) and wrapped my furniture items, and were very careful with moving everything. They did an incredible jot at the storage locker, organizing things so they packed the full height of the 10x15 locker without an inch to spare, saving me the cost of renting another locker. The move to my final condo went very smoothly, again my personal items & furniture were handled with the utmost care. All of the crew members were very polite and respectful. No hesitation whatsoever in recommending them. They are honest and very hard working.

An appointment was made for 9:00 a.m. on a Friday and they were a "No-Show." I discovered the next day, that they had charged my credit card for the full amount that they had quoted me. I was travelling internationally, leaving on Sunday, and this caused me a HUGE problem as I hadn't made an extra payment on my VISA on Friday, not ever thinking they would just go ahead and put a $3600.00 charge on my visa for work not done, so I didn't have enough left on the card to put a deposit on the rental car, nor a security deposit at the hotel. I ended up using a different card, but it did not automatically include the car rental insurance, so that's cost me an extra $34.00 CI (= approx $50 day) for the rentla car, which I've rented for 2 weeks. I am LIVID about this, have written their accounting clerk several times, and she is too lazy to do what VISA told her she should do, and that's to call HER merchant services to remove the charge. She said she put it through the machine but that takes several days to process, and it's now been ONE WEEK and it still has not cleared. Their accounting clerk, Pina IS INCOMPETENT. She is too lazy to call her Merchant Services, and her last communication to me was: "there is nothing further we can do..."

I was having a problem with my eaves trough overflowing and paid someone last year to fix it. It never was fixed properly and I had the exact same problem again this year. I called multiple companies to come and fix it, 99% of them saw the property and said "No" because it was too high (4 storey townhouse) or their ladders would not reach. Ken went up onto the roof and discovered the problem, the eaves were not sloped properly towards the downspout. They came back later and fixed the problem. They were very polite, punctual, and a pleasure to deal with.

I was shocked at how poorly they designed my small kitchen in my condo, they could not have had a professional designer do it. A high school student would have done a better job. There are a total of 5 cupboards above the counter & the sink. The 2 above the sink were 38" wide (sink was 30"). Then the next 2 were 22 inches wide. The 5th one was 6 inches wide and basically useless. And the lowers lined up with it. It was inexcusable, there was no reason why the uppers couldn't have been more evenly spaced. I can't believe that they would think their design was OK. I'm angry every time I look at it. They could have easily put a 30", a 26" and a 10" and it would have looked 100% better. VERY SLOPPY WORK and obviously, no-one checks their work.

My neighbour had her door kicked in and had Jaimco install the "Safe Door" system, so I decided to do the same. Thank God, because the installer showed me where someone had also tried to kick in my door, there were dents & chips in the door from heels on boots and the frame had a crack in it. Those were recent because I noticed them but blamed my kids for bashing the door with their backpacks --- I had noticed the newly chipped paint, but not the semi-circular dents. Jaimco installed the "Safe Door" system and I feel much safer now. The installer was polite and finished within an hour. Well worth the small price for feeling secure.

I bought a VERY expensive Maytag Bravos washer & dryer 2 years ago and paid around $2000 for the pair. Fortunately bought an extended warranty. Washer stopped working and tech came, needed parts, came back 1 week later. Still didn't work. Ordered more parts, came back another week later. Still didn't work. Called me to my laundry room and said "I don't know what's wrong with it." So I asked him "Well, isn't there someone you can call? You can't just leave and say you don't know what's wrong..." He called his supervisor and more parts were ordered. One week later, a different technician shows up. This man was RUDE beyond belief --- and arrogant. My laundry room is 5' x 6' and on the 2nd floor of my home. The first thing he says, angrily to me, is "How am I supposed to work in there???" I told him, well, the other man was able to. The way he was asking me questions was very rude and patronizing "Well, was it making any noise???" "So what did the other technician do???" to which I asked "Don't you have notes? I don't know what parts he replaced." His response "Well, didn't you ask???" When he did finish, 3 hours later, he had replaced the drum. But what was equally upsetting as his rude, arrogant attitude was that he had thrown the containers of detergent and fabric softener up on TOP of my cabinets over the washer & dryer, along with some hangers that were hanging on the rack across from the Dryer. There is no way I can reach them without a ladder. And the pail that had some cleaning supplies was 1/2 full of water, just left in the middle of the floor, and the cleaning supplies dumped out in the hallway. Wet towels were left on the floor. 3 days later, my first load of laundry --- I went into my laundry room and there is a huge puddle of water on the floor.

I found them on HomeStars and on their website they offered a “Condo Quickie” design service so I hired them for doing a floorplan on a 1150 square foot condo. I dealt with Christine and found her very helpful, listened carefully to my requirements and I was very happy with the results. I would use them again.

It's very difficult to find a good, honest & reliable contractor and I've had some very bad experiences. I struck gold when Gail & Gilles were referred to me (by a marble & tile company). They go above and beyond what I would expect. As Gilles does the work, Gail cleans up afterwards so everything is spotless when they leave. Gilles is extremely knowledgeable about how to do things properly, points out mistakes other contractors have made and fixes them. One of them would have resulted in a very serious accident one day -- the stairs from my porch to the lower level back yard (10' off the ground) were only held in place by a few nails -- no brace -- it was only a matter of time until they rusted through and snapped when someone stood on the top step. The laminate and granite he laid is absolutely perfect. He also finished installing French Doors that another contractor started but I fired him for showing up drunk one day. I think I had about a dozen items on my "To Do" list and he finished each one of them, including painting my daughter's room (again, a perfect job). G & G have just started a larger renovation job for me, a rental condo I own, and I know the work will be done to perfection. I have absolutely no hesitation recommending them to anyone.

We needed a central air conditioning unit as well as an electronic air filter for our furnice, and the salesman seemed to really know his business so we went with them. Also, we had heard about this company so were familiar with the name. HUGE MISTAKE. They installed it, but when we continually had problems with it, they would not come back. They sold us an "oversized" a/c unit for our 4,000 square foot house (one that was good for up to a 6,000 square foot house) yet we were freezing on the ground floor and basement, and sweltering on the 4th floor. They had set up the system originally, so we felt they should come back and figure out what the problem was with the air flow and then fix it. They wouldn't come back. We called and called, and they would promise someone would be there on a certain day, only to have no-one show up. Stay away from this company.