From Fall 2025 On September 15, I contracted with Mr. Ethan Janowski, owner of Odin's Elite Exterior Services (the business name at the time), for NEW gutters, downspouts, and leaf guards for my house. The projected cost was $2200. I paid Mr. Janowski a downpayment of $1100 on September 15, and a few days later he asked for an additional $200 payment which I gave him on September 20. On September 22, I got a text from my wife telling me that our OLD gutters had been taken down and put back up again. When I texted Mr. Janowski and asked him why he had put back up my old gutters rather than put up new ones as the invoice said, he had various excuses: the gutters I wanted did not exist, my existing gutters were already in excellent shape, he was trying to save me money, he was "refurbishing" them, etc. In addition, when I inspected his work, on one side of the house, the gutter was still on the ground. On the other side, the gutter had been reattached incorrectly: the whole gutter had been moved over one foot so that it jutted out past the edge of the roof on one side and fell short on the other side. Furthermore, there was a gap between the gutter and the roof so that rain would have gone past the gutter and done extensive water damage to the side of my house. After a few failed attempts to get Mr. Janowski to talk to me directly vs. text messages, I told him to halt all further work. He then told me I owed him an additional $650 for work done. I told him that it was rather he who owed me $1300 for breach of contract. He then told me he would put a lien on my house if I did not pay him. We agreed to settle our differences in court. On September 28, Mr. Janowski texted to tell me that he was coming over to my house to take down my gutters since, because he "worked" on them, he considered them his property now. I called the police and fortunately, Mr. Janowski did not follow through. On October 3, I sent Mr. Janowski a letter, trying to find an off ramp to this dispute. I offered to pay for any costs Mr. Janowski incurred but expected the balance of my deposit to be returned. He firmly rejected the offer, said he was now going to place 2 liens on my house, and that I could "figure it out in court." I have since taken this dispute to the Small Claims Court of Champaign County and have been awarded my initial downpayment of $1300 plus court costs. I am not optimistic about collecting the money owed but wanted to leave a public record of what happened. So there is no confusion, I did not discuss the "reframing" of my house because I did not think it was relevant. But since Mr. Janowski has brought it up, I feel I must address it: 1) the "reframing" involved removing some rotted wood siding from my house, replacing it and repainting it. I was fairly satisfied with the work although the painting was not finished. 2) the total price for this service of $950 was PAID IN FULL. read more

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We requested services on April 2 for two properties. Ethan asked that we pay in advance $185 to diagnose and repair appliances at each property. We obliged and both were scheduled for April 7. On the afternoon of scheduled work, Ethan requested a reschedule citing truck mechanical issues. Reschedule was then set for April 9. On the 9th having not heard from Ethan, I reached out at which point he told me another project required his teams attention...then silence. April 10 I reach out again asking for an update. We schedule a call, instead he texts me asking availability to come back to properties. I respond with "asap". Ethan responds that he didn't have anyone he could send same day, but he could have someone over next day, April 11. After asking Ethan for an update after scheduled time, he responds "...we've had further complications and don't want to ask you have to reschedule again. We will be issuing a refund for both repairs". I then asked that Ethan confirm when refund was initiated. Four days later I get a message from Ethan. "It should have, you may have to request the refund via your bill pay app so we can confirm the refund." I've followed up on the refund we have yet to receive and there has been silence. Don't squander any of your resources with this business. You'll be found wanting. read more

he did not show up twice for a repair at my house, unreliable. He cancelled on me one day, rescheduled for 2 days later, did not show, no communication at all. read more

He was not able to help me. Kept wanting to come to my home and I would not let a man in my house. Would not give me a place to take my table for repairs. read more