Jeffrey

I contacted AHS to help me with an exterior renovation project that included the replacement of my asphalt driveway, installing a new composite deck and frame to replace a poorly built wood deck and frame from three years ago, path lighting and steps, tree planting, the power washing of a stone deck and front walkway, and replacing joint sand with Romex joint sand. Matt was my sales contact, and he was a pleasure to work with as he came by my house several times to discuss the project and help me with my decisions. There was never any pressure from him to choose any one thing over any other thing, and I appreciated his down to earth style. Darlene was the designer, and she was excellent. She collaborated with me on the designs and produced terrific options that were wonderful. She was always open to suggestions and her designs were top notch. Renat was my project manager and communication with him was terrific. He was always available to discuss the project, and he was open to both providing suggestions and receiving feedback. He was on site often to instruct the workers and to make sure that everything followed the designs. I cannot write enough good things about the workers, who, without fail were outstanding. The were friendly, they worked hard (especially the crew that did the planting and stone pathway work as they had to remove a backyard's worth of river stones and then put it all back), and they always cleaned up at the end of the day. Terrific people and well trained. One of the things that really stood out with AHS was that they allowed me to be part of the process, letting me ask questions and make suggestions if there was something that needed to change. I appreciated being part of the process, which was important to me. The project was a bit on the high side in terms of pricing, but it was worth the extra cost. The company and the people were professional throughout the process (things finished on time, and there was never a time when people did not show up as scheduled). The designs, the communication, the work, the people, all great. Plus, I was not responsible for managing the workflow as Renat took care of that. The project turned out GREAT and AHS was a superb company that did an excellent job.

Miracle Marble was TERRIFIC. I spent some time searching for a company where I could purchase a couple of pieces of granite for my backyard. I contacted Miracle Marble and spoke with Natalie. I set up an appointment with her and went to the Miracle Marble office where she spent about an hour with me going over the various options and answering my questions. I really appreciated the time that she spent with me and how responsiveness she was, and I decided to purchase two slabs. The pricing was very competitive and about a week later, the measurements were done. Gerry, the person who did the measurements, was extremely thorough (he also answered my questions and made some terrific suggestions) and used laser equipment to take the dimensions, which were then entered into a computer to create a drawing. The granite was cut and installed in less than a week (amazing!). The installers were excellent and very precise, and the finished product was beautiful. My experience with Miracle Marble was outstanding and I would highly recommend them.

These guys are GREAT! I needed to have a couple of Sonos Playbars installed along with a couple of 65" flat screen TV's and the guys at Audio Amigos did a super job. They have done other installs at my house over the years and I just keep on asking them to come on back whenever I have a new piece of equipment to install. They really know their stuff and in addition to everything being done correctly and on time, they also show me how to use the cool features of the products. The Audio Amigos ride again. :)

Mr. Heat Mechanical and Nima are great. They came out to my house, checked out the existing furnace and the air flow in the house and then suggested a couple of options. The pricing was extremely competitive and within a couple of days, I had a new furnace and thermostat with a lot better air flow in the house. Nima has replaced all of my HVAC equipment (a/c, furnace, humidifier, HRV) and my hot water tank. The work has been super and he has been outstanding with his recommendations. Hire him to do your HVAC work. You will not be disappointed!

Nima is a PRO. My 16 year old AC finally gave out on a Friday afternoon and by Saturday afternoon, Nima had a new one installed and my house was cooling off. I've had Nima replace my hot water tank, my Heat Recovery Ventilator (HRV) and now my A/C unit. When my furnace goes, he'll be the guy that I call. He's friendly, easy going, open to questions and installs quality equipment (Lennox A/C). If you use him, you will not be disappointed.

I called up Pesticon based on the reviews on HomeStars and I was not disappointed at all. Within a couple of hours, Waheed was at my house to take a look at the problem (bees had made a home in my porch) and he was back two days later with a colleague to take care of the problem. Great customer service, prompt attention to the problem and problem solved. Just what you want from a company that you do business with in today's marketplace. Definitely a 10.

A salesman by the name of Steve was in my neighbourhood and came by my house to ask if I wanted my driveway sealed and some minor repairs done (the asphalt at the bottom of the driveway needed to be repaired and the asphalt at the top of the driveway needed to be built up to be level with the garage door). He came back a couple of days later and we agreed on a price of $290. It took a couple of days for the job to get done and when I came home, he showed up a couple of hours later for payment, which I gave him. I pointed out a couple of things (the workers had put down the asphalt at the top of the driveway so that on the ends it sloped towards the grass instead of sloping it down the driveway. In addition, the asphalt was higher than the concrete pad leading into the garage so now any water would flow into the garage instead of down the driveway) and he told me that he would be back in a couple of days to fix the small issues. It was pretty hot out for the next little while so the asphalt did not cure (not sure it was an issue of the quality of the asphalt or the heat) but we were told that after 24 hours, we could walk and drive over it. Well, it’s been three months and he and his company are nowhere to be seen. I have called and texted countless times and despite promises that the issues would be fixed, they have never shown up. At one point in time, one of the owners (Mike? – 905-806-9920), told me that since I was harassing the company by calling (I’d call every couple of days since they never returned any call that I ever made), they would bump my repairs back a week. Well, that did not sit too well with me and I respond that I would keep on calling and calling and calling and calling until he did the repairs. By now, it had become a matter of principle but at this point in time, it’s now a question of WARNING anyone and everyone not to do business with this company. I made a mistake by buying a product/service from a door to door person even though he had done a bunch of jobs in the neighbourhood. I made another mistake by paying him before I was completely satisfied. Lesson learned. I don’t think that I would ever buy another product/service from someone who comes to my door. I could probably pursue this for a while and get what I want but the $300 is gone and I doubt that it is coming back (I texted the company to just give me back my money but, no surprise, they did not respond). However, the best thing that I can do is to post this review on HomeStars to warn other people and also send it off to the Better Business Bureau (it’s not a perfect ending to the problem but at least it will serve as a warning to other people). I figure that these types of companies pop up and disappear quite frequently so the word does need to get around not only about the company’s name but also the phone numbers of the various people involved at the company since it’s easy to change a company name but more of a hassle to change your phone number. I would also say that if the company does not have a proper e-mail address like xxxxx@companyname.com (in this case, the company had an @gmail.com e-mail), web site (they did not have one) and you cannot find them on a site like HomeStars or on the Internet when you do a search (this company doesn’t exist on the web nor do any of the phone numbers that I have), it’s probably a sign that you should be pretty careful. All in all, a pretty miserable way of doing business. Update September 23, 2012 I did file a complaint with the BBB and about two weeks later, a person from the company showed up (no advance notice, no phone call) and did some repairs to my driveway. The repairs were OK and I can live with them although the experience with this company was awful. I am not sure if the BBB was the cause for the company to complete the repairs but at least the repairs got done. However, I'm pretty confident that the two year warranty that is written on the receipt from this company is pretty useless.

Based on the reviews on the site, I called Brent since I needed to get some independent advice regarding some issues that I was having with my home. We talked on the phone for about 15 minutes and then set up a time for him to visit my house on the weekend. He arrived on time and spent about 30 minutes as I showed him around and asked him questions. He was able to confirm that I should not invest in anything new until the old equipment stopped working and put my mind at ease that it would be a bit of time before that happened. It was great to talk with someone who obviously knew his stuff and who was not there to sell me something. I would highly recommend Brent to anyone requiring a home inspection.

Anthony and Mike did a super job installing a Sonos system in my house along with a couple of flat panel TV's and a number of speakers. They recommended various equipment and their suggestions were terrific since the Sonos sound has been just exceptional. Their work was first rate and one of the most outstanding features of their work was that they came to my house when they said that they would come (not something that I've experienced with other contractors). They really knew their stuff and there were no problems at all (another first) with the install. They even followed up with some training regarding how to use the Sonos system and I really appreciated that. Plus, they were able to fix a cable TV issue that I was having that the Rogers technician was unable to solve so that was an added bonus. I would highly recommend the Audio Amigos to anyone who is looking for a knowledgeable/friendly company to install their audio/video equipment. It was a great experience.