Dufferin Iron & Railings

Railings
Toronto ON M6M 2R2
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Railings
Dufferin Iron & Railings
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86%

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Reviews by rating (past 12 months)

Reviews for Dufferin Iron & Railings

Average customer rating:
9.6 10 (78 reviews)

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Michele & Mark from Toronto
Michele & Mark from Toronto
1 review Toronto, ON
10/10

Balcony railing and gate

Assisted Review

An assisted review is collected by a contractor on behalf of the homeowner after their work is completed. The homeowner must confirm the text of the review and may make any changes she or he deems appropriate. The homeowner then assigns the contractor a review score out of 10. Assisted reviews receive the same scrutiny as other reviews and must follow our review guidelines.

Hello Dennis,

We just wanted to thank you so much for the fine job you did. The balcony railing and the monogrammed gate to the golf course look just beautiful. It was a pleasure dealing with you and your team. John and the crew were hard working and professional. (They were so nice - they even got cake and root beers here - hee, hee). Thank you so much! We look forward to working with you again down the road. For now, all is well and we await the Canadian Open - plus, we're sure, the many compliments we'll receive on your work. We would certainly recommend your company to any of our friends. You were efficient, timely, honest and reliable - no surprises! Whew!
Thanks again.
Michele

Approximate cost of services:
$1.00
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Mary from Mississauga
Mary from Mississauga
4 reviews Toronto, ON
10/10

Replacement of aluminum railings with wrought iron railings

Assisted Review

An assisted review is collected by a contractor on behalf of the homeowner after their work is completed. The homeowner must confirm the text of the review and may make any changes she or he deems appropriate. The homeowner then assigns the contractor a review score out of 10. Assisted reviews receive the same scrutiny as other reviews and must follow our review guidelines.

Hi Oliver,

David just came home from the gym to find our railings installed. They look BEAUTIFUL!! Thank you so much for the advice and for coming out late that night in May. We really appreciate it.
Again, we are thrilled with the look of our home!

David and Mary

Approximate cost of services:
$2,000.00
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Robin Cross in Toronto
Robin Cross in Toronto
2 reviews Toronto, ON
10/10

Railing repair

Assisted Review

An assisted review is collected by a contractor on behalf of the homeowner after their work is completed. The homeowner must confirm the text of the review and may make any changes she or he deems appropriate. The homeowner then assigns the contractor a review score out of 10. Assisted reviews receive the same scrutiny as other reviews and must follow our review guidelines.

Hi Dennis,

I just wanted to say thank you for arranging to have my railing fixed so quickly and so inexpensively. The men from your company were so nice to deal with and did an excellent job of repairing my railing. Thanks again, Dennis...I am very appreciative of your help and thoughtfulness.
Robin

Approximate cost of services:
$250.00
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Sue
Sue
2 reviews Toronto, ON
10/10

Custom Railings

Assisted Review

An assisted review is collected by a contractor on behalf of the homeowner after their work is completed. The homeowner must confirm the text of the review and may make any changes she or he deems appropriate. The homeowner then assigns the contractor a review score out of 10. Assisted reviews receive the same scrutiny as other reviews and must follow our review guidelines.

Hi Oliver,
I'm so excited I HAVE A RAILING!!
Thank you so much! It really turned out well! No- like really well- you did a nice job designing it. Would definitely recommend your company.
Thanks, Sue

Approximate cost of services:
$5,000.00
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Ron B in Toronto
Ron B in Toronto
12 reviews Toronto, ON
10/10

Front Porch

Many thanks to Oliver for the helpful suggestions, the great service, and the final product. Now I understand why my neighbour recommended you so highly. We also appreciate the extra paint you provided us. Thanks again!

Approximate cost of services:
$0.00
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Matt & Caroline in Leaside
Matt & Caroline in Leaside
11 reviews Toronto, ON
10/10

New railing for front porch

Dufferin Iron & Railings did a great job on our front porch.  From start to finish Oliver and the Dufferin Iron team were easy to work with.  The new railing perfectly compliments the stonework we had done and the recommendations Oliver made look great.  We are very happy and won’t hesitate to recommend Dufferin Iron in the future.

Approximate cost of services:
$1,700.00
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Peter S
Peter S
5 reviews Orangeville, ON
3/10

Galvanized wrought iron railings

I contracted Dufferin Iron & Railings to supply and install galvanized wrought iron railings at a client of ours. They had a great website showing a large database of pictures of railings. I thought that they must be reputable with such a nice website. I guess I was wrong. I don't know why I didn't check out their reviews on Homestars, as I had promised myself that I would only ever hire a company with good reviews on Homestars. Well, somehow, I must have forgotten.

The short story is that Oliver's customer service is poor and does not leave someone ever wanting to deal with them or recommend them to anyone else again.

The details are as follows: The job they did was for a client of mine. We had just completed new masonry retaining walls, a new masonry front porch, and a new flagstone front walkway for our client. The finishing touch for safety and aesthetics was this wrought iron railing. They called me later the same day that they had installed it to let me know the job was done. I let them know that I would inspect the job and get back to them whether I was satisfied.

The next day, one of my foreman went by to look at the job and noticed that 3 flagstone copings were cracked. I notified Oliver about it, and he reminded me that he had stated on his original quotation that he is not responsible if any flagstone or concrete is damaged when they are installing the railings.

The morning Oliver's crew was going to the job to remove the portions of railings over the now cracked copings, my crew foreman discussed with him that he would have his crew just remove the screws and plates, but not cut out sections of railings, so that we could replace the flagstone copings. When my crew arrived to replace the stones, they noticed that instead of doing what was agreed, they instead cut out portions of the railings.

We also noticed that two flagstones were now cracked on the front walkway that were not cracked previously. I called Oliver to bring his attention to this and after checking with his crew, he called and left me a message that his crew said that they did not break these new stones.

The following week, I received an email from Oliver saying that he would like to come a few days later to reinstall the railing now that we had replaced the originally broken copings. He also now wanted a cheque to be on site for when his crew arrived to do this work. For some reason, I am guessing he was concerned that I may not pay for his work, or deduct an amount off the original contract price, even though this was never said by me.

I emailed back that I would like to get something in writing showing his warranties on the work as nothing was stated in his original invoicing. I also let him know that I could not use his services in the future due to the way he has handled our project.

Oliver's reply to this email was that he would now like a certified cheque to be on site when his crew comes back in. I gather the more I expressed not being happy about his level of customer service, the more nervous he was getting that he would not get paid the remaining amount. I also did not yet receive any paperwork or mention of pending paperwork that will state in writing his warranties.

At this writing, I am going to send him an email to remind him.

Approximate cost of services:
$5,000.00
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Company Response

It is unfortunate but necessary that I take time to reply to the highly exaggerated and untrue statements of Peter Solti from Greenapple Landscaping so that other Homestars subscribers can make their own educated opinion about Dufferin Iron & Railings.
As a personal affront to me, Oliver, Peter said that my service was poor. I serviced him through the whole consultation, installation and repair process. I continued to follow up so that we could finish this project in a timely manner acceptable by the end client.
Regarding the cracked stones, Peter was well informed that due to the inconsistent nature of stone and mix of concrete we are not responsible for chipped and cracked stones or concrete. It rarely, but sometimes happens when we drill into stone. Unfortunately it did happen on this occasion when we drilled the holes for the screws. But Peter had issues with 2 stones along the walkway that had cracked, and a bench in the backyard with grind marks on it. Our crew never entered the backyard or dropped anything on the walkway, and since the stones were already cracked when they arrived it was of no consequence to us or our scope of work.
We had all hoped that we could just remove the screws so that Greenapple could slide out the broken stone, but this was not possible. So we removed the necessary sections of railing, so that Greenapple could easily replace the stone and we would re-weld and install the sections afterwards. In retrospect, we should have left the sections there for him to struggle with. On top of that, their snowmelt system failed, and the stones had to be removed anyways. Our “error” in removing the railings facilitated in their repair endeavours which held up the reinstallation process. All this would have been an extra charge under normal circumstances, but our goal was to complete the project and satisfy the end customer.
Our level of customer service is measured by our ability to do our job and help resolve problems, not by our right to be paid COD by a private company with no prior history with us. I helped Greenapple sort out the details of the lighting on the posts and made the railing as per existing sample on the windows as a courtesy. One month into the project he sent me an architectural design of the railing requested which looked nothing like the sample we were requisitioned to emulate and had already completed because the customer wanted it as soon as possible. It’s the first time we heard of an architect being involved. It’s a good thing the right hand knows what the left hand is doing! I told Peter that I would gladly remove the railing and refund his 25% deposit if he felt dissatisfied with the end product. Obviously he was more concerned about getting paid than we were. I finally asked for 80% to be paid while we were waiting for them to sort out all their issues two months into the project. When that failed I asked for full payment at time of completion. When he replied with unprintable expletives, I demanded a certified cheque. Two weeks after completion we were finally paid after he demanded a $250.00 discount for the “compromises in quality”. Some people feel the need to have the last word. Whatever makes you happy Peter!
The order was placed November 7th, 2011. We installed on December 19th, 2011. Then we removed the railings to allow for the repairs on our Christmas break. Then we waited until February 3rd, 2012 for Greenapple to resolve their problems and reinstall our railings and get paid. So much for the customer service issue. So, Peter, don’t make bold and personal accusations until the job is at least finished and get your facts straight! Greenapple has openly stated that they will never use our services again. To which I say, Thank You!
To all of the reviewers, thank you for tolerating this obligatory rebuttal. I hope it has been somewhat informative and mildly entertaining.

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Newsletter Signup-651
6 reviews Toronto, ON
3/10

Install wrought iron railings on porch

Dufferin Iron & Railings installed a galvanized wrought iron railing on my front porch a couple of years ago. Last year I called to say that the paint was wearing off and showing rust spots which I was surprised to see after such a short period of time. I was told someone would drop off some paint so I could "touch up" the railings and that he would remove the rust spots. No show. I emailed the company in the Spring and sent photo's of the railing. Dennis called and arranged to come by the house that Saturday to drop off some paint and fix the rust spots. Again, no show. When I called again he passed me off to Oliver. Called Oliver who said he would call me back in an hour - a month ago. I've given up on this company and am very disappointed in the product and their lack of follow up. Would never recommend them.

Approximate cost of services:
$1,300.00
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Just another homowner in Toronto
Just another homowner in Toronto
3 reviews Toronto, ON

First Review

8/10

Replace aging iron railing

Dufferin Iron & Railings manufactured an excellent galvanized railing for us that. They also galvanized and painted our aging wrought iron table (family heirloom) at a great price.

Unlike many of the railing manufacturers, Dufferin Iron does installation, and they did a quality job. My only complaint would be the mess they left of the aluminum siding where the railing was installed; however they did warn me about this beforehand. I just haven't found anybody willing to fix such a small job...

Approximate cost of services:
$3,000.00
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The reviews on this page are the subjective opinion of the Author and not of HomeStars Inc.

More about Dufferin Iron & Railings

Dufferin Iron & Railings has proudly served the GTA since 1972. We manufacture and install custom wrought iron products such as iron railings, iron fences, iron gates, and iron balconies. NOTE: WE DO NOT DO WOOD OR ALUMINUM PRODUCTS. Check out our website's photo gallery that features over 500 pictures. ...
Company profile information is not moderated by HomeStars. Ask the contractor to verify before hiring.
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