TM in Surrey

I rented a truck from this company a few times, and I always ran into issues with them. The first time we rented a 14' truck, they said we could only rent it to us for a total of 4 hours. As we were booking on short notice, I assumed that they had it reserved for someone else and that is why we had to have it back after only a few hours. When filling out the paperwork, my wife chatted with the girl and she was quite friendly. My wife said we would try our very best to get it back within their time frame, and after the chat she had with my wife, she said she would change our rental time to five hours. She had already printed out the contract with the specified return time, but we didn't ask for an amended contract or for it to show that the return time had been changed. After 4 hours were up, we got a call from an automated system saying that because we didn't return the truck on time we were going to be charged an additional amount. When we returned to the truck, we talked to them saying that my wife had been verbally told that the return time was going to be changed in the system and that we had 5 hours instead of 4. The lady my wife chatted with was there & said that it no uncertain terms, she would NEVER have said that. After talking to the manager, we were not charged the additional amount, but we received a good talking to about how important it is to have the truck returned on time (even though we were within our verbally agreed upon time frame). The next time I rented a truck from these people, I booked the truck 4 weeks in advance, we were needing the truck for a big move & wanted the truck for the full day. They didn't say anything at the time of the booking, but when moving day arrived, they told me that I could only have it for four hours. I told them I needed the truck for a big move and that I booked it four weeks in advance. They told me then that they only book for four hours, and that if I had a big move to do, then I needed a bigger truck rather than more time. As I was moving from a town house complex that had narrow lanes, I wasn't comfortable trying to navigate a 26' truck (they one they were going to offer me). In the end, I took their 14' truck for the four hours, then had to make due with friends trucks for the rest of my move. I didn't like their policy of only renting for four hours, as their website shows that you can indicate how many hours you want. With booking 4 weeks in advance and moving on a non-traditional move date (it was around the 20th of the month), it should have been no problem to have the truck for as long as I needed.

About two years ago, we decided to hire Hillcrest Plumbing, as they were close by & our local paper had noted that they won the consumers choice award for our area a number of years in a row as the best plumbing company (or something along those lines). We just had granite countertops installed in our kitchen, and had purchased an under mount sink & wanted it professionally installed to ensure it was done correctly. The company confirmed that they could do an under mount sink install and we decided to set the appointment. Hillcrest assured us the plumber that they were sending had done many under mount installs in the past, as well as he could install the drains and hook up the dishwasher after installing the sink. I asked what time they would come out, so that I knew how much time I had to go to Home Depot to buy the ABS p-trap, couplings and pipe for him to work with. They assured me that they could supply all material as they had "a store on wheels". I didn't ask at that point what they charged for their "store on wheels", but I should have. The plumber came out & got to work on installing the sink. I left for work and told him that he could call me when he was almost done & I would come home (I work very close to home). He called after a few hours & I came home and inspected the work. The seam in our granite counter top is in the middle of the sink. The way that he attached the sink, he had to screw clips underneath to hold the sink to the underside of the countertop. Rather than using the clips provided by the manufacturer with the sink, he used "all around" (I think that is what is called) to secure it. He really put the screws in tight using his DeWalt impact driver, and that moved the granite. When I got home to inspect the work, he stated that the granite guy didn't know what he was doing & he shouldn't have seamed the granite in the middle of the sink, as it is the worst possible place to put the seam. I expressed to the plumber that I wasn’t happy with the sink install in the fact that it was visually apparent that it had affected the granite. The plumber stated it was granite issue & not a plumbing issue. More concerned about the granite that we just had installed, I quickly looked over the work & reluctantly signed off on it that it was okay. I told the plumber that while I was signing off on the work, I wanted to ensure that I wasn’t going to be bounced between the plumbing company and granite company if there was an issue, and that one of them was going to have to ensure that counter & sink was correct. Afterwards, I spoke with granite installer & he had to tweak under mount sink install in order to fix the granite alignment that the plumbers under mount sink install created. Further, I also had to deal with the bill from Hillcrest Plumbing. I couldn’t' believe that they wanted $500 for the sink install & dishwasher install. The plumber was only there for about 2.5 hours, but they also charge from the time he leaves their store!! I couldn't believe it & questioned the bill. It appeared that the driver was charging me from 8 am, yet he arrived at my house close to 9 am. The store is only about a 5 - 7 minute drive from my house, so I questioned why I was being charged for an hour. I didn’t get much of an answer from Hillcrest on that question, but they stated they would knock off a half hour off the bill, but I felt it should have been more. Speaking of time charged to me, they charged me until he physically drove away from my house. I walked the plumber to the door and noted the time that he physically left my house, but they have a GPS in his van and charged me until he drove away, which was 15 minutes after he walked out my door. Lastly, the amount the company charges for supplies is outrageous. I went through the list of supplies by phone with the supervisor, as they were charging something along the lines of $12.00 for a P-trap (can be bought for $5 at Home Depot), $5.00 for an ABS coupling (which can be bought for roughly $0.75 at Home Depot). The list of expensive materials went on, and on top of that they also charged a flat fee for miscellaneous shop supplies (which I believe was $25.00). Considering they charged me for every single piece of material they used to create the drain, the only thing I could think was miscellaneous supplies would be ABS glue. Considering one can buy a whole can of ABS glue for $5.00 at Home Depot, a “misc shop supply” charge is just another kick in the teeth. When I pointed out the outrageous costs, they said that they provided the “convenience” of bringing the store to me. I could have saved at least 50 - 60% on the cost of their materials by doing a 30 minute shop at Rona or Home Depot & that was worth more to me than their so-called “convenience”. I wasn’t happy with the costing, but was at a point where there was little else I could do in speaking to them, so I left it as it was. After a few days, I noticed some things that I would have liked to have had done differently. Regarding the dishwasher install, he didn’t use the rubber trim pieces between the cabinet & dishwasher. Considering that I had already put the braided water line on the dishwasher & put it through the cabinet along with the drain line, all he had to do was put on trim pieces, slide in the dishwasher & the secure it to the cabinets. I ended having to pull out the dishwasher, put on the trim pieces & then slide it back in myself. As for the drains from the sink he didn't attach a tailpiece to the drain; he simply attached the tailpipe directly to the strainer. The sink is a double sink, and he put the tailpipe on the left side with about 16 - 20 inches down from the sink before putting on the p-trap. The right side ABS pipe then comes down at a 45” angle and attaches to the left tailpipe above the p-trap. This set up was done rather than two horizontal pipes meeting into a vertical. At the time, I thought it was an interesting way of doing the drain, and it provided room under our cabinet for a garbage can (as the sinks are very deep). However, in doing the drains this way, the water had to fall 16-20 inches or so before hitting the p-trap. So after doing dishes or running water, you can hear the drips from the strainer to the p-trap and it is very loud and annoying. Lastly, the p-trap he used doesn't have a clean-out, and with the kitchen sink the most likely to have food debris put down the drain, it only makes sense to use a p-trap with a clean out. In all, it was a pretty bad experience with Hillcrest. On the other hand, I haven’t dealt with many plumbing companies so I don’t know if this is par for the course. I would say that if you are in the market for hiring a plumber that works for a larger company, I would ask them what supplies you need in advance & make your purchase at Home Depot or Rona to save yourself some cash. Further, I would have had the plumber sign something indicating what time he started & what time he finished work at your place. I believe I was over-charged by about an hour of labour on this job, and they simply said they were going by his GPS, rather than the time he actually spent in my home working

I purchased a deal from one of the daily deal sites to have this company mow my lawn, clean up the clippings, fertilize and then do a core aeration. The deal was advertised as $150 value for only $59.00. Prior to providing a review, I would like to disclose the fact that my yard was in terrible condition. One side of my yard is a dandelion farm, while the other is a moss pit. Further, I did have some lawn loungers out on the lawn & did not move them prior to the guys showing up to mow the lawn. My experience started when I bought the deal voucher and it came with instructions to call the company to schedule the service. I called three times in one week, leaving a detailed voice message each time. A representative from the company did not return any of these calls. The following week, I called for the fourth time & left a message, to have the message returned within a few hours. They stated they were over-run with the many calls they had received as a result of the deal & couldn't keep up. I didn't care for the explanation, as the company should have time to return calls & at least schedule the appointments, rather than not returning phone calls. While frustrated with the process of making the appointment, I decided to go ahead & make the appointment. I advised them of the state of my yard & asked them to power rake the lawn first, then do the service. I asked how much the power rake service would be, and they said it would be 2 - 3 hours & that they charged $45 per hour. They told me that the person who comes to my house would let me know ahead of time what estimated time would be, then I could either approve it or not. I told them I wanted it done regardless, but that I would like a ball park figure of whether it would be 2 or 3 hours. Appointment day comes up & they called while I was at work. The person stated they didn't have my address written down correctly & wanted me to confirm it. I did, and then asked if I need to be home to okay the quote for the power raking, or if they could just call me to let me know if they thought it would be 2 or 3 hours. The person said they would not be power raking that day, but that he would leave a quote on my front door & he could return the next week to do it. After the call, I went home within about an hour & the person had already been there & left. The lawn was obviously aerated, but the mowing was done quickly & poorly. Garbage cans near my walk way were not moved & the grass around it was left uncut. At least half a dozen small patches (about one square foot each) of uncut grass could be found around the lawn. There was no evidence of fertilizer used, as specified in the deal voucher, and last but not least, there was no quote left behind for the power raking. My yard is not in great condition, but I purchased this voucher & wanted the power raking done to get started on making my lawn look beautiful. With the many attempts to get in touch with the company, the fact that they didn't schedule the power raking in advance & failed to leave a quote, as well as the poor job they did on mowing the lawn, I was very disappointed in the service. I don't believe the service they provided was worth the $59 I paid, let alone the $150 they state they usually charge for it. Based on my experience with them, I would not use them again, nor would I recommend them to anyone I know.

About 6 or 8 months after having brand new carpet installed throughout our house, my wife decided to call Sears to have them in to clean our carpets. They had an advertised deal for 2 rooms & a hallway for $79 (or a price along those lines). We wanted our family room, stairs/hallway & master bedroom carpets cleaned. My wife & I cleared most furniture out of the way to ensure the cleaner would have access to most/all of the carpet. While her & I were still clearing a few items in the family room, the cleaner started in the bedroom. In less than 4 minutes, he said he was done that room. When I looked, you could see the carpet had the cleaning head moved over it, but I was curious how good of a job he could have done in such a large room in such a short time. As the cleaner came out, he made a horrible sales pitch by saying "I'm sorry, there is something I have to tell you. Your House...It smells. I'm sorry, I have to tell you, I'm sorry" He then went on to say that he has a GREAT carpet deoderizer that will take care of the problem & it is such a reasonable price. We politely declined. The carpet cleaner then went on to clean the stairs & I eventually asked him to slow down & take his time. On to the family room, and we had one stain we wanted him to get out. He assured us before hand that it wouldn't come out, went over it once & said he was right. I asked him again to take his time, and he made a few passes over it & the stain came out fine. To finish off the experience, the cleaner then went on to say that he has a stain guard he can apply to the carpets, and that we really should buy it to protect our carpets. We agreed & as he sprayed the carpets, he commented on how smart we were to protect our investment of our brand new carpets with this stain gaurd. After this he then went on to say that while it was good we were putting stain gaurd on, the carpets were cheap quality, made in china, and likely wouldn't last 5 years. Fortunately, he was done at this point & I was very happy to have him leave. I was too mad to call Sears & complain about the cleaner, plus I thought they wouldn't care too much with such a small bill ($79 for a few rooms, then $30 or so for the stain gaurd). I just decided that I won't have them back again to clean our carpets...

My wife & I were in the market for gas fireplace inserts & looked at a few different stores. What we mostly found was sales people/installers who would talk about only their product & why we should buy from them right then. When we went to Gasland, we found a no pressure sales environment, and very friendly staff. The person we dealt with, Klayne, was very friendly & very knowledgable. They were very reasonable on the deposit amount to be paid, as well as scheduling of the install. The installer who came to our home was very friendly, professional, and very efficient at the install. He had two gas log sets removed from our two fireplaces, and two inserts installed within 5 hours. My wife & I have done many projects & renovations over the years, and this was by far one of the easiest. The purchase process was no pressure, the scheduling was convienent, the installer was on time & very good at what he did. In the end, we now have two fireplaces that look fantastic. I think what I like most about this project, that it went exactly as planned...no hitches, no hiccups, no delays and no hidden or unexpected costs.

We spoke with Mark @ Modern Finishes and he installed hardwood flooring in our living room, dining room & kitchen. My wife & I were concerned about the install before hiring an installer, as we wanted the hardwood to run continuously from our living room/dining room & into our kitchen. When Mark looked at the job, he assured us it wasn't a problem & he could ensure a nice install. While Mark could have supplied the hardwood for the install at a reasonable cost, he was more than happy to just install the hardwood that my wife & I already had purchased. We arranged for a specific day for the install, and he arrived early to accomodate our work schedule. The install went exactly as he said it would...he did an amazing job of the install & we were really impressed with not only the quality of his work, but the speed as well. The hardwood he installed runs in long straight lines, with no gaps or flaws in the install. Mark quoted the job, and the final bill was exactly as quoted. The job took two full days, and he was on time both days. At the end of the job, everything was cleaned up...he even swept my entire back patio & shook out my BBQ cover to make sure no saw dust remained. Very professional & friendly. If I were to do another hardwood project in my home, I would call Mark again for sure.

Replaced 3 kitchen windows during our renovation. The quote was competitive with two other quotes we received. The final price was as they quoted. The installers were on time, very friendly and the end job was completely professional, and all left over material was cleaned up when they left.