Terry from Oakville

Out of all the stores in the GTA that carry the American Leather comfort sleeper collection, Michael was one of two stores that provided me with very good pricing. He managed to get it delivered within 3.5 weeks of ordering (very speedy in furniture timelines) and was impressively professional in keeping me up to date with estimated delivery dates and e-mailed invoices. I went with Michael because he provided free delivery and assembly. I think it was totally worth it as the moving guys were very professional (always using moving cloths and wrap and generally giving the impression of taking great care). Even when they had to take apart the entire sofa and re-assembly it upstairs, they were quite gracious and polite.

Jim & Josh Recollet seemed like pretty good guys when they came by to give us a quote. They had beautiful pictures of renos they had done and good reviews so we chose them to do some serious renovations to our home. Turned out this was a horrible decision. Almost everything they touched was shoddily done. For a guy with over 40 years of experience, you would think someone would know how to tile properly. Jim does not know how to tile. Our bathroom had to be redone by another contractor and $2500 worth of tile had to be thrown out. The schluter system they installed also leaked causing water damage. Josh tried to install baseboards and on a 2 foot span, was too lazy to remove the existing baseboard and actually joined a new baseboard to it. Looked butt ugly on a 2 foot span and even Jim said it didn't look right and to do it properly (i.e. remove the old baseboard and put in a new section where there isn't a cut in the middle). I have heard that they are no longer doing renovations in the Toronto area but if they are, I am writing this review so that no one else goes through the same experience. Their prior reviews are very good so either they are fake or they had subcontractors that did better work. Do not hire these guys!!

Backstory: I hate shopping and buying items that aren't transparently priced. Purchase: I had been looking for over a year for decent dining chairs. Couldn't find anything. Walked into Sterling house on a whim and met Peter. He was my type of salesman -- the type that isn't really a sales guy but figured out right away what type of person I was and what I was looking for. I ended up buying Dinec dining chairs in leather and latex foam for an amazing price (I know because I went to every dealer in the GTA and Peter came out on top). Delivery: Price paid included delivery. No additional line item. Everything was delivered on time (literally the day before my big dinner party). Delivery guys were excellent and brought everything in the house carefully. We unpacked the boxes ourselves at our request. The awesome: Anytime I find a piece of furniture, I make sure to call Peter first. Sometimes he can get it, sometimes he can't. Sometimes he has an alternate. But he always tries. I wish I knew more salesguys like him but they are pretty rare.

Backstory: I hate shopping. Purchase: Walked into EQ3 Burlington. Met Janice. Told her I liked the bed but was waiting for a sale of some sort. She kindly added me to her e-mail list and notified me a few weeks later of a 20% off sale. Bought it over the phone with an estimated delivery of 8 weeks. The bad: 8 weeks later, no call. So I called EQ3 (Winnipeg) and was told there was a delay because of a leather shortage. The good: Same call, they offered to compensate me by offering free delivery. Worked out to about $100 to my location. The awesome: Delivery happened on the new date. Delivery crew was excellent. Wore shoe booties. Took care not to dent the walls. Even apologized when one of the boxes was dented by a rock and inspected everything to make sure nothing was damaged. Overall: Bed is beautiful quality. Had a very good low hassle purchasing experience. When something went wrong, EQ3 did everything they could to compensate. EQ3 Burlington (Janice and Scott) in particular was very good in making this a good experience as well.

Chris saved us from our renovation nightmare. Our previous renovators abandoned a bathroom mid-way and left us with a half finished bathroom. Chris came in and re-did all of their shoddy work. It was really an embarrassment before he came in (uneven tiles, a leaky schluter system, wierd cuts). Now, it is the highlight of our home and the first thing we show our guests. Chris is the ideal contractor -- always on time, diligent, a non-smoker, and he treated our home with such care. He always cleaned up at the end of the day and kept a very neat work area.