My story has two parts. First, the individual service/installation people. I never had any problem with their professionalism. Otto Kanouni, Water Heater Installer, came the other day after I had water heater tank problems. He identified the problem, a faulty controller, within seconds and had it replaced within 15 minutes. No problem, and great job!
The second part, the company itself, is a different story. I’ve read a couple of reviews on this site and in 2009 Googled them and came to this conclusion: this company is in it to make big bucks, and they are unscrupulous about it. That is what people need to understand. The hot water tank and furnace business is big and very profitable business, just like insurance. You do get service, or a product yes, but you pay dearly for it. In my contract, not sure if it is still the same, there was no reference to any level of commitment on the part of Reliance in terms of response time, problem resolution, etc. This is my story with them from five years ago when my tank was 6 years old and burst open. I called the problem in on a Thursday afternoon. By Friday 1 pm after numerous phone messages about when if ever they are going to come and replace my tank I left them a message (again) to say that I am going to install my own tank and not to bother coming. I had my first hot shower in 4 days at 1 AM the Saturday morning using my own tank. On Monday the person at Reliance laughed in my face over the phone when I told him I want to cancel my contract. I had to remove my new state of the art water tank and sell it as used, and accept their hot water tank that “should last a minimum of 16 years” I was told (but already had issues twice in five years).
Reliance does offer a service, and if you are lucky, like I have been so far, you get good people coming to service you if you need it. But everything else is on their terms, including response time, and trying to get away from them. My advice to prospective clients: If you have NO other choice, such as a single mother, elderly people, young people with small kids, etc., or if you cannot afford the upfront costs, then yes, do contract with Reliance. But know that you are hooked for many years, you cannot get rid of them, and you should not assume effective, efficient and timely service. If you have a choice at all, do not contract, but have a backup plan like a savings account to cover repair or service costs when you need it.
