Reliance Home Comfort
Bad business practices

As far as I am concerned Reliance is a huge rip off. They make it difficult to buy out their products (which are, by the way, extremely overpriced). I recently purchased a home, in which there was a pre-existing Reliance hot water tank rental (it was NOT disclosed as a rental in the home purchase). We received a letter from reliance welcoming us to their product, along with a $40 "account change fee" (basically $40 to change the name and phone number on the account). My husband and I sat down to calculate the cost of continuing to rent compared to owning. Because my husband is in the water/heating business, repairs/install would be negligible for us - so we don't need Reliance's services. The cost of renting the tank from Reliance is $320/year; for us to buy and install the exact same model/year tank on our own would be $800-$1000 dollars once (tax included). I called Reliance asking how much it would cost to simply buy the tank they had installed: I called once, was promised I'd get a call back from their rental sales department, which I didn't. I called again 2 weeks later, was asked all kinds of personal questions (like where I worked, what my husband did... not relevant to the conversation - and I told them so). After being put through the high pressure sales ringer for 20 minutes by two different sales people they FINALLY quoted me $1, 310 (plus tax) to just purchase their tank (way too much). I said no thank you, I would like to get rid of their tank because, for us at least, getting our own would be cheaper (I mean, who doesn't want to save money?). They then stated that since the tank was installed less than a year ago, I was stuck with it until the one year is up (all new products are locked into a building for one year - even though we didn't sign (or even see) the rental agreement, the previous owner never mentioned it). So, I got railroaded into renting this tank for the remainder of the year. Reliance uses high pressure sales tactics, are blatantly (and inexplicably) rude, they do not directly answer valid questions (that may, heaven forbid, put into question their practices/products), and they have an overpriced product. Here's the other catch... if you want their product out of your home, they will NOT come and uninstall it, you have to arrange for that. I cannot wait until this is over and I don't ever have to hear from these people ever again. I have never felt so beat up after a phone call.

Company: Reliance Home Comfort
Country: Canada

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