I hired Ashton to replace my old furnace, add an air conditioner to it, and also install a second ductless air conditioner. I hired them since they seemed to have a lot of positive reviews, and the negative reviews were mainly complaining about the price. I am willing to pay extra to make sure things are done right by professionals, so the price wasn't a problem for me. The installation was supposed to take 3 days. It ended up taking 6. Dates below are approximate, but this whole escapade took two months. June 21: Quote done. Took 3 hours, but it was well worth it to go through the plan thoroughly. Booked for July 5, and July 24/25. Pay half deposit upfront ($9000) July 5: Ductless AC unit installed, went well. Noticed after install that this model does not support heating, only cooling. Would have been only marginally more expensive and I wish they mentioned this during the quote. The room it's in is not connected to the main furnace and only has a fireplace for heat. July 15: Remaining balance charged ($9000), without consent. I have now paid in full for an installation that is 1/3 complete July 24: Did not show up. Claimed they didn't know I had confirmed that day, just that they told me it was available (even though they showed up for the first day no problem). No apology or accepting responsibility. August 5: Installation starts for furnace and second AC unit. Work takes much longer than expected, they warn me they need an extra day August 8: Completely different guy shows up to take over. Doesn't finish (no problem! Just 1 day extra right?), but lets me know the fuse my electrician installed is the wrong size. I call to discuss the issue and they play the blame game, insisting it was my electrician's fault. I then talk to the guy at Ashton that originally told my electrician what to install; he told me it should be a 30A single pole and that they would charge $1000 to fix it for me (my electrician charged $600 for 2 complete AC hookups including fuses, lines, disconnects and pigtails). After my electrician talks to him again it turns out it actually needed to be a 30A double pole; this confirms to me that the original mistake was made by Ashton, and thankfully my electrician was diligent enough to double check the second time. The manager at Ashton refused to accept the possibility that this could be their fault. This would have been a much bigger deal, but my electrician (AJ's Electrical) was incredibly professional and replaced the fuse for free even though he knew it was not his fault. August 15: Completely different guy shows up, again. They try to finish but a part is damaged, something they said their parts/shipping guys should have caught. Instead of getting someone to deliver a part to them, they schedule another day. August 16: Completely different guy shows up, again. They try to finish but the system has a leak. They say they need to come back another day with some equipment that will help them detect where the leak is (again, instead of having someone bring it to them) August 18: One of the guys was the same as before this time, at least. They fix the leak and finish the installation. By the fifth day, I was forced to leave these strangers alone in my home as unfortunately I can't just sit on my ass for 6 days skipping work. The final day I get home from work and think, "at least it's finally done", as I go to adjust the temperature. What's this? This thermostat isn't programmable. What did they do with my 7 day programmable thermostat that was there before? They replaced it with a cheapo manual model (and yes my old one did support AC). Probably was due to having about 100 different installers and got misplaced. I can't find it anywhere. Also my laundry room cupboards were not reinstalled after they took them down to run some lines and pipe. Again, presumably from confusion from having too many cooks. One or two delays/mistakes is normal once in a while with any company, but the systematic delays, mistakes, and refusal to accept responsibility for and replace an incorrect fuse for free after I had paid them over $18000 is not. If you think you can pay extra to ensure a hassle free and professional installation, think again. You're just going to pay extra. I will give their installers credit. They did an excellent job and in the end it looks fantastic and works spectacularly. Must be shitty to be scheduled to finish someone else's partially completed install, so good for them for doing such a great job under those circumstances. read more

Arrived on time. Good manners and attitude. They explained everything to me and answered all my questions. Job well done.

We called Ashton several days ago to have a plumber sent over to deal with a leak under the kitchen sink from our garbage disposal unit. We were given an appointment for 8:00 this morning. The plumber neither showed up nor gave us a call; we have heard nothing from them. We will cancelling our monthly service 'subscription'. read more

My plumbing problems were serviced by Ashton Service Group. They were very courteous, knowledgeable, and efficient in their work. I was so impressed with how quickly my needs were serviced. The prices were very fair considering all of the work they had to do for me. I'm very pleased with their work. read more

Been waiting two months to get a SINGLE call back about the insurance claim that was their fault! The brand new $10k furnace that was installed had problems and damaged my wall. I have to call them every day to remind them to get the insurance person to give me a callback and they never call. So disappointed in their service! read more

Didn't show up to the first meeting after I'd driven across town to meet them. Lied about having called me three times. Tech was given the wrong address for the second meeting and, when he showed up (late), gave an estimate that was absolutely outrageous. Almost $900 to remove two bath tubs in a reno that would call for no parts and about an hour's labor. Complete waste of time. read more

We just had Ashton install a split pump Mitsubishi heat pump/air conditioning system in our Port Moody condo. The installers (Justin and his helper) were great - very professional, knowledgeable and efficient. The system looks good and is working fine. Bring on summer! read more

Hubby and I live in a strata unit... we called them first and , then we Emailed and called the strata management to see if we had to pay or they could pay ... they told us it was our job to pay but we will call a plumber so they called Ashton, as well as us ... and we made arrangements for our plumbing to be done. Fair enough they came the guy who attended our place was nice but not very knowledgeable and when he put the pipes and things back together he did things backwards or not at all. The pipes started leaking again... so we called them back .. 2- different guys came . The tall obnoxious guy was rude, loud and an a** Hole .. he would let us explain or let us show him anything because he was right and we knew nothing . Quite honestly the guy was a # 1- class idiot!!! If you want better service I would recommend anyone except these yahoos...all I can say is NEVER AGAIN!!!No customer service skills at all !!! To top it off rude, obnoxious, and idiotic... they installed everything there and said whoever did it, did it wrong ... guess they should look in a mirror, cause they did it and they just admitted they did it wrong , that's how they class their own job ... sad but true they did a bad bad bad job read more

Typical Ashton Service Group experience (spoiler, it was excellent). Dave M. called to advise on estimated arrival time, arrived on time was friendly, helpful, and thorough. Dave did a great job, left my system cleaner than he found it, and even noticed a minor issue which I had him correct. Highly recommended. read more

Ashton Service Group provided quick, attentive and professional service. Their booking staff and technician Chris Poelman were courteous and friendly. read more

I have written several great reviews in the past for Ashton as well as recommended them to friends and family. But I was highly disappointed by them today. A plumber from their office came to replace a faucet in the kitchen. He quoted me an astronomical price of around $700 including installation! This was such a rip-off! I understand their pricing is higher than others but such a huge difference in price! I was able to get the same thing done for $365! When I had called their office to complain, they offered a one time discount of $150 which was ridiculous and also stated that they are not cheap. I have been with them for very long and I was not looking for cheap! I was looking for reasonably priced service. I would be very wary and cautious about their pricing especially for plumbing before making that call to them! This is my first negative review about them and it certainly pains me to do so! But I found that they did not really care this time and when I told them I would write this review all that they had to say was please go ahead! read more

Our boiler furnace stopped heating our house during recent snowstorm. I called around to try to get someone to come out and had difficulty finding someone until another company recommended that I try calling Ashton. I called them and they said they'd be able to come the next day and we'd be the second call for that day, so I was relieved. Well I waited all day in a freezing cold house thinking they'd be there soon only to get a call saying they probably would not make it but would try. Finally someone did come at 6pm to check things out but did not fix the problem. So I was told to call in the morning the next day to confirm when repair man would be there, I was told between 12 and 2pm they would come by. I got a text msg at 1:05 saying they'd be here soon so I waited and waited. Finally at 2:45 I decided to call again to find out what was going on. I was put on hold for 15 minutes and hung up because my phone about to dThey called me back only to advise that due to a "glitch" I got the message saying they were on there way to my house and that in fact they couldn't come out at all!!!! So. Completely. Unreliable!!! read more

I had the pleasure of dealing with Matt as well as other members of the Ashton Service Group. As a property manager I have found the services of employees from Ashton such as Matt to be professional in both his attitude as well as his work ethics and I would have no problems what so ever in recommending Ashton and Matt to anyone. I do represent 164 units and owners and never hesitate in recommending Ashton. As a matter of fact Matt has been on our premises a few times before. Cheers, Serge D'Allaire Strata Manager Newport on Main 604-877-1383 read more

I am just starting the process to get air conditioning into my Yaletown apartment. Jeff from Ashton spent a good hour going through our home, explaining all that needs to happen in a very knowledgeable and professional manner. I know my neighbours have been very satisfied, so once I am complete - I hope to rate the full 5*. read more

Ashton prices their services based on the project not an hourly rate. This means if a service call takes more time than they expected, you win. If however it takes less time than expected, you may have shoppers remorse. This happened to us. Obviously this model works well for them or I expect they would price their projects on an hourly basis which is what I'm more used to for residential plumbing projects. I'll likely be sticking with services that price based on time - I had sticker shock and regret afterwards. read more

Ashton recently wanted just under $600 to replace a piece of 7 foot copper pipe in crawl space that had pin hole leaks. Felt too expensive; went with Crestwood Plumbing and Heating who did the job for $210. Ashton sends young technicians who quote pricing from a book they keep in their truck + charge a $79 call out fee. Over the years we have dealt with Ashton may times when it used to be a smaller company more geared to service. Now owner is hard nosed about pricing and unwilling to negotiate. Very disappointing. read more

I phoned and asked for a rough idea just on labor cost of replacing a basic non-programmable thermostat. I provided them with the model #. Ashton refused to give any idea of cost or the hourly rate of a technician. Ashton told me that there is a basic come to my house non-refundable cost of $79, and any cost estimate will be discussed then. They said they charge by the job, not by hourly rate. Basically, there is no transparency with Ashton. They tried to come to your house first and see how much they can up charge a client right on the spot. I understand that each job may be slightly different. For any experienced technician, s/he must has a ball park idea of how much time it will take or cost of a straight replacement of a thermostat. I am extremely skeptical about Ashton. I then called KC Plumbing and they were very upfront and told me their hourly rate, min. time charged for each job and even the cost of the thermostat. Do not use Ashton, use other more transparent company e.g. KC Plumbing. read more

I had a clogged kitchen sink and was charged C$448. The quote was shown to me when the technician was already in my house. I wanted to cancel but I will have to pay the $79 dispatch fee. My mistake for not asking them what the cost would be over the phone. The technician didn't do a good job cleaning the area under the sink when the work was done. He didn't bother plugging the hole where the water pipes are coming out so all the dirty water from the clogged pipe was dripping towards that hole. He didn't bother putting back all the stuff from under the cabinet. On the upside, Karen, the lady who answered my call, was very polite. read more

Worst experience ever! Just had them installed a new dishwasher and Ashton Service charged us $600 for a simple installation without an invoice or receipt. My husband went to their office and asked for a detailed invoice and complained about the outrageous cost, they just said this is what they normally charge. It's been over a week since we emailed the manager and still no reply. DO NOT use Ashton Service Group, they will gouge you! read more

Jeff came to give us an estimate (free) for a new gas furnace. He came at the correct time. He looked at the set up and did a walk thru the house to truly estimate the scope of work that needs to be done as it has to be brought up to code. He gave us a number of options available to us depending on our budget. Not pushy, very professional and objective. We're happy to have a number of options open to us and will surely have Ashton to come do the work. read more

Terrible service. The plumber quoted us $570 to look at our bathtub. (We had already opened it and knew it only needed a cartridge to be changed.) That seemed ridiculous. I will not recommend this service at all. read more

This company provides reasonably competent service as far as I can tell. However, the business model is to gouge the customer mercilessly. First of all they do not perform work on a cost plus basis, i.e., parts and hourly labour charge. They charge by a predetermined code. Our boiler needed a fan. The service person said the fan cost over $1000.00. I was told I could buy an ongoing service "membership" for $15 per month, which apparently includes a 15% price reduction and some other benefits such as free annual service/cleaning. I have not been able as yet to get in writing exactly what the benefits are, but I signed on for the discount and so I only paid $900+ for the fan. The company brags about its "up front" pricing, i.e. they tell you the cost and you can accept or reject, but it bears no relation to the job, parts or time. In my case I had a hard time finding a company to service this particular brand of boiler, and I had no heat at the time so I accepted this price. Later I found out that the price of the part is around $300.00, and since it only takes a few minutes to install the labour costs worked out to around $600 per hour. There was a faulty zone valve head which was making a noise, so the guy suggested that should also be replaced. I knew my wife had previously had one of these replaced but I had not been involved so did not know the cost. They guy told me it costs $325. I said what about the15% discount. and he said that $325 is after the discount. Since I had no idea how much this was supposed to cost I rather foolishly said OK -- thinking it would cost more if someone had to come out specially to do this job. Later I called the supplier who had recommended Ashton to me. I found out the zone valve costs $75. I watched the guy install it, a screw and a few wires, similar to installing a light switch in an electric box, maybe 15 minutes. Assuming the time generously to be 1/2 hour, that again works out to $600 per hour. The supplier actually had difficulty believing Ashton had charged this amount (i.e nearly $400 before the members "discount" which you have to pay for every month, i.e., over $200 per year.). The supplier gave me the name of another service company for the type of boiler I have; I hope to use this other service company form now on. Granted there was some diagnostic time not billed, i.e. they bill by each separate job. I understand you need to pay a real cost for things, i.e. part plus mark up plus labour time, but Ashton prices bear no relation to parts or labour. They get agreement on the price up front, when the customer has no idea as to the real cost of the part or the real amount of labour involved. In my opinion these people are scam artists. (I did get $75 back after complaining about costs of the job totaling well over $1000). My advice is compare prices ahead of time if at all possible. Could be more competitive if you have a boiler of a more common type where any plumbing co could do the work and there is less opportunity to take advantage of the situation. read more

When we discovered a water puddle from an unknown source in our laundry room on Saturday morning, we contacted our Strata property manager. There has been a history of flooding in our townhouse complex, so we wanted to act immediately in case this was potentially the start of more a serious problem. Strata, in turn, contacted Ashton who promptly confirmed with us that a technician would arrive within the hour -- which he did -- the first indicator of a professional service in our books. Dave Mortensen was friendly and polite, listened carefully to our description of the problem and symptoms, and was able to locate the cause very quickly (a faulty valve that was interfering with the operation of our water pump and causing it to overflow). He then estimated the time that would be needed, bought the parts required and installed them. He also improved on the previous installation, to make it more accessible for future maintenance and repair. I appreciated Dave took time to explain the cause of the problem to me and answered all my questions clearly. In summary, a professional and dependable service. We would certainly call on Ashton again. read more

I had the pleasure of dealing with Ashton Plumbing for my hot water heater in April. After receiving quotes from several plumbing companies within the Richmond area I was reeling from sticker shock. I am an older person and on a limited budget and was concerned about affordability. Of the 3 companies that I had received quotes from, Ashton was the only one to call me back and ask about my personal wellbeing. The lovely girl I spoke to called to ask if I had access to hot water to shower with and was genuinely concerned. She said that although she was new to the company, she wanted to assure me that Ashton provided quality service. Since the quotes were all roughly in the same price ballpark I decided to go with Ashton on customer service alone. Once they came and did the work quoted, I was gobsmacked to see the young man cleaning up after his mess and telling me to leave the mess to him. Thank you Ashton for being kind and respectful to this old woman. read more