AtlasCare

In the last 12 months, the service quality from AtlasCare has been terrible. It is even difficult to file a complaint. There are three separate issues that have occurred that have caused my family discomfort and my 80-year old mother to become sick. After I investigated, I found out that these things could have been completely prevented if people at AtlasCare were doing their jobs (in all cases they claimed they had done what they did, so it is blatant misrepresentation).

I pay for the premium servicing and In early Spring 2022, my HVAC system need to be serviced for the summer. However, in late May 2022 it broke down. I called and a technician came who stated that it looked like my HVAC had not been cleaned back in the Spring (when it was supposed to have by the technician) and that could have caused it to work harder and break down. After paying $500 to find the problem and another $200 to fix it, it worked fine. Then in late June 2022, the AC system kept randomly turning on and off (this was particular difficult late at night as it interfered with our sleep as it was so hot). I called the 24-hour line during the night and they said they told the gentleman who works at nights for the Oakville area and to wait up for him. I was up until 4 am and he never came. I called again the next day (again at night because I'm out of the house in the days and have eldercare issues) and they said they contacted him and he never came (this time I was up waiting for him until 3 am). I called the third night and I was crying because no one could sleep and I had only slept 5 hours during the last three days waiting up for the technician and the dispatch person said they called him. They must have told him I had been crying because he called, blamed the dispatch and told me to call during the day because he doesn't want to have to do night calls. Finally came to the house upset that he had to. He then told me all sorts of technical garbage (I have a PhD in Engineering). When I told him that I was a professor of engineering and what he said was clearly excuses not to work, he then did the work. I had to diagnose the problem asking him specific questions (as I don't know the details of the systems) and had to walk him through like a 5-year old child to finish the job. At every corner, he tried to get out of it until he realized he was dealing with an intelligent person. He finally fixed it at 3:30 am the third day.

The worst incident occurred in November 2022. It is incredibly cold and our motor has stopped working. I called Atlascare and a technician came one hour after I received the text stating he would arrive ASAP. He said that motor was broken and that we couldn't use the heater and when I was concerned, he stated that he will immediately order the heater. He said that he can't guarantee when it would arrive and not to call Atlascare to check up as they would call us. After the appointment, he was on the driveway in his vehicle for another one hour (no idea why, but hoped he was ordering the motor as he said). Of course, no one called (technician had said that the part will come when it comes and that that). When my 80-year old mother became sick from the low temperature, I called Atlascare even though Neil the technician told me not to. It appears that he had in fact never ordered the part. My mother is sick and I have to pay hundreds of dollars to put her in a hotel. I still have no motor.

Every time I try to complain, I am told by the people I speak to at AtlasCare that they can't do anything about this as it's above their pay grade. I am never referred to anyone of authority who can help. There needs to be some accountability and responsibility. Many of the AtlasCare technicians, to be frank, say things that don't check out and don't appear to be working. They allow people to suffer and become sick. I don't know what more I can do - I actually had to walk a technician through the job. I am thinking of ordering the motor part because Atlastcare cannot be bothered too (even though I have their premium service plan). This is a bad company with no option to report when technicians are doing questionable things. In a sector where safety is supposed to be important, this is alarming. I will be going to another HVAC Service company moving forward. Shame on the AtlasCare team.