New Canadian Drain & Plumbing Ltd

We advise the following: When these fellows bid on a job for you, get an estimate from them of the number of hours that they will require for the work, and ask for an estimate of the materials cost. Then do the math, and see what the hourly rate for the work comes to.

The following is our side of the story.

In our case, the estimate provided was $1500 for the removal of a concrete laundry sink, installation of a new plastic sink (for which we paid), and replacement of taps and drains. My wife agreed to this estimate under some time pressure--the old tap had started leaking in a stream, and the sink had been cracked and leaking for some time, I was out of town. She allowed work to commence, believing the verbal estimate to be just that--an estimate.

The plumber was four hours late on the second day, which is when he finally coughed up the written estimate--which appeared in the form of an invoice, such that after the fact, he could claim that she had signed off on the work. Neither payment terms nor arrival time and finish time appeared on the invoice. At that point, my wife felt under great pressure to sign, not understanding the scope of the work to be done, but with errands to run in the two business hours left in the day, a child to pick up at day care, and a long Thanksgiving weekend ahead without laundry facilities. She returned four hours later; the plumber was still working. He left as she was putting the kids to bed. She did not sign off on the work. The plumber had removed the old sink to this extent: he had taken it outside and piled it beside the front porch, with jagged metal protruding from it in an unsafe manner.

On Thanksgiving Monday, the plumber called to say that he had lost the Visa information. We noted that the old sink had not been taken away--just piled up at the side of the house. We called into question both the completion of the work and the astonishing price, considering the time spent--seven hours of work with perhaps $200 of materials (and probably significantly less)--$185 per hour.

Note that a unionized plumber in Ontario, as of 2004, made $43.50 per hour; journeymen earn, on average $30, according to payscale.com. Considering the cost of doing business--office, equipment, and fleet expenses, I would happily pay $100 per hour. Other Web resources suggest that, for an emergency call, $100 for the first hour and $75 for each subsequent hour is reasonable.

I can infer that if the plumber had not lost the Visa information, we would have seen nothing of him and would have been on the hook for disposing of the concrete. The missing Visa information was evidently a problem sufficient for him to return to the house, put the debris into his van, and then ask again for payment in full. We declined, saying that we would take the matter up with the company.

However, any attempt to negotiate with the company on the price was met with intimidation and coercion: "We must receive payment today or it is going to collection agency and will destroy your credit". This on the first business day after work had been done.

This matter will go to the Better Business Bureau, and possibly to small claims court. It appears to us that the company is in violation of several aspects of the Consumer Protection Act, 2002, which says that a representation is unconscionable--and therefore illegal--when "the person making the representation or the person's employer or principal knows or ought to know...that the price grossly exceeds the price at which similar goods or services are readily available to like consumers". In addition, according to the Act, a future performance agreement (which I interpret the written estimate to be) did not include terms and methods of payment--opening us up to the coercive language in our negotiations.

In terms of standing up for our rights before the work was done, we may not have done sufficient homework. (We did check HomeStars, which to our surprise had nothing but glowing ratings. Until now.)

Oh--and a note to anyone reading this from New Canadians--this is just the start, folks.

We had a leak in our basement and we called a drain company and they quoted us a high price stating that there was a lot of work to be done. We then called New Canadian Drain and Plumbing and Igor came up with a better solution and the price was much less and work was done right away and we have not had any more problems. This company is very organized and the employees were very skilled on the job.

It all started with my 2-year flushing a toy car down the toilet.

Needless to say, it rendered the toilet useless. I called another company, and they had a technician out the next day. He arrived on time, with the little shoe covers, etc.

He removed the toilet to get at the toy, and reset the toilet. It was pretty much downhill from there.

After "fixing" the problem, he flushed the toilet once to show it was working. The flush was less powerful than before my son sent the toy down. Yes, you could argue that I should have had the toilet flushed several times with toilet paper before saying "OK", but you know what they say about hindsight...

Later, that day, when we actually USED the toilet, it was apparent it was not "fixed". I called the original company back, and their response was basically "the toy was removed, we did our job - if you think there's another problem, we can send a technician out to scope your line for $250"

WHAT?!?!

How about "we'll send the technician back to have another look"?

Obviously, I declined the offer to be relieved of another $250 [especially considering the toilet worked fine 2 days prior]

I decided if I was going to spend more $$$, I'd at least try a different company, with hopes they were more ethical

New Canadian sent out a plumber the next day [albeit 4 hours late]. Within 20 min of plunging, the toilet was operational again!!!

I'd recommend this company over that "other one" any day. I'm reluctant to mention the "other company" for fear this review gets suppressed. However, I'm sure you can check my other reviews, etc

A final word of wisdom to those who ever have ANY plumber come by to fix a toilet... Never pay and let him or her leave without having THREE flushes go down successfully, WITH a wad of toilet paper each flush.

Re: New Canadian Drain & Plumbing Ltd.

My wife and I have utilized the services of New Canadian Drain & Plumbing Ltd. on several occasions over the years, both residentially and commercially. We have always been pleased with the services provided. New Canadian Drain & Plumbing Ltd. has been competent, professional, and competitively priced. The service technicians have provided accurate and honest assessments as to the work to be done, and completed the required work in a timely and neat manner. Igor Luzskov, the President of the company, has always been accessible if needed, and took a personal interest in the various projects we retained his company to do for us. We have no hesitation in recommending New Canadian Drain & Plumbing Ltd. for plumbing/drain related services. Roman Zarowsky, Barrister & Solicitor.

My disaster of a house required me to have the basement floor ripped up and sewer/drainage replaced. While the scope began as pretty straightforward, as the project went on the crew found problem after problem. Each new issue was brought to my attention, thoroughly explained and costed out for me. The professional manner in which Yuri and the other plumbers addressed me and my home is without parallel. Not only did they plumb my house quickly and efficiently, they brought to my attention areas to "troubleshoot" for future reference.

I would recommend the company without hesitation.

Michael and I are very happy and satisfied with the workmanship and customer service provided by New Canadian Drain & Plumping. They efficiently removed the old rusty drain pipe installed the new drain pipe and rebuild the old drain to ensure the basement is safe from spills and clogging. We would definitely recommend/use thier service em again - Thank You

Steve, Igor and the team at New Canadian were great to work with. They were informative, professional and took very good care of the work site/property. Their post-completion service was very timely and they were always easy to deal with. We would highly recommend them.

THis company was very professional. They listened us carefully and completed the job quickly and met our expectations. Two guys who worked in our project Bogdan and Tadek were exceptional. If I need to have plumbing work done in the future I will definitely ask for them. They are a real asset to this compnay.

Water from my laundry backed up at the basement drain. A quick camera inspection showed the problem was outside. Work was done well and as scheduled with excellent cleanup afterwards. They took extra care with my garden with no work required by me. Any questions I asked were clearly and patiently answered. I highly recommend them.

I placed a call to New Canadian Drain & Plumbing Ltd. Friday evening where I got a live person and not voicemail. An appointment was immediately made for Monday at 7:00 a.m. where Steve Martel and his associate came over and gave me a quote. After agreeing, a crew of 2 men came over an hour later and commenced the job. I have to say these guys and their service was phenomenal. I would like to thank Nick and his associate for a job well done - and fast. Nick - you are the best! MDS