Lonsdale Flooring

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY! The installation of our flooring was a nightmare. It started with two guys showing up at our house, one while smoking on our doorstep. They proceeded to install the flooring in our bathroom and realized they needed to remove our toilet. However, they did not unbolt it and merely began to yank on the toilet until it shattered and broke into pieces all over our bathroom, stripping the bolts in the concrete foundation. This was the only toilet we had! Then they said oh well it’s not our fault it broke, it must have been broken before. They left the shattered toilet pieces on my doorstep. The flooring in our bathroom and kitchen was not laid properly and had huge, visible air pockets underneath. They never swept up, leaving garbage tack nails all over our yard and house-​perfect when you have a crawling infant and a dog! We also were left to clean up a couple dozen cigarette butts that were littered across our walkway, doorstep and front lawn, again perfect for a baby to find and put in their mouth! The owner was an ass when confronted about this and then claimed he never saw a toilet on our front doorstep when he came by-​calling me a liar, how do you miss a shattered toilet in our front doorway!!! It just went from bad to worse. We had to run to Rona at night to purchase a new toilet and then pay a plumber after hours to come and install it-​a mere $ 550 additional, just because Lonsdale flooring is so incompetent, and the owner is a piece of work. He also claimed his workers do not smoke, and maybe the cigarette butts were mine!!!

Look for another business!
14 Jun: We walked into Lonsdale Flooring, looking for hardwood for our family and living rooms and 30 steps. Helping us pick out the wood, the office manager was quite attentive which helped us during the decision-​making process.
18 Jun: The owner of the business arrived for measurements. He was quite professional; we came out of that meeting feeling like we were in good hands. At this point, I have to stress that we made two points very clear to him, two points that were deal makers or breakers to us: One was the duration of the job (as we work a lot from home); the other was that small breakables /​valuables and manageable small furniture would be removed by us but the large items would need to be shoved from corner to corner of rooms as work progressed because we both have bad backs and unable to handle heavy furniture. To the first, we got the answer «one week, with possibly another day of small last-​moment things». To the other point he answered; «it’s no problem at all, this is what we do all day; we’re used to it.»
21 Jun: We received the estimate, accepted and went to the store to pay the deposit. Between the product’s arrival time, installer’s availability and our schedule, the job was scheduled to begin middle of July. We agreed to talk closer to the date.
28 Jun: Phone conversation during which it was agreed work would begin on Jul 12^th. It’s a Friday, but they would start prepping.
11 Jul Thu: I called the store to confirm the following day, because I wanted to know what time we should expect him the following morning. I was told they «won’t get around to it» till Monday (the 15^th) that it would begin. I thought to myself it would have been nice to get a call from them about that as opposed to me having to call. That whole weekend was spent with stuff wrapped up and in boxes for no good reason. What struck me as really odd was there was no apologetic tone in the office manager’s voice due to the change of plans, just nonchalance.
15 Jul Mon: The installer arrived at 10:45 am because living in the valley, he wanted to wait till rush hour was over. That fact alone wouldn’t have bothered me if he also worked till later to make up for the time loss but that was never the case throughout the installation. To boot, when he pulled out the carpet, it became evident there was an area that was going to need a bit of sanding but he had arrived without a sander! So, he had to go to the store to pick one up, which resulted in further time loss.
16−17−18−19 Jul: We were all in all shocked at the installer’s attitude, i.e.complaining about the heat, hard work, etc. Every suggestion we would make re moving stuff around to make his life easier was met by a disgruntled reply. He didn’t like the fact he was having to deal with furniture and didn’t make it a secret. We found it extremely frustrating and unacceptable as homeowners to have to reassure the installer and to cater to his moods while going through our own stress, of living in dust, disorder, not even having access to a kitchen to boil an egg in.
20 Jul Sat. We dropped by the store to pick up hardwood cleaning stuff and vent a little about our frustration regarding the installer’s disgruntlement. The store manager displayed very little empathy, if any; not even if it was to keep us happy. Instead, he visibly and blatantly sided with the installer and made excuses why HE might be frustrated these days, with statements such as «he’s overworked» or «concrete poured while prepping doesn’t dry these days because of humidity so that frustrates him». We also re-​iterated we had to have the living room by the end of Monday so we could move stuff back in on Tuesday morning. We reminded him that was the initial deal. He finally said he would mention that on Monday morning.
22 Jul Mon: The bulk of the job did get finished except some steps. Looking around, I noticed the gaping rectangles on the floor where the new floor vents are supposed to go in. I phoned to ask about the 7 vents which were getting finished to match the hardwood. I was told they would be ready the following day, the last day of the job.
23 Jul Tue: The installer arrived without the vents. The wood had been picked out a month ago, so I assumed they would have been ready so I phoned in, asking if I can pick them up. The assistant took a message but the call never got returned that day.
24 Jul Wed: I tried my luck again, he said «I haven’t gotten around to them», at which point I couldn’t help but point out that if he had started on them 10 days ago, they would be done by now.
26 Jul Fri: The owner of the business brought the vents by. Last payment.
It has to be noted that I have nothing bad to say about the quality of work but by the same token I literally have nothing good to say about how we were treated as customers by this business. We were treated reasonably well only at the beginning and then again at the very end, during the two payment times.