On Side Restoration Services Ltd.

After 24 years without a problem, this April we had flooding in our basement living space. We contacted our insurance who recommended Onside for the repair. After waiting until the frost was gone we were able to fortify the foundation and schedule the repairs. Onside scheduled their people to come in after the repairs were done. After the repair job was complete and while the contents were being returned to the house, a family heirloom was broken, that was June 1st and its August now but we have still not been reimbursed for the damages. The item was broken because it wasnt handled properly, thats negligence and it never should have happened. It was handled poorly and it was broken, gone forever and theres nothing anyone can do now to bring it back. You would think Onside would want to make the best of a situation like that but it doesnt seem to be a priority. Onside have irretrievably damaged our property and given the resolution the lowest priority possible. I expect their suppliers get paid in a reasonable amount of time but a customer who has already been traumatized by the damage cause by flood now has to endure the loss of a precious family heirloom and be made to wait a ridiculous amount of time . Its cruel and insensitive not to mention the additional stress and anxiety not knowing when if ever Onside will provide their promised resolution.
The workers who mis-handled the item were very apologetic and sympathetic which was appreciated but that only felt better for about 5 minutes. On June 1st we were told the item would be taken away to be appraised and we would be reimbursed for its value. A few weeks and many follow up phone calls later we were told they were waiting for multiple appraisals. They callously offered us $90 so we commissioned our own appraisal based on pictures of the broken article. It was appraised with an insurance value in excess of $1,500 USD. At one point we were told it was out of the hands of the people we had been talking to and they told us to call the Operations Manager who sent us right back to the people we started with. At this point it became clear that no one was really dealing with this at all. More phone calls and more sympathetic promises and then it was July. At this time (after a month) Onside disclosed that they actually had no other appraisals and would honor the one we had paid for. We escalated to the territory manager who assured us the project manager would take care of it. Onside then asked for a release so they could process the claim, so we signed their release and a few more weeks passed by. We kept calling and were told its being processed and all the approvals were in place. We should see payment in next week or two. Now its August but still no sign of any resolution. The people were able to talk to say they dont have visibility into where the process has stopped but assure us it will be resolved soon. Tree weeks ago they said it would be done in two weeks but still nothing.
This family heirloom was the only thing we had left from the generations past, it can never be replaced and although management staff are externally kind, polite and seemingly helpful the reality is that nothing is being done to provide closure. The Project managers can be hard to reach and didnt communicate well throughout the project. To this day they still say they cant tell us when the claim will be processed (but rest assured it is in the works). How hard would it be to call the right people and push the process along. This is a failure from the top down. The operations manager should be interested enough to take notice and make sure the loop gets closed. The territory manager should know enough about the business to find the person thats holding up the claim and ask them to move it along. Instead no one is taking responsibility and we are left dangling. Congratulations Onside you have made us feel like were invisible and dont matter. Compensating a customer for damage to customer property caused by your people should be a number one priority. If you want happy customers and isnt that what you want when youre in business?
While Onside did complete the repairs, they score a big fat zero when it comes to customer service. Unreachable project managers whose voicemails advise you to call someone else who is even less accessible. So you call the head office they promise you someone will call you back, then when you do get a call back, more promises are made and not kept requiring more phone calls. Wash rinse repeat

Has been going onto 7 months, no organization, job not done, dont know how they are still in business. Absolutely no customer service.

Update- a response on this site but still no contact from ANY of the avenues used to contact and address concerns.

This company has been a nightmare to deal with. There has been absolutely no coordination of the trades, which is their role. Workers came without instruction or notice, and the quality of the work has been subpar at best.

Despite escalating issues to the complaints department and the general manager (as the responses to poor reviews suggest), no one has even contacted me to address concerns. I am now dealing directly with my insurance company, hiring trades myself and trying to get the quality issues addressed.

In reading these reviews, I see individuals citing months to get their claims resolved. It has been 14 months for me.

Do not deal with this company and steer clear at any cost!

This company was a disaster from the start. A small reno that should have taken no more than 2 months ended up taking almost 8 months in part because the project manager Steve is completely incompetent. The day to day workers were great, but anytime we would ask for an update or when they were coming to finish we would wait days for Steve to respond and often we would end up messaging him multiple times for an update. If I knew it was going to take them this long I would have done the job myself.

My insurance company recommended onside as on of their preferred providers to replace my hardwood flooring as a result of a flood in my condo apartment in June 2021. When I contacted them they were very pleasant and arrived to my home for an estimate of damage. Because of Covid the advised that material would not be available until fall. I decided to have them change my kitchen flooring as well (at my cost)

They finally arrived with their crew in November of 2021 and because they had to remove of the furniture so that they could take up the flooring and replace with new I had to leave my home for a period of 2 weeks. When I arrived on a Sunday I spent a good part of the day cleaning up sawdust, coffee cups and cigarette butts on the balcony, pile remaining flooring in the corner and then move saws and heavy pry bars. I then realized that they had put many dents in my brand new refrigerator I presume from placing he's pry bars against it. The flooring had numerous gaps, and they did not sort the material as I now have numerous black boards that should never have been used. They have filled a number of the gaps (because they did not tape the boards together) and there is glue on the floor which will require a cleaner to remove. Furthermore, they did not follow my instructions to hide cable wiring despite my placing at least 1 dozen signs around the place and no transition moulding was purchased at the time the order was placed. It is now January 2022 and my floor is still a mess with numerous gaps and the transition moulding is not in place, a floor tile has to be replaced because it has a fairly large flaw in the middle of the floor and I have yet to receive a new refrigerator door. I have been advised that dit will likely be end of January before the job is complete.
When the manger arrived I showed him /them the workmanship and frankly he agreed that the flawed flooring should not have been used and that the cracks and blemishes should have been fixed.
I advised that I truly regret using the company and if it was not so much hassle would have them remove the flooring and I would go with a laminate. It has been 8 months and the job is still incomplete and absolutely unprofessional.
Terribly disappointed and despite the recommendation of the Insurer would never recommend them again.

We had a toilet leak from upstairs which led to a flood in our rental unit. Insurance adjuster set us up with Brock from On Side. The guy did not respond to our adjuster’s and our emails or phone calls for 4 weeks. After 4 weeks he contacted us to schedule a quote assessment. On the day of assessment, he did not show up. He didn’t answer to calls or emails. No one could track him down so we wasted an hour to get to the site and an hour waiting in the lobby. His supervisor Wade said he would reschedule us for the following week but we got no response. We didn’t get any apology or follow up so we had to go with another company. We have met flaky tradesmen before but never seen a tradesman so irresponsible, unprofessional and unresponsive before. We have advised our insurance company not to use this Brock specifically anymore.

Stay away from this company at all costs! Poor communication starting with the site supervisor all the way down to the workers. Time lines not kept, poor workmanship, damage to personal property by workers. Insurance companies should not use this company as preferred vendors and we strongly advise finding a different company.

We were charged multiple over time hours for restoration work because an employee locked the keys in the company vehicle. We tried to have the bill adjusted by the amount overcharged to know avail. It was an asbestos matter and it took them 5-6 days to show up to seal the asbestos and then got a ridiculous bill. We will never call them again.

We hired Onside for a blockage repair caused from a clogged pipe that was overflowing our toilet. We couldn't find any plumbers available within a couple hours and was forced to choose these guys. The good thing about hiring them is that they are fast. A team arrived at our property quickly and started working right away. We had high hopes for Onside but unfortunately as soon as it came time to payment and issuing an invoice, Onside's customer service immediately changed.

Without my knowledge, they overcharged, overstaffed and worked overtime hours which totaled to a bill at least 3x what it normally should be. What they don't tell you or clarify in the authorization ahead of time is that they require multiple staff and even different companies to be involved to solve one issue because Onside itself can't handle it. That itself is mind boggling as they are marketed as an emergency repair company. According to the invoice and conversations with manager Brock there was over 8 staff members involved in a few hour-long job all with different hourly rates that we were forced to pay. Just to cover the hourly rates and staff charges was over $2 grand!!! On top of that they also automatically do additional testing and lab work which is another hefty charge. You have to pay for every minute, every material, every item used which is way higher than needed or any other company. I've never seen a company within the industry break down their fees and rates like this before.

We kindly explained to Brock that we were shocked at the charges and extra hours of staff and labour applied without out knowledge or consent and did not feel it was fair to pay for things we did not require or ask for. Brock immediately was very rude, defensive, and threatening to us and as customers, made us feel very neglected.

I highly DO NOT recommend this company and advise you to stick to a regular plumbing/repair company to ensure you are paying fair market prices and have complete trust in their work. These guys will not only rip you off they will disregard your requests and treat you poorly. Very unhappy with how this situation played out. If only we were treated fairly and professionally, we could have felt differently about them.

One of the worst experiences I’ve had with a company. Staff started out nice, but communication quickly stopped. I got different timelines from different people, and cleaning was not done well. Teams of at least 5 people were coming in every night, and barely anything was completed by morning.

Melissa just called me to update(?). I let her know how disappointed I was, and that their work would not be finished by Friday night, when promised. I was very professional with her, but she insisted on talking over me. When I continued speaking, she hung up on me mid sentence.

0 out of 5 stars. They should be embarrassed.