Cochrane Customer

I was experiencing problems with my soft water and called Pete the Plumber. I had some questions as to what would be recommended, so was put through to Pete directly. He recommended a new soft water machine and iron filtration system since we live on an acreage property. The install was booked within a couple of weeks. The day of the install technician Zach and an apprentice came and we all discussed together the placement of the new equipment since there were 3 additional pieces that would need to be installed in place of my old water softener and we needed adequate space. As you can see from the photo of the equipment, they needed a lot of space. They hauled the equipment down to the basement, complaining about how heavy it was. I offered them a drink, and brought them coffee down to the basement. I later returned to check on how they were doing and Zach complained about the girl who booked this appointment in. He complained that it was a 6 hour job and she only booked it for 3. He was upset with her, but that wasn't my fault. I went back upstairs and left them to it. Later I went to check on them again and they were installing the equipment in a very tight space between the sump pump and the furnace, contrary to what we had discussed before the job began. I questioned why they were installing it there, and explained that this is not what we had discussed, and in fact I would not be able to change the furnace filter nor remove the lid to my sump pump for servicing, let alone being able to access the softener to add the salt, etc. Zach got very angry and stated that he was installing it there because it was easier for him. I told him that I didn't want it there, that it wouldn't fit, and that it needed to be installed where there was more space as we had already discussed. He got very angry and told me that if he was going to move it, he was going to tack another $300 onto my bill. I told him I was not comfortable with him installing the equipment at all any more, that he was fired, and he needed to leave the property and take the equipment with him. I informed them that I needed to leave the house in half an hour to take my homeschooled children to chess. I left them alone. 20 minutes later they still were downstairs doing god knows what, but they hadn't started hauling their equipment or any of their tools out. I went back downstairs and asked what was taking them so long to leave. Zach told me very rudely that they weren't hauling the equipment back up the stairs and were finishing the job. I told him to leave immediately. They refused again. I screamed at them and told them that they had 10 minutes to get out of my house or I was calling RCMP. Finally they listened and left the house, stating that they were not turning our water back on for us. They left the house, however they remained parked inside the property, inside the gate and fence, and wouldn't leave. Zach informed me that he called Pete directly, and Pete told him not to leave unless he had a cheque for the full amount in hand. I refused, and told him to have Pete call me directly. Because I needed to leave, I had to leave the gate to my property open so they could get out and would not be trapped in, and therefore I needed to get my 2 large acreage dogs into my vehicle so I could leave with my kids so they wouldn't run away when we left with the open gate. When we returned home later, they were gone, They left us without water connection for the night, so the next day I called another plumbing company to come out to help us. I never did hear from Pete or anyone from the company until we received a notice from Land Titles that they had placed a writ on the property title. I contacted Pete the Plumber and was put in touch with their court agent, who had gone to court to obtain a default judgement, by serving it to an incorrect address. I hired a court agent costing several hundred dollars to have this judgement reversed, and finally will to attend court to defend my position against this company.

The company response is false and misleading. They are fully aware, it was ONLY THEIR company, VALLEY VIEW, who had been out on previous occasions and charged for the service call on previous occasions. Also contrary to their claim, their tech spent only 20 minutes looking at the unit, didn't seem to know what he was doing, and then gave a bogus "rewiring" quote. They charged for this service call and the part and replaced the same part that they had replaced upon their last visit several months ago. No one from the company would come back out for a second opinion unless I agreed to pay the quote of $800 - $1000. Their claim of mouse droppings causing the unit to break are also false. The company is very hard to deal with and very rude also, I imagine they are very tired of dealing with dissatisfied customers. After no success in dealing with this company, I hired another company also referred by the dishwasher manufacturer, who replaced a missing float in the dishwasher, likely removed by Valley View's technician on their last visit. They thoroughly checked wiring to be all ok, and replaced some screws left unattached by Valley View's technician. I have still not heard back from Steve or anyone from the company regarding this, even though there is no excuse, they are now fully aware of my issues with the service I have received and paid for. Valley View Appliances was referred to me directly from Bosch, as a repair company for my Bosch dishwasher as it was not draining and continued to refill and cycle without turning off. Several months ago, after much waiting, missed appointments without notification, and no apologies, replaced a valve which temporarily fixed the dishwasher. When the dishwasher was not draining yet again, I called them and told them it seemed like the same problem. We waited weeks for them to come, then they rescheduled the appointment saying that they knew what the problem was and had to order a part so there would be a further delay. We waited and finally they came to replace the valve again, but now the dishwasher is not even turning on. Weeks later the tech claimed that there is $1000 of electrical work on the dishwasher that needs to be done and that was the problem. I discovered afterward that they charged my credit card $146.49, for the second time. After 3 requests for reply they finally provided me with a copy of the bill. When I enquired with Valley View they said they would not offer another opinion, and to call another company. If they were to come back to take another look I would be charged $1000 for their quote. I asked to speak to the manager, Steve, I was told "he'd get to me when he'd get to me". Very unhelpful and arrogant. Still have yet to hear from him. I called a different Appliance repair company also referred by Bosch instead this time and they will be out today to fix the dishwasher, and this is not the first time they had heard about this scenario from Valley View. DO NOT USE VALLEY VIEW APPLIANCES, THEY SHOULD BE PUT OUT OF BUSINESS!