Penguin Basements Anmeldelser 3

Signed a contract with Penguin Basement to finish basement with walk out . Gave deposit to obtain permit . Was reassured that permit was obtained n ready to go. This company started to work on my basement with absolutely no permit . They cut a hole in my basement wall, dug a big hole in my backyard. Was was away when all this was being done .I requested to see permit on my arrival only to find out there was none .The owner Guy Solomon is pathological lier. This guy claimed is company is worth 50 million and that he has access to 100 million to build garden homes . Yet still he was trying bride to go into business with him, acting like we are friends . This company is built on lies, . They cut my house and their own Engineer did an inspection and concluded the integrity of house was compromised. I am so sorry I did not review their reviews before I contacted them. This Guy Solomon is very unprofessional, he is so manipulative, cunning, and will try to impress you like he is rich. Beware of this company . All negative reviews on here from former clients are not a lies, or people being bitter, but real facts . STAY AWAY

This is a group of people who are great at pitching a service, meanwhile their service is less than poor. It began when we provided our deposit - that should have been our first red flag. It took them several months of several calls& radio silence before we were able to secure a "project manager" ( I use that term lightly, as our so called project manager that "managed" our project never stepped foot into our home) & a date for the beginning of our project. There were so many instances of lack of communication, errors & unprofessionalism. When framing the basement, they broke our HDMI cable & tried to deny it. They tried to claim that my husband did it! When the framing process was done (& as with any reno there was a ton of dust, debris & garbage), they left it all in my basement & claimed that it was our responsibility to clean it all before they could continue with the rest of the project! On another occasion they tried to deny a service we had discussed & planned for upon the signing of our contract. We needed a cut out in our ceiling for a squat rack & on top of initially trying to deny that we agreed to have this done, they tried to gauge us by claiming it was over $1000 to do. Luckily for me, my father is a retired CG who was able to clarify that in fact for the work & material that this job requires, it was definitely NOT close to $1000. Next (although it was in our blueprint), they forgot to frame & create the pony wall. THEN there was the fact that after choosing all of the materials with the designer, (the only competent employee), the project manager ordered the wrong casing & baseboard AND had them fully installed. What was ridiculous is that he didn't even take ownership of the mistake & I had to literally argue (with the support of the designer) to have it redone WITH the proper casing & baseboards we chose. TO ADD, during the renovation process they also broke our HRV system & then tried to deny it. ON TOP OF THIS ALL, when installing the holes for the electrical/lights, they placed them in the wrong areas! FURTHERMORE, during the reno process they broke our central vac outlet & again, as in Penguin Basement style, they tried to deny it & take responsibility.
**The service & experience was not only so poor for us but with others as well, so much so that the owner had to actually hire an auditor to try & clean house & repair the company. This lovely man named Richard assessed the job & made a list of mistakes/items that needed to be completed such as replacing the transition pieces (since they installed the wrong colour, cap a hole left in the ceiling, install a piece of quarter round & install the shower fixtures). TO ADD FURTHER, when the cleaners came to provide us with our "complimentary cleaning" - I think we all know that "complimentary doesn't exist & that it is actually absorbed in our fee, there were 3 people that came, were there for a couple of hours & when they left, the basement wasn't even cleaned! There was dirt still caked into the grout, dust everywhere & pain splatters still in the sink. We know they didn't clean because there was no water/moisture in the sink so we know they didn't even turn on the tap or use water. The owner had the audacity to tell me that I have no right to complain considering that the cleaning service is so called "complimentary." Sadly Richard ended up in a bad accident & in a coma. Penguin is run by a sick individual who took advantage that Richard could no longer advocate for us & instead of fulfilling this list of items that needed to be completed, he decided to (try) & intimidate us by sending us a lawyer threatening legal action if we didn't pay the remainder of the fee, meanwhile I have a list of days WITH exact times & a printed copy of the (many) emails stating that we would be happy to pay ONCE they came back & finish the job - to which they never replied to yet tried to accuse us of witholding money. The amount of time spend on emails, phone calls meetings, time away from work and my kids & the unneeded stress this caused I wish no innocent family to have to endure. PLEASE spend your hard earn money elsewhere.

No contracting work proceeds without a hiccup, but it's how you contractor deals with such issues that shows whether they care about the customer or just the money. It's obvious that everyone at this company is passionate about what they do. Highly recommended.