North York Women's Centre in Toronto

North York Women's Centre is a charitable organization providing resources and support to help women effect positive change in their lives. In 2010, we received a donation of storefront space and pro bono services for renovations. As anyone who has been involved in renovations knows, it is a messy endeavour. Like everything else, our ducts were filthy. Paul and the Duct Cleaning Specialists came to the rescue. They accommodated us by scheduling a time when there would be no disruption to our services. They were polite, efficient and, most importantly, did a fabulous job! Our ducts are now spotless and we have new filters to boot. Best of all, The Duct Cleaning Specialists provided their services pro bono, so that we could focus our limited resources on delivering programs. They also agreed to provide us with furnace filter maintenance at cost. A community-based business that truly cares about the local community! Thank you!

We are a small charity that had recently moved into new space donated to us rent-free by a local property owner. We learned that the gas meter had been locked because of a problem with the hot water tank. Not knowing what to do, I walked up the road to S.A.R. Gas Services. Tony came back to the office with me and fixed the problem on the spot, at no charge. A few months later, when an electrician we had hired to do some work for us cut off the power supply to our air conditioner, I called Tony. His crew came in, diagnosed the problem and solved it. He didn't waive the fee this time, but the cost was reasonable and the quality of service good.

I would encourage those who have had electrical work done by Howieco to get the work professionally inspected. That's what we did -- and Howieco's work failed the inspection. It cost us almost as much to get an electrician in to fix their work than what we paid them in the first place. Then a few months later, thinking that we had finally put the whole ordeal behind us, we learned that the "wires that go nowhere" that Howeico removed when cleaning up the service panel were actually the power source to our commercial air conditioning unit. So, we had to fork out another several hundred dollars to have the air conditioning unit reconnected. We are a small charity that provides support services to women. The money we paid out to Howeico was money that we had to pull from program delivery. It's a real shame! We got some of the money back - not from Howeico, but from the Electrical Safety Authority. They reimbursed us the permit fee that we never should have been charged in the first place. And one of the inspectors who came out felt so bad for us that he couldn't help but hand over a personal donation.

North York Women's Centre is a community-based agency that provides free support services for women. We are housed in space that is donated to us rent-free and have very little money for maintenance and repairs. Before we moved in and renovated the premises, our location was a restaurant, complete with a commercial kitchen and all the grease that goes with it. Our drains were blocked with grease and this resulted in frequent basement flooding that was both messy and foul-smelling. DanMac Plumbing came to our rescue!!! After conducting a camera inspection of the drainage system, they disconnected the grease-trap, snaked the main drain and sewer line and power flushed the main drain. Once they were done, they conducted the camera inspection one final time to confirm that the drain was working satisfactorily. That was three months ago, and we haven't had a problem with basement flooding since. The cost: $0. Because we are a charity, DanMac generously agreed to donate their services. Aside from doing a fabulous job of the plumbing, DanMac staff was a pleasure to work with. They were polite, respectful and accommodating, and showed sensitivity to the fact that the women who use our services may have experienced abuse. The piece de resistance: they left the basement spotless! We didn't have to lift a finger. DanMac was referred to us by a member of our staff,who was very satisfied with plumbing work they had done in her home last summer. We are so glad that she connected us with them. We extend our sincere thanks to Stewart and his team, for a job well done!