Duct Cleaning .. avoid at all costs
I found this "company" on Kijiji who offered duct cleaning for $79.99 just as the other reviewer mentioned. Called him up. He started talking for 10 minutes about how duct cleaning is supposed to be done.
I told him I have two houses that need to be done and we set a time. Great. We show up at the first house, he was on time which was nice, but unfortunately there was a mixup with the keys and we lost about 10-15 minutes of our time while we sorted it out.
Great. On to the cleaning. We went into the basement to look at the furnance, with another 15 minute lecture on how the duct cleaning was done incorrectly and he has to cut two holes to do a proper cleaning. Fine. $25 for each hole. Fine. $12 for swapping out the filter. Fine. All of a sudden his $80 post turns into a $140 job for a brand new home built just a couple of months ago. It was also amazingly kind of him to walk upstairs on our brand new carpet in his muddy shoes. Thanks !!!
Before leaving, I asked if he could shove in a cheap $50 matrress in his truck as we didn't need it any more. He accepted and off we went to the second house.
Second house is an older and bigger house (which I already explained in the first phone call and he seemed to be fine with it). Show him the furnace and this is when he became rude and insulting my parents. He said we never cleaned this before, we obviously don't care about our health. Needless to say his price jumped from $80 to $250. When we obviously refused, he started name calling again, saying we are cheap and how he "knows how the women act, they go and shop in dollarama instead of spending in home depot". Very nice words!! Even after all of this, we were trying to negotiate a price with him and he was already packing his stuff and getting ready to leave.
Went to pay him for his first job, and now he's saying we owe him another $35 for "wasting his time". Unbelievable. I offered him an extra $20 and this is where he became his absolute best, he said don't pay him anything at all, and turned around and muttered "so stupid" while he was talking to my 65 year old mother.
He then ran into his truck, locked the doors and tried to drive away while I stood infront of his truck trying to pay him. He wasn't budging, doors locked, windows up. I knocked on his window multiple times while my mother stood infront of the truck and he finally opened a little slot in his window. I threw the money inside and off he went.
The absolute WORST experience in dealing with a company I've ever had. All this from a man who said we need to build trust with each other and that his name is Muhamad and he is an honest and courteous man. I'm sure an honest man like yourself Muhamad wouldn't be texting me the next day saying I didn't pay you the full amount and claiming that we just used you for a mattress delivery.
I would definitely not recommend this "company' to anybody. Buyer beware.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $160.00
- Company Response
While setting up the duct cleaning appointment over the phone, I told him that one job is not worth the distance. If you are booking two houses, then I can come. I was a punctual on my arrival time to their Milton house where as they showed up 15 minutes without the house key. They searched for the house key when it required a password. They did not remember the password and called the builder management in vain. Finally, after 40 minutes, some attend the phone. The customer told me to wait, saying they are giving the door password, but there was no response for another 30 minutes. I told them I am leaving because your house is locked. They said please wait some more, leading to another 25 minutes. I spent one hour and thirty minutes just waiting for them to open the door. Finally, they opened it.
According to my Ad on Kijiji of $79.99 with two hookups, I explained to every customer before starting the job because many of them do not know about duct cleaning system, nor its cleaning process. Final price I told them, with extra hookup was $130 with $10 filter, amount to $140. They agreed upon that $140. Only then did start that job.
After the job’s completion they did not pay on the spot and said they will pay at the second house, but please carry our one mattress from this house (Milton) to second house (Mississauga), a distance of 20 Km. I helped loading the mattress. They were saving money because that was a big mattress that required a cube van. A delivery that normally costs ~$75.
The house in Mississauga was reached where they unloaded the big mattress with my help. That house was about 2600 sqft and that required five hookups, but they had only one. They were missing four hookups. The layout for every house is different. Hence, there is a need to consider the price different when discussing the second house (which was over the 2000 sqft limit including everything on our Ad). I explained this to him, to which he said I will discuss with my mother. His mother came, and I explained the whole process again, consuming 30 minutes. They said finally to take $200 when the value was about $250. I said sorry, but this job is not only worth in $200. They kept insisting for more discount. They had no regard of time.
They disagreed on this amount for the final time. Finally, I asked for $35 for only the delivery of big mattress and wastage of time of both houses, while disregarding the payment for previous job. Suddenly, their attitude changed when I asked for $35.
They said the will give $20 instead. So, I refused to take any kind of money. So, they threw $120 into the truck’s window. I am assuming, they just wanted a BOGO deal (one is duct cleaning second to move big mattress from Milton to Mississauga) because they did not pay at their Milton house after completion of job. Ultimately, they did not want to pay extra fees for extra services and wastage of time. I spent approximately five hours and ten minutes in both houses
As for the comment on dirtying your new carpet. You need to consider the floor was dirty because the builder did not give this house a final cleanup as they were not ready to hand over the house yet. Otherwise they do a final cleanup, which, in your case, was not performed yet. The debris will stick to anyone’s feet when traveling and spread.