City of Toronto

A nice city with nice people

How do you rate a City that allows big corporations to tear through your property and leaves them un-policed for their actions, while holding tax-paying property owners by their "unmentionables" to account for any damage to city property (eg MRDD during home reconstruction etc.)??!! On the morning of Sept. 24th, a company named Telecon, contracted by Rogers Inc, had chipped away pavers and damaged our driveway. My wife called 311 and had to stop the persons from continuing any work by physically stepping out of the house. When she approached the supervisor, demanding an explanation, he was unapologetic and claimed that he had the right to conduct this work. He said that everyone in the area was personally notified about the work being done. While we were aware that some work was being done in our neighbourhood, WE WERE NOT informed that any access was needed under our driveway in ANY form. But the blatant disregard with which they attempted to dislodge pavers from our driveway and thus broke them beyond repair (like a bunch of trigger-happy cavemen), is beyond comprehension. To us this was an example of violent trespassing on our property causing damage and has angered us to no extent. The very next day, Friday Sept. 25th, I spent a lot of time calling different people hoping for some answers. I had contacted Rogers Customer support department and spoke to a person named Diane. In my conversation, I detailed the events that had ensued and requested to speak to the senior person above the site manager that we had already met. She said that the manager would contact me in 48 hours and if no contact was made by then, to contact her once again. Not having heard back for 2 days, I followed up with her and was told that, according to her records, the site manager already called me (?) and spoke to me. This was completely untrue and I informed her that no such contact had been made. She actually had the audacity to ask if someone else could have had picked up my cellphone and spoke on my behalf (?) (fyi we are a family with kids all under the age of 6). I had left 2 messages on her voicemail asking for clarification to no avail. Later we also found out that 3 pavers, (not the damaged ones), that Telecon workers claimed to put aside to drill the hole were missing - they were laid on my neighbour's property adjacent to our driveway - another testament to this company's lack of professionalism and inherent carelessness and disregard for other people's property. Following this, we decided to pull all the stops and filled out an ombudsman complaint with Rogers and a comment form with Telecon that we found online. We did not hear back from Rogers (not a surprise at this point) but got a response from Telecon informing us that "the stone had been ordered and that it would be replaced as soon as it was available". No information on time lines or who would be replacing the stones was provided upon our request. "Soon" might mean a few days or a few months, and hopefully not a few years. We asked for financial restitution to cover the cost for this repair by a company of our choice, preferably the same company that had laid the driveway in the first place, to ensure that the quality of work was not being compromised. We suggested that, since the stones were already purchased, we would settle only on covering for the labour cost. Still no response. At this point, we are not only furious about the unnecessary damage done to our driveway, but also insulted at the lack of ownership that these 2 organizations - Rogers and Telecon are taking for their actions. This is not something we asked to happen, nor do we need this additional stress under the present circumstances, not to mention we are not even Rogers customers. Why does the city give big companies like Rogers rights to dig up our property without ENSURING that proper communication with home owners is exercised and municipal law is followed? How can they allow this inconceivable and open barter of tax-paying, law-abiding citizens' properties and rights??

By-law investigator has done a good job in protecting another slumlord....will never use this service again! Not even worth 1 star!