Our furnace and AC rental/lease contract was almost up for renewal and given the trouble we'd had with the Rheem unit that Reliance installed 7 years ago, we didn't think buying it out would make sense. The Reliance sales guy was upfront about the fact that we didn't have much choice other than renew the lease with a new package (though he didn't pressure us into anything, we were up against the wall with this deal). However, given the peace of mind, we decided to enter into a new lease. Reliance did make it a good deal, with a lower monthly payment along with the last 6 months of the old lease written off. The installers (Mike Mans and Rob Dimatteo) we incidentally the same guys who did the original install. They showed up on schedule, worked diligently and with the least amount of disruption to our routine day. They finished before 3 PM and left our basement in the shape they found it in. Very good job and friendly folks to work with.
I am not a big fan of leasing, and was fully prepared to buy out the old unit when the lease period was up. However, with the issues with the old unit, we didn't have a choice. I hope that this unit, as per their claim, is better than its predecessor and that I can buy it out after 7 years of this lease period.
Regardless, Reliance has always been on the ball when it comes to service issues and never once did we have to spend a freezing or sweltering day inside the house due to lack of service from Reliance.