I will normally only write a review on a company when I’ve had a spectacular experience or an absolutely horrible one. This unfortunately, was the latter. There is unfortunately nothing I can do at this point to resolve what I’ve had to endure so I wanted to let everyone know about Mike’s Carpet & Flooring and how they can potentially screw you, get away with it and not seem to care. My wife and I decided to go with Mike’s after getting a couple of quotes from other companies. Mike’s pricing was very good and they had a good selection of laminate flooring in their store. We were looking into getting our main floor (kitchen, dining, living room) covered in new laminate. We picked out some samples and took them home. We decided on one and contacted Mike’s to let them know we wanted to go ahead with the work. Mike came over personally a couple of days later to give us a quote on the spot and laid out costs for everything on the estimate. We were looking to save costs and Mike let us know we could rip up the existing carpet, laminate and baseboards ourselves. We agreed on that and set an install date. Mike told us to move everything from the room to one side so the workers could start the work when they got there. We would then move it back to the other side of the room so they could do the other side. Everything was all good at this point… then I gave them my money for the deposit and it went downhill from there.
Before the install I inquired about letting the laminate acclimate to our home prior to install. Googling this told me it’s a very good idea to do prior to install. I was told by Mike’s that they “do not acclimate their laminate” and they left it at that. They would bring the laminate with them on install day. I figured they do this all the time and get high reviews so maybe it’s not an issue. I ripped up the existing carpet, laminate and all the staples and nails from the floors. My wife and I then moved all the furniture in both rooms to one side as instructed.
Saturday was install day and they showed up right on schedule. The 2 guys who showed up to install the floor I had never seen or talked to. I guess they were contracted to do the work. One guy was esl but spoke enough English, the second guy did not speak a word. I didn’t think I would have to talk to them as normally people go out for the day during an install so I wasn’t too concerned about it.
The guys come up the stairs to the living room (with their shoes on) and immediately told me that my place wasn’t prepped to start as they were told by Mike. I was told that everything must be moved completely out of the room first, not to one side as Mike had originally told us. I explained this and the guy apparently called Mike to discuss, no answer. He told me he’s not starting until it’s ready so at 8am I had to get my wife out of bed, handle my 1yr old boy and move couches, tables and entertainment cabinets and wiring while the installers sat outside doing nothing. We got it ready to go not having a good feeling about how the day started. The guys came back in and immediately got to work demolishing the stair lips that come down into our sunken living room. Wood chips and dust flying all over the place and literally some would fly within 1 foot of our face while we were 10 feet away in the kitchen. No warning, no apology, no safety glasses. I went upstairs to vent to my wife for 5minutes when I was called downstairs to ask who’s moving the kitchen stove and fridge. I told them I was and had a dolly to use. They asked me how I was going to move it down into the living room myself and I told them again Mike said I could move it across the room, not totally out. They didn’t like this answer but continued working. At this point they were cutting laminate out on our deck and dust, wood chips were starting to COVER the living room. I checked the stairs from the entrance and sure enough they were covered and the guys still wearing their shoes. I had to go grab some new bedding sheets to cover the stairs as the workers did not care at all about covering them in filth. Throughout the day little things like this went on but they did work pretty fast. My wife went out to grab us lunch and bought the workers some Timbits as we didn’t see them eat for 5hrs. She gave them the food, no thanks ad they didn’t seem interested at all. They did however ask for coffee and water and I got for them. I told my wife to take my son out for a few hours due to the dust and noise and my son was going to nap soon. They finished the floors a couple hours later, took about 7 hours. I was told to look around to see the work completed. The entire main floor (about 700 sq. ft) was completely covered in dust. The walls, counters, floors, all furniture and all my sons’ toys (literally all coated in dust). I wish they had brought a tarp or warned me about this as it took about 6 hours to completely clean and wipe it down afterwards. I noticed a couple spots where the base molding wouldn’t fit now that the floors were a little higher (we chose 12mm laminate). They wouldn’t fit because the baby gates were installed in the way. They told me to take them off and I asked if they could just cut them with their saw and I would re-paint after. Not an option. They installed them over the plastic on the gate so the molding stuck out 1/2cm in that one spot. Not a huge deal but an annoyance. They also hadn’t re-installed the door molding that went down to the floors originally. I asked why and they said their contract said only baseboard molding to be put back on, nothing else. I told them I included the lengths of door molding in the quote and was charged for that 40 feet of molding for the 3 doors. He told me he wasn’t putting them back on and to talk to Mike. Again, no answer when we called. These moldings are the exact same wood as the baseboards but go vertically instead of along the floor so how hard could it be for them to nailgun those too? They said I should have never taken them off. I told them that they were touching the floor like the baseboard so why wouldn’t I have to remove them too? He said he would have cut them at the bottom to fit. Oh really? You won’t cut the baseboard for around the baby gate but you would cut 6 moldings on the doors? He absolutely refused to do the work and at this point I wanted them gone so I said I’d take it up with Mike later and I wasn’t happy. Everything else seemed ok and they left.
A couple hours later after wiping off everything above the floors we began to wipe down the floors. I came to notice that there were 4 areas on the floor only in the living room that had slightly “bubbled” where the laminate panels met. I immediately took pics of these and wasn’t happy. I emailed Mike’s and told them about our not so great experience and that I wanted $ back from the over estimate on the door moldings. I had to send another email and waited 4 days to hear back from them (they are open 7 days a week). I was credited with my money back for the door molding and was told Mike would call me to discuss the bubbling issue. He called a few days later while I was at work and left me a message. He apologized and said that the damage to the floors was due to water most likely. He said he would come over to look at it though. This was puzzling as it hadn’t rained prior, during or after the install. The damaged floors were at least 15 feet from the sink in our home and not one drink was brought into the living room. How this was water damage is beyond me. I called Mike back, no answer. I left him a message saying there’s no way that it is water and most likely poor install and/or not letting the laminate acclimate prior to the work. 5 hours later I called again when I got home from work, no answer. This time I chose to leave my # so either way he’d know I contacted him back. A few days went by and no call again so I emailed them letting them know this is not an acceptable business practice and I want the floor fixed or credited with money and I would get someone else to do or I would attempt it. No answer. I then went to the BBB and filed a complaint. This went back and forth for weeks. I informed them of the situation and that all I want is the work done right, that’s it. Mike’s kept coming back to them saying that it’s water damage and everything was done as quoted. How does he know this when he’s never come to see the work done? Telepathy? BBB gave me the option to pay $250 for an arbitrator and a mediator and they would listen to my case. To have to pay $250 to get 1hr of work re-done is ridiculous especially when I paid over $2500 in the first place for the work that wasn’t done right.
At this point the work was done over 6 weeks ago and still no resolve so I am writing this to warn anyone considering dealing with the snake that is Mike of Mike’s Carpet and Flooring. They can basically screw you, not own up to it and then the customer is forced to take legal action in order to get work done that should have been done in the first place. It’s a hundred here, a hundred there and Mike’s will end up not honoring their work and you will be out money and/or time of your own to deal with it. This was by far the absolute worst customer experience I’ve ever received in my life. PLEASE take this review seriously and don’t get taken for a ride like I did. I see other reviews where Mike’s replies back about the reviewer being fake or not a real customer. Well, I unfortunately am. If they decide to write ANYTHING back under this review take it as false on their behalf. I haven’t received any correspondence from them in over a month and my floor still isn’t fixed. I have put the moldings back on my own. Not hard work but when I pay to get it done I expect it to get done. Be warned! I see they get much praise everywhere so maybe I’m the odd case but I expect if there’s a problem that a company would want to resolve it to avoid reviews like mine. I should have checked their BBB rating too before hiring them, that’s my bad.
