YOUR STORIES
Chris | Sarnia , Ontario
Not a water heater or HVAC story, but ours is water treatment. We had a ****** sales rep come to our house for a sales pitch. Broken English, I should have been more careful. NEVER did her mention the massive 7 year commitment this is. My wife and I would have never signed had we known. However it is in the fine print of the contract. It was typical pushy sales, with lots of push to sign up quickly. I have tried to fight it legal and political, but it all comes back to my fault for not reading contract and falling victim to the pressure sales. So now we have a 7 year, monthly, painful reminder.
Sean | Thorndale, ON
My Wife and I built our home 5 years ago which came with a HE water heater. Our rates with ****** high and I've tried to get out of the contract. The contract in question was never signed by my Wife and I. It was simply assumed we were locked in. I've asked for the unit to be removed so we can purchase one but ****** in the GTA will not budge. This has been a hard fight for us that has gone no where.
Rick | Fonthill, Ontario
Approximately 2 year ago ******** representatives came to my house. Reviewed my equipment, which was 10 years old.
In their presentation they wanted to review my electric and natural gas bills. They said that their offer would not cost me any more than the savings that I would realize on my utility bill savings. The also said that they would be back 6 months later to review all my utility bills and if necessary they would cover any deficits in my monthly cost for the new furnace and how water heater compared to my savings from my utility bills.
Well, they never showed up for a review. I called, the person on the other end who said that they don't do that.
The package also included an annual maintenance check that they would schedule with me and any service that may be required during the period of the contract would be covered.
Well, they never did do a service call, but in the winter months the furnace failed. They did come to repair it, but I had to wait for a few days before the parts came in, so they obviously do not stock items for the furnaces that they sell. They did keep my furnace working, but not at normal performance without me having to shut it off and back on every once in a while until the parts came in.
In the spring of this year I did get a call to renegotiate my contact. The original contract was for 20 years and $20,000. The new contract is now for 20 years and $16,000 with an interest rate of approx 5% per annum.
I am 70 years old and unfortunately I was scammed by the smooth talkers without them keeping their promises.
Jim | Winnipeg , Manitoba
Needed some work done on my furnace, simple issue to fix. By the time the ****** guy was done lookin and talking I needed a whole new unit and would be out 9grand. Freakin ridiculous. Why does such a small part turn into a big issue when moneys on the table.
Curtis | London, Ontario
I heard your ad on the radio I am grateful for this site as I see and hear stories every day. I just hope you get to more people that can tell a story. I am currently a Sales Manager in a large HVAC company in London, Ontario. I do not allow sales on-site for our customers, only discussion and education consultation on the site visit.
All quotes (unless emergency) are done before end of day via Email, with all equipment specs, brochures and related materials, thus allowing the customer time to decide or have questions answered. This has worked for us since 1992 and there is no reason to change. I am sending this as a personal write up from my personal email, so not to dis any other companies or disclose ours. Not looking to be the company with the RED CAPE, but wanted people to recognise that this stuff is crazy out there. Even HVAC radio ads are so deceiving when I listen to them. Anyway, keep up the good work and I hope this site reached people before they have a reason to post a bad experience.
Tom | St. Catharines, Ont.
Speaking for my sister, Sister purchased and moved into dads home. A door to door person stated gas company needs to come in and check the Hot water tank for safety. It was now illegal as vented to a chimney, need a new one that vents out the side. You have X# of days to have it replaced or the gas will be turned off.. Furnace needs to be replaced soon too, we have a special running.. I was called after that as I was in trade; Hot water tank owned, 4 years old still legal so don't do anything. This fall furnace did not work when turned on, I was called again, For service sticker placed over the installers sticker and a wire for the limit switch was removed... Coincidence or? Sticker removed.
vidal | London , Ontario
Got a price for a heat pump from ****** in London $28000.00 bucks. Tried to pressure me into singing up that day. Wanted my wife there also... the sales scammer gave us all this false info.
Anyways got another company quote for the same this it was under $10,000. What a scam ****** are in London Ontario.
Mike | Woodstock, Ontario
When we bought our house and it needed a new furnace. We didn't have several thousand dollars to replace it. ******** had a deal where we could pay monthly installments and they would also give us a new Air Conditioner. A couple years went by and we decided to refinance our house. We realised all the extra charges that were put on our contract and we ended up paying about 50-60% more than the original price of if we were to have bought it outright in the first place. We bought the furnace outright with the refinance, as they had put a lien on the house in order to recoup their money. We also chose to cancel our monthly contact with our Hot Water Heater, rented from the same company.
Another issue we had with them was EVERY time we called ****** to even simply ask a question, they would relentlessly ask us to upgrade protection plans and/or buy new maintenance packages for other things in our house. Regardless of how many times we said NO, they would continue to ask. We kept saying no. Even on the final day of all services being cancelled, they would continue to ask if we wanted to but service protection for things like plumbing and electrical.
The last issue we had with them was that we had a service plan on the furnace when we leased it. It was free with the lease. Once a year they came in for service. Each year they came, there was something the service technician found that was wrong with the way it was installed in the first place. They fixed it while they were there. This went on for 4 years. A couple weeks before we completely bought out the furnace from them we had an independent HVAC person come in and inspect it. He told us that they way they installed the vent pipes outside of our house was installed illegally. So we needed the service technician who did the yearly service to change the pipes properly. For 4 years we had an illegally installed furnace and not one of them ever caught it. I would NEVER rent or buy from this company EVER and I tell everyone I know about the this being one of the worst companies we have ever dealt with.
Mike | Port Dalhousie, Ontario
DO NOT WASTE MONEY WITH A MAINTENANCE CONTRACT. After having maintenance completed on a Monday, my elderly mother in law had no heat Tuesday. ****** returned only to quote her almost $1000 to replace the controller board that worked fine prior to their maintenance the day before. And this is not the first time she got a $1000 quote for parts after a maintenance service ****** completed. A complete system that ********** installed in 2009.
Christy | St Catharines, Ontario
An example on why you always get multiple quotes or opinions:
After paying the $150 service fee for a technician to take 3 minutes to tell me what the issue with my no longer functioning furnace on the coldest day of the year, it was “strongly recommended” that I not replace the part and rather spend 6-8000 on a brand new furnace. Giving no discussion on the broken part, I was immediately pressured into starting phone calls and new appointments to purchase and install a new furnace.
I contact another smaller furnace company who explained the following: they would come out the same day to replace a $500 part that would extend the life of the furnace another 5-10 years. They clearly explained that this was a safe option and there was absolutely no reason to replace the entire furnace.
I would do what it takes to keep my family comfortable and happy, but taking advantage of people to sell expensive products is uncalled for.
Jack | St Catharines, Ontario
Home Owner's Beware: posting on behalf of my parents, the maintenance contract is a waste of money and often leads to some sketchy and deceitful behaviour. All winter our furnace has been working fine, heat comes on and off to the set temperature no problem. On March 2nd, ********** sent **********. for a maintenance check. He informed me (parents weren't home) that two parts were damaged and would need to be repaired, with parts costing about 2000 or replace the entire unit for 5000-8000, even though the furnace had been working the day prior. My dad realized the furnace had not been working that night so when he went to check on it he noticed an essential switch had been removed and broken and not put back. Although he's not an expert, he knew that it didn't seem right and he had not been the one to leave the furnace at that state. My parents called that night around 8PM, but they said the earliest they could be there was 8AM the next day (even though there are techs on call until 2AM). We had no heat all night. The next morning they sent another technician, *********., who heard our frustrations and fixed the switch (NOT the parts that the other technician had told us needed to be replaced, which ********* confirmed weren’t even damaged) and it was working by that afternoon. Lessoned learned to always watch the technicians as they are working. We're not trying to accuse anyone or the company, but it is suspicious how we can have 2 techs and such differing qualities of service. It also begs the question, if certain households are targeted for this behaviour because they may seem vulnerable or easily taken advantage of. Unfortunately, this is the behaviour that makes homeowner's suspicious. So be cautious as a simple, cost free maintenance check on your fully functioning equipment may turn into a work order for several thousand dollars of sabotaged equipment.
Job interview for pressure selling
Lol if you’re going for an interview at ********* listen to your gut. You’ll be trained how to pressure sell and pressure selling isn’t necessary if your product & service is truly the best in the marketplace. Persuasion and good ethics > Pressure selling and bad ethics in sales. Respect and professionalism for your interviewees is another thing that makes sense if you’re to form a genuine and positive partnership with your new Hires. There’s a certain point in the threshold of confidence that you enter a highly egoic attitude which begins to come out in the form of disrespect. The bad taste from the interview is still in my mouth. Highly unfortunate. I genuinely wish you guys the best and hope for you to hire better managers to prevent the negative experience which I had for your future employees. I’m sure your product and service is great, this review is for being hired to work here for anyone that’s reading.
Leslie | Toronto, Ontario
Do not use this company.
They lied about what was wrong with my furnace (said the motor and someone about a coupling releasing Co2 was gone but it was only the fan motor.) Then the salesperson came and tried to sell me a furnace for $7800 - the same furnace installed was 4K elsewhere.
But it wasn't only that - the salesman and another he had on the phone tried to bully me into buying the furnace on the spot. They refused to take no for an answer and were more than pushy. It was more than stressful and really really greasy.
Don't use them. they have their scamming process all figured out and prey on people who are not well prepared or knowledgable in the area of furnaces. They practically wanted me buy it on the spot - i had to kick the guy out of my house.
If you get into a contract with them, you will be sorry because they will be ripping you off for years.
Jenifer | Toronto, Ontario
Do not use. My furnace broke and they delayed a repair to try to get me to buy a new furnace from them (while I was without heat). Their repair cost was also much higher than the cost of the repair with another shop.
Paul | St. Thomas, Ontario
I was suffering from a bout of mental illness when they knocked on my door. I was easily duped into their scam. Now I can't sell my house and I'm stuck with a furnace that breaks down occasionally. I am waiting to win the lottery so I can buy them out.
Jonathan
It's great to see this pushback, and we need to start being vocal about it. I have noticed this trend as well with American private equity funds owning networks of hvac franchises, which in turn expand by acquiring local residential HVAC/plumbing companies and turning them into franchises.
Technicians working at these companies have been unequivocal in the acute worsening of their working conditions.
The technicians are forced into shift work paid out at regular time, and forced into commission-heavy compensation structures. They are incentived to sell the customer new equipment rather than repair, even when it is not in the customer's best interests.
These trends have been underway for at least a decade, but it is accelerating in a worrisome way. Not to make it regional, but it seems like a lot of these consumer-unfriendly business practices (like hwt and AC rentals) originate in Ontario and have expanded into the rest of Canada.
Shift work was unheard of when I worked in residential hvac service a decade ago. Now it is the norm.
I fail to see how customers benefit from having technicians that receive more sales training (usually unpaid) than they do technical training.
Michele | Elmwood , Ontario
I bought a house in St Marys and was trapped into having ****** be the water heater service provider because the previous owner had signer a contract that was transferred upon sale. No one warned me about this. I had had water rental service in the past without being forced to accept service from a company I didn't choose. I tried to end the contract and was told that I could buy the contract out for $10,000. That was more than product was worth. And then they would charge me another $500 to remove the tank.
Anything I could find at the time told me I was locked into this battle like many others before me.
Sue | Cambridge, Ontario
Don't talk to me about ******. We bought a furnace then the next month paid it off. So that was in 2018. Go to sell my house in 2022 and find there is a lien on my house. Took until the day off closing to get the lien off. BEWARE OF ******. They don't tell you about the lien, they just do it
Frank | Northbay
That reliable company was in to fix a small problem with my furnace. Talk about a hard sell, the guy was pushy about getting me to buy a new furnace even though the one we have isn’t that old. I wish we wernt stuck in this contract.
greg | waterloo
A local HVAC company came in to do a maintenance on my gas fireplace, we had just moved into the house. I indicated the blower wasn’t working, they checked it and told me I needed a specific circuit/part they had to order. I asked how much, they said it was over $180, I indicated I would wait. The service rep was not happy with that answer. Fast forward to the following winter I find out that there was no part needed, the blower was simply unplugged. 2 second job, plugged back in and its fixed.
