Tankless Hot Water Heater Installation
I ordered a tankless hot water heater from a company called Newton Home Energy, who uses Natural Choice as one of their contractors.
Prior to the installation, one of the apprentices of Natural Choice did a pre-work survey and was extremely pleasant to deal with. On the day of installation, the owner of the company showed up with the same apprentice that did the pre-survey. During the installation the pair were pleasant to deal with, but the owner had forgotten to bring the most basic of parts and had to run to Home Depot to get parts. This is where the problems began...
After the heater was installed, I was charged an additional $150 for parts/labour and then asked if I would take a lawn sign (apparently against the agreement that this contractor has with Newton). I was upset about the extra $150 as it was a discretionary charge, but paid it and even agreed to take the lawn sign. A couple of days later, I needed to fire up my furnace (remember the stangely cold days in May?). To my surprise, there was no heat... I called my home warranty program and they sent someone over right away. He immediately noticed that they had unplugged my furnace. He also indicated that my hot water tank had been plugged in to an outlet on the furnace - which I was informed went against code.
I was charged a $50 deductible for the service call and immediately phoned Natural Choice. The owner informed me that he would refund my money immediately for the deductible and apologized. He also stated that the work that they did met the code and that the home warranty repair person was simply trying to make Natural Choice look bad. Worst of all was that the owner of the company blamed the entire mishap on the apprentice and went on to tell me that he had fired him a day or two ago for the multiple screw-ups that he had made. I was surprised by how little responsibility the owner took in the situation and how little he stuck up for the apprentice (who likely quit to find a better employer).
Several days past and there was no return of my deductible so I called again. I was informed that I had not been forgotten about and that he would be over later that same day... Several more days has passed and after leaving another message, the cheque was finally placed in my mailbox.
I would truly advise against using this company as they are unprofessional, forgetful and full of false promises.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $3,000.00
- What could this company do to improve their services?
- Keep to their word. Treat customers with respect. Take responsibility for their actions and not blame their apprentices.
- Any advice to offer fellow homeowners facing a similar project?
- Ensure that your furnace works before letting the contractor go.
- Company Response
The rental programs do not allow for extended material to complete installs, therefore sometimes there are extra costs for that material. Of course if the extra charges are more than expected, there is the option to not to go a head with the install. There would be an agreement for the extra costs (if so required to complete the install) before install date is choosen.
We did not get the call to come back on the service call, on good will offered to Pay for the service call the another company did. Due to a busy week, it did take a little more than same day to make it by.
Regarding against code, we have top standing audits with TSSA, you are welcome to inform them as I can provide a contact number as well.
We also give many references of previous customers from small installs or service to large projects, too bad we did not see eye to eye and keep you happy.
Hope you are enjoying your Tankless system; we have not seen service calls logged on your address.