Mr. Handyman International
Reviews and Complaints

Never use them. They gave a verbal quote and tried to charge me twice as much. Had them do a drywall job from start to finish with painting. Said we didn't know baseboards were involved almost all finished houses in so cal have baseboards. I would never use them again. Extremely unprofessional technician. Most of the time sitting out in his truck. Used all my bathrooms and clogged up the toilet. What a loser and what an unprofessional company. Never again!

I received a $500.00 gift certificate for Mr. Handyman.com from my sister. There were a couple of projects around the house that we knew needed to be done, but both my funds and time are limited. She thought this service would make a great gift. Wow- was she ever wrong! This generous gift has turned into a nightmare. I contacted the local office in Oak Park, Illinois and inquired about having some electrical work down. At the time, I specified that I did have a gift certifcate and also, that if the electricl work proved to be more involved, that I would prefer to use the gift certifcate on another project. They sent their "handyman" whom they claimed was also an electrician. The man was not licensed. He spent more than 5 hours in my home and when he left, he had not repaired what we had asked him to repair, he actually made some things worse, told us we needed a "real" electrician, left an open junction box in our ceiling and charged us the full value of the gift certificate. They sent an unlicensed electrician into my home, a man who caused more harm than good, and charged over $90.00 and hour for his "services." I realize now this had to have been a scam from the start. He took our gift certificate and left us in a position where we would have no choice but to either bring them back or hire yet another electrician. When my mother (who was at home) would not sign off on the work he had done, the owner of the franchise called. She expressed her displeasure, and then I called him and expressed mine. Keep in mind that I am the homeowner and the gift certificate they took was in my name. After some discussion which included some veiled threats from him, he offered to apply the full value of the original gift certificate they took from us towards a complete electrical upgrade which they claim we need. I wasn't happy with the offer but since it is an older home and there are issues, and also because it seemed to be the only way I was going to get any value from the gift certificate, I agreed to look into the work they proposed. I told them I needed a written estimate before I made any decisions. I also clearly told them I wanted to be there when the new "real" electrician came out because unfortunately, I was not at home when the first person came out. The owner instead deliberately sent the electrician over at a time when he knew I could not be there. After 4 days, I finally received their proposal last night. Now, in addition to the $500.00 they already took from me, they want another $1, 000.00 to repair the damage their man caused and upgrade our electrical. The proposal is also written in a way that allows for unlimited "extra" costs. Bottom line- they took our money and caused further damage to the electrical in our home and are trying to get even more money from us.

While my problem may be limited to the local franchise, I have to say- Do not ever purchase a gift certificate from this company! Your good intentions could cause the person you are trying to help a lot of headaches.

DO NOT HIRE ThIS CONTRACTOR! I hired him to paint my house and build a fence along one property line. He gave me a verbal bid of $2500 then tried to collect over $5, 000 from me. He took me to small claims court when I refused to pay. He left the North side of my house exposed to the elements all winter, scraped but not primed nor painted. He also left gaping holes in rotten window trim and never secured it for the winter. I ended up finishing the work myself, including going back and adding screws to the fence pickets that he had only air nailed in. This man says he is insured and licensed and after some checking with the state of MN I found he was neither. Homeowner Beware!

The guy that worked on my project didn't have the experience or the patience to do the work. Where do they get these clowns from...they look like McDonald's employees all dressed up in stupid looking uniforms and act like they never graduated high school. I'll never, ever use them again. Oh, and they are the most expensive out there...I guss they spend too much on the uniforms.

Mr. Handyman Sales Manager (Robert) came out to look at our job on Monday night, told us: 1) "I guarantee an estimate within 24 hours" and 2) "There is no money paid until the job is done". On Wednesday (48 hrs later) he called with an estimate and said that 50% downpayment is "normal". We were arranging for a loan with the credit union and wouldn't have the money until after work on Friday, so he agreed to come to the house on Monday (Memorial Day - a day off for my husband and I) morning at 9am. No word from him by 10am, so called his cell and left a message, then called what I thought was the office number -- turns out it is an answering service. She said she will try to find him. We finally got a call from him Tuesday night -- told him to forget it. I'm so glad he didn't show up, we saved $1700.00 by having someone else do it - he had the job finished the day after he came out to talk to us and give an estimate --- plus didn't want any until it was finished!

In September 18, 2008, after torrential rain, I discovered that the roof of my screened-in porch was leaking quite badly. I called Mr Handy Man and Mr. Eli Tripps was sent to fix the problem. He must've fixed the problem because we experienced no more leakages until December 18, 2009, when practically the whole country experienced heavy downpours. On December 18, I contacted both Mr. Handy Man and its owner, Mr. John W. Heeke, by voice mails and e-mail. I received no response and I have been trying ever since.

I would have though that in times of severe weather, roofers would've been on an emergengy footing; apparently not with the Mount Pleasant Branch of the Mr. Handyman organisation. I do believe they may be on vacation for the Christmas season. Meanwhile, I still do not know when th roof of my screened in porch will be fixed.

Had tile installed on bathroom floor. Sone tile became craked and floor had soft spots. Called Mr handyman, they sent out a rep who gave an estimate of repairs of $3000.00 Insurance estimate was $2700.00 with $500. deductible. License plumber vcame out said toillet had not been replaced properly by Handyman. Wax ring was not properly re-installed, and toilet was not even bolted down. Piece of wood was wedged in to keep steady. Asked Mr Handyman to re-imburse for $500. 00 deductible, $265.00 plumber, and $263.00 hotel stay. They have not responded.

Services and Installation of water faucets and hookup of an ice maker. The service person was late (3 hours) and gave me an estimate on what the cost would be to install 2 faucets and 1 ice maker hookup. It took him 7.5 hours to do. His intent was to inflate the costs so make money. There fees are over 100 dollars per hour. This is outrageous. I was a very dissatisfied customer and will never in my life call on them again. They have a lousy way of doing business.

I hired My Handyman for a door install. The technician said it would take 4-5 hours because I had a screen door that had to be dismantled. 6 1/2 hrs and he still didn't finish. I had no doorknob, no trim and no screen door! When I asked him about that he said it would be more time and he would have to continue to charge the $88/hr. I didn't notice the damage to my siding until 3 days later. Needless to say I won't using them again! I will write a new post if I am able to come to some kind of compensation for my siding.

There have been a number of missteps, errors, and misinformation on the part of Mr. Scalvo and his Customer Service Representative, Deb. Namely:

• I was given a grossly underestimated quote for service.
• The date of service was to be April 12, 2007, but was listed in Mr. Scalvo’s calendar on April 13, 2007.
• The keys to my home have been lost by Mr. Scalvo, Deb or both.

Mr. Scalzo states that there was a “misunderstanding about the charges” his Customer Service Representative quoted me for the work that was to be performed. I do not think there was any misunderstanding nor communication error on my part in this matter. I believe the misunderstanding lies with the Customer Service Representative in their rates and how much manpower they expected to provide. I was quoted a price of $560 by his Customer Service Representative, even though I spelled out the scope of the work. When I was given this initial quote, on two separate occasions, there was never any mention of a “per worker, per day” rate. I was told of the manpower required (3 men), after the work was already performed. Never in a million years would I have agreed to a contract worth $2,200 with Mr. Scalvo or any other company for this type of work.

Secondly, on an initial call with Deb after the price was of $560 was quoted to me, we agreed that the work would be done on April 12, 2007. I remember this date specifically because it is my father’s birthday and I knew I would have to have paint ready for the workers on the day before so that I could celebrate with my family without interruption. I received a call from Mr. Scalvo a few days before the work was to be completed when he stated that the worker slated to complete the work had a family emergency and would not be able to complete the work on April 13, 2007. We had agreed upon April 12, 2007 as the date the service was to be performed. There still was no mention that more than one worker was required for the work to be completed. Again, apparently my appointment was loaded onto his business’ calendar on the wrong day. Yes, I was listing my home on the following Monday and needed to have the house ready for showing. While the issue with the worker is unfortunate, I do not think it is my responsibility nor should I have to incur additional costs for Mr. Scalvo having to find or hire additional workers in order to complete work for a customer, given the mishap with the appointment date. Again, I was not informed of his decision until after the work was completed.

Third, I’ve have spoken to Mr. Scalvo on four separate occasions since completion of the work. One call was to discuss the grossly underestimated quote. The second call was to set guidelines for payment. The third call was to inform him of the fact that my keys were not in the envelope with the invoice, as he promised it would be. I then called a fourth time and left a voicemail on his cell phone again reminding him that I had not yet received my keys from him. When I did not receive a return call, I then called and spoke to his Customer Service Representative and told her I did not get my keys back. During this call I was told that they “were still looking.” That call was placed on April 25, 2007. I have yet to hear back from Mr. Scalvo or his Customer Service Representative and consequently, I have not had my keys returned to me. I’m more than likely going to have to incur additional costs for having the locks changed.

I do not dispute Mr. Scalvo’s claim that I have paid $560, but believe I have been inconvenienced in many ways. First I have an unexpected invoice amount as a result of lack of understanding on the part of the Customer Service Representative on her company’s business practices. Secondly, my home is at risk because I have not had the keys returned to me and apparently from reading Mr. Scalvo’s response, he nor his Customer Service Representative know where my keys are. I do not intend to ever again use the services of Mr. Scalvo nor his company Mr. Handyman or any of its affiliates, since it is a national company. Nor do I intend to recommend this company to any of my associates.

I would not expect these types of errors from a company that has been in business for many years or from Mr. Scalvo who seems like an experienced businessman. This is a very frustrating situation that has done nothing but add to the stress that already exists when trying to sell a home. Given how I’ve been grossly inconvenienced by something that should’ve been a simple transaction, I’m prepared to pay the original quote that was given to me, $560. Since that amount has already been paid, I’m not expecting to recompense Mr. Scalvo nor his company any further.