Reviews

0/10

We signed up for an alarm system with API around 5 years ago because our house had a system that was previously installed and monitored by them. Although the existing system couldn't be used, they installed a new one for free and the installer was friendly and competent. Monitoring was fine, although I was never confident that they really set up the different passwords as we had instructed. The problem came recently when we moved. I gave them more than 60 days written notice, as I was told I should do when I phoned in preparation for the move. Shortly after moving, I got a nasty surprise. A bill for around 6 months of monitoring with the description "cancellation before automatic renewal date" (?!?!?). It seems this sort of cash grab is standard practice with API. Luckily, I had cancelled my automatic withdrawal already, although I'm keeping a careful eye on bank statements. This sort of practice is not cool! The moral of the story (as usual): check homestars _before_ dealing with a company! not after.

Approximate cost of services:
$1,000.00
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.
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0/10

This is the sort of business that gives contractors a bad name. I have a complaint that is similar previous customer but I was stupid enough to let Complete Restoration Services string me along for nearly two months. Our basement drain backed up and our basement flooded during the massive rain storm on July 8, 2013. Our daughter was 2 and a half months old and we were in the middle of preparing to sell our house and move while my wife was still on maternity leave. Stressful, right? Well, Complete Restoration Services made it much worse. Our insurance company sent them as the 'preferred vendor'. They came by promptly to take out the bottom 2 feet of drywall and rip up the laminate flooring in the basement - standard practice after a drain backup. However, when taking out the bathroom walls they found evidence from where rats had gotten into the wall and 'mold' (our subsequent contractor said there was none) and sealed off the bathroom without finishing the removal. That was the last work they did on the house, leaving us with a sealed-off bathroom, ripped out basement (and disconnected gas dryer for good measure). The people I spoke to were all very friendly and apparently helpful at first. They said they'd take care of the 'mold' as a minor repair on rebuilding the basement. After waiting for a couple of weeks for them to get in touch to schedule work, I called them back and tried to pin them down on when they'd do the work. They told me how busy they were and said they couldn't do anything without getting the 'rebuild estimate' from the insurance adjuster. The adjuster said he couldn't finish the rebuild estimate until CRS uploaded the bill for the removal work (makes sense). I acted as the go between, asking CRS to upload the removal bill and personally getting the rebuild estimate from the adjuster and sending it directly to CRS (not the seamless service promised for a preferred vendor). At that point, CRS stopped returning my phone calls. Over the next few weeks I called at least 20 or 25 times and was always told that the person I was looking for 'wasn't there but they'd call me back' (they never did) or the person I was talking to 'had to check on something with someone else and would call me back' (never did). The last straw was when I called and the receptionist said 'you should talk to Garry the owner, he's here right now'. But when she went to get Garry he wouldn't take my call and told her to tell me he'd send a report to me 'early next week'. I didn't want a report: I wanted a simple answer as to when they would do the work. I never got an answer (or a report, for that matter). I got in touch with a different contractor I had do work in my house before, and he started the work a couple of weeks later and did a great job. He showed me inside the bathroom walls and there was no mold. Nothing. It looks like saying there is mold was either a way to stop working when they ran out of time or a way to keep us tied to them until they could get to our job. As far as CRS knows, I'm still waiting for the (in case you're reading this: you're fired!). These insurance jobs are extremely good money and it looks like CRS had more work than it could handle but is greedy so they keep stringing people along until they can get to the job. They also shouldn't take so many claims from the insurance company if they can't handle them. We almost missed the Fall real estate season and opportunity to move because of them (putting an offer on a house tomorrow). My advice: if your insurance company assigns you Complete Restoration Services as their 'preferred vendor', look for someone else right away. Use Homestars and find yourself and honest, trustworthy contractor.

Approximate cost of services:
$20,000.00
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10/10

Shane was recommended by Joe Dunphy at Downtown roofing (another excellent company) when I contacted Joe about replacing some shingles and looking at our chimney, which I knew from our initial home inspection had some "loose bricks". I had previously received quotes for both jobs that seemed ridiculous (~$2600 for the chimney) from a large Toronto roofing company with a reputation for being expensive (and whom I later realized got terrible reviews on Homestars). Dealing with Shane was great. His quote was reasonable (~$600). He took down and ground out 6 courses of loose bricks from our chimney that had been very strangely and badly built at some point. He rebuilt the courses and added a preformed concrete cap. He sent me before and after pictures, and his work looks great. I never actually met him in person since he did all of his work while I was at work. He made arranging everything easy. What started out as a painful process of not getting companies to call back and getting an unreasonable quote from one, ended up well when I got in contact with Shane. I highly recommend his company and will contact him if/when I need any masonry work done. John

Approximate cost of services:
$600.00
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Company Response

Hello John, This was totally unexpected, as you found me through Joe at Downtown Roofing. Thank you very much for the fantastic write up. I find a good acknowledgement goes a very long way. I truly appreciate it. Best, Shane Oake

10/10

We had a relatively small job to do: replace the cedar shingles on a bay window. I knew that it was a small job, but I wanted to get it done before the decaying and missing shingles led to more serious problems. A big, well known Toronto roofing company with a reputation for being very expensive (and who I later found had terrible reviews on Homestars) quickly gave a quote of about $3500 for a bit of roof that is only the size of a dining table. I found homestars and called a couple of the highly recommended companies. Most didn't even call me back even after a few calls (very annoying). Joe was the only one that did. Although he's clearly busy and it was a small job, he was great to deal with. He quoted for both replacing the cedar shingles with cedar or with architectural shingles. The quotes for both were reasonable and I went for the latter (Joe also recommended a masonry company for repairing our chimney, who also turned out to be excellent). The work was very well done with no mess or fuss by Joe's son for slightly less than the quote (~$1000 in the end). I actually never met either of them in person and didn't realize that the work was done because I got home after dark. Joe is clearly an honest businessman who takes pride in his work. I highly recommend his company. John

Approximate cost of services:
$1,000.00
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