Reviews

0/10

My BMW was broken into on Christmas Eve 2018 when my car was only a few months old. We brought it to Glass Doctor in North Vancouver for repairs; it was an ICBC claim. They repaired my glass and I was happy enough. Strangely, soon after the repairs (documented by repeated visits to the BMW dealership) my glass on the window they repaired would only intermittently go up and down. I would hear a clicking noise when it didn’t work and thought it may have been an electrical issue and did not consider that it may have been the glass replacement as that seemingly looked fine to me; hence bringing the car to BMW and repeatedly complaining to them about the window. Sure enough, every time we brought the car to BMW for 2.5 years, they would check the window and it would work without issue. Finally, in Jun 2021 I asked BMW to investigate further as it did not work just as often as it worked and I wanted to get it fixed. After having no car for 2 days, BMW advised me in simple terms that the after market glass that Glass Doctor installed was not the correct thickness and not clipping correctly to the regulator. The regulator was going downwards making a clicking sound as the glass remained up. This explained what I was hearing. They agreed to change the regulator under warranty and told me that they would replace the glass without charging for labour as they had dismantled everything already, however, I would have to pay for the glass. After not having a car for 2 days, knowing that Glass doctor had installed the wrong thickness to begin with and fearing that they may damage the newly installed regulator, I asked BMW to go ahead and install the proper glass. In the meantime, I had contacted ICBC to ask what I should do, they advised me to call the manager and tell them my story. Three business days after I had found out that Glass Doctor had installed the wrong glass, I called them and explained the situation. A manager by the name of Justin called me back. He had the customer service and resolution skills of a 10 year old. He kept telling me it’s been 2.5 years and asked why I didn’t come to them sooner, to which I repeatedly told him that until I had been told a few days earlier, I did not think that the glass not going up and down was related to their work but rather an electrical issue with the car. He repeatedly asked me the same question. He proceeded to tell me that when they install glass, they check to see if the glass goes up and down; repeatedly I kept telling him that meant nothing as the window has been intermittently not working for 2.5 years, perhaps testing for the 2 minutes immediately after installation isn’t a true indicator that the work has been definitively completed correctly. He blamed BMW for not sending me back to them sooner and claimed it was their fault. He told me that the glass is not the wrong size (keep in mind he’s never looked at the faulty glass, which I still have) and BMW is trying to make money off me. I advised him that BMW has paid for a new regulator and all labour and only charged for the cost of the glass - $255. He asked me what I wanted him to do and I said to reimburse me for the replacement glass that was installed and was told he was unable to do anything for me. He also repeatedly told me that he couldn’t refund my deductible; I wasn’t asking for a refund of my deductible but my out of pocket cost for repairing their faulty work. I accept responsibility for initially incorrectly assuming that the issue wasn’t their fault and not going to them sooner instead of repeated visits to BMW. The bottom line is that they installed the wrong glass (confirmed by multiple mechanics at BMW) and are saying that they didn’t. I guess if your job is without issue this company would seem fine enough, as they initially did for me but if you have any problems don’t expect any resolution or customer service. Save yourself time, money and peace of mind; if you have a broken window and it’s an ICBC claim, take it to the dealership.

Approximate cost of services:
$600.00
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0/10

Please use with caution. Davin comes in all smiles. Over promises but under delivers. My mother hired him to do a small custom bathroom. He charged for a custom bathroom but completed a below average bathroom reno. Davin advertises his company as a home builder/renovator with employees. He is a one man show who uses a few different trades to help him complete jobs. If the trades he uses are busy on other jobs, Davin's jobs get postponed days or weeks. Davin promised my mother he would do her small bathroom within 6 weeks. He took 3 1/2 months. I'm throughly confused by some of the other reviews on this site. They must be from a different time in his life. As the job progressed we realized that we had entered in to a contract with somebody who has very little integrity for the work he's doing. He's extremely hostile when questioned about the quality of his work or his timeline. We started to hear stories from vendors and a few trades about Davin's bad reputation on the Sunshine Coast and on the North Shore. His tiler start calling my mother for payment as Davin refused to pay him. Unfortunately at this point my mother had already paid Davin more than 2/3 of the project payment and it was too late for us. We just hoped for the best. The project was coming to an end with many major deficiencies we just accepted as we just wanted to move on. There were a couple easily fixable deficiencies that Davin agreed to fix by the third week of May. We have been calling and texting him for the last 2 weeks and no response. Today we called him from another person's phone and he answered. We asked him why he hasn't called us and he very rudely told us that he doesn't have a contract with us (he signed one), he owes us nothing and to not call him again. Throughout the project he was very concerned about getting paid. I found this very odd. I had to keep assuring him he would be paid as per contract. I wish my mother had a "hold back" clause in her contract. She did not and so we paid him in full. I understand why Davin was so worried about getting paid, as he's untrustworthy himself. Please use with CAUTION! Update: I made some calls (June 18, 2016) today and confirmed that a few more of Davin's claims are false. He has not had a business licence in the City or District of North Vancouver as he claims since 2015 . His workers compensation certificate is useless as he's in bad standing with WCB. He provided us with certificates and licences at the beginning of 2016 that were completely misleading and false. Update: In response to Davin June 23, 2016 Davin, In response to your letter. I’d like to clarify a few items. I’m definitely not trying to smear your “good” reputation and only telling the facts about this project, what we experienced and what we subsequently heard from other vendors. It has become apparent to me that this is not an isolated situation as vendors told me clearly about other projects you have been involved with which had significant issues as well. As for your claim that this project was completed in 8 weeks, this is a miscalculation. You started the project on Feb 22, 2016. You did not install the counter, sinks, faucets till May. Your contract clearly stated you would be done by April 4 or earlier. You were not significantly finished until May 5th and as of today, June 23, 2016 you have not yet completed the agreed upon deficiencies (signed by you). I don’t believe that the work is of the high quality that you speak of. The tiling which is the majority of the finishing work is uneven (has high and low spots), dark spots from dark thin set used on white tiles (which are the majority of the walls). We accepted this as the only other recourse available would be to tear all the tiles off the walls and redo. There were so many times we felt uncomfortable as to the quality and completion of this work. The Nu Heat flooring that worked prior to this renovation stopped working after completion of the floor tiling. After a Nu Heat representative ripped up the newly installed tiling it was revealed your tiler had cut through the wire connections. After the tiling in the shower was completed the water wouldn’t and still doesn’t drain properly because the drain was installed to high relative to the tile base. As for the damage on the door frames it was on the two doors that your trades were working beside. We took you throughout the house to show you that there was no damage to any of the numerous other doorways, just the 2 your trades were working by, Obviously a result of abrasion from them rubbing against the door frames with materials, tools and possibly the tape they had put on those doors. As for all the extra work you listed, it was all part of the work in the contract you signed. You should look at it. I asked you to paint 3 small walls in the closet next to the bathroom and I said I would pay you extra for the labour. The work site was left a complete mess for 2 weeks: there was drywall dust from the electrician cutting holes over the new toilet and tiles, the mirror and glass were smeared with dirt and dust and the adjoining room was a mess with dust and garbage. To help the project complete I spent hours cleaning it all up. After this as well as the inconvenience and delay resulting from tearing up the new floors to fix the Nu Heat, we agreed that this would make up for the extra couple hours to paint the 3 small closet walls. We do pride ourselves in having integrity and doing as we say. As for the 2 year warranty you advertise and put on your contract and signed twice, our final and signed contract which included a deduction for the towel bars and hardware which I purchased myself (you were to purchase and agreed I buy them and you would deduct) and the adjustment for deficiencies was for $23,800 (total $1155.00 less than original) plus GST. We paid you in full (as it states on the check you cashed correlating to your signed final contract). Total paid to you $24,990 in 4 cheque payments. You also signed you would complete the minor fixable deficiencies by the 3rd week in May. Integrity means you do as you say (or sign). As for speaking to the builder next door. We don’t know him. All we do know is that my mother was kind enough to allow him to tear up a hedge in between my mothers property and the house he’s building. Since we haven’t done business with him, I’m unclear as to how we “screwed” him. However, I do have to say he’s upset the neighbours to the other side of him and the new owners that have purchased the home from him. They actually knocked on my mothers door last week complaining about his work and telling us they were concerned about being taken advantage of. I can clearly see why you might have found a friend in a person like that. In response to being the worse clients ever. I unfortunately wasn’t there when my mother hired you. If I had been, we wouldn’t have had to deal with you. As you know my husband and I have built a few homes together; we have never had an issue with a contractor like you. You are a senior’s nightmare. However, if I can save another person’s parent from being taken advantage by you, something good has come out of this. In regards to your business licenses, as of June 20, 2016 you were not licensed in either the City or District of North Vancouver. My mothers home is in the District. You shouldn't have been operating a business there. In fact Terrace from the License department in North Vancouver City said your inter municipal license expired 2015. You had not renewed. If you have one now, you got it this week. I recommend any potential client to check all your documents with the appropriate outfit. For example, as of June 20, 2016 you were in bad standing with WCB and not paid your quarterly payments. Davin, we do agree with you on one item and that is we also regret working with you.

Approximate cost of services:
$25,000.00
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.
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Company Response

"I am very upset with how things unfolded with this client. I take tremendous pride in the quality of our work and go above and beyond to satisfy our customers. From the beginning of this job there were problems when this customer began insisting additional items should be included, when they were not part of our detailed, itemized contract. In an effort to satisfy her I did include a number of free extras: a bench in the shower, a more expensive glass shower door and enclosure, more tiling than was agreed to, a custom mirror covering the entire wall, painting their entire walk in closet, and repainting three door frames we clearly did not damage but was the result of wear and tear over time. etc... In the end this customer was simply trying to find a way out of paying the bill in full and get more additional work out of me, and I am still owed money on the job. Fortunately this is the only time I've had a customer go to these extremes in order to avoid paying their bill. If anyone has any questions as to the quality of the work performed I am happy to share photos of the beautiful bathroom we built for her.
My current North Shore multi jurisdiction licence number is BUS-0017738
My licence in the city of Vancouver is #16-207853
My $2M liability insurance with Canadian Northern Shield is policy #CN-15-9479
Davin Samson
Davin Samson Homes Ltd."

10/10

In this very hot real estate market, we were told that the sellers wanted a clean offer with NO subjects. Therefore, time was of the essence to get an inspection so we could put an offer on this house. It was a very chaotic day and lots of stress. I called Sean and he had a cancellation for the next day and was at the house as promised by 8:30 a.m. We met him at the property by 11:00 and he caught us up to what he had discovered thus far. He was extremely thorough and knowledgeable. He took the time to explain to everybody (my husband a civil engineer and myself who has limited knowledge of construction) in a fashion that everybody could make an informed decision. I felt Sean was definitely working for us and is extremely honest and trustworthy. We were able to make a decision based on our verbal conversation with Sean that day and later on the same evening we received a very detailed, clear, professional report with very clear pictures for our records. I would highly recommend Sean and would definitely use him again. Really nice guy! Thank you...

Approximate cost of services:
$650.00
What could this company do to improve their services?
Any advice to offer fellow homeowners facing a similar project?
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Company Response

Hi Anita,
I really appreciate you taking the to to share your comments here on HomeStars. Moving and looking for properties can be stressful. Part of my job is to bridge the information gap, by providing meaningful, useful information so that you can make a decision... while trying to reduce the stress factor. I hope you will be able to find the right home soon. Take care and all the best! Sean