Carly in Calgary

BEWARE of AP&W Services Valerie and Dave Wells We engaged AP&W Services to fill and repair multiple wood pecker holes at our house. Dave Wells visited our house and appeared to be very knowledgeable and experienced related to the damage caused by the wood peckers and how he could fix the problem. Dave indicated that he had done a significant number of repairs like this and said he could fill the holes with foam, put in a wire mesh and paint the exterior to match the color of our stucco which would include a “special” ingredient that would act as a deterrent for the wood peckers. Dave also committed to hanging streamers from the soffits in the areas where the wood peckers had created the holes. Most importantly he confidently stated that by filling the holes, repainting them and adding this deterrent that historically there was a 95% success rate of the birds not returning. We agreed to use Dave and AP&W services specifically because the repaired holes would not be noticeable and there was a 95% chance the wood peckers would not return after the repairs and deterrents were added. Dave came over to perform the repairs while we were on holiday and after sending us pictures of the finished product which appeared to be not as we would have liked but somewhat satisfactory so we sent him an e-transfer for what was quoted. We returned from holiday 48hrs later to find multiple new holes, some of which were on top of the repairs if not attached or directly adjacent to the repairs. What was extremely bothersome was that there was more holes and damage than what we originally had. The deterrent clearly did not work and the streamers which were secondary deterrents were in the gutters as they were too light weight to remain in place in any sort of wind. What made us most frustrated was the workmanship of the holes he fixed that were not damaged again. Dave did not let the foam set and cure and there were bubbles that looked like soft balls and baseballs sticking out of our house where the bigger holes were. For the smaller holes he tried to fix the foam stuck out as far as 3” and looked like fingers sticking out of our house. On top of that he spread the paint sporadically over the side of our house near to the repairs. Dave also did not clean up the worksite after he had finished his work and there was wire mesh as well as excess foam spread all around the base of our home that we had to clean up. Based on the above, we were clearly extremely dissatisfied with his workmanship, the cleanliness of his workplace and most importantly the fact that his deterrents were not effective whatsoever in keeping the wood peckers from further damaging our home. We outlined all of the issues we had with Dave’s work and coordinated a call with him to review the issues and discuss repairing his faulty work and fixing the new holes. When we got on the phone Dave acknowledged that he made a mistake not waiting for the foam to set and cure and also committed to fixing all the mistakes he had made as well as to repair the additional holes within the next week. This was a >30 min conversation which we felt was very constructive and clearly defined what he agreed to. Dave texted us after this call detailing how he was going to repair his work and new damage and thanked us for our patience. We did not hear from Dave after that and after waiting 10 days with no contact we proceeded to text and call Dave on a daily basis with no response. Eventually AP&W blocked our number on their office line and sent all calls on Dave’s cell phone straight to voicemail. We then decided to call from another phone and Valerie answered immediately. Valerie who owns the business agreed to look into the situation and call back within the hour. She never called us back. AP&W Services have not only not called us back, they now block or don’t answer our calls, and when we have called from other phones they hang up on us. It is unbelievable that in this day a paying customer is treated this way. When we were able to get Valerie on the phone (before she hung up on us) she told us that they can’t deter woodpeckers and there is no fix. They have a misleading noperation where Dave tells you everything you want to hear, and then when you ask them to come back Valerie says there is nothing they can do. We only picked them because Dave said they are 95% effective. We write this as we hope no one ever uses them and are ignored and disrespected as we have been in this experience. We wish we never called them and now have to hire someone to fix the horrific “work” that Dave attempted.