Allan from Toronto

Ultimate professional. No hype. Superior Work. On Time, On Budget... Attention to every detail and clean..Available to answer questions via email and in person. 20% less than big companies. HIGHLY RECOMMEND. A total pleasure.

We were thrilled when we found that StonePort had a different quartz countertop product that was almost identical to a Caserstone colour we'd chosen that had been discontinued. So we gave the salesman, Stephen, CAD drawings of kitchen plan, and he gave us a quote. Unfortunately, he didn't read the plan, and the dimensions he used to calculate the quote were wrong, which meant he underestimated the number of slabs of of material that would be needed. He also claimed his company could do the special cutting that would be needed to install Bocci electrical outlets (http://bocci.ca/22-series/22-alternative-installation/). "No problem!", he said. As we got closer to the installation date, phone calls and emails to Stephen to confirm the date and time went unanswered. Finally, the receptionist connected us with Peter, who we were led to believe is the owner. He looked at the plans and quote, and realized that the salesman had underbid. He then told us he needed to charge us more money. We were furious; the sales contract said that if actual measurements on site differed from what was originally provided, the customer would be liable for any differences. However, what we provided was identical to what they got from the measurements they took when they came to measure for the cutting templates. They already had our deposit, and we were in a time crunch ... the rest of our reno would have been held up if we'd walked away. So, we agreed to pay the extra money. Also, when we asked them to re-confirm they could to the special preparation required for the outlets, Peter said they couldn't do what was required. All they could do is cut the round holes needed for the outlets ... they couldn't recess the back of the stone in the required manner. Our contractors thought they might be able to make it work in spite of StonePort not being able to do the proper fabrication, so we went ahead. The installers were very professional, but the lack of proper templating for the backsplash made cutting the holes for the electrical outlets a very tricky task for them. It took the better part of a day just to install the backsplash, and we are not entirely happy with the results. Would never use them again.

These guys are great. One of them came to our door a few months ago to market their services. I admire young people who have gumption, so I said, sure, come back in the spring and do the windows and eavestroughs. They just finished up. They were quiet, tidy, thorough, courteous, and overall did a great job.

Peter came to repair the door handle, which had broken off. (Boo Bosch - poor quality parts!). Unfortunately, the part that needed replacement was attached to the inside part of the control panel, so it was a rather pricey part. In any case, that's not Modern Appliance's fault. Peter came on time, and replaced the part, which was a rather fiddly operation, I could see. After he left, I noticed that the detergent dispenser had stopped working ... the little door wasn't opening to release the detergent during the wash cycle. I figured that with all of the unplugging of wires and connectors that had to be done as part of the last repair, something was loose. I contacted Peter, and he arranged to come out a few days later. Sure enough, one of the fiddly connectors didn't connect as well as it should have (again, I chalk this up to the design of the part itself, rather than Peter's fault). He managed to get things working again, and he didn't charge me for the service call. (Which seemed reasonable, since the problem had been introduced during the earlier repair). Other services might have tried to charge me, or would have been grudging about doing the work for free; Peter was quite happy to fix this problem, and apologised for the inconvenience the problem had caused, and went on his way. So, hats off to MA for their great customer service.

Peter saved my goose, literally, on Christmas Eve. My oven had been out of commission for a week, and the part was delayed in coming. I was going to attempt the repair myself, but with it being so close to Christmas, I didn't want anything to go wrong. Peter came when he said he would, did the part replacement in no time and went on his way to help others with their Christmas catastrophes. He was polite, friendly, and tidy. Thanks again, Peter!

When we decided to get a new heating and cooling system, we also decided we wanted to move the furnace from its existing location to one that would allow us to make better use of the space in the basement. This was a big job. Moreover, the existing exposed ductwork in our 100+ year-old home was undersized, and not well-installed. So, we got several quotes, from both large and small companies on getting this work done. Ken's quote was very competitive, but more than that, we liked that we were dealing with the owner of the company, and not some salesperson flunky. He seemed very knowledgeable, and knew about the products he was selling. The quality of his team's work was excellent; the new ductwork was put in neatly, and the furnace/AC/humidifier, etc. was also installed nicely, with neat and tidy wiring and pipework. The tankless water heater is fantastic; there are lots of complaints on the web about these units not having enough capacity, but Ken didn't oversell us ... he felt we'd be fine with the lowest capacity model, and he was right ... it works beautifully. They were polite, and responsive and cleaned up nicely when they were done. The only nit was that the thermostat had to be "re-installed" because it wasn't correctly wired the first time. However, Ken responded quickly to my concerns, and the problem was resolved within 24 hours. I would highly recommend Alpha Aire.

We live an a 100+ year old semi-detached house in downtown Toronto. We wanted a fairly simple monitored alarm system that would protect against intrusion, fire and carbon monoxide. What I particularly liked about SafeTech was that there was no time-consuming sales visit to "inspect" the house (perhaps because I was able to fairly accurately describe our home and it's construction, as well as our requirements). Peter was able to propose the kind of system we needed over the telephone. We had a few back-and-forths via email, but we eventually settled on a hybrid wired/wireless system that allowed us to get good coverage across the 4 levels in our house, without having to do a lot of messy drilling and wiring. The installer was efficient, tidy and knowledgeable, he had the system in place in a matter of hours, and it worked (and continues to work) like a charm.