Moulding, potlights, painting. Horrible service!
I was initially excited to hire Alex Mouldings as I wanted as few contractors working on my house as possible. I had two weeks before moving into my new house to get the additional work done and had built a schedule. Alex wanted to come a day early. fine. But then he missed a few days, the whole project took 2 days longer than quoted, and he would come late and not acknowledge when we told him that he had to leave. For example, even though we told him several times that he had to leave by 4pm (on a day he was not originally scheduled to work) he was surprised when we were telling him to go.
Moulding: Adequate work, although the joining on the long pieces was not well sanded and the seam is very visible.
Painting: slow slow slow. When you know you have to do two coats in each room (only two large rooms painted) then why would you wait to start? The painter had to come back on random days to do more painting, which upset our schedules. His edges around our windows and trim were not good, he let paint get on our carpet (that's what drapes are for!) and there were many raised bumps of paint. He also did poor corners around our fireplace.
Potlights: Alex cut two holes in the middle of our family room for potlights, and found that there were studs there. I'm not sure why a stud finder was not used. He patched the holes eventually (weeks later), but never sanded or repainted the ceiling in that place. We had lighting installed in three different rooms and when he extended the existing single light switch to double ones two of the holes were cut too large for the cover and he did nothing to fix the issue. The switch boxes were installed on a slant, not square.
When running the line for the potlights to the breaker box in the basement, Alex removed a safety cover in the box, put in the new breaker, and then did not cover the remaining hole with a new safety panel. This is very dangerous to have the wires exposed. This resulted in a lack of certification when the Electrical Safety Authority representative came for his inspection. We notified Alex Mouldings of this issue several times and it took many, many phone calls. Many appointments were made for Alex to come and fix his error. Every single time he either tried to reschedule or simply failed to show up, resulting in myself or my husband having to stay at home for hours, waiting for him to show up. One time when he didn't show, he called us and said that he would come by some time later in the night. We were so upset and angry that we said that as long as it was DONE today, he could come as late as he liked. We went to bed after midnight. Finally, over 2 months after the work was completed, Alex and his coworker Nick finally came back. Eventually a new cover and an extra breaker were added to the panel to cover the hole. The complete lack of integrity and horrible communication from this company has left us cynical of all contractors. How can a business be run this way? Without electrical certification, my home insurance would not have covered us if there was a fire. It was entirely unacceptable. Even after they finally fixed the breaker box, they never called the Electrical Safety Authority to come and do another inspection! We had been waiting and waiting! The ESA inspector (and very nice guy) happened to be in our neighbourhood, called me up and asked if it ever got done and why doesn't he come by to look at it. THAT is service. Take note, Alex Mouldings, and enjoy your various fines.
All in all, I cannot recommend this company to anyone. The absolute frustration of dealing with people who do not call you, do not answer their phone, do not return messages and only finally show up again when you've sent them a letter from a lawyer is overwhelming.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $1,400.00
- Company Response
We have time set by ESA to come back to fix issues withing that time frame. If its major safety issue ESA will turn power off/breaker off. empty slot in breaker panel was covered with plastic cap and closed behind a metal cover. Learn the law before sending letter from lawyer.