Soft Breeze Air Systems

Dec 2008 we had a new furnace put in by them, 5 years after there was a problem with the furnace I called for repair they said it needed some new parts and every year after that there has been problems. Called again and said needed parts replacement again and the problem was never fixed. Every time they come in they just ask for cash payment and never get receipt they are in and out within 2 minutes. Called another company in to see what the problem is and they said all the work that was done has been wrong since day 1. Would not recommend!!

My parents furnace stopped working this winter. They called Soft Breeze that evening and within two hours they were at the house. They recommended putting in a new furnace. The next day, they were there with the new furnace, installed it, took a look at a few other things, and answered all of my parents questions. They went above and beyond in customer service and gave us a fair price for their service/furnace.

I am a renovator in the toronto area and had seen a sticker with softbreeze.ca on it and contacted the company (416-410-9326) to get some estimates for work on the job.

When i left to meet him i checked the internet and found these interesting comments and thought ok lets meet and give the guy the benefit of the doubt. I asked for 4 prices and once outside he agreed to provide me with those prices and that there would be no charge.

Then he suggested he might have seen a crack. So reluctantly i let him back in and apparently he found a crack and said he would have to tag the furnace and shut it down. But i know his game and i suggest i need evidence and a second opinion, not just his camera/flashlight which takes no digital photos.

At any rate i tell him to close it off, already realizing that this was a mistake to have even invited him in. But what he did not know was that my friend, my other gas and furnace guy was there to evidence his behaviour and monitor his reactions. We have voice evidence and photographs and i have written a summary of how this guy operates. In the event that i need to provide it as evidence for any future actions he takes against me or my customer or to support others that might have been impacted by this guys unique tactics.

Once again, just before he closes up the panel and spending maybe no more than 10-15 minutes trying to find the crack and showing both myself and my other gas guy he gives up. But maintains that in the best interests of the owners, that this furnace will need to be tagged and shut down. And now he wanting to speak to my owner, which he did when we went upstairs. But not before he pulls out his trusty visa/mastercard and debit machine and asked how i wanted to pay. Oh, yes pay? for what? your inspection and apparently its $170.00, which he tells everyone they have to pay no matter what. That's why this guy lives in a nice rich house in etobicoke and likely can make up to 6-10,000 per week and maybe 25-35,000 per month.

Nice web site and not sure of his ethics quite yet, Written all over his professional looking web site. Outside he asked me how i was going to pay for it and i told him to send me an invoice so i can review it along with the 4 other quotes i requested. He says so you aren't planning to pay? i said send me an invoice. He then threatens he will put a lien on the project???? For $170.00 who is he kidding but it humours me and then he plans to contact tssa and report that there is a crack. But he did no co test and has no evidence of a crack on a digital camera to prove it. And on top of it he never tagged it before he left because i got him out of the house in time.

This type of behaviour is difficult to tolerate and i can appreciate why those other homeowners felt threatened. But for me its all about exposing those people that try to take advantage of others. Oh yes, he claims that he has an impeccable record with the Better Business Bureau? So Home Stars people maybe you should follow through on those complaints and register them to the BBB.

As a follow up according to my customer, he did call a complaint in to the Tssa or enbridge and then showed up on sunday night at 10pm and shut the furnace down. Then they inspected the furnace and found no crack and turned the furnace on again. And the ext day he contacted my customer and threatened legal action??? Ok, looking forward to it, because i am the renovator that engaged him in this original work to begin with. He will have to now deal with me, the ministry of consumer and commercial relations and of course Home Star customers who find his company name on the internet.

The more people that make these complaints the more likely he will either clean up his business or try another business.

Oh yes did he tell you he is an Engineer? ok good luck!

George in the Beaches wont Stand for It!

I am thankful for Homestars because I wouldn't let a company like this do work for me ever again. We had this company in to fix our furnace a few years ago. They tagged our furnace with a threat that we wouldn't be able to use it until we had them do the work to fix it. Judging by the other reviews, this is how they make a living. Stay away.

I would never recommend this guy to anybody, no even my worst enemy. This company looks like a big one but I think is only one guy.
I found them in yellow pages (big mistake), did not know about homestars yet.
I needed a humidifier for my 4 stories townhouse and the guy installed a crappy humidifier that was not enough for my house. I called him again because the humidity wasn't increasing and he said that I need to keep the furnace on longer for the humidity to increase. I made him set the humidifier to the fan system so I can keep it running longer, but still, I have to wait like one full day with the fan running to see the humidity increase a little bit.
Then my AC broke down, I called him (yeah, I know, you can call me stupid), he came after hours because he said he wasn't going to charge me after hours fee, he checked the unit and charges me 500$ for a capacitor.
That's it, no more Soft Breeze for me.

I used this company in the past to fix a couple of problems with my old furnace. They seemed all right. Then when I was away on holiday this winter, the furnace stopped working and our housesitter called them to fix it. Their technician relit the pilot light, charged $180 and then put a warning tag on the furnace. Which meant that I came home from a vacation to a letter from Enbridge threatening to cut off my gas.

I spoke to Soft Breeze a couple of times and they claimed they were doing their jobs and ensuring the furnace was safe. I can understand that. But here's the thing - THREE other companies came afterward and said that their reasons for tagging were bogus. But once it's tagged, you have to have work done or pay for an expensive inspection to prove them wrong.

I ended up replacing the furnace in the end, but none of the changes Soft Breeze said were necessary were done. Judging from a previous review it seems they're engaging in predatory practice. They tag and then say you need a new furnace. And guess who could sell you one?

Stay away.

I had a furnce guy fix my furnace. He repaired it fine (update:no it wasn't repaired fine. the same problem came back again about a month later see below). But he also said the exhaust ducting was illegal and that he would have to report it to Enbridge Gas company who would send me a letter that says I have to replace my exhaust venting within 45 days or else they would shut off my gas. Is this true ? He also told me he could fix it for a $1000 dollars. It’s true that it is a bad installation but it has been there since before I bought the house 12 years ago and was installed by the previous owners.

I have never had somene come to the house to do repairs and then report me. Is this for real? (Incidently, I realized that he added the parts about my having to fix the furnace to code, after i had already signed the invoice. He added it later.Tricky guy)

I have to say that when the furnace was installed, it received an inspection sticker that it passed. this means that it passed !! so although there may have been building code changes since that time, I should not be fixing things everytime the building code changes. only when I change out my whole furnace.

By the way, if this furnace repair man was an honest person, he would have told me that he believes that the venting is not to code and prob. should be replaced. Then he should have told me what was wrong with my furnace in the first place and told me the cost. Instead, he had already replaced the pressure switch when he started telling me that my venting was not to code and needed to be replaced too. If he was honest he would have told me that right from the start and told me that he would not touch my furnace until the venting was going to be replaced too because it could be dangerous. Instead, he made sure he made his money and then told me that I had to get something else fixed. I would say that this was a bit tricky and not very honestly looking out for me. I do have CO detectors by the way.

By the way, there were never any a or b or red tag’s given to me or fastened to the furnace. When I found the ’consumer’s gas’ inspection sticker on the side of the furnace dating back to the installation, I knew that it had to be fine

UPDATE JANUARY 2011:

My furnace stopped working again just like originally. It just stops and doesn’t come back on again. Same problem again. I was ripped off! This time I re-read the flashing red light on the furnace panel inside which corresponds to a code. The code says on the panel that one possible problem could be oxidization on the flame sensor and to rub it off with sandpaper. Seems resasonable. I did some googling. And in fact found my furnace on a chat forum. SOmeone else had a similar problem and said sanding would work. I tried it. It was fairly easy to find the flame sensor. Right where the flames should be. It did feel like it had some corrosion on it. I sanded it. Then turned my furnace back on and voila! Working just fine again. The furnace guy never bothered to look at the codes at all. Let’s face it , he couldn’t charge me extra for cleaning the flame sensor. But he COULD charge me extra for another part which I didnt even need. VEry very tricky and I will write this up on this site.

Oh by the way, there were never any calls from Enbridge gas company for me to fix my furnace. another bold faced untruth by the furnace repair guy.

Bottom line is that you can not trust at all any of the HVAC people who come to your house. They are not your doctor. You have to first establish a good working relationship with someone who does a good and honest job before you can even begin to trust.

Big mistake! My furnace wasn't working, had problems with the ignitor every other year but my regular guy was too sick to help out. Looked up Soft Breeze in the yellow pages. First he needed cash to get one piece, then more cash for another piece...He kept running out to help other customers and I was at the bottom of his pecking order. Finally it cost me loads but at the end, my furnace was totally destroyed and I needed to buy a whole new one! Wow! You can bet I didn't purchase it from them.