Decal

Having recently moved to the Ottawa area we hired Happy Home Cleaning Services to clean our home. While they were relatively expensive we were initially satisfied. Vania and Lesley were personable, punctual, and – as individual cleaners – quite good. As a cleaning company with a variety of employees though we found the service inconsistent and unprofessional. Vania frequently asked for feedback but when receiving (very gentle) critiques of areas that weren’t completely clean she would later blame us for being too critical. She seemed to take the feedback personally. We asked that one of their cleaners stop banging the vacuum into walls, and when the same employee later broke two one-of-a-kind pottery pieces within a few weeks, asked that they find an alternate; Vania’s response was to refuse, minimize our concerns, suggest we were being unreasonable, and tell us to find different cleaners. Apparently her employees have broken several items in other clients’ homes and no one has complained… In our many years of working with cleaners I don’t think we’ve ever experienced this much damage, in so little time, with so little acknowledged responsibility. We were made to feel that we were being unreasonable to expect cleaning without damage. We were also charged for the time we spent discussing this issue, trying to find a solution. Overall, while the cleaning was on par with other companies we’ve hired, the high cost, coupled with ongoing damage and a lack of professionalism, was too much. If you hire HHCS be aware that you’ll have to accept their way of doing things – which will mean accepting broken items – and not provide any feedback. In our experience it’s not worth it.

My on-ground liner failed in very short order; see my other review for details. All the other pool companies I contacted either couldn't or wouldn't do the liner replacement, even if I was willing to pay for re-measuring etc. They were worried about liability. Purewater's owner Carolyn Bickerton agreed to take on the job, re-measured everything to ensure a good fit, worked with the liner company when required, and was on-site for all the key installations. She gave good advice and was very tolerant of my many questions; she seemed to understand that my first (bad) experience with another company had made me wary. I'm very satisfied with the job and wouldn't hesitate to hire them again. Thanks Carolyn!

Like a previous reviewer the torsion spring on one door broke today. Based on Homestars reviews I contacted Albert. He answered right away, estimated the price, scheduled for the same day, showed up on time, and had the job done in about 15 minutes, all within his cost estimate. So why 5/10? He was reticent in answering questions, spoke in monosyllables, and was generally unpleasant to have in my home. Some of the other reviewers have said "friendly and communicative" so I don't know if maybe he was having a bad day... I don't expect a card and a cake from my service providers but given the abundant choice out there I'd rather pay a competent pleasant person than an unpleasant one.

We hired this company to replace our pool liner when it was still Valley Pools. Clearly though the new owners, who have a background in landscaping, know nothing about pools. The liner itself was old and due for a change, and being new to the home (and new pool owners) we deferred to Valley Pools' experience. They came and installed the liner and everything seemed fine. In less than a year though there were several holes just above the waterline which mystified them. It turned out that the liner had been scratched on installation; there was a very fine line running the entire length of the pool that was only visible on close inspection. With the weight of the water tiny punctures opened up and gradually expanded, leaving gaping defects. Valley/ Above and Beyond denied any responsibility and blamed everything from ants to my kids. I had to hire another company to replace the entire liner. When the measurement was done (correctly this time) it turned out that Valley/ Above and Beyond had also incorrectly measured the pool itself, so even without the scratch the liner likely would've failed. Terrible service.

Our pool heater started acting up and after hiring AirOne I was told that one of the switches was defective. I agreed to the fix and was then told all the switches needing replacing - apparently a package that couldn't be split up, even though only one switch was defective. I agreed, thinking it would be an investment for the future, and in less than a year the main pressure switch had also stopped working. Initially AirOne claimed it hadn't been replaced and wanted to charge me for a new one, going so far as to claim they didn't carry the type that was installed. This changed when I showed them their receipt - which they said they couldn't find - showing they'd done the initial replacement of ALL switches including the now-defective pressure switch. I later had a problem with the heater burning dirty. Their assessment was that the heat exchanger was sooted up (isn't that why I called them in the first place?) and the whole heater needed replacing, a $3000 job. The technician never even looked at the burners to see why the fuel was burning dirty, and told me the typical lifespan for a pool heater was 5 years and I should be happy with what I had gotten to that point. Problem is pool heaters manufacturers will quote an 8-12 year life span... Don't trust them.

My residential geothermal heating and cooling unit wasn't working properly. I retained Comfort Pro's services based on the recommendation of the previous homeowner, and my initial experience in dealing with them was positive. With the purported diagnosis and repair though things quickly went off. The technician sent by Comfort Pro was very young, and spent much of the time of his two visits on the phone with the manufacturer trying to trouble-shoot the problem. He clearly had no idea what he was doing. In spite of hours in my home, and various manoeuvres including the replacement of several key parts, the repair was not effected. I contacted the office and sent pictures and an explanation. I was told the owner Tom would get back to me. Three weeks later, I'd still received no reply. Note this was in the summer and the geothermal cooling unit was not functioning this entire time. With absolutely no confidence in Comfort Pro's ability to fix the issue I contacted the manufacturer and on their recommendation hired a second repair company. That company was quickly able to diagnose and fix the problem. In hindsight the work diagnosed and done by ComfortPro had no bearing on the problem, in fact one key component had been further damaged during their attempted repair. So the lesson is to contact the manufacturer and get recommendations!

We've gone through many house cleaners, some good and some bad. In this case we elected to go with a service because Maria the owner promised "reliable, environmentally-friendly house cleaning services" by a consistent team. The reality was that we had different cleaners alternating weeks, and Maria seemed unable to keep up with the demand. I use 'demand' loosely because we're a very neat family. Some of the cleaners were great, and some were terrible. Either way Maria was unable to keep her promise of providing "cleaning experts." Given the premium price she charges this wasn't acceptable.

John and Justin were definitely the best of all the landscapers we interviewed. Unfortunately this isn't a reflection on their work but rather the quality of landscaping contractors in Toronto. They were also the most expensive, something I accepted with John's promises of quality. He comes across well, and we had high expectations. The attention to detail and small items that make a job a '10' were missing though. I had to check and double-check every aspect of the job which, though small in area, was working within very specific limits imposed by water drainage, tree roots, grading, etc. In other words all the things that a good landscaper would usually take into account. All of these I had outlined prior to their starting the job. Because of my involvement it turned out ok, but my advice would be to educate yourself and watch the work carefully. My second complaint was the lack of follow up. The small amount of lawn that we had them put in turned out poorly, with lumps and divots everywhere. Most of the sod died. The metal brackets used to contain the patio stones lifted after one winter. I had to chase them down to come back and fix this, and when they did it was a perfunctory job that didn't address the problem. After many failed promises of their return I ended up fixing it myself. So my second piece of advice is not to pay the job in full until you're completely satisfied.

I hired Al to install a new gas line and garage unit heater. He was a real professional, taking the time to calculate exactly what I needed (when others simply glossed over the details), then installed it to exacting standards. His quality of work is hard to find these days.

We hired Rob to clean our windows and screens, interior and exterior. He was professional, courteous and thorough; absolutely outstanding, in every way. My impression was that the job was bigger than expected but it didn't affect either the quality or the price. We'll hire him again, no question.

I found Rusco on HomeStars, and they were one of the approximately ten window companies from which I obtained quotes. The other nine were all very highly rated, and were happy to replace all ten windows that I was questioning. Rusco's Israel Reinberg was the only one though who suggested that only three windows ultimately needed replacing, and they would be able to repair the others for significantly less cost. My job quote was at the very least halved. Israel is a man with real integrity, and that interaction pretty much set the stage for the rest of the job. Everything proceeded smoothly, from quote to contract to installation. The installers took longer than anticipated but overall did a very good job. I wholeheartedly recommend Rusco, and will use them in the future.