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Hello everyone,
I really would like to let people know how Reliance manage their business.
I was renting water heater for 4 years with no problems, until I decided to close account with them which was in August 2009.
I called Reliance to close account and they told me that I have to pay $200 to close it. I asked to talk to manager and they told me there is no manager.
I asked why the price is so high when my 3 months payment was only $38 dollars? And how closing account could be such a high price. I got only one response that how much it cost.
I had a contractor delivered their water tank and Reliance signed it. Later I got a bill for $42 dollars, stating nothing but I owe them that much. Still, it was higher than 3 months rent. So I called to talk to someone. They said I should talk to manager, when last time they said there is no manager. They gave me a phone #. I called and left a message with my contact information, I never got a reply.
Until November 2009 I was getting $42 dollars bills, then on December 2009 I got a bill for $210 dollars overdue $42 who knows for what+$168 closing account.
What kind of charges are that? and what kind of service is that? Does it mean they can send me any kind of bills they want and expect me to pay? and threaten me that they will send it to collection agency.
I think its a total bill scam.
I feel stressed after seeing last bill.
If any one got any idea on how to deal with them, please help. I have bills as proof and written names with who I spoke on the phone, but those names are just names, they did not want to give me more information about who I was speaking with even they had all of my information. That is just not right.
Today I had a chance to talk to Nick and she refered me to Omi who is general meanger I believe. I was told that if they remove the tank the price to close account would be $325. I thank and said I will call another time.
I am thinking to myself what the f...? the price for tank they install around $300!
Also to everyones information you don't have to sign any agreements you just agree automatically if you pay them to whatever agreement they send who knows when twice a year to you. I asked to specify when she said twice a year, its like winning a price, read everything we send you, somewhere with small letters on last page is an agreement that you agree because you pay for service, I thought I pay for service I did not know that I pay meaning I agree.
I disagree!
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
I went through a Reliance Home Discomfort abusive billing as well. They called out of the blue a year or 2 ago asking if I was interesting in a home furnace service assurance for a nominal service charge which would be covered by a rebate for the first 6 months. Fine. The bill was so small...at first. It slowly increased the following year and then I was sent multiple bills at different prices. I called them and tried to cancel and was told I had to send them a letter in the mail to cancel. Good enough...after digging through their paperwork there was no apparent address to cancel so I called them back and they told me I could cancel by sending an email. They gave me an email address and I sent off my cancellation.
In a short period I received a MAILER DAEMON indicating the email address did not exist. I called back and became belligerent enough that I was referred to someone that only gave me his first name and when he started going through the same spiel about having to mail them I told him to stop feeding me [censor] and cancel my account and the creative billing.
He then got hold of his supervisor and I finally got a cancellation authorization number.
The following month the bills kept coming with different values that could not be followed so i had to go back to their billing department to stop any collection agency from destroying my good name. I went through 4 levels of being put on hold with the same lying crap and would not get referred to a "supposed" higher person until I started swearing about their criminally insane abusive behavior. When the last guy finally got on the phone after about 15 minutes on hold I had finally figured out that I should be able to go on their website, sign up for my account number, and unsubscribe on their website...THE WEBSITE DOES NOT ALLOW YOU TO MAKE A PASSWORD TO ACCESS YOU ACCOUNT!@%$?.
The last guy on the phone tried to make it go away if I just paid the last bill from the time I made the first complaint and after explaining that the bill was paid in full at the time and I had a bank record to prove it and that I wanted his last name and location of his office so I could sue, he sent me an e-mail verifying the account was cleared and it actually had his full name and a reliance logo.
I think this is what the dragons on Dragon Den call squeezing the customer for more money.
These guys should be in jail.
We consumers need protection from this.
I suggest anyone that has had to deal with this company or any other creative billing ( Rogers perhaps or Bell?) should contact their politicians during this election and have these thievery practices obliterated !
I am going through this right now as well, I bought a house in April and the day I moved in I had my own wter heater installed and they picked theirs up and gave me a receipt. Now I keep receiving invoices for service on dates that the tank was not even in my house. I hve called 4 times now and each time been told "you will receive 0 balance receipt that account is closed in 6-8 weeks" never happened. Now today I called and threatened legal action for fraud billing and defamation of character as they sent my invoice to a collection agency. So finally I am told they will investigate the matter and call me back next week so I agreed and said if not then Friday I would hire a lawyer and this will cost them a lot as it will be in the news. Maybe we should file a class action lawsuit against them.
Same here all exact ###!
An article named Lien on me: Furnace rental contracts can be registered against your home which unveiled Reliance’s immoral behaviors was posted on the news paper The Hamilton Spectator. The writer Al MacRury asked anyone who has had a consumer problem to contact him. Call [protected] or email him at amacrury@thespec.com
In the article, it said: The Ministry of Consumer Services says it's watching the marketplace and will respond if there's any sign of trouble. So let’s all shout it out and let our voices be heard. We need to work together and put them out of business.
You can read the article by opening the link below:
https://www.thespec.com/news-story/5616616-action-line-lien-on-me-furnace-rental-contracts-can-be-registered-against-your-home/
There are some other authoritative figures we can use to let our voice be heard
1. CBC marketplace
Email: marketplace@cbc.ca
Mailing Address:
CBC News: Marketplace
P.O.Box500
Toronto, Ontario
M5W 1E6
Fax: [protected]
2.Office of consumer affair
This is the place you must go. The link of its home page is:
http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/oca-bc.nsf/eng/home
Hi there, I came here doing a simple search on whether or not the Reliance "closing-account" fee is legal.
I was on the phone with them to enquiring about the buy-out on my water heater tank. I've lived at my place for about 10yrs now and I purchased my home new, as a new home buyer.
All i know is that once i moved in, Reliance was collecting from me, rental fees for water heater tank. I've always paid and never questioned the fees (as I'm sure most ... nice... Canadian... residents do). I just accepted it as is.
However, i decided to look into cutting costs since everything seems to go up in price except my income :( and when I asked the Reliance rep the cost of the buyout fee, I was told a little over $500.00! I thought this was ridiculous and they explained that their tanks are meant to last 16-18 years. Their cost for the one i supposedly have was $1, 200.00
I was also told about "removal" fees, to remove their product that they have on my property.
1) I believe around $140.00 to disconnect, discharge, and take
2) $60.00 just for pickup if the tank is already disconnected and discharged
3) i could have the option to drop it off at some location to say on removal and transport fees (i'm sure there is a catch, like damages fees or something else they could say)
All of these fees plus a "closing account" fee of 40.00. I asked if this was legal and the rep stated it was all on their website.
How is this valid? Terms can change anytime, people are purchasing homes and taking what comes with it. I don't even recall being told about Reliance installing their equipment on my property when i first purchased it.
How have we accepted this? Believing their "Peace of Mind" slogan or "Scare" tactics?
If you do your research, Ontarians are being duped! residents in other provinces don't rent their water heater tanks. We've been led to believe this is what we should do; have to do. Now, they are agressively pushing on doing the same with Furnaces!
Every response I received from the Reliance Rep made me feel like i was their hostage. WHY aren't we being protected by our Government? Evey option i considered was "AT A COST" or expense to ME.
I agree! This company is full of rip schemes and they lie on a continual basis about everything.