Mckinnon Heating Cooling

reliable and friendly service technicians who take great care with the furnace and educate you while they repair or service the equipment. Very happy with the fair price and very quick response time

We just had a very standard replacement of a pilot light made to a wall mounted space heater. This took the technician two seperate visits. His first visit was to tell us it was broken (really?! This cost us $210) and second visit was to replace the part (which we had already told them on the phone was required, but the service man did not bring any parts with him). Second visit cost us an additional $336). The service man was professional and pleasant, but he ended up charging us 1.5 hours of labour for what was actually about 45 minutes of work (all his time inside the house). This is clearly overbilling and gauging. The two visits I can accept (a crafty way of doubling up billing), but the blatant overbilling of time by more than double is a hard to accept.

When we called and questioned the billing, we were told that they bill by the GPS on the car and not by the time the service person spends in the house doing his job!! Don't bill me by GPS when I know excactly how long the job took. This is very dishonest and unprofessional and I will never McKinnon again for any project, big or small. Very bad first time experience.

This company found the problem, quoted us for the work, and completed the job all in one day, on very little notice. Efficient and friendly staff and a great price. I would recommend them to anyone and everyone.

About 2 years ago, we replaced our boiler at cost of approx $5,000. Our previous boiler had lasted for well over 20 years with minimal maintenance and repair. The new boiler (Slant/Fin) was sold to us on the basis of its efficiency and reliability.

Recently, we returned from our vacation to discover that our home was 43F. Our boiler had failed.

Our first call was to McKinnon. The person on call that evening was a pleasant enough fellow who did his best to assist us in troubleshooting but who (by his own admission)was not a technician (only an installer), and not in a position to diagnose the problem. We therefore engaged the services of a different company who came immediately and who determined that the unit’s transformer was burned out and needed replacement.

Confident that the problem would be covered by the boiler’s "lifetime warranty”, we decided to wait until the morning and then have McKinnon undertake the repairs. We spent that evening in a hotel.

The following morning, I called McKinnon. I advised the service call operator that a technician from a different company had determined what the problem was. She informed me that McKinnon would be doing its own diagnostics (I wasn’t about to argue with her) and she arranged for a technician to perform a diagnostic test. The technician determined that the transformer was indeed burned out and that a gas valve also needed replacement. He issued a “red tag” for carbon monoxide, even though he was unable to determine the CO level (it turned out to be well within acceptable limits) - because we had not signed up for McKinnon’s service plan in the previous year.

The necessary repairs were undertaken later that day. The transformer and gas valve were replaced. The CO test was satisfactory.

We were informed that none of the repairs were covered by the boiler’s “lifetime warranty”. The boiler was barely two years old and the wording was open-ended.

I wrote to McKinnon and they refused to stand by the warranty. Apparently, it is my fault for not having had a service inspection a year ago. As a lawyer, I can tell you that this is nonsense.

As a "goodwill gesture" McKinnon offered me $50 off if I agreed to sign up for their service plan.

I will be pursuing this matter in Small Claims Court.

In summary:

1. McKinnon sold me a boiler that was supposed to function for many years free of headaches but which, in fact, functioned properly for just over 2 years.

2. When called upon to remedy a malfunction in the boiler, the person they had on call that evening was not competent to handle the problem, forcing me to find a diagnostic technician from another company and causing my wife and me to spend our first evening back from vacation in a hotel.

3. On the following day, McKinnon duplicated the services of the diagnostician that I had used the previous evening, even though their diagnostician reached the same conclusions, resulting in my having to pay twice for the same service.

4. McKinnon failed to honour the boiler’s “lifetime warranty”, resulting in my having to pay over $1,200 to fix a problem that was guaranteed not to happen.

5. The McKinnon technician issued a “red tag” for carbon monoxide testing as a means of intimidating customers to sign up for its annual service plan.

6. I have no confidence that future problems with the boiler will not occur and I have every reason to believe that McKinnon will not stand by the $5,000 boiler that it sold me 2 years ago.

We experienced a large drop in temperature due to a broken motor and cold exterior weather. McKinnon and their technician, Russell were very responsive both on the day of repair and with a follow-up call. The technician explained the failings of the furnace, a possible problem that could arise due to water back-up and did so in a way I could properly understand and remember. The technician was a very good representative for the company as he spoke well of management and how he was treated within the organization. I was very pleased on how they responded, they followed up and the relationship they have continue with me. We have had the furnace for 10 years and will continue to recommend McKinnon.

I own a number of rental units and the last thing you want, is a call from your tenants at 2 am telling you the furnace has broken down right in the middle of the winter (and on the coldest of nights). This is exactly what happened to me.

I've come to distrut many of the HVAC companies I've dealt with in the past. The previous HVAC company had given me the run-around and been in to service this particular furnace twice the previous year, even red-tagged the furnace and later removed the tag acknowledging an error on their part - I didn't feel comfortable calling them back again.

I had recently heard of Mckinnon through a business client of mine and called Michael, the president to explain the situation the next morning.

Within the same day, he had the problem diagnosed, gave me a couple of options and allowed me to make my own decision about whether to purchase a new furnace or not - which I did. They installed the new furnace the same day, my tenants had heat back within 24 hrs, and I didn't have anything to worry about. On top of that, they took care of all the paperwork to get me a chunk of money back with the government rebate program going on.

I've since read all the different reviews on Mckinnon Heating on homestars and felt compelled to share my own experience. I woudn't trust anyone else with my Heating and Cooling and glad I've got Mckinnon looking after me and my tenants.

Although, we found the service people to be reliable and efficient and pleasant to deal with; I would absolutely not recommend this company for the following reasons:
McKinnon was going to charge us for an expensive compressor while the compressor was covered under warranty. McKinnon mishandled our billing and double billing for a job they did not complete. McKinnon had absolutely no ability to listen to our complaint of double billing and were unable resolve their obvious mistake in a professional manner. Finally, and most importantly, aside from these above customer relation problems, they charged us over $1,000.00 and did not fix our air conditioner. Our air conditioner is not working.
Before proceeding, please review the company’s several negative Better Business Bureau complaints which have been unanswered by McKinnon.
Below is a detailed account of Mckinnon negligence.

Our LG ductless air conditioner was not working. We called Mckinnon Heating Cooling, to fix it. They had installed our unit. We first believed that our air conditioner was not working because squirrels had chewed through the existing outside lines. Mr. Michael Nepom came out to our house to look at our set up. He gave us options for the complicated repair. We decided on moving the lines inside our third floor office. McKinnon provided us a service quote for this. On the scheduled service day, the service technician Derek, realized the problem was with the compressor. The compressor was leaking and needed to be replaced. Derek told me the compressor was covered under warranty.
When McKinnon called to schedule the compressor replacement they told me that the compressor was not covered under the air conditioner warranty. I found this unbelievable as our air conditioner was only a few years old. I called LG and found out in fact that the compressor was covered under the warranty. I informed Mckinnon, however after several emails and phone calls McKinnon finally agreed that the compressor was covered. The compressor was replaced and our air conditioner was repaired or so we thought.
After the compressor job was completed, we received several invoices from the company. The invoices were not detailed and if they were the costs and the parts for the job didn’t seem right. We were late in paying our bill and began to receive calls inquiring about our payment. In the 11th hour, after threatening to send our delinquent account to collection agency, I realized that McKinnon had double billed us. One bill was for the service quote for moving the lines inside the house which was not done and the second for the replacement of the compressor. The second invoice was correct.
I tried to explain this to Sally in billing dept. Then, I began an email dialogue with the President, Mr. Michael Nepom. I consulted a lawyer as the threat of Small Claims Court was tossed around. Michael did not believe me. He said it was convenient that I discovered this problem at this time and would not look into the billing. I invited him over to my house to look and see that the lines were not moved. He declined and wrote me very several disparaging emails. Our account was sent to his ‘Para-legal/debt collector’.
Believe it or not, this collector was great. He listened and investigated the double billing issue. It was determined that, McKinnon had double billed us. We paid the outstanding invoice for the labour costs of replacing the compressor.

A/C was not working. I filled a online request for a service call, and received a call, and a appointment was made. At the time of the call the charges were told to me. Technician arrived in the window as promised. Techinician checked all possible problems, was very thorough, explained in detail what could be wrong, what my options were. He was actually a very friendly guy, unlike some service tech's I have dealt with. He fixed the problem and I believe if a company fails in their service promise to tell them, on the otherhand if a company delivers on their service plan, you should let them know...this company delivered.

Mckinnon was called in to repair an on-demand heating system that would not maintain the flame for more than a few seconds and would spontaneously turn on when there was no call for heat. Four visits (two different technicians- one completely incompetent), 6 weeks, $650 dollars, several parts ordered, at least 10 phone calls to Mckinnon and still all the same problems remained and then they send a guy to sell us a $10,000 new unit because the next part needed is no longer manufactured. They say that they have billed us for the work done, but how are we to know if any of this was necessary. Nothing they did ever fixed anything. They say that we have to trust them that everything they did was necessary. How are we supposed to trust them when nothing they did made the boiler work? We were living in the cold and without hot water for weeks. When I talked to the company president Michael he admitted "we dropped the ball on this" but they stand by their work. What does that mean? He offered no refund whatsoever and he suggested we take him to small claims court so we can waste even more time dealing them. I wish I saw these reviews ahead of time since others appear to have the same problems repeatedly. I checked the Better Business Bureau rating for this company and it is an F. They have 3 complaints against them and have not responded to them. I suggest people report their problems on this forum and contact the city contractor licensing board at licenf@toronto.ca STAY AWAY FROM MCKINNON.

Our complaint is not that the boiler needed replacing. The problem with Mckinnon was that they kept charging us for yet another thing they claimed would "fix" the problem, but nothing they did fixed anything. We had four visits from them and had to call them repeatedly to get a response, and they continued to charge us more and more. They only offered to refund the charges for the useless work that they did if we gave them another $10,000 for a whole new system. We went elsewhere and got the job done for a third of that price. If they were so unfamiliar with the heating system, they shouldn't have taken the job and charged us for their unsuccessful "trial and error".

Should be Mckinnon Heating and Terrorists.

I have been a Mckinnon customer for 15 years. Two days ago I called them because the heat exchanger in my boiler was blocked. I needed it repaired ASAP so I could turn the heat back on. The temperature outside was -15C and my house has 100 year old "insulation".

Upon arrival, they immediately red tagged it and disconnected it from the gas supply. I asked if they could please repair it for the short term and they said it was not worth repairing. I asked that they please keep the gas water heater running and they said they could only do that if I agreed to buy a new boiler from them. I said I was not looking to shop around and they left it running.

They then sent their salesman over to sell me a new $9000 system. They also said before they would work on a replacement I would need to remove some asbestos, install a newer chimney liner, build a small furnace room in the basement etc. Then they lent me some small electric heaters from Canadian Tire.

I contacted another company for a second opinion. They said that although the unit was quite old, what it really needed was a good cleaning. I asked Mckinnon to do this and they again refused saying it was not worth it.

I had the heat exchanger cleaned and restarted the heating system. This was just in time as the water pipes to our top floor had already frozen. If the pipes had burst it would have done substantial damage to our property.

The next morning I woke to find Mckinnon trucks in front of my house disconnecting my gas at the meter. They not only turned off my heat, but also shut down my 3 gas fireplaces and water heater. It seems that if I am not going to buy a new system from them that I am not allowed to have any heat in the house at all.

I then contacted another company - Laird and Son - who was able to send someone over immediately. Their technician inspected the whole installation and found no problems. Then then turned the gas meter back on and ran several computerized tests before certifying it as safe.

The moral of this story is buyer beware. Seek a second opinion. While Mckinnon focused on finding problems and holding me hostage, Laird and Son found immediate solutions and worked through the problem. In future, I will be giving my business to Laird and Son.

I gave Mckinnon a "1" only because the salesman left the small electric heaters as he bolted out the door. I would give "Laird and Son" an "11" if the web site would let me go that high.