Basement Systems Vancouver Inc

A cautionary tale from a former customer: Over the past 27 years, I have done both small repairs and large renovations to my home. Without a doubt, my experience with BS has been the worst. I would give them a negative-star rating if that were possible.

I contacted BSV about a damp crawlspace several years ago. They installed a dehumidifier. Being advised that I now had a usable crawlspace, I moved many items for storage downstairs, from boxes of files to family treasures.

However, the dampness increased. I called them on many occasions with my concerns, but their response was to send someone over to change the filter (and charge me for it). One employee’s advice was to put tins of coffee grounds downstairs to get rid of the odour. Finally, in frustration, I insisted that the owner and manager come by to inspect the crawlspace. Lo and behold, the dehumidifier sounded like it was working, but was not functioning at all. Everything – every single thing – stored in the crawlspace was ruined. Although I had been questioning the efficiency of the dehumidifier for two years, my concerns were dismissed. The boxes of files had to be thrown out and, although many items were stored in plastic storage bins, the smell had permeated the containers to such an extent that the contents were not salvageable. I spent countless hours sorting through the bins and eventually hired someone to haul them to the dump. BSV had my dehumidifier repaired and returned it to the crawlspace. It broke down several weeks later.

BSV’s best advice was to have the interior of the crawlspace coated with their plastic liner system. In case you missed the nuance, they are selling "a system”, not expertise on solving drainage issues. They are not plumbers, nor are they drainage experts. They are in the business of selling an outrageously expensive plastic liner to seal off your basement instead of resolving your drainage issues. A neighbour who had the liner system installed a few years ago advised me that the system alarm didn’t work; when his crawlspace flooded, he was not aware it had happened.

In the end, I hired a very knowledgeable drainage expert to repair my drain tiles for about 1/10th of the price BSV charges for their system. The problem is completely solved. In the end, I lost thousands of dollars of stored personal belongings, some of them irreplaceable. In short, do NOT take advice from salespeople; hire a drainage expert.