Kevin Farrell
Rating: 0 out of 5
Leaky hot water tank
This morning (Saturday) at 9am I discovered that the hot water (rented from Reliance) was leaking so I called Reliance to arrange a priority service call to use my Heat, Cooling & Plumbing plan that I started paying for in 2014. The Reliance agent informed me that all of the service representatives in the Oakville area were fully booked until Monday. I was unhappy with this situation so asked for the manager. I was told that the complaints dept was only available from 9 to 5 Monday to Friday. The agent also told me to turn off the gas and water to the water heater. Later I tried again to contact Reliance to complain about the service and try to speed up the process. I also wanted to get details of the complaints dept but after hanging on the phone for 30 minutes being told by the recorded message that my call was in a priority sequence list I gave up - extremely frustrated. Especially as the isolation tap for the water heater does not completely work so the only way to stop the leaking water heater is to turn off the water to the whole of the house. It is going to be a fun weekend.
Part II - On Monday a service representative arrived and rapidly confirmed that the water tank was leaking so he tried about 5 times to contact the work scheduler to arrange for another contractor to replace the water tank. We were told again that we would have to wait another 2 days for a replacement water tank. There was no understanding that we had already been without running water for 2 days and that we would have to wait another two days. I contacted the Reliance call centre to complain about the inadequate service - again another 30 minute wait before the call is answered. I explain that I want to contact the resolution dept but I am put on hold eventually I get through to the dept and speak to a more senior person who agrees that the service had been very poor and would try to get the issue resolved. However she wanted us to pay for the replacement isolation value despite having the plumbing plan after further discussion it was agreed that the value was covered bu the plumbing plan.After a couple of hours she called back with an appointment in the afternoon to replace the water tank. Around 2 pm the contractor arrived to replace the tank. This was the most efficient part of the exercise. The purpose of this story is to highlight the fact that to get any acceptable level of service from Reliance you have keep complaining and chasing up. If you have a problem at the weekend you have no hope of getting it fixed until a week day.