Handyman Matters

I hired Handyman matters after reading favourable reviews here. I had one person come out and do a small job for me (drywalling), and give me an idea of cost for the remainder of the larger job. The first job was done promptly and I have no complaints.

The gentleman who did the first job called me and told me that the next job would cost about $2K and would require 2 guys for 2 days. I called the main number and told them that, and booked time for a few weeks in advance. I confirmed with the main office who had given me the outline of timing and price. The day before the job I called and confirmed that we were on for 9AM the next day. Tenants were made aware of the situation, building inspections were booked, and the main floor resident moved out for 2 days to accomodate the workers.

At 8:55 the next morning I received a call from the guy who was going to do the job, informing me he was sick and that we'd need to start later. I explained that I would need to be there to go over what had to be done, and he told me that he "knew what he was doing" and would be there at 10:30. I couldn't be there, so I left a typewritten list.

At 2:30 I received a call from him (seemingly he had just shown up), and he told me that he didn't know so much had to be done and there was no way the job could be done in the next 2 days as verbally quoted and then scheduled. No one at Handyman Matters had ordered drywall or any of the other materials required. Since everything had been scheduled around this being done in 2 days, this was a problem. I called the main office and was told that they couldn't provide me with any of the other materials. I was told that if I could find a company to deliver the materials to them by the next morning, then they could do the job. After racing around, I had 15 sheets of drywall and 2 doors arranged to be delivered by the next morning. When I called Handyman Matters to let them know, I was then informed that, despite what they had told me earlier EVEN WITH THE MATERIALS they would not be able to do the job until some time next week.

At this point I decided not to proceed, because despite having someone come out, give me a verbal quote, dealing with the head office to book it, calling to confirm - they didn't do the job this time. What would need to happen for them to do the job the second time?

The ineptitude of this company is shocking, and they truly didn't seem to care that the lives of tenants/inspectors/owners had been arranged around this.

**UPDATE - RESPONSE TO JIM ABBOTT**

A few items that I would like to address. #1 - I am a single woman with a small car arranging a construction job, I would have NEVER signed on to somehow cart 15 sheets of drywall, 2 fire doors and a bunch of construction equipment that is entirely foreign to me. Your employee who came out to do the original job and give me a price for the additional work stated that they would bring the materials.

#2 - You state that some things are just out of your control and that in this case it was a sick tradesperson. That is not the case. I was told by two people at your organization on the day the job was supposed to be done that the job was too big for one person and no one had booked any additional help. The sick tradesperson was only one small portion of a number of failures on your end.

#3 - I only hung up after:
A) Being told the materials were completely unavailable and that if I could source them myself the job would proceed, only to be told after I sourced the materials (within 15 minutes) that the job could not proceed because the job had not been scheduled correctly
B) I was told that my only option was to re-book for another time. Why would I rebook with a company who was obviously so unorganized and inadequate?

Thanks for the opportunity to reply. Just as an FYI - I never received a call to apologise from Jim Abbott, who says he cares very much about clients experiences with his company.

We had another company do the job and it was done beautifully, and on time.