Metro Snow & Ice Management

Rating: 2.7 out of 5

Metro Snow & Ice Management reviews (438)

  • Review from Ray Boucher
    Rating: 0 out of 5
    Review left on 25 Jan 2018

    Metro Merivale failed to provide service the comapny states it provides

    Two negative situations on Metro Merivale: 1) Failed to clear snow after city tractor went by blocking entrance to my laneway and Metro never showed up to clear it away. 2) Blew snow on my walkway after ice and snow storm Jan 23 now solid ice and no access to walkway no response to my complaints. I tried to remove snow from walkway but frozen solid. Metro Merivale solution is to cancel contract and provide a prorated refunded for services provided. MMM what services. WHAT KIND OF BUSINESS MODEL ARE THE RUNNING UNDER.

    Answer from pro:

    Every review on here good or bad is a chance for Metro, my staff and myself to learn and improve and I read and take each review very seriously. I’ve seen a general thread of the same complaints in most ‘negative reviews’ so I’m going to give a ‘general response’ to these reviewers and those of the “public’ who read them. Some are constructive and polite, some are just downright mean and personal. I get peoples ‘frustrations when it snows’ and they wait, Ive been doing snow clearing for 25 years now. The business hasn’t really change, people have for the most part. I believe some blunt honesty and perspective is required here and going forward. * Let’s keep things in relative perspective here: There’s a good reason we are by far the largest company out there with over 10,000 long time customers. We are in fact very reliable, efficient and customer oriented After 25 years of reliable service this is the reason Metro became so large. We have more tractors, more Drivers and a great ‘snow clearing system’ that does in fact work for everybody. When you see even 50 ‘poor reviews’ on here what you don’t see are the 9,950 ‘happy, satisfied customers’ who have used us for many,many years. I’m not dismissing any negative review of course but the % of ‘unhappy clients’ is under .005 %. Thats incredibly good actually considering the many customers we serve reliably every storm without complaint . All but a few are first time users to a snow clearing service. * Last minute/late signups ‘just’ before storms. Most complainants/bad reviews here stem from ‘late signups’, people who waiterd until the very last minute or during a storm to call us. No stakes were put in, they didn’t get on the ‘drivers list’ and subsequently were missed during snow events. For this I do apologize. Lesson learned! We will absolutely NOT accept clients after December 1st in future years or bother trying to assist those people late in looking fora service. This now solves the issue of late signups and the problems (and bad reviews) that accompany ‘last minute’ sign up requests. * Bullying about complaints: I have never ‘bullied’ or discouraged ANY customer from complaining. This is simply unfair and untrue and spoken out of obvious frustration. I accept the frustration. We have an effective, easy method on our website to address issues and it does work...if used. I have however made it abundantly clear to all customers through emails, the contract signed and other methods that ‘if you are aggressive, rude, threatening or belligerent’ in any way to the staff or myself then your issue will simply be ignored. If it continues, your contract will be cancelled and funds refunded. I make absolutely no apologies for this policy. The business is stressful enough, my trusted staff work long hard hours to serve everyone professionally and by virtue of the fact you paid us a few hundred dollars for a service either you can’t do or choose not to do does NOT give one the right to treat others poorly. Yes, I know its frustrating not getting cleared quickly but every snow company out there faces the same problems as Metro. I know this because snow operators discuss snow business almost weekly amongst us. I just choose to be less tolerant with rude customers then most but that’s my choice to support and protect my staff. I relish complaints!.......It’s the approach taken to deliver these complaints we police. * “I’m always the last or missed! Yes, a few clients may be missed over the course of the winter for various reasons. Drivers are human, backups go in to help and miss a driveway. Cars are in the way, poor visibility of a house number, late graders go by after the driver has long ago left. In almost ALL complaints we check the customer was NOT missed. We simply didn’t get there as fast as they wanted us there. We hear from the people at the end of our lists, the completion hears from the clients at the end of their lists. Not everyone can be at ‘the front of the list”. * People don’t actually read or understand their contracts: Our contracts are very clear. Our ‘service delivery times’ are also very clear. We have a 97% ‘service compliance’ rate within the ‘time service thresholds’ stated in the contract. Our GPS reports for each tractor justify these times are met. THIS is why we have a 93% ‘renewal rate’ each year. This is why we are so large. * They don’t respond. To be clear, even with so many customers I still read every email that comes through. I personally respond to about half of these and the Customer Service Reps respond to the remainder. BUT, when you email us 10 times in an hour (many still do) of course we won’t continually respond. We’ve asked countless times to send ONE ‘issue ticket’ then the auto reply STATES ‘we have it’ and ‘will address it’. Same with the phones....to those that state in there reviews “I called 10 times!” And their ‘voicemail is full”. Yes it is! And you’re the reason it is! * Unrealistic Expectations * Most reviews here are from 1st time snow company users having never used a clearing service. Some simply don’t understand how it works. * Many simply enter with unrealistic expections on how ‘snow clearing works’ . * People hear what they want to hear, read only what they want to read and I get it BUT this is not a small “man with plow’ company. We are a large corporate snow clearing operation with many staff and many moving parts. * Graders go by continually on Bus Routes and Collector roads creating problems. We should be charging more for these streets and most likely will be in the future. Anyway, I’m sorry of course that some customers don’t wish to understand or accept the ‘style and policies’ I use in dealing with customers, it’s not ‘rudeness’ lack of caring, or lack of empathy’. Being upfront and honest with people is just my style and for those many customers who read the many emails over the winters know, we are a fair and very hardworking company that cares. After 25 years and still going strong with thousands of “long time customers” its simply the most prudent way to deal with impatient customers in order to deal with the many patient customers who understand the service we deliver. Many thanks and blessings, Ken

    Reply created 25 Jan 2018
  • Review from Customer of Metro Snow & Ice Management
    Rating: 0 out of 5
    Review left on 25 Jan 2018

    Snow removal

    We signed up for snow removal service for winter 2017/18. Company failed to show up for timely snow removal or did not show up at all. To get in or out of the house, we had to do the job ourselves. Made us the laughing stock of neighbours. Bad service. They are busy sending emails complaining about city graders and councillors rather than getting out there removing snow in people's driveways. Those days they came in very late, they dumped snow on walk away creating work for us. Despite paying for the service, we end up shovelling anyway.

    Answer from pro:

    Every review on here good or bad is a chance for Metro, my staff and myself to learn and improve and I read and take each review very seriously. I’ve seen a general thread of the same complaints in most ‘negative reviews’ so I’m going to give a ‘general response’ to these reviewers and those of the “public’ who read them. Some are constructive and polite, some are just downright mean and personal. I get peoples ‘frustrations when it snows’ and they wait, Ive been doing snow clearing for 25 years now. The business hasn’t really change, people have for the most part. I believe some blunt honesty and perspective is required here and going forward. * Let’s keep things in relative perspective here: There’s a good reason we are by far the largest company out there with over 10,000 long time customers. We are in fact very reliable, efficient and customer oriented After 25 years of reliable service this is the reason Metro became so large. We have more tractors, more Drivers and a great ‘snow clearing system’ that does in fact work for everybody. When you see even 50 ‘poor reviews’ on here what you don’t see are the 9,950 ‘happy, satisfied customers’ who have used us for many,many years. I’m not dismissing any negative review of course but the % of ‘unhappy clients’ is under .005 %. Thats incredibly good actually considering the many customers we serve reliably every storm without complaint . All but a few are first time users to a snow clearing service. * Last minute/late signups ‘just’ before storms. Most complainants/bad reviews here stem from ‘late signups’, people who waiterd until the very last minute or during a storm to call us. No stakes were put in, they didn’t get on the ‘drivers list’ and subsequently were missed during snow events. For this I do apologize. Lesson learned! We will absolutely NOT accept clients after December 1st in future years or bother trying to assist those people late in looking fora service. This now solves the issue of late signups and the problems (and bad reviews) that accompany ‘last minute’ sign up requests. * Bullying about complaints: I have never ‘bullied’ or discouraged ANY customer from complaining. This is simply unfair and untrue and spoken out of obvious frustration. I accept the frustration. We have an effective, easy method on our website to address issues and it does work...if used. I have however made it abundantly clear to all customers through emails, the contract signed and other methods that ‘if you are aggressive, rude, threatening or belligerent’ in any way to the staff or myself then your issue will simply be ignored. If it continues, your contract will be cancelled and funds refunded. I make absolutely no apologies for this policy. The business is stressful enough, my trusted staff work long hard hours to serve everyone professionally and by virtue of the fact you paid us a few hundred dollars for a service either you can’t do or choose not to do does NOT give one the right to treat others poorly. Yes, I know its frustrating not getting cleared quickly but every snow company out there faces the same problems as Metro. I know this because snow operators discuss snow business almost weekly amongst us. I just choose to be less tolerant with rude customers then most but that’s my choice to support and protect my staff. I relish complaints!.......It’s the approach taken to deliver these complaints we police. * “I’m always the last or missed! Yes, a few clients may be missed over the course of the winter for various reasons. Drivers are human, backups go in to help and miss a driveway. Cars are in the way, poor visibility of a house number, late graders go by after the driver has long ago left. In almost ALL complaints we check the customer was NOT missed. We simply didn’t get there as fast as they wanted us there. We hear from the people at the end of our lists, the completion hears from the clients at the end of their lists. Not everyone can be at ‘the front of the list”. * People don’t actually read or understand their contracts: Our contracts are very clear. Our ‘service delivery times’ are also very clear. We have a 97% ‘service compliance’ rate within the ‘time service thresholds’ stated in the contract. Our GPS reports for each tractor justify these times are met. THIS is why we have a 93% ‘renewal rate’ each year. This is why we are so large. * They don’t respond. To be clear, even with so many customers I still read every email that comes through. I personally respond to about half of these and the Customer Service Reps respond to the remainder. BUT, when you email us 10 times in an hour (many still do) of course we won’t continually respond. We’ve asked countless times to send ONE ‘issue ticket’ then the auto reply STATES ‘we have it’ and ‘will address it’. Same with the phones....to those that state in there reviews “I called 10 times!” And their ‘voicemail is full”. Yes it is! And you’re the reason it is! * Unrealistic Expectations * Most reviews here are from 1st time snow company users having never used a clearing service. Some simply don’t understand how it works. * Many simply enter with unrealistic expections on how ‘snow clearing works’ . * People hear what they want to hear, read only what they want to read and I get it BUT this is not a small “man with plow’ company. We are a large corporate snow clearing operation with many staff and many moving parts. * Graders go by continually on Bus Routes and Collector roads creating problems. We should be charging more for these streets and most likely will be in the future. Anyway, I’m sorry of course that some customers don’t wish to understand or accept the ‘style and policies’ I use in dealing with customers, it’s not ‘rudeness’ lack of caring, or lack of empathy’. Being upfront and honest with people is just my style and for those many customers who read the many emails over the winters know, we are a fair and very hardworking company that cares. After 25 years and still going strong with thousands of “long time customers” its simply the most prudent way to deal with impatient customers in order to deal with the many patient customers who understand the service we deliver. Many thanks and blessings, Ken

    Reply created 25 Jan 2018
  • Review from Customer of Metro Snow & Ice Management
    Rating: 1 out of 5
    Review left on 24 Jan 2018

    Cancelation fee $45

    After many complaining as the driver keep missing my drive way or he comes after 12 midnight where is the cars on the drive way we can not keep them overnight on the street so he just do behide , there update e mail saying everything is ok and there is no delay.but there is NO SHOW in my side..... , till today the snow and ice still in my drive way after the last snow and rain I called to cancell there bad service and I am not paying the 2ed payment,they told me there is a cancellation fee 45$ I have to pay them, They didn't do there job ....but I have to pay cancelation fee IS THAT FAIR!!!!!!!!

    Answer from pro:

    Every review on here good or bad is a chance for Metro, my staff and myself to learn and improve and I read and take each review very seriously. I’ve seen a general thread of the same complaints in most ‘negative reviews’ so I’m going to give a ‘general response’ to these reviewers and those of the “public’ who read them. Some are constructive and polite, some are just downright mean and personal. I get peoples ‘frustrations when it snows’ and they wait, Ive been doing snow clearing for 25 years now. The business hasn’t really change, people have for the most part. I believe some blunt honesty and perspective is required here and going forward. * Let’s keep things in relative perspective here: There’s a good reason we are by far the largest company out there with over 10,000 long time customers. We are in fact very reliable, efficient and customer oriented After 25 years of reliable service this is the reason Metro became so large. We have more tractors, more Drivers and a great ‘snow clearing system’ that does in fact work for everybody. When you see even 50 ‘poor reviews’ on here what you don’t see are the 9,950 ‘happy, satisfied customers’ who have used us for many,many years. I’m not dismissing any negative review of course but the % of ‘unhappy clients’ is under .005 %. Thats incredibly good actually considering the many customers we serve reliably every storm without complaint . All but a few are first time users to a snow clearing service. * Last minute/late signups ‘just’ before storms. Most complainants/bad reviews here stem from ‘late signups’, people who waiterd until the very last minute or during a storm to call us. No stakes were put in, they didn’t get on the ‘drivers list’ and subsequently were missed during snow events. For this I do apologize. Lesson learned! We will absolutely NOT accept clients after December 1st in future years or bother trying to assist those people late in looking fora service. This now solves the issue of late signups and the problems (and bad reviews) that accompany ‘last minute’ sign up requests. * Bullying about complaints: I have never ‘bullied’ or discouraged ANY customer from complaining. This is simply unfair and untrue and spoken out of obvious frustration. I accept the frustration. We have an effective, easy method on our website to address issues and it does work...if used. I have however made it abundantly clear to all customers through emails, the contract signed and other methods that ‘if you are aggressive, rude, threatening or belligerent’ in any way to the staff or myself then your issue will simply be ignored. If it continues, your contract will be cancelled and funds refunded. I make absolutely no apologies for this policy. The business is stressful enough, my trusted staff work long hard hours to serve everyone professionally and by virtue of the fact you paid us a few hundred dollars for a service either you can’t do or choose not to do does NOT give one the right to treat others poorly. Yes, I know its frustrating not getting cleared quickly but every snow company out there faces the same problems as Metro. I know this because snow operators discuss snow business almost weekly amongst us. I just choose to be less tolerant with rude customers then most but that’s my choice to support and protect my staff. I relish complaints!.......It’s the approach taken to deliver these complaints we police. * “I’m always the last or missed! Yes, a few clients may be missed over the course of the winter for various reasons. Drivers are human, backups go in to help and miss a driveway. Cars are in the way, poor visibility of a house number, late graders go by after the driver has long ago left. In almost ALL complaints we check the customer was NOT missed. We simply didn’t get there as fast as they wanted us there. We hear from the people at the end of our lists, the completion hears from the clients at the end of their lists. Not everyone can be at ‘the front of the list”. * People don’t actually read or understand their contracts: Our contracts are very clear. Our ‘service delivery times’ are also very clear. We have a 97% ‘service compliance’ rate within the ‘time service thresholds’ stated in the contract. Our GPS reports for each tractor justify these times are met. THIS is why we have a 93% ‘renewal rate’ each year. This is why we are so large. * They don’t respond. To be clear, even with so many customers I still read every email that comes through. I personally respond to about half of these and the Customer Service Reps respond to the remainder. BUT, when you email us 10 times in an hour (many still do) of course we won’t continually respond. We’ve asked countless times to send ONE ‘issue ticket’ then the auto reply STATES ‘we have it’ and ‘will address it’. Same with the phones....to those that state in there reviews “I called 10 times!” And their ‘voicemail is full”. Yes it is! And you’re the reason it is! * Unrealistic Expectations * Most reviews here are from 1st time snow company users having never used a clearing service. Some simply don’t understand how it works. * Many simply enter with unrealistic expections on how ‘snow clearing works’ . * People hear what they want to hear, read only what they want to read and I get it BUT this is not a small “man with plow’ company. We are a large corporate snow clearing operation with many staff and many moving parts. * Graders go by continually on Bus Routes and Collector roads creating problems. We should be charging more for these streets and most likely will be in the future. Anyway, I’m sorry of course that some customers don’t wish to understand or accept the ‘style and policies’ I use in dealing with customers, it’s not ‘rudeness’ lack of caring, or lack of empathy’. Being upfront and honest with people is just my style and for those many customers who read the many emails over the winters know, we are a fair and very hardworking company that cares. After 25 years and still going strong with thousands of “long time customers” its simply the most prudent way to deal with impatient customers in order to deal with the many patient customers who understand the service we deliver. Many thanks and blessings, Ken

    Reply created 25 Jan 2018
  • Review from Customer of Metro Snow & Ice Management
    Rating: 0 out of 5
    Review left on 24 Jan 2018

    Terrible Service

    I hired this company to do snow removal for my Barrhaven residence. We have had 3 snowfalls since the beginning of the season and they have come out once to do a half pass. TERRIBLE service. I have been in the service industry for 3o years and I have never witnessed this kind of disregard for its customers by a company. The owner is a bully and sends out rude emails to his customers telling them not to complain. Basically he doesn't want to hear it! Outrageous! He has your money now and he'll clean your driveway if and when he feels like it. You can send as many emails as you want, it wont matter! Stay clear of Metro!!!! They send many email alerts but they are a total waste of time. They never show up during the time frame indicated. They are definitely never first to arrive as stated on their website. They tell you to submit issue tickets if they've missed you, but that doesn't work either. They still don't show! The only thing this company is good for is taking your money. The owner is an egomaniac and blames everything on the customer! I'm sorry, how is it the customer's fault that 8 days after a storm they are still waiting for you to show up?! Terrible, terrible service!!!

    Answer from pro:

    Every review on here good or bad is a chance for Metro, my staff and myself to learn and improve and I read and take each review very seriously. I’ve seen a general thread of the same complaints in most ‘negative reviews’ so I’m going to give a ‘general response’ to these reviewers and those of the “public’ who read them. Some are constructive and polite, some are just downright mean and personal. I get peoples ‘frustrations when it snows’ and they wait, Ive been doing snow clearing for 25 years now. The business hasn’t really change, people have for the most part. I believe some blunt honesty and perspective is required here and going forward. * Let’s keep things in relative perspective here: There’s a good reason we are by far the largest company out there with over 10,000 long time customers. We are in fact very reliable, efficient and customer oriented After 25 years of reliable service this is the reason Metro became so large. We have more tractors, more Drivers and a great ‘snow clearing system’ that does in fact work for everybody. When you see even 50 ‘poor reviews’ on here what you don’t see are the 9,950 ‘happy, satisfied customers’ who have used us for many,many years. I’m not dismissing any negative review of course but the % of ‘unhappy clients’ is under .005 %. Thats incredibly good actually considering the many customers we serve reliably every storm without complaint . All but a few are first time users to a snow clearing service. * Last minute/late signups ‘just’ before storms. Most complainants/bad reviews here stem from ‘late signups’, people who waiterd until the very last minute or during a storm to call us. No stakes were put in, they didn’t get on the ‘drivers list’ and subsequently were missed during snow events. For this I do apologize. Lesson learned! We will absolutely NOT accept clients after December 1st in future years or bother trying to assist those people late in looking fora service. This now solves the issue of late signups and the problems (and bad reviews) that accompany ‘last minute’ sign up requests. * Bullying about complaints: I have never ‘bullied’ or discouraged ANY customer from complaining. This is simply unfair and untrue and spoken out of obvious frustration. I accept the frustration. We have an effective, easy method on our website to address issues and it does work...if used. I have however made it abundantly clear to all customers through emails, the contract signed and other methods that ‘if you are aggressive, rude, threatening or belligerent’ in any way to the staff or myself then your issue will simply be ignored. If it continues, your contract will be cancelled and funds refunded. I make absolutely no apologies for this policy. The business is stressful enough, my trusted staff work long hard hours to serve everyone professionally and by virtue of the fact you paid us a few hundred dollars for a service either you can’t do or choose not to do does NOT give one the right to treat others poorly. Yes, I know its frustrating not getting cleared quickly but every snow company out there faces the same problems as Metro. I know this because snow operators discuss snow business almost weekly amongst us. I just choose to be less tolerant with rude customers then most but that’s my choice to support and protect my staff. I relish complaints!.......It’s the approach taken to deliver these complaints we police. * “I’m always the last or missed! Yes, a few clients may be missed over the course of the winter for various reasons. Drivers are human, backups go in to help and miss a driveway. Cars are in the way, poor visibility of a house number, late graders go by after the driver has long ago left. In almost ALL complaints we check the customer was NOT missed. We simply didn’t get there as fast as they wanted us there. We hear from the people at the end of our lists, the completion hears from the clients at the end of their lists. Not everyone can be at ‘the front of the list”. * People don’t actually read or understand their contracts: Our contracts are very clear. Our ‘service delivery times’ are also very clear. We have a 97% ‘service compliance’ rate within the ‘time service thresholds’ stated in the contract. Our GPS reports for each tractor justify these times are met. THIS is why we have a 93% ‘renewal rate’ each year. This is why we are so large. * They don’t respond. To be clear, even with so many customers I still read every email that comes through. I personally respond to about half of these and the Customer Service Reps respond to the remainder. BUT, when you email us 10 times in an hour (many still do) of course we won’t continually respond. We’ve asked countless times to send ONE ‘issue ticket’ then the auto reply STATES ‘we have it’ and ‘will address it’. Same with the phones....to those that state in there reviews “I called 10 times!” And their ‘voicemail is full”. Yes it is! And you’re the reason it is! * Unrealistic Expectations * Most reviews here are from 1st time snow company users having never used a clearing service. Some simply don’t understand how it works. * Many simply enter with unrealistic expections on how ‘snow clearing works’ . * People hear what they want to hear, read only what they want to read and I get it BUT this is not a small “man with plow’ company. We are a large corporate snow clearing operation with many staff and many moving parts. * Graders go by continually on Bus Routes and Collector roads creating problems. We should be charging more for these streets and most likely will be in the future. Anyway, I’m sorry of course that some customers don’t wish to understand or accept the ‘style and policies’ I use in dealing with customers, it’s not ‘rudeness’ lack of caring, or lack of empathy’. Being upfront and honest with people is just my style and for those many customers who read the many emails over the winters know, we are a fair and very hardworking company that cares. After 25 years and still going strong with thousands of “long time customers” its simply the most prudent way to deal with impatient customers in order to deal with the many patient customers who understand the service we deliver. Many thanks and blessings, Ken

    Reply created 25 Jan 2018
  • Review from HomeOwner
    Rating: 0 out of 5
    Review left on 24 Jan 2018

    Down hill in 2017

    We have been with Metro/Appleseed for several years now but unfortunately their service in 2017/2018 is nothing compared to previous years. The driver that we have had for the last few years was great but this year it is like night & day compared to last year. We have had problems with every snowfall. From the city dump at the end of the driveway not being done at all; to only half of it being done; to only 1 pass down the centre of the driveway being done instead of the stake-to-stake clearing that should be done; to the driver starting his run about 10 to 12 feet down the driveway from the garage. In each of these cases, my wife and I have had to clear the remaining snow ourselves - which is not the service that we paid for. I have followed Ken's procedures and used their on-line form to register our concerns and only once was it addressed. I have left (polite) messages through their telephone system asking for someone to call me so that we can discuss our concerns so they can be corrected for future snowfalls and not a single response to date (Jan. 24th). I have asked in almost every one of the Metro on-line "issue" forms for someone to contact me and still not a single call. I have never been rude, ignorant or aggressive in any of my e-mail or telephone messages (Ken has a strict rule that if you are rude, ignorant or aggressive they will simply ignore your message) but still no follow-up. I do not know what is happening at Metro this year but their service has definitely gone downhill. One of my neighbours even commented to me that he has noticed while driving in & around Barrhaven that the last driveways that seem to be cleared are those with Metro stakes at the end of the driveway. Not good advertising for Metro. Given this year's quality of service and apparent lack of customer service, I would not recommend Metro to anyone looking for a snow removal service which is too bad based on our previous years of service but those days seem to be gone. I have read the company response (i.e. Ken's response) to the negative reviews on here and his comments about the percentage of complaints being extremely low given their total number of clients might be valid from a pure statistical point of view but negative word of mouth comments about Metro and people noticing Metro driveways being the last driveways being cleared will hurt Metro in future years. If Metro is going to survive, Ken needs to address these problems (several are being made by customers who have/had been with Metro/Appleseed for a number of years - like myself). Quality of service & customer service are key in a competitive business and Metro might be the biggest but based on this year's performance, you are far from the best. I believe Metro has gotten too big and is spread to thin to offer the type of service customers should expect.

    Answer from pro:

    We 'change around' route orders every few years so customers t the ends of routes get the benefit of earlier clearings. This is only fair to all clients. To the few 'older' clients who experience a 'change in service delivery; this is unfortunate but they are still well serviced within the contracted delivery times every storm, Metro Team

    Reply created 25 Jan 2018
  • Review from Customer of Metro Snow & Ice Management
    Rating: 0 out of 5
    Review left on 24 Jan 2018

    Buyer beware- check with Better Business Bureau

    Buyer beware- This company treats clients terribly; ignoring all calls and emails until Better business bureau stepped in, and threatening to cancel service if you complain. (I kept the email as proof) They very rarely show up- mass emailing excuses like garbage cans being in the way or bad road conditions. It took from November to mid January and two complaints to the better business bureau to get reimbursed after we tried to cancel the first week. Meanwhile they kept sending emails asking for my second payment. Two clients I know of are still emailing every few days looking for their refunds to no avail. It’s an unbelievable way to do business.

    Answer from pro:

    We respond to each and every email at least once. Yes, we ignore 'repeated emails' from the same client as yes we already have noted your request or issue. Refunds are always processed within 10 to 14 days as per policy. No, we don't threaten to cancel if you complain, this is simply a ridiculous stretch. If you are rude, aggressive or belligerent or threatening to staff...yes, we cancel your contract and so you do business elsewhere. Metro Team

    Reply created 25 Jan 2018
  • Review from Customer of Metro Snow & Ice Management
    Rating: 0 out of 5
    Review left on 23 Jan 2018

    Missed for the 4th time

    I came home tonight after a long day of commuting due to the freezing rain to find that my driveway had been missed yet again by metro. Other driveways serviced by metro on my street were done. Sent another email to the company right away and as of 11pm no response and nobody has come to remove the snow. I am at the end of my rope and my next step will be cancelling and calling the BBB. I was iffy about going back to them this season because I saw a big drop in their service when metro took over, but decided to give them a second chance. I regret that decision now.

    Answer from pro:

    Every review on here good or bad is a chance for Metro, my staff and myself to learn and improve and I read and take each review very seriously. I’ve seen a general thread of the same complaints in most ‘negative reviews’ so I’m going to give a ‘general response’ to these reviewers and those of the “public’ who read them. Some are constructive and polite, some are just downright mean and personal. I get peoples ‘frustrations when it snows’ and they wait, Ive been doing snow clearing for 25 years now. The business hasn’t really change, people have for the most part. I believe some blunt honesty and perspective is required here and going forward. * Let’s keep things in relative perspective here: There’s a good reason we are by far the largest company out there with over 10,000 long time customers. We are in fact very reliable, efficient and customer oriented After 25 years of reliable service this is the reason Metro became so large. We have more tractors, more Drivers and a great ‘snow clearing system’ that does in fact work for everybody. When you see even 50 ‘poor reviews’ on here what you don’t see are the 9,950 ‘happy, satisfied customers’ who have used us for many,many years. I’m not dismissing any negative review of course but the % of ‘unhappy clients’ is under .005 %. Thats incredibly good actually considering the many customers we serve reliably every storm without complaint . All but a few are first time users to a snow clearing service. * Last minute/late signups ‘just’ before storms. Most complainants/bad reviews here stem from ‘late signups’, people who waiterd until the very last minute or during a storm to call us. No stakes were put in, they didn’t get on the ‘drivers list’ and subsequently were missed during snow events. For this I do apologize. Lesson learned! We will absolutely NOT accept clients after December 1st in future years or bother trying to assist those people late in looking fora service. This now solves the issue of late signups and the problems (and bad reviews) that accompany ‘last minute’ sign up requests. * Bullying about complaints: I have never ‘bullied’ or discouraged ANY customer from complaining. This is simply unfair and untrue and spoken out of obvious frustration. I accept the frustration. We have an effective, easy method on our website to address issues and it does work...if used. I have however made it abundantly clear to all customers through emails, the contract signed and other methods that ‘if you are aggressive, rude, threatening or belligerent’ in any way to the staff or myself then your issue will simply be ignored. If it continues, your contract will be cancelled and funds refunded. I make absolutely no apologies for this policy. The business is stressful enough, my trusted staff work long hard hours to serve everyone professionally and by virtue of the fact you paid us a few hundred dollars for a service either you can’t do or choose not to do does NOT give one the right to treat others poorly. Yes, I know its frustrating not getting cleared quickly but every snow company out there faces the same problems as Metro. I know this because snow operators discuss snow business almost weekly amongst us. I just choose to be less tolerant with rude customers then most but that’s my choice to support and protect my staff. I relish complaints!.......It’s the approach taken to deliver these complaints we police. * “I’m always the last or missed! Yes, a few clients may be missed over the course of the winter for various reasons. Drivers are human, backups go in to help and miss a driveway. Cars are in the way, poor visibility of a house number, late graders go by after the driver has long ago left. In almost ALL complaints we check the customer was NOT missed. We simply didn’t get there as fast as they wanted us there. We hear from the people at the end of our lists, the completion hears from the clients at the end of their lists. Not everyone can be at ‘the front of the list”. * People don’t actually read or understand their contracts: Our contracts are very clear. Our ‘service delivery times’ are also very clear. We have a 97% ‘service compliance’ rate within the ‘time service thresholds’ stated in the contract. Our GPS reports for each tractor justify these times are met. THIS is why we have a 93% ‘renewal rate’ each year. This is why we are so large. * They don’t respond. To be clear, even with so many customers I still read every email that comes through. I personally respond to about half of these and the Customer Service Reps respond to the remainder. BUT, when you email us 10 times in an hour (many still do) of course we won’t continually respond. We’ve asked countless times to send ONE ‘issue ticket’ then the auto reply STATES ‘we have it’ and ‘will address it’. Same with the phones....to those that state in there reviews “I called 10 times!” And their ‘voicemail is full”. Yes it is! And you’re the reason it is! * Unrealistic Expectations * Most reviews here are from 1st time snow company users having never used a clearing service. Some simply don’t understand how it works. * Many simply enter with unrealistic expections on how ‘snow clearing works’ . * People hear what they want to hear, read only what they want to read and I get it BUT this is not a small “man with plow’ company. We are a large corporate snow clearing operation with many staff and many moving parts. * Graders go by continually on Bus Routes and Collector roads creating problems. We should be charging more for these streets and most likely will be in the future. Anyway, I’m sorry of course that some customers don’t wish to understand or accept the ‘style and policies’ I use in dealing with customers, it’s not ‘rudeness’ lack of caring, or lack of empathy’. Being upfront and honest with people is just my style and for those many customers who read the many emails over the winters know, we are a fair and very hardworking company that cares. After 25 years and still going strong with thousands of “long time customers” its simply the most prudent way to deal with impatient customers in order to deal with the many patient customers who understand the service we deliver. Many thanks and blessings, Ken

    Reply created 25 Jan 2018
  • Review from Customer of Metro Snow & Ice Management
    Rating: 1 out of 5
    Review left on 23 Jan 2018

    Tired of waiting

    We like to give people the benefit of the doubt - we expect a little glitch in service around Christmas; everyone deserves to spend the holidays with their loved ones... but we are tired - tired of not knowing whether or not the tractor will come to clear our driveway and when. We don't need a cut and paste reason against the commentary, just a commitment that things will get better and evidence to the same. For the record, we're not first time customers - we even recommended the company based on our previous experience - but it will likely be our last.

    Answer from pro:

    Every review on here good or bad is a chance for Metro, my staff and myself to learn and improve and I read and take each review very seriously. I’ve seen a general thread of the same complaints in most ‘negative reviews’ so I’m going to give a ‘general response’ to these reviewers and those of the “public’ who read them. Some are constructive and polite, some are just downright mean and personal. I get peoples ‘frustrations when it snows’ and they wait, Ive been doing snow clearing for 25 years now. The business hasn’t really change, people have for the most part. I believe some blunt honesty and perspective is required here and going forward. * Let’s keep things in relative perspective here: There’s a good reason we are by far the largest company out there with over 10,000 long time customers. We are in fact very reliable, efficient and customer oriented After 25 years of reliable service this is the reason Metro became so large. We have more tractors, more Drivers and a great ‘snow clearing system’ that does in fact work for everybody. When you see even 50 ‘poor reviews’ on here what you don’t see are the 9,950 ‘happy, satisfied customers’ who have used us for many,many years. I’m not dismissing any negative review of course but the % of ‘unhappy clients’ is under .005 %. Thats incredibly good actually considering the many customers we serve reliably every storm without complaint . All but a few are first time users to a snow clearing service. * Last minute/late signups ‘just’ before storms. Most complainants/bad reviews here stem from ‘late signups’, people who waiterd until the very last minute or during a storm to call us. No stakes were put in, they didn’t get on the ‘drivers list’ and subsequently were missed during snow events. For this I do apologize. Lesson learned! We will absolutely NOT accept clients after December 1st in future years or bother trying to assist those people late in looking fora service. This now solves the issue of late signups and the problems (and bad reviews) that accompany ‘last minute’ sign up requests. * Bullying about complaints: I have never ‘bullied’ or discouraged ANY customer from complaining. This is simply unfair and untrue and spoken out of obvious frustration. I accept the frustration. We have an effective, easy method on our website to address issues and it does work...if used. I have however made it abundantly clear to all customers through emails, the contract signed and other methods that ‘if you are aggressive, rude, threatening or belligerent’ in any way to the staff or myself then your issue will simply be ignored. If it continues, your contract will be cancelled and funds refunded. I make absolutely no apologies for this policy. The business is stressful enough, my trusted staff work long hard hours to serve everyone professionally and by virtue of the fact you paid us a few hundred dollars for a service either you can’t do or choose not to do does NOT give one the right to treat others poorly. Yes, I know its frustrating not getting cleared quickly but every snow company out there faces the same problems as Metro. I know this because snow operators discuss snow business almost weekly amongst us. I just choose to be less tolerant with rude customers then most but that’s my choice to support and protect my staff. I relish complaints!.......It’s the approach taken to deliver these complaints we police. * “I’m always the last or missed! Yes, a few clients may be missed over the course of the winter for various reasons. Drivers are human, backups go in to help and miss a driveway. Cars are in the way, poor visibility of a house number, late graders go by after the driver has long ago left. In almost ALL complaints we check the customer was NOT missed. We simply didn’t get there as fast as they wanted us there. We hear from the people at the end of our lists, the completion hears from the clients at the end of their lists. Not everyone can be at ‘the front of the list”. * People don’t actually read or understand their contracts: Our contracts are very clear. Our ‘service delivery times’ are also very clear. We have a 97% ‘service compliance’ rate within the ‘time service thresholds’ stated in the contract. Our GPS reports for each tractor justify these times are met. THIS is why we have a 93% ‘renewal rate’ each year. This is why we are so large. * They don’t respond. To be clear, even with so many customers I still read every email that comes through. I personally respond to about half of these and the Customer Service Reps respond to the remainder. BUT, when you email us 10 times in an hour (many still do) of course we won’t continually respond. We’ve asked countless times to send ONE ‘issue ticket’ then the auto reply STATES ‘we have it’ and ‘will address it’. Same with the phones....to those that state in there reviews “I called 10 times!” And their ‘voicemail is full”. Yes it is! And you’re the reason it is! * Unrealistic Expectations * Most reviews here are from 1st time snow company users having never used a clearing service. Some simply don’t understand how it works. * Many simply enter with unrealistic expections on how ‘snow clearing works’ . * People hear what they want to hear, read only what they want to read and I get it BUT this is not a small “man with plow’ company. We are a large corporate snow clearing operation with many staff and many moving parts. * Graders go by continually on Bus Routes and Collector roads creating problems. We should be charging more for these streets and most likely will be in the future. Anyway, I’m sorry of course that some customers don’t wish to understand or accept the ‘style and policies’ I use in dealing with customers, it’s not ‘rudeness’ lack of caring, or lack of empathy’. Being upfront and honest with people is just my style and for those many customers who read the many emails over the winters know, we are a fair and very hardworking company that cares. After 25 years and still going strong with thousands of “long time customers” its simply the most prudent way to deal with impatient customers in order to deal with the many patient customers who understand the service we deliver. Many thanks and blessings, Ken

    Reply created 25 Jan 2018
  • Review from HomeOwner
    Rating: 1 out of 5
    Review left on 23 Jan 2018

    Unacceptable service!

    Like previous reviewers, we have been with Metro/ Appleseed for several years. Last years service did deteriorate, but with reassurances that service would improve because of equipment and route changes, we stayed with them. Now we are wishing we hadn’t! Christmas Day was a big disappointment. We had a lot of snow Christmas Eve, and like many of us, company coming for Christmas dinner. Unfortunately we received an email saying It might be hard to get his drivers out on Christmas Day! My husband had to clear our driveway to ensure a place to park for company. We will change next year! Our neighbour’s lane is always cleared, so we know it is doable for some companies.

    Answer from pro:

    Every review on here good or bad is a chance for Metro, my staff and myself to learn and improve and I read and take each review very seriously. I’ve seen a general thread of the same complaints in most ‘negative reviews’ so I’m going to give a ‘general response’ to these reviewers and those of the “public’ who read them. Some are constructive and polite, some are just downright mean and personal. I get peoples ‘frustrations when it snows’ and they wait, Ive been doing snow clearing for 25 years now. The business hasn’t really change, people have for the most part. I believe some blunt honesty and perspective is required here and going forward. * Let’s keep things in relative perspective here: There’s a good reason we are by far the largest company out there with over 10,000 long time customers. We are in fact very reliable, efficient and customer oriented After 25 years of reliable service this is the reason Metro became so large. We have more tractors, more Drivers and a great ‘snow clearing system’ that does in fact work for everybody. When you see even 50 ‘poor reviews’ on here what you don’t see are the 9,950 ‘happy, satisfied customers’ who have used us for many,many years. I’m not dismissing any negative review of course but the % of ‘unhappy clients’ is under .005 %. Thats incredibly good actually considering the many customers we serve reliably every storm without complaint . All but a few are first time users to a snow clearing service. * Last minute/late signups ‘just’ before storms. Most complainants/bad reviews here stem from ‘late signups’, people who waiterd until the very last minute or during a storm to call us. No stakes were put in, they didn’t get on the ‘drivers list’ and subsequently were missed during snow events. For this I do apologize. Lesson learned! We will absolutely NOT accept clients after December 1st in future years or bother trying to assist those people late in looking fora service. This now solves the issue of late signups and the problems (and bad reviews) that accompany ‘last minute’ sign up requests. * Bullying about complaints: I have never ‘bullied’ or discouraged ANY customer from complaining. This is simply unfair and untrue and spoken out of obvious frustration. I accept the frustration. We have an effective, easy method on our website to address issues and it does work...if used. I have however made it abundantly clear to all customers through emails, the contract signed and other methods that ‘if you are aggressive, rude, threatening or belligerent’ in any way to the staff or myself then your issue will simply be ignored. If it continues, your contract will be cancelled and funds refunded. I make absolutely no apologies for this policy. The business is stressful enough, my trusted staff work long hard hours to serve everyone professionally and by virtue of the fact you paid us a few hundred dollars for a service either you can’t do or choose not to do does NOT give one the right to treat others poorly. Yes, I know its frustrating not getting cleared quickly but every snow company out there faces the same problems as Metro. I know this because snow operators discuss snow business almost weekly amongst us. I just choose to be less tolerant with rude customers then most but that’s my choice to support and protect my staff. I relish complaints!.......It’s the approach taken to deliver these complaints we police. * “I’m always the last or missed! Yes, a few clients may be missed over the course of the winter for various reasons. Drivers are human, backups go in to help and miss a driveway. Cars are in the way, poor visibility of a house number, late graders go by after the driver has long ago left. In almost ALL complaints we check the customer was NOT missed. We simply didn’t get there as fast as they wanted us there. We hear from the people at the end of our lists, the completion hears from the clients at the end of their lists. Not everyone can be at ‘the front of the list”. * People don’t actually read or understand their contracts: Our contracts are very clear. Our ‘service delivery times’ are also very clear. We have a 97% ‘service compliance’ rate within the ‘time service thresholds’ stated in the contract. Our GPS reports for each tractor justify these times are met. THIS is why we have a 93% ‘renewal rate’ each year. This is why we are so large. * They don’t respond. To be clear, even with so many customers I still read every email that comes through. I personally respond to about half of these and the Customer Service Reps respond to the remainder. BUT, when you email us 10 times in an hour (many still do) of course we won’t continually respond. We’ve asked countless times to send ONE ‘issue ticket’ then the auto reply STATES ‘we have it’ and ‘will address it’. Same with the phones....to those that state in there reviews “I called 10 times!” And their ‘voicemail is full”. Yes it is! And you’re the reason it is! * Unrealistic Expectations * Most reviews here are from 1st time snow company users having never used a clearing service. Some simply don’t understand how it works. * Many simply enter with unrealistic expections on how ‘snow clearing works’ . * People hear what they want to hear, read only what they want to read and I get it BUT this is not a small “man with plow’ company. We are a large corporate snow clearing operation with many staff and many moving parts. * Graders go by continually on Bus Routes and Collector roads creating problems. We should be charging more for these streets and most likely will be in the future. Anyway, I’m sorry of course that some customers don’t wish to understand or accept the ‘style and policies’ I use in dealing with customers, it’s not ‘rudeness’ lack of caring, or lack of empathy’. Being upfront and honest with people is just my style and for those many customers who read the many emails over the winters know, we are a fair and very hardworking company that cares. After 25 years and still going strong with thousands of “long time customers” its simply the most prudent way to deal with impatient customers in order to deal with the many patient customers who understand the service we deliver. Many thanks and blessings, Ken

    Reply created 25 Jan 2018
  • Review from Customer of Metro Snow & Ice Management
    Rating: 0 out of 5
    Review left on 20 Jan 2018

    BEWARE!!!

    First let me start by saying I am NOT new to snow removal services. In fact I have been a customer of Metro(Appleseed) for several years. Last year service deteriorated, but I decided to give the company another chance this year seeing as how the owner sent out an early email to his renewal customers saying that he had hired more tractors and adjusted routes and service would be much improved this year. HA!! ABSOLUTELY THE WORST SERVICE EVER!! AS oF Jan 1st, my laneway still had not been cleared once!!! Several emails to the company, excuses excuses, excuses, blah blah blah. And this is how they treat long time customers! Do yourseles a favor people AVOID the aggravation of this company at all costs. Submitted for a refund 18 days ago and still waiting! Exactly the kind of service you can expect from Metro!

    Answer from pro:

    Every review on here good or bad is a chance for Metro, my staff and myself to learn and improve and I read and take each review very seriously. I’ve seen a general thread of the same complaints in most ‘negative reviews’ so I’m going to give a ‘general response’ to these reviewers and those of the “public’ who read them. Some are constructive and polite, some are just downright mean and personal. I get peoples ‘frustrations when it snows’ and they wait, Ive been doing snow clearing for 25 years now. The business hasn’t really change, people have for the most part. I believe some blunt honesty and perspective is required here and going forward. * Let’s keep things in relative perspective here: There’s a good reason we are by far the largest company out there with over 10,000 long time customers. We are in fact very reliable, efficient and customer oriented After 25 years of reliable service this is the reason Metro became so large. We have more tractors, more Drivers and a great ‘snow clearing system’ that does in fact work for everybody. When you see even 50 ‘poor reviews’ on here what you don’t see are the 9,950 ‘happy, satisfied customers’ who have used us for many,many years. I’m not dismissing any negative review of course but the % of ‘unhappy clients’ is under .005 %. Thats incredibly good actually considering the many customers we serve reliably every storm without complaint . All but a few are first time users to a snow clearing service. * Last minute/late signups ‘just’ before storms. Most complainants/bad reviews here stem from ‘late signups’, people who waiterd until the very last minute or during a storm to call us. No stakes were put in, they didn’t get on the ‘drivers list’ and subsequently were missed during snow events. For this I do apologize. Lesson learned! We will absolutely NOT accept clients after December 1st in future years or bother trying to assist those people late in looking fora service. This now solves the issue of late signups and the problems (and bad reviews) that accompany ‘last minute’ sign up requests. * Bullying about complaints: I have never ‘bullied’ or discouraged ANY customer from complaining. This is simply unfair and untrue and spoken out of obvious frustration. I accept the frustration. We have an effective, easy method on our website to address issues and it does work...if used. I have however made it abundantly clear to all customers through emails, the contract signed and other methods that ‘if you are aggressive, rude, threatening or belligerent’ in any way to the staff or myself then your issue will simply be ignored. If it continues, your contract will be cancelled and funds refunded. I make absolutely no apologies for this policy. The business is stressful enough, my trusted staff work long hard hours to serve everyone professionally and by virtue of the fact you paid us a few hundred dollars for a service either you can’t do or choose not to do does NOT give one the right to treat others poorly. Yes, I know its frustrating not getting cleared quickly but every snow company out there faces the same problems as Metro. I know this because snow operators discuss snow business almost weekly amongst us. I just choose to be less tolerant with rude customers then most but that’s my choice to support and protect my staff. I relish complaints!.......It’s the approach taken to deliver these complaints we police. * “I’m always the last or missed! Yes, a few clients may be missed over the course of the winter for various reasons. Drivers are human, backups go in to help and miss a driveway. Cars are in the way, poor visibility of a house number, late graders go by after the driver has long ago left. In almost ALL complaints we check the customer was NOT missed. We simply didn’t get there as fast as they wanted us there. We hear from the people at the end of our lists, the completion hears from the clients at the end of their lists. Not everyone can be at ‘the front of the list”. * People don’t actually read or understand their contracts: Our contracts are very clear. Our ‘service delivery times’ are also very clear. We have a 97% ‘service compliance’ rate within the ‘time service thresholds’ stated in the contract. Our GPS reports for each tractor justify these times are met. THIS is why we have a 93% ‘renewal rate’ each year. This is why we are so large. * They don’t respond. To be clear, even with so many customers I still read every email that comes through. I personally respond to about half of these and the Customer Service Reps respond to the remainder. BUT, when you email us 10 times in an hour (many still do) of course we won’t continually respond. We’ve asked countless times to send ONE ‘issue ticket’ then the auto reply STATES ‘we have it’ and ‘will address it’. Same with the phones....to those that state in there reviews “I called 10 times!” And their ‘voicemail is full”. Yes it is! And you’re the reason it is! * Unrealistic Expectations * Most reviews here are from 1st time snow company users having never used a clearing service. Some simply don’t understand how it works. * Many simply enter with unrealistic expections on how ‘snow clearing works’ . * People hear what they want to hear, read only what they want to read and I get it BUT this is not a small “man with plow’ company. We are a large corporate snow clearing operation with many staff and many moving parts. * Graders go by continually on Bus Routes and Collector roads creating problems. We should be charging more for these streets and most likely will be in the future. Anyway, I’m sorry of course that some customers don’t wish to understand or accept the ‘style and policies’ I use in dealing with customers, it’s not ‘rudeness’ lack of caring, or lack of empathy’. Being upfront and honest with people is just my style and for those many customers who read the many emails over the winters know, we are a fair and very hardworking company that cares. After 25 years and still going strong with thousands of “long time customers” its simply the most prudent way to deal with impatient customers in order to deal with the many patient customers who understand the service we deliver. Many thanks and blessings, Ken

    Reply created 25 Jan 2018