Reviews

10/10

Jeremy was highly recommended by a family member. Our furnace stopped working overnight on a Saturday, and so we called him on Sunday and was able to come to our house on Monday. He was responsive, knowledgeable, and had the parts he needed on hand. he asked some questions before coming over so had an idea of what the problem could be. Sure enough, he was right and was able to fix our furnace on the spot. I recommend Cowen Mechanical Services

Approximate cost of services:
$850.00
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2/10

Reading all of these positive reviews, I wish I would I could say that we had a positive experience with Penguin. Our project started on March 22, 2017, today is August 28, 2017. What we were told would take 3-4 weeks, turned into 5 months and this consisted of workers not showing up when scheduled, no or not enough material, very poor communication and delivery from project management. We had to put more money in than what were quoted, we had to buy a new refrigerator because their electrician fried ours when installing new wires and not to mention the amount of stress that was put on our family during the first 2 months. We had all of our belongings that were in the basement, not to mention the new furniture we ordered sitting in our tiny living room. We were told not to bother getting a storage unit for a month seeing as it would be a quick job. This was not the case at all. Our house is very small, our basement is very small, but we needed that space so that our growing family would have somewhere to hang-out and play. Looking at the basement, you would think it looks nice, but when you walk on the floors, you can feel how uneven they are, and when you look at the paint up close, lines are not straight, and you can see where spots were missed. We had to complain several times to have a massive, noticeable bump that was left in the floor removed. When you would step around it, the floor would literally separate. How were my children supposed to play in that area? We were told by our site manager that ‘’these things happen in basements and there is nothing you can really do about it’’….. nope, sorry that is unacceptable, we were not paying $50K+ to have a bump in the floor that was not there before. It wasn’t until we had someone else from Penguin come in and look at it, in which we were then told it could be fixed. There were A LOT of hiccups along the way, and we get that “things happen” and that they have other jobs to do, but we just found a lot of it unjustifiable considering how basic the design was. Fast forward to early June, we had a walk through with our project manager to go over what was remaining and how soon it could be done. The remaining items were minor and we were told it could all be done in a day or two. This consisted of installing a shower part that they forgot to put in, paint touch ups, installing a light and painting a block of wood that held up the hand rail at the top of the basement stairs. Eventually and with another hiccup, all was done except for the block of wood at the top of the stairs (it was missed). As annoying as this was, we had to put it all aside as we had major plans coming up and we had to put Penguin on hold (this is after nearly 5 months of dealing with them). Fast forward again a few weeks (this happened last week) I get a call from the construction manager wanting to come and finish up so we arranged for someone to come on the Tuesday. They did not show up. I held my breath thinking ‘’here we go again’’, but they ended up coming the next day. The only thing that needed to be done was to paint this silly little block of wood at the top of the stairs ( I am posting a picture of it below because I cannot believe how ridiculous this is and how one would think this is acceptable). I contacted penguin and they wanted to send someone right away to fix it, but we were done. I had to ask them not to come back. I told them not to bother, our frustration got the best of us and fixed it on our own. You may not think this is such a big deal, and that we should just have them finish since we are paying them, but if you had to deal with this for over 5 months, and go through what has majorly interrupted your personal lives, you would probably throw in the towel as well. We expressed our concern with several people at Penguin and nothing much has come of it. We understand they are growing as a company and are really busy, but at the end of the day, we are paying them a lot of money to do a good job. We can only be so accommodating. It’s really sad when we think about it. We were really looking forward to working with Penguin since things started off really well. Everyone we dealt with were nice and friendly, but sadly, we are very unhappy with how everything was executed and with the end results. If you do choose penguin, I hope you have a much better experience than we did.

Approximate cost of services:
$52,000.00
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Company Response

Our records indicate the job did exceed the original estimate and actually ran 12 weeks. Part of that timetable extension was to fix outstanding issues noted at the substantial completion phase. We did note, as indicated, the lump in the floor, and while these can be a product of the environment, in this case, it was a simple underlay issue. And it should have been dealt with, as it was, without anyone shrugging off your concerns. As you noted, the majority of our reviews are very good, and as a result, there was an influx of jobs this year that taxed our ability to staff up quickly with properly trained and/or experienced people to manage them. Many new hires, — while experienced — came from companies with standards below our own. We continued to hire (and if need be, fire) staff this year and have implemented proper training to ensure our clients' expectations are met. At the time our handyman was on site, the block of wood should have been dealt with. It was an oversight on the handyman’s part, and as you noted it wasn’t a big problem. But frankly, it should have been treated as such from our end ​and dealt with at the time rather than being put off as it appeared to be. Our senior management has been on-site all summer discovering firsthand, where issues may crop up (as they do from time to time), in order to ensure processes are put in place to correct any issue that may arise in a timely manner. Further, we are implementing new communication protocols to ensure, a) all members on a job site have access to timely status reports and b) are in constant contact with each other as needed. More importantly, we have been, and continue to be focusing on improving customer communication throughout every stage of a job, from the delivery of materials until completion. The issues we have encountered on a handful of jobs this summer are of utmost concern to us, as we have roughly 30 jobs on the go every month, and each and every customer should expect and receive the same level of care and consideration.

Our CEO will be reaching out to you directly to discuss this matter in details, and to see what we can do to make you happy. He will also take your input and personal experience to heart, ensuring anything and everything that can be learned and improved upon is communicated throughout the organization. We may not always be perfect, but we are constantly striving to be so.

Thank you very much for taking the time to share your experience with Penguin Basements.