I've had an Enercare service plan for years. My experience with their technicians has been great. The guys are polite, knowledgeable and tidy. I had a few call outs many years ago (about 10 years ago) but virtually nothing since except for the scheduled maintenance visits twice a year. As a result...Enercare has made a lot of money off me over the years.
The problem is that I signed up for another year long contract in December, then sold our house in April and moved out in July. Prior to moving I called Enercare to find out the options for my contract. They told me that I can either cancel entirely, in which case I will be billed for the balance of the payments for the year, or I can transition the plan to my new home and continue the plan for the balance of my term. I moved into a temporary rental house for about a year, so despite that the landlord is responsible for the system, I figured I may as well get some value out of the balance of the contract, so I opted to move it here.
Now here is the problem - I get my final gas bill for the old house and it shows a charge from Enercare for the balance of the contract to be paid out as a lump sum. I called Enercare when seeing this and their response was that the amount is billed out against my prior home, but I will get a credit for this amount on the bill for my new residence. The catch - in order to take advantage of this credit I will need to sign up for a full 12 month term again (also - at a higher price). So my options are:
1) forfeit the cost of the balance of the contract ($339) and give Enercare a windfall at my expense.
2) sign up for a 12 month contract for this rental house, which I don't need
In the process of getting to these 2 options, I was transferred through multiple call centres and wasted way too much time on hold for nothing. In the end I have given up as my time is worth more than the benefit I would gain by arguing with them over their 'policy'. I suspect there are no consumer protection laws in place to protect people from such practices, however I do know that even the insurance companies refund your premiums if you terminate your policy mid-year. Enercare has set a pretty low bar for themselves with their customer policy.
So live and learn. I have learned that I will never again deal with Enercare nor recommend them to anyone I know. Perhaps someone from Enercare will read this and learn that there is little to be gained by being petty with loyal customers from whom they have made many thousands of dollars over the years - but I doubt that they care.
I hope my experience will prove helpful to others that may be considering buying a home protection plan from Enercare.
