Reviews

10/10

We hired Earth Star to move us from our 2 BDRM condo + den to our new 4 level townhouse. The crew arrived early and checked in with Condo security. They quickly surveyed what needed to be moved and went straight to loading all items on to the elevator. We had used plastic wrap on most of our major pieces – however the crew still used blankets when move some of the larger items as an extra precaution. Even with all my stuff the truck was not even half full. Our condo was located only 5 mins from our new townhouse, however the crew took a short break in between which was reasonable. Our townhouse has 4 levels – so lots of stairs – but the crew unloaded and moved all the items in less time than it took to load them. A few little nicks and scratches on the walls – but nothing major and no damage to any furniture. Only downside was hardwood stairs were slightly scathed – Earth Star did provide hardwood floor runners – however they did not secure tightly to the stairs. I would suggest covering stairs with protective cover beforehand to avoid this – many of my neighbors had much worse damage caused by other moving companies. I recommended Earth Star to all my neighbors and a few have used them and had good experiences aswell. I will used Earth Star again.

Approximate cost of services:
$600.00
What could this company do to improve their services?
-Improve Hardwoos stair runners
Any advice to offer fellow homeowners facing a similar project?
-Cover hardwoods stairs before movers arrive -Pack as much as possible in closed boxes
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6/10

We recently purchased a new home alarm system and monthly monitoring contract from Safe Tech. Prior to going with Safe Tech we had quotes from two (2) other well known alarm companies (both of which send sales representatives to our home before quoting). When we called Safe Tech for a quote, after a brief explanation of our property – the sales rep explained he new our housing area well and had installed several systems in similar houses with the same layouts. He then asked what components / alarm system packages other companies were quoting us and then said Safe Tech offered the same at a much better price. He even said he new exactly what packages other companies were offering. He convinced us that Safe Tech’s System was the same as the competitors system. WE AGREED to a System Price and monthly monitoring Contract over the phone and the sales rep set up an installation appointment for us. The System Price appeared to be very comparable to competitors (within $50.00), however monthly monitoring fee was appox 20% more. We still decided to go with Safe Tech based on Homestar reviews and slight differences in monitoring service (personal preferences) Installation Technician arrived on time and was respectful of our house. We had a newly built home that was pre-wired for an alarm system. The builder pre-wire the entire house for alarms system: sensors wires on all main floor windows and doors + motion sensors. Where we had a problem was the Installation Technician claimed that the system we were sold did not allow for all our window sensors to be activated and if we wanted to put sensors of the windows there would be an additional cost - of over $100.00. This was a surprise to us since we has reviewed with the Sales Rep that our entire house (all main floor windows and doors were prewired). After some discussion we decided to go ahead with the installation. At that point we did not have much choice as we were going on vacation in a few days and it was unlikely we could have find another company to come install an alarm in that time frame. When we looked at the competitors quotes – we notice they has price the system with a specific number of window and doors sensors – while our Safe Tech Sale Rep only sold us ‘door’ sensors. Sicne it was a dicussion over the phone - we didn't notice this. After Technician installed the alarm he presented us with a contract and an invoice. We signed and gave him our credit card details. We later found out that our credit card was charged an amount that was different from the invoice and contract we signed. The amount charged was appox $22 more than agreed but we were upset Safe Tech would do this without our authorization. We called the sales representative that sold us the system he said he would look into it and never got back to us; we left him a voicemail after and it was not returned. Since the amount was minor – we just sent the invoice and contract to our credit card company and the credited us the difference. Safe Tech never called us back on the matter.

Approximate cost of services:
$380.00
What could this company do to improve their services?
-Follow-up call from Sales Rep to make sure everything that was agreed to during sales call was installed properly and charges are accurate -Customer service needs to respond to billing/invoicing issues. Customer credit cards should not be debited unless customer has signed or given verbal authorization
Any advice to offer fellow homeowners facing a similar project?
-Have sales representative visit your home and review your exact system requirements; prior to committing to any price of system package. -Ask for itemized invoice/quote
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