Blackmail and bullying is the best way to summarize our experience. Please call me at 416 697 2643, I'll provide pictures and documentation from contractors who fixed all his issues. This is not something we typically do, but now that the project is complete and we have contacted a lawyer, I feel it's our duty to make sure others don't have to go through the same horror we did. We originally found Alex on this site and will never use it again based on our awful experience. I'll save everyone a long read. But here is a quick summary. Alex threatened to leave the job the first time out of 5 - 3 days into the project after giving me the extras bill, which we had agreed to no extras without discussing - all of which were core project or gauging. More importantly he already had 80% of the money. We have 2 small children and had no leverage at the time and were living in the midst of a full Reno. 3 of 5 contractors (90 % of work) Alex had never met prior to the project. They all introduced themselves to me when they arrived. His labourer was his nephews friend who he had never done work with before. Alex uses a recruiting service for trades and has none of his own contacts. The ones he did have were just as terrible as he was. He advertises himself as a G C - but refused to provide his number. Because he isn't one. He threatened to call the city and not return to complete the project if we didn't pay him in full for work not completed. He also tried to blackmail us to provide a reference on this site. Hence the link provided by him. We paid him in full to get him out of our lives, 3k not including the cost to fix errors. It was well worth getting Alex out of our lives. We provided him proper notice to end a contract we paid in full (contract is a cut and paste of home depos) even though it wasn't completed and his response was he was going to call the city. He sent us a legal letter that we agree not to post to sites like this one and he is not liable for any work completed. Everything Alex touched in our home is what we had to have fixed. He does not care about workmanship and does not even use a level. All the contractors that we had in to fix his awful work repeatedly commented on the awful work he had done in our home. All he cares about is a good review and pictures. We have to be reminded of the money we wasted and the horrifying experience he put us through on a daily basis. Not only is Alex unapproachable and a bully he his litigious and we expect his bullying to continue. 3 months after fixing all his issues and completing the project, we are now ready . We will update this post with all of Alex s next steps. Do not hire him!!! If for some crazy reason you do - talk to people he has worked for and don't rely on these reviews only since he obviously manipulates and bullies people into writing good things.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $60,000.00
- Company Response
Thank you for your review,
We strive to make all our customers happy and satisfied with the work we provide, however we apologize that you feel that standard was not achieved. Every story has two sides and it's only fair that I provide mine seeing as you're personally attacking my character and my company.
The blackmail and bullying you're referring to, is really greed on your part. That greed can make people have adverse reactions, as this review is something you considered 4 months after the project was only 90% completed. The incompletion being due to you signing a contract and not pertaining to it, putting a stop payment on the cheque (which is considered fraud and a criminal act), attacking and threatening me in your own home and me not wanting to provide anymore free extras . You suggested a third party mediator and my suggestion was a city inspector as a mediator who would inspect my work without bias from beginning to end.
If I had truly threatened to leave 3-5 days into the project, why would I have continued working on the jobsite for another month bringing the job to an almost full completion and send you a link for a review. The only point in time in which I stated I would be leaving is subsequent to you backing me against the wall, threatening and shouting profanity at me in front of all of my subcontractors. All of those subcontractors that I had previously done numerous jobs with, aside from one who I had hired due to my regular floor guy being unavailable. Who my labourers are in relation to me should be of no concern as the job was being done to code at all times.
Numerous times throughout the project, as you kept adding extras to be done (for free might I add), I had asked you to please read the contract (which is not a replica of the Home Depot contract) and the invoice which has the job description. If you had done so, many of these issues would not have risen.
We are a transparent company that has been around for 20 years providing great services to our customers through trust and liability. The allegations you make in this review are false and only have a hurtful intent. I have pictures , emails , text messages and documents to back up , picture of the work i provide for you are posted on this site . As for the availability of my licence and credentials, they are visibly posted on Trusted Pros for any browser to find with ease.
Here is the link (https://trustedpros.ca/company/aandr-renovations-inc)
Looking forward to your pictures and documentation .
Regards,
A and R Renovations.