Sorry this is a bit long, but we just want to share our experience with you.
After a long search and many quotes, and despite reading through the negative reviews on Homestars regarding the company (we thought that those were just one-offs and would never happen to us) and higher in price, we chose Sure-Loc. We chose the company because, Paul, the salesperson, was very nice, helpful and knowledgeable, giving us lots of good ideas.
After we happily decided, we were told that we would receive a call from Rita BEFORE excavation date so that we could give them half of the balance. Two weeks later, we went home one day after work and saw a lot of guys walking in and out of our backyard. Those guys seemed to be in a hurry. We figured that they must have forgotten to call us, so we called Paul and told him we haven't paid and asked about when they expected to be paid so we could get the money ready. He told us not to worry, someone named Rita would call us to arrange the payment.
Then, out of the blue, the very next day at around 1:30pm, Rita called and asked to pick up the money at 6pm. We told her we worked downtown and we weren't able to get the cash while at work, not to mention to get back home by 6pm. She was nice and said that it was fine to pick up the money the next day but in the background there was another guy yelling at her that they MUST get the money today.
Minutes after talking to Rita. Another guy named Ron called in a very rude manner and demanded that we paid at 6pm, and it absolutely couldn't be later. I told him it wasn't that we are not paying but we were working downtown and we needed time to get the money and get back home and that we couldn't make it back by the time they demanded. Ron hung up giving us the impression that someone would just showed up at 6pm. So, we contacted the salesperson, Paul, who got back to us after an hour and let us know that it's ok to pay after 6pm, and that they would arrange Rita to pick up cash after 6pm. They made us feel like deadbeats so we took time off work just to go to the bank and get the money just so that we could get home by 6pm. Rita showed up after 7pm and picked up the money from us.
Well, we thought that was that. And a week later. The stones arrived at our front door and we called the company to make sure to find out the schedule so that we would be home when they work on our backyard and more importantly, to have the remaining balance ready for them so the same hassle wouldn't happen again. We were told they would come on certain days and we took time off work just to be home, but every time they would change the schedule last minute which we understood this might not be under their control.
For two days we came home and found small number of work were day. Then one afternoon at 3:30pm, while I was at work, Gina called to tell that they were at my home and everything would be done in an hour and she demanded to have the promised walk-thru with me and collect the remaining balance that very evening. Although I was surprise that they just showed up without notifying me, I am glad the job is done. Well, unforeseeable to everyone, it started raining and on our way home, we received a call from Gina telling us that because of the weather the crew had left. She also told us that most of the work was done but it was not completed. But to my utter shock, she wanted us to pay the remaining balance, suggesting we leave the money with a neighbour for them to pick up next morning, which I obviously wouldn't do. I asked her that the promised walk-thru wasn't done yet and she told me that there was no walk-thru contrary to what she said earlier. She insisted the job is done even though there were still few things needed to complete.
Put yourself in my shoes, what would you do? Logically, I told her that I couldn't pay until the project was really done, but she insisted that she wouldn't be in my neighbourhood for another week and a half or I would have to meet her closer to her next work site.
As you can see, We have been nothing but accommodating through out the process. We have tried to be home at the time they requested and being proactive in finding out when to pay them. All they care is to collect the money and there is no customer service to speak of.
A day later, the job was done. We noticed that there was no edging to stabilize the stones. Gina came to our home last night to collect the remaining balance and we pointed out to her that there were two loose stones. Gina said they do not install edging but the stones were loose because there was no edging. She said, “you get what you paid for”. Edging is not included in the job. (If edging is actually required to keep the bricks from collapsing, why weren't they say something to us when they were working on the job? We are not professional and we relied on the professional to tell us what is required.) She indicated to us that according to the contract, the job is completed. The only thing left was to pick up the pile of garbage sitting on the street. So we just agreed with her the contract is completed and we paid her in full. Now we are going to HomeDepot and find out how to do edging ourselves, to keep the bricks from collapsing.
We are really exhausted and drained by the horrible and unbelievably rude customer service. We truly believe we acted in good faith and we paid them in full. Based on our experience, we just cannot recommend this company.
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