Reliance Home Comfort

we realized the cost of a monthly rental for hot water heaters was a rip off so we installed our own and tried to cancel the monthly payments. They used every excuse they could think of to keep sending us the bills. They said they needed the serial numbers on the hot water tanks we threw away. We didn't have them as the tanks were old, rotten and disposed of. Out of 5 tanks we were renting(all of which have been replaced) they are still charging us for one. The last one was replaced 15 months ago. When I saw the latest bill I called them AGAIN. This time they said they had no evidence of the previous call and just kept billing us. Now they are threatening to compromise our credit rating by letting on they have to set up a payment plan. Our large business is plenty capable of paying it's just that we have been paying for something we don't even have. This company is one big rip off after another.

No hot water for rental. Called on Sunday @ Noon. Told no work done on Sunday so appointment made for Monday between 10-2pm. At 1:50pm I CALL THEM & am told technician won't be there until at least 3pm. Again, no coutersy call, let alone not showing up on time. Service reps give me hollow apologies & I reshedule because I have to go to work after wasting a day. So Reliance...with door to door hot water renters pressuring your business..where is yur customer service you tout?? What is my wasted day worth? I try for some satisfaction on phone but they act like it is just another pest customer. Am looking into buying my own tank now.

They came in on time as scheduled, they quickly responded to our call, they were fast at the job and very informative. The man was very friendly and took so much time explaining the air conditiong system to us and showing us how it works.

The man came into our home, wore his boots to keep our home clean. He was very kind and polite. He took his time and answered all our questions. Gave us tips and advice. He even came later than he should have to our home.

After waiting for a part to repair my broken furnace for two days, I called the company at 9am and was told they hadn't ordered it. Then I was told that someone would look into it and get back to me by the end of the day (you've got to be kidding me!)

I yelled (a bit) and told them to reverse the charges on my MC and I would call around to find someone who could fix it and instead they called and left a message two hours later telling me that they ordered the part and it would arrive that day.

When the part arrived I called the company to see if they could send a service man over and they told me that someone would come the following morning. Again I let them know I wasn't happy and what do you know...they had a service man over within the hour.

A good company will go out of their way to fix a mistake. I shouldn't have to get upset to be treated fairly after waiting for two days in a house that was 10 degrees celsius for a part that hadn't been ordered.

I used this company in Brantford, and when I got them to do working in Toronto, they were excellent too. Their techs were very friendly and knowledgeable. They were comparable to other contractors I called but they has good service.

For starters, those individuals who gave positive reviews either work for the company or have never experienced anything out of the ordinary with Reliance. In other words, commenting on the quick and clean installation is not a valid review because true customer service kicks in after you've signed the agreeement and installed the equipment, not when you are a new customer ready and willing to throw your money at them.

Background information
- I am moving into a home where the current owners have a lease agreement with Reliance for equipment and the term is up in approx. 4.5 years.
- I noticed that the rental cost were high compared to other companies

Here are the scenario's encountered:

1. Call to customer service as "new customer" to investigate cost:
- Cost of the equipment is $15 less monthly for newer equipment
- When inquiring about Air handlers, I am told that they dont provide those. Funny, because an air handler is currently sitting on the property and on the equipment lease. Am I going to be paying for something that the company does not know exists?

2. Call to the Sales representatives that handle property transfers:
- Left 4 voicemails and no response for 3 days
- Got a response 1 day later at 4:55pm (5 minutes before closing) when I finally sent an angry e-mail indicating that I "Would not sign the lease transfer until I have spoken to someone". We all know that the rep called at this time to minimize talking time.
- When asking what my options were, this is what I was presented with:
(a) Continue overpaying with the lease - $3,000
(b) Buyout the lease - $3,000
(c) Buy the equipment at market value $3,000

So here are my options, pay $3000, pay $3,000 or pay $3,000 and in option (c), I get to keep equipment that is worth $500 at most since it is already 6 years old.

Ironically, while writing this review, I got a call from another rep. When asking the very same questions to him, I get a different response. Apparently to buy the equipment will cost me $3,000 + market value of the equipment to be determined by Home Reliance (What a joke!). Well that's clearly much better.

Lease agreement indicates that the equipment can be purchased at market value with no indication AT ALL that this has to be after the lease term. Can someone explain to me who would want to buy a water heater after 10 years of use and abuse when it costs $1000 to buy a new one at Home Depot?

Summary of my experience with Reliance Home Comfort
1. They overcharge
2. Service reps have no idea what the company's products and services are (there's someone you can trust when making a major purchase)
3. Sales reps are completely useless and have no idea what is happening. I suspect that they are just glorified paper-pushers
4. Trying to get a few questions answered means waiting 3 days and getting the wrong answers
5. There is absolutely no customer retention because once this contract ends, I will definately be moving on to a better company.

The bottom line - After this contract, I will go with another company even if it means paying more money because Home Reliance provides poor customer service and exercises poor business practices (in other words, they rip off their customers).

To give you a summary of what has been going on, since last winter, my furnace was having issues, coming on then shutting off after 5-10 minutes, Of course the techiniicians have a tendency oh it's the air fliter, etc.. expect upon removal of the air filter, the furnace should go back to normal. These are typical high flow rate cutoff issues and indeed the temperature is hitting 185 degrees. Nothing was done other than replacing the blower motor. This seemed to have "fixed" this temporarily, however the air flow from the ducts and intake was never very high after this.

This summer, the AC went, and the capacitor was replaced on the unit. However, this does cause an ice up on the condenser within the furnace, which was corrected and inspected.

This winter again, the exact same issue is happening, the limit rate is being triggered and causing an error code 14, then a 33. I must be honest, if you go through all of our service records, you can this has been one mishap after the other. I keep hands off the furnace apart from changing or rinsing the fliter for the furnace. The previous technician suggested a camera be reuired to look at the exchanger and the ac condensing unit. Yet, the person who arrived this morning, did nothing of the sort, suggesting it was because of the filter(s), and that the fan blower needs to be cleaned. I might add, I just had the ducts cleaned approximately 3 months ago.

All in all, to say I am dissatisfied is an understatement, being a senior engineer myself, if I left a customer like your company has done to me, I would honestly fear from my job. This has been to say a dismal and appalling experience. Last year it took 2 weeks, and again this year another it's going on to 2 weeks, which during the winter is totally unacceptable. If air flow is an issue, then why not simply measure the air flow from the blower motor? Was the blower motor that was put in, the correct one, was it installed correctly? All my troubleshooting instincts tell me no, but I am not the person who should be guessing at what the issue may or not be. This is why i Pay a monthly fee to insure that I do not need to look after this myself, and I have a reasonable expectation that this should be resolved in a timely manner, by a qualified person. This certainly has not been the case, and I trust this issue will be resolved in a timely, and prompt manner.

DONT GO WITH RELIANCE IF YOU LIKE HEAT!!! What is the reason I take work off all day and wait for someone to show up to my house (they will come in between 11-5) just so when i call at 5pm they tell me they cannot show up??? Why didnt someone call me to cancel?? I have better thing to do than sit around all day. Now they expect me to wait tomorrow? this is ridiculous. What kind of business calls themselves reliance when they aren't reliable at all. My house is 7 degrees in the middle of winter. this is not how you should treat cutomers. there are many other places that would love my business. And i will take the unit out myself so you cant charge me more money for nothing. DONT GO WITH RELIANCE IF YOU WANT HEAT!!!!!!!

Consumer Beware! This protection plan apparently does not cover damages incurred while replacing a leaking water heater.
In short, sub contractors sent to fix a pressure problem days after the burst heater was replaced, damaged first the water heater then my home pipes. After creating a problem that did not exist, they tried to blame the condition of my relatively new homes copper pipes. During three separate house calls they smashed and banged the pipes until the house shook. Only after they showed me the water leak in the pipes did it occur to me that something was not right with the installers. They refused to fix the leak and took a powder as fast as they could while I was calling Reliance. This was 11PM and had to shut the water off until I could find plumbers at a cost of $400 to come and repair it.

This was bad enough, but the customer service was worse. Ten emails and several phone calls later, they continue to ignore me. No returned calls, NOTHING! At first they said they would reimburse me, then repeated what the sub contractors tried to sell me. As far as Reliance is concerned, the customer can be ignored and above all, believe what the sub contractors say because the customer always wrong. After emailing me that they were going on the sub contractors word, total avoidance. They need to realize that poor service will cost them customers. If I can help with this, so be it. This is the second time the heater has burst. We called them several months before this one went.They sent someone who said it was fine. Then it flooded my basement AGAIN! Then there is the yearly rebuilding of my furnace because of the poor installation, but that's for another time.

So customer be forewarned, damages caused by Reliance while doing repairs will be your responsibility. And be prepared to be avoided if you encounter problems caused beyond the performance of their equipment. It’s in the contract you will sign when renting and paying for the COMFORT PROTECTION PLAN.