Metro Snow & Ice Management

The owner is the problem with this company
I've been reading all these reviews, and I have been a client for 10 years, first with Appleseed then with Metro, and I have to say, the replies back from the owner show what a mismanaged company this is. Instead of taking constructive criticism, he fires back at everybody. Yeah, I'm blunt, I don't tickle ears, I only like good customers, well, if half your customer base is upset, then you aren't doing your job. He only likes "good" customers, so basically shut up and take our crappy service? Not this customer, never again. Never the first on site, crappy removal of snow, my laneway was never fully cleared. But the worst thing about this company is the rude and belligerent owner who can't take a step back from his ego and treat customers with respect and courtesy. At the very least get someone else to be your mouthpiece and for the love of god, proofread your emails. And client satisfaction isn't just "did you plow my driveway?" It's the whole package.

This was the second year with Metro they bought Appleseed and from that point the service seemed to go downhill perhaps it was too much to manage this winter. My driver didn't show up 3 times this year I shoveled the end out twice and sent in notices to get service so they came later. I opted to not continue my contract for year end and was told I still had 5cm left on my current contract but my signs were removed and no-one showed ever again. Others who didn't notify them seemed to get free service though as a sign of good faith. Won't be returning. If you don't think the owner is aggressive ... look at the company comments left on some reviews just wow.

I agree completely with the other reviews about poor customer service. You can never get in touch with office staff, and they do not reply to email or telephone messages. Company does not live up to their own business promises (clearing snow at 4cm).

If the owner spent as much time plowing driveways as he does composing poorly written email messages with "misplaced" "quotation marks" everywhere only to "explain" why he is not going to plow your driveway, then maybe review would be better.

Owner is rude, aggressive and ignorant if you do dare to complain. Thoroughly unpleasant to deal with. I have a group of 10-12 family and neighbours who are just as fed up with crappy service and won't be going back next year. I know several people who have property damage because of this company also. Latest email said he would not "bother" sending plows out. Nice to know customers are a bother.

When you call and complain about poor service they do not return call or get mad at you for bringing an issue to their attention.
They put snow on others property causing issues with neighbors also.

First there gaurantee should be removed from website. False advertising. Shovellers do fine job..not great but acceptable. Difficulties dealing with office staff. Advise not happy with lnwy as they show up late constantly thus snow gets packed and 2 swipes cannot remove that and it builds and builds but they say checked out and are happy with it. What is cost to have a supervisor with a plow truck who takes 5 mins to scrape down a bit to satisfy customer. If owner is to be believed at over 11000 customers then im sure approx 4.5 million for 250cm of snow can cover this. If you constantly hear we have many customers and it was big storm...then either hire more staff and lease more equipment or cut back on amnt of customers. This way maybe the drivers would take an extra 40 seconds on each lane which makes a difference. And when a customer lets you know there was 5 cm's in their area and the city plow came by...believe them or send a supervisor and dont simply state...didnt get 4.5cm...sorry. The business plan is a good one with emails etc. Just need better customer service which in this writers opinion is severely lacking. If you unfortunately are blunt with customers...hire a proxy and become a silent entity. I could not recommend as you feel like a 'annoyance' when calling. If a customer service turnaround was advertised then possibly.

At time of opening my file and charging my credit card they said the service is for the season and there was no mention of any condition in their service like the amount of snowball fall. At the end of Feb they sent me a letter saying we had too much snow this year and this amount was not covered in the service, so if you want our service till the end of winter you have to sign this paper consenting us to charge you extra. This made me not trusting this company anymore and not recommending to anybody.

I have been very pleased with Metro's service this year. I've tried other companies in the past but to my knowledge only Metro actually connects with customers via email to let them know when they are coming. Drivers can't be in all places at all times so it may happen that I have to leave before the driver has cleared but that is the case with any company. Metro shows up when they say they will and return again about 20 min after the city plow. This is the first company that I plan to use again next year. It's been a tough winter but Metro did an admirable job. Thanks!

The snow was not cleared as it should have been for most of the winter and seeing numerous other neighbourhood Metro customers' properties in the same state as mine, this certainly wasn't an isolated incident. While all the other neighbours' driveways were being cleared, by other snow clearing companies, ours got messier and messier until the accumulation became unmanageable. I know this isn't an isolated incident because I saw many other Metro clients' driveways in the same state as ours, and all the horribly poor reviews online confirms that. The owner, Ken Dale, keeps claiming that they met their obligation, but we, and many other Metro clients, know differently. If he were to instead offer an explanation as to why this happened and take responsibility for it, we would at least respect that. As it stands now, he continues to deny any wrongdoing or accept responsibility.

There seems to be a lot of angry customers in here and I wanted to make a fair review for this company. We were with appleseed for 3 years and no problems. They changed their name to metro and so far we still have not had major problems.

I'm a bit confused why so many dissatisfied reviewers are giving this company 0/10 when clearly they've come and cleaned their driveway on almost all occasions. A 0/10 is when they literally do zero service so I think a lot of these reviews are pure hyperbole. They have good equipment, gps tracker, send email updates, and are reasonably priced. Problems with them showing up late? OK -- but at least they showed up! That's not a 0/10.

That being said the company isn't without fault. There was one occasion when we were snowed in because the driver came in a bit late (mainly because city plow came late as well). Two other instances where I had to shovel my way out of the city plow's second 'dump'. To be fair, most of my neighbours are with a different company and they were in the same boat (and happened when we were with appleseed). We also did not let them know that we leave the house fairly early.

Surcharge seems fair except I'm not a fan of the $50 invoicing and would prefer to pay $10 per sweep. They say they will refund the money if less than 5 snowfalls but only if you re-sign with them (e.g. what if we decide to move out of Ottawa or simply decide to go with another company?).

The language in the Contract as to the election that Appleseed has to put to its clients is clear:
Appleseed employs weather data from Environment Canada as recorded at the Ottawa International Airport. After seasonal snowfall accumulation has reached 250 cm, a nominal fee ($10.00) will apply to each additional visit. The client will be given the option to continue or decline service for the balance of the season. Unless service is declined, Appleseed will continue regular service until April 3rd,. Service outside the dates of this contract will be available by request at a nominal charge.
There is no language requiring payment in advance of $50.00 which Metro apparently wants to simplify billing and to tie in customers for the next year. Frankly billing is their problem and I would have expected them to bill for any overage at the end of the contract. Ken is breaching the contract by not offering the option that the contract requires.