Reliance Home Comfort

On Wednesday Dec 11th we woke up to find that our furnace had stopped working. Thankfully we have a Reliance Home Comfort Protection Plan and was able to call them for a worry free fix. Boy was I wrong.

A technician was sent out quickly but sat in his truck for half an hour and I unfortunately had to leave and let my son deal with him. I did talk to the tech before I left and he told me that he would call me when he was done to let me know what he did. An hour later I called my son to find out that the tech had left and that the furnace wasn't fixed because a part was needed to be ordered. The tech never did call me to tell me anything. This should have been my first hint that there would be more problems.

I called the service center and was informed that they wouldn't know when the part (an ignitor) would be delivered until a little later in the day and that I should call back in the afternoon. At 3:25 PM I called and was informed that the part was on it's way and that it would be at my place by 5:30 PM and if it didn't show up by then to call in and they would be able to give me more information. After 5:30 PM the part hadn't arrived so I tried calling to get more information. In the process of trying to get the information I was hung up on 3 times and when I did finally get more info it was that they had no clue why I was told to call after 5:30 because the Parts Department closes at 5:00 PM and there was no way to get more info. A couple calls later I was told not to worry and that the part could still arrive up until 9:30 PM and if it didn't it would definitely be at our place by Thursday and to make sure someone would be available for when they send the tech out to complete the job.

Thursday arrived and my wife took the day off to make sure that the repair was completed as told. At 11:30 the part still hadn't arrived so I called the call center and was told to call back some time after 12:00 PM and they would have more information. At 12:15 I called again and was told that the part that was supposedly on it's way was on back order and that we would be going another day without heat. I asked to have the situation escalated. I was told by Hailey that there isn't anything they can do but that they would pay for 2 heaters that cost no more than $80 in total to help us with the heat. I'm not too sure what your experience is but it's extremely difficult to heat a home with pets and children with 2 small heaters. I was also told that the part was definitely coming on Friday and to not worry. I Explained that I was justifiably worried and that I had called another company near me and that they had the part and could fix it that day for me but it would cost the same amount as a full service because they had dealt with Reliance Techs before and didn't trust their work so they would need to start from the beginning. Again I was told not to worry, it would be done tomorrow.

Friday morning comes and still no part. I had a busy day at work so I couldn't call in until noon and was informed that they called the Parts Department and that the part had shipped and would be at our house today for sure. At 3:00 PM the part still wasn't at our house so I started getting worried. I called in and they once again called the Parts Department and after a bit of a wait they once again confirmed that the part was still on it's way and that they would get me a tracking number to calm my worries. I waited over an hour for the tracking number and decided to call in again knowing that the office would be closing soon. Roxanne told me should would ask the last person that I talked to for the tracking number and would be right back. When she got back to me she informed me that there was a mistake with shipping and that I would now need to wait until Monday. At this point I had completely had it. I asked to speak to a manager and got Eric. Eric informed me that they could cover up to $300 for an outside company to do the repair. I responded saying that isn't enough because it's now considered after hours so the repair would cost more than that. I also asked for the tracking number for the part because at that point I was not convinced that there was a shipping problem. Eric agreed to get the tracking number and put me on hold. A few minutes later Eric was back and told me he could now cover up to $400 for an outside company to fix my furnace and when I asked about the tracking number he informed me that he was unable to get it.
So here we are, three days in and no working furnace even though we have a Reliance Home Comfort Protection Plan. It's now up to me to do the extra work to find a company that can fix this or else I have to wait until Monday and hopefully have the part then. Needless to say I'm upset and would love to talk to some one higher up at Reliance about this situation but I doubt anything will be done for me.