Southern Cross Plumbing Inc.

A major leak happened in my building corridor, and a plumber from Southern Cross Plumbing was dispatched to find the source of the leak. The plumber traced the issue back to my unit (even noting the pipe that caused the leak was the toilet pipe). He came to my unit and released water from my tub, toilet and basin and could not recreate the leak. He then came up with a far-fetched hypothesis that my shower sweep was failing and water was coming out from under the sweep onto the floor, then leaking in from around the base of the toilet (which was unsealed, see picture for reference). He noted in his work order that there was a "large gap" under the shower sweep. I have attached a photo of that shower sweep, you can be the judge of his claim. When the plumber inspected my unit, he did not pull open the shower curtain I already had at the time (which I always use when showering), he did not use the showerhead I use when showering (which is affixed to the wall), but instead used the one that can be moved around freely, and pointed the showerhead right at the shower sweep after positioning the shower sweep in a certain angle to minimize water blockage. None of these was replicating the actual process of my showering (I do not stand in the shower for 15 minutes and point the showerhead right at the sweep the whole time). Instead, he invented all the circumstances in efforts to validate his hypothesis. Even so, he was not even able to get water to accumulate on the floor, rather a few drops of water accumulated on the side of my bathtub. I even asked him how come my floor and my bath mat (placed right in front of the toilet and bathtub were completely dry). He claimed that the heat from my shower probably dried it off so fast I wouldn't even notice it. I will also attach a picture of the leak, you can also judge if its possible that the amount of water coming out from under the shower sweep could cause that, while my floor and bath mat remained completely dry.

7 weeks later, a second leak happened all under the same circumstances. This time i hired my own plumber instead of using SCP, and my plumber found that the toilet gasket has failed (and clearly for a while). We collected an abundance of evidence to prove that the first plumber completely misdiagnosed (and he even admitted it initially when my building contacted him about the second leak that he missed issues with the toilet). But when i then said his negligence is responsible for the second leak since he misdiagnosed the issue, SCP did a 180 and concluded that the first and second leak were "independent of each other" and refuse to admit they messed up. Their supervisor told my property management to have to reach out to him directly and he would be happy to address my concerns, but he never responded to my email and just completely ghosted.

I will be suing SCP, and if you're considering them for any job, DON'T. They are dishonest, incompetent, and unprofessional.

We had a leak in our kitchen cabinet and our superintendent told us that it was due to the way the pipes were installed so we contacted Southern cross to come take a look as we are still under warranty. After investigating they concluded that it was not due to the pipes and I was prepared to pay for the service call as we were told we would have to pay if it is not due to the pipe replacement. However, our plumber (after talking to the owner on the phone) told us that the fee would be waive this time so we were really surprised and happy. We thought these guys are really great and helping customers out and I was going to use them for all my plumbing needs going forward and recommend them to friends and family as a way to show my appreciation.

6 months later I get a bill in the mail from them saying I have a bill past due. This came as a complete shock to us so we called to sort it out. The plumber that helped us was in the office so there was a call between myself, the accounts office and the plumber and when I reiterate my side of the story he completely denied what he said before and told me pay. I told them in the work order they gave me there was no amount due so thats why it proves this service call fee was waived. Apparently I was told they never put amounts on the work order and the invoice will be emailed to you??? This is the first time Ive dealt with a company that provides invoices like that as previous plumbers I have used always provided the amounts due in the work order. On top of that they said they emailed the invoice to me 3 times which I never got. But this has now become a he said she said situation and I don't want to spend anymore time arguing with them because its just pointless so I just paid the fee.

I am really disappointed at how this turned out but lesson learned. This company can go back on their word any time.

Very hard working under not so great conditions. Exhausted every avenue to complete the task. Was very patience and not a single complaint. Will definitely be using there services again.

The guys Southern Cross plumbing. Sent over were amazing. Very through and helpful and professional plus personable. They didn't leave unit. Until I looked it over and gave my ok. I would use then again

SCP is friendly, fast, neat and timely. I have used them for plumbing installation and repairs many times over several years. They have also delivered helpful boiler and heating work. I have used others. SCP is always better. I once kicked a contractor's plumber out of my house, mid-project, then had SCP came in and fix that work. The contractor agreed that it was the right move. The difference in quality was night and day. The nature of their work can be messy. Going into walls usually is; that's normal. They are careful and tread lightly whenever possible.

Where to begin.... I chose Southern Cross over the competition mainly for financial reasons. The cost was a bit less, but the rest sounded the same to me. After speaking with other owners, I soon found that I had been misinformed . They barely protected anything within my unit, aside from a couple drop clothes. My front door was left open for the world to see, while multiple workers were in and out throughout the day. No accountability, no customer service, not even a smile or handshake at any time throughout the process. It was quite a disappointing experience.

I decided to go with Southern Cross for replacing my kitec over a couple other companies because they offered a lower price for service. However, as the saying goes, you get what you pay for.. It didn't seem like they cared about the work they were doing, and they were just rushing to get onto the next project... I didn’t get a good feeling from the employees either as none of them would so much as strike up a conversation with me. I also had to pay for cleaners after they were done as it was such a mess. I’d recommend spending the extra money in the first place to know you are receiving good service from the start.

Kitec plumbing was being replaced at 153 and 155 Beecroft. We lived in a condo at 155 and had moved to another condo. Our unit was scheduled to have the Kitec plumbing replaced in 2018. As we had plans to rent the unit in January 2018 , Southern Cross oblidged and did the work December. The job was done in 3 days. There was minimal dust and after the drywall was patched and painted one would be hard pressed to note that there was major work done. I have seen videos on Kitec replacemeent from other companies. The job done by Southern Cross was much neater and less destructive. We also had Kitec replaced in the condo that we had upgraded to . The cost was much higher but it was one unit only in a condo with 150 units. Considering limited cooperation by the Condo management which was undergoing a crisis the job did take about a week. The pictures are from the second condo. After the drywall was patched and painted the only visible evidence is a bulkhead in corner fo the dining room. Just as it is impossible for a surgeon to operate without some bleeding it is impossible to cut and patch drywall without dust. You cannot expect miracles.

Southern Cross Plumbing has been hired to replace all the Kitec piping in the residential suites of this 26 storey condominium in North York. The project is going very well so far and the communication and follow up from Southern Cross has been excellent. There have been a few minor issues (which are always expected in projects of this magnitude) which were handled quickly and satisfactorily - but overall the project is going very well as mentioned above. Here are some positive reviews received from unit owners:

"The guys did a great job on the kitec replacement! Very quick and tidy. I'm impressed. Didn't realize they were coming back [today] to finish! Can't even tell anything was replaced. Very impressive. Thanks again."

"Also, if you could pass on my gratitude to the Southern Cross team for a job very well done. You would have to know where to look to find the patches that were created to complete the Kitec replacement."

"Yesterday the piping phase 2 started and would like to comment that it was a very clean job done so far."

"Yesterday the plumbing was replaced in my unit and I have absolutely no complaints. It looks like the guys did a great job."

Southern Cross Plumbing has hired at my building, to replace Kitec piping. I have a small condo unit. On paper they looked good, promising minimal inconvenience, quality work, and finishing the walls after the piping is replaced.

Work was scheduled to go on for 5 days, and I dropped in multiple times in all days, to see how things are done. Here are my observations:
- they started the work 2 days later than scheduled, and finished 2 days later
- from the 5 days, 1 full day was spent to make minimal cuts to the walls, replace piping, and secure back the drywall pieces with screws(kudos for the plumbers used)
- for this stage, some furniture was plastic sheet covered, but dents created by this work was not later repaired
- for the next 2.5 days they did not do any work on my unit, and they did not not tell me this, but water was back in all taps
- they quickly fixed the drywall cuts, filled in the cuts, and prepared the walls for painting; this took less than half day
- the above job was not terrible, but pretty bad; whatever holes were not very visible, were not fixed;
- for the above step they used minimal cover for floors and zero for furniture(they used some cover just to show they had it on)
- painting and finishing touches were done on less than 2 hours, some floor covering was used.

Overall the plumbing work was good, the finishing job was bad, they caused much more mess then it was expected from their sales pitch.
They over-estimate by much the complexity of the project when providing estimate, planned it to be executed the cheapest way possible, and ignored customer complaints.