I phoned Reliance to schedule maintenance on my hot water tank (I rent the unit from Reliance) and to schedule a consultation regarding my furnace - I do not rent this from Reliance but am happy with the water tank service so I am considering my options. (getting concerned about the age of the unit, efficiency, better options, etc.)
I scheduled both appointments for Jan. 22nd. The technician would arrive between 1 and 5 pm and the Advisor would come at 2 pm. I also explained to the call centre agent that I would not be at home, I would be at work and that my wife would be the point of contact (I gave the agent my wife's name).
The call centre agent took all of my information and confirmed with me that he had everything in order (I believe his name was Moe). Very well spoken, very professional. I was very happy.
On the morning of Jan. 22nd my wife phoned me at work just after 10 am very upset and angry about a phone conversation she had just had with a Reliance Home Comfort Advisor.
My wife informed me that "some woman" (Advisor did not introduce herself or say that she worked for Reliance) had called our house asking for a "Carrie" (previous owner of the home) regarding a scheduled appointment and that she (Advisor) would like to come now - at 10 am.
A bit of context: My wife looks after our 3 month old son while I am at work. She was lucky that day as my son had gone back to sleep after a 5 am feeding and thus my wife was also allowed to go back to sleep. This phone call jarred her from some much needed rest so this was not the greatest way to start with (I am sure other moms reading this can relate).
We are both rationally minded people though, so although phone calls can sometimes be inconvenient, this was not an innappropriate time to call, my wife understood this.
What happened next is what really angered her and made her unimpressed with this Advisor:
1) The woman had incorrect information for our account - Horribly unprofessional since the Reliance call centre had confirmed my information when I scheduled the consultation.
2) The woman asked demanding questions of my wife without even identifying herself - it was about 45 seconds into the call before she told me wife she was from Reliance - and still never gave her name.
Questions like: "Will you be buying today?", "Can I come over now?", "Will you make a decision while I am there?"
Again, very pushy, unprofessional.
3) When my wife explained that the appointment was made for 2 pm to accommodate her schedule with the baby (feeding/nap time/outings, etc.) the Advisor got audibly irritated and frustrated and expressed that she didn't want to come.
4) My wife informed her that she would be the only one home and that her husband was at work and couldn't attend. The Advisor then said to my wife that this appointment would be a "Waste of time".
5) My wife explained that our expectation of a Reliance Advisor's visit would be to assess our current climate control needs, write up an assessment and provide us with some quotes. My wife and I could then sit down together, review the information and do some research to determine our next steps. She didn't see why I had to be present at the time of the assessment. The advisor again said that this appointment would be a waste of time and that she would rather schedule an appointment for this Saturday instead, when we would both be home - which was impossible for us.
By the end of the phone call my wife was left with the distinct impression that this woman had cancelled the appointment, could possibly just show up on our front porch at any time and would be trying to push some form of product or service on her throughout the appointment. After ending the call my wife still had no contact name for this person, no phone number was relayed for us to call and keep in touch and there was no confirmation of appointment.
So, I am listening to all this at work for about 10 minutes. I ask my wife to grab the phone number off the caller I.D. and told her I would call this Advisor.
I get the number (a cell) and I call: "Christine speaking" (finally have a name).
I introduce myself by name to Christine and as a Reliance customer and tell her that I had scheduled an appointment with her for 2 pm that day. She asked me for the phone number and address and once confirmed again asked me if I was Carrie (Are you KIDDING?! I had JUST introduced myself to her).
I corrected her information and moved on to the phone call she had just had with my wife.
I informed her that I could not be at home for this appointment and that I could not re-schedule for the weekend and asked her if she was still planning on keeping the appointment.
She said "Ya, ok, can I go over now?"
I replied no, that we had scheduled it for 2pm and my wife needed that schedule.
She also asked me if I would be deciding to buy a new furnace today and I told her no, that I needed an assessment first to examine my options.
Christine then asked me if I would be there and again I repeated that no, I could not get away from work to be at the appointment.
She replied "Well I feel that this is just a waste of my time then, I will there for almost 2 hours and there are a lot of things to go over and you will have lots of questions."
My answer: "Do you provide a write up after your inspection, with quotes and recommendations?"
Christine: "Yes, I can do that and leave you with a quote".
Me: "That will be fine then, when I have a written report I can view it will be easier for me to make an informed decision".
Christine was not happy with this answer and again suggested that her coming today would not be a good idea.
I again asked her if she intended to keep the appointment for 2 pm. She said she would and we ended the call.
Fast forward to 2:12 pm, Jan. 22nd:
My wife calls me at work to update me. The technician came in and adjusted the temp dial on the hot water tank... it was set to the lowest setting. 5 min. Done. Awesome stuff... hot water is GREAT!
The advisor Christine comes just after and is shown downstairs to the furnace by my wife.
Christine writes down something on her note pad (wife thinks model number, etc.) and then comes back upstairs.
She drops off Reliance product booklet with her business card inside and tells my wife:
"Have your husband call me, he's going to have a lot of questions".
She then leaves (appointment was scheduled for 2 pm, my wife calls me at 2:12 pm - Advisor spent <10 minutes. Not cool.).
This is not at ALL what my expectations were nor is it what Reliance told me I should expect.
I have yet to contact this advisor as I do not want any further dealings with her.
I remain interested in having Reliance as my furnace provider but I WILL NOT have any dealings with Christine.
I am hoping a Reliance representative who is NOT Christine can contact me and we can review next steps.
Remaining Optimistic,
Gerry
