If I could give them zero stars, I would. Balcaen and Sons did work for me in October and behaved in a very disorganized and unprofessional manner. They also charged me a ridiculous amount of money to fix a mistake that they did (after I already paid for the work that I hired them for), that ultimately resulted in a leak in my basement and damaged carpet and a large chunk of my wall being destroyed, which I had to get fixed. I tried to contact Balcaen and Sons since October, and was provided with the email for management at that point by the company. They have refused to deal with the issue even with numerous attempts to contact them, therefore, I have settled my bill with them but want to make people aware of how I was treated by them. This is part of the original email I sent to them:
On October 7th, 2013, I, (name and addressed removed) in Winnipeg, Manitoba hired Balcaen & Sons to come to my house to replace the main water shut off valve and tail piece because I was not able to turn my water off when necessary. I had no problems with leaking. The first plumber came and did the repair in 15 minutes and rounded up to an hour. When the city came to my house and turned on the water, it was leaking at the site of the work.
It should be noted that I never had this leak before. Had I left it, it would have soaked my carpet in my basement and would have resulted in severe damage. This leak was solely due to the inadequate work done to replace the shut off valve done by balcaon and sons and should not be my responsibility to fix the work done by the previous worker, who is employed with your company. I was charged and paid $154.44 for the initial job to be completed and that was supposed to be all I was charged.
My mother, (name removed), spoke regarding the poor workmanship and the leak caused by the first worker with the manager at Balcaen and Sons, who stated that they would come back and fix it and that we would only be charged for regular hours (not after hours) and an hour and 15 minutes total, which included the 15 minutes that (employee name withheld) spent working on the valve initially.
The plumber came back numerous times, followed by the city coming back numerous times, showing that the leak, which the plumber caused, was still there.
During this time, they needed to remove some concrete, which was understandable. They also needed to remove some of the wall, which is also understandable.
This is not all the damage they did, however. Instead of removing the wood frame with a chisel that is built around the entry door where the water valve was, the plumber cut right through it. Additionally, they completely cut through my baseboard as well instead of lifting it off the wall with the chisel, which would have been more reasonable. The area was completely destroyed. They also cut my carpet instead of pulling it back, destroying my carpet.
Additionally, despite the fact that I left a few rags in the living room there for the men to use, and the city leaving some behind as well, instead of asking for additional rags from my family members, the Balcaen and Sons employees went into my laundry room (without permission and without my family even knowing) and took an expensive plush hand towel and used it as a rag. They would have needed to wander through my home and open a closed door to do this. This is highly inappropriate behaviour. They then selected a very expensive plush hand towel of a designer brand and used it as a rag. After using it, they then went back into my laundry room and threw the filthy rag on my clean clothes, particularly my expensive silk clothing and left it there on my valuable clothing, disgusting and malodorous, leaving my clothing smelling of mildew.
As if that wasn't disrespectful enough, they asked (name withheld) to go to the store to get "white bread" so they could use that for the moisture. I came home to mouldy white bread particles around that area.
My basement was left destroyed. I am incredibly disgusted with the lack of professionalism of your employees. I was referred to balcaen and sons because your company apparently has a good reputation. I paid for the initial job of $154.44 and quite frankly should not be paying for additional work that was done to fix your own mistake.
Additionally, the fact that the plumbers had to keep leaving to go back to the office to gets parts shows their complete lack of organization despite knowing what would be necessary for the job, or at least that is the expectation. This is not what I would expect of professionals. The damage done by the plumbers has resulted in several hundred dollars worth of repairs by them, and several hundred dollars in addition, due to damage. This does not even address the carpet that was destroyed. I would not hire this company again. read more
