I highly recommend that the good people of Ottawa boycott Arcane Services (also known as Arcane Landscaping, Arcane Snow Removal and a few other names). The reason for this call to arms is simple: the company cold dials Ottawa area residents, completely ignoring the Do Not Call registry list, and ignoring requests to be removed from their calling list.
We received yet another call from this company again tonight. Upon inquiring how they came into possession of our phone number, the gentleman from Arcane Services who called informed me that he was random dialing people in the area. This is completely against CRTC regulations and could lead to fines ranging from 1500$ to 15,000$ per offense/complaint. We have had no prior business relationship with the company, nor have we ever contacted them, filled out any type of surveys or any other type of communications.
This isn’t my first beef with this company. Arcane Services thinks that its perfect fine to plaster permanent, very hard to remove stickers on community mailboxes. Those mailboxes are not there for free advertising.
All you’ve done at this point is guarantee that I will never do business with your company, and strongly urge that others do the same.
Update August 24th
Arcane Services yet again called our house this evening. Again I asked to be removed from their calling list, and again I informed the caller that what they were doing was illegal, that we were registered with the CRTC Do Not Call Registry and that this is the 2nd time that I have informed them of this. So yet another complaint was sent to the CRTC. I wonder if anyone at this company has a clue, or maybe they just don’t care. Either way, it’s not a way to run a legitimate business.
I have had a huge issue with Arcane Services Ltd. They called and called and called. Then finally they gave me an estimate for driveway ramp repair, crack repair and sealing. WHAT A TERRIBLE JOB. Getting Arcane to return messages and, in any way, honour their guarantee has been impossible.
I contacted the Better Business Bureau of Ottawa. Wow! They have dozens of complaints against them. I believe Arcane to be dishonest and I am boycotting them. My complaint to the BBB follows:
Filed against :
Arcane Asphalt
1010 Polytek Street, Suite 20
Gloucester ON K1J 9J1
Complaint Description:
Arcane Lawn Care Invoice dated 22 July 201l in the amount of $400.00; paid in full by cheque that has “cleared” the account. Service was performed on the date of the invoice. Contracted services were: (1) laying an asphalt three-foot ramp; (2) crack sealing; and (3) driveway sealing. The main issues are: (1) the ramp asphalt has not hardened, therefore I am unable to use my garage; (2) not all the cracks are repaired as identified in the estimate; and (3) driveway needs to be resealed to cover all minor cracks. The Arcane personnel who performed the work noted that they might have to return to reseal. Drying instructions were strictly followed in attempt to maximize the product performance. Informal attempts to resolve this issue with Arcane have not been successful and Arcane personnel still have not presented themselves to repair the product, pursuant to their warranty and guarantee. A third party has assessed the driveway work done by Arcane where it is agreed that the work was not performed properly. Time lapse since Arcane attempted to repair the driveway in accordance with our agreement has been ten days as of this date (6 August 2011). As contracted with Arcane, and as posted on their website, all work is guaranteed. Unfortunately, this issue with Arcane is not an isolated incident as discovered in my investigation of Arcane. There have been complaints about Arcane in my neighbourhood and posted complaints on the Better Business Bureau of Ottawa.
I have also filed a complaint about Arcane to the Better Business Bureau. My complaint goes as follows:
[text begins]
On April 7, 2011 I paid Arcane Services a total of $xxx for lawn cutting and snow removal, [invoice details].
They provided the lawn cutting (although the service was infrequent) but have not provided the snow removal included in the agreement ($yyy of the $xxx).
I have made repeated calls to their office and actually spoke to someone on three occasions. Although I was told that action would be taken, Arcane has not provided any snow clearing.
On January 3 I sent a letter to their address on the web site (2807 St Joseph Blvd), asking for the refund of $yyy. It was returned as undeliverable.
I would be grateful for your assistance in obtaining a refund.
[text ends]
There are as of today 54 complaints filed with the BBB about Arcane. judging from the data on the BBB site, most of them are unresolved. So there are lots of people out there like us.