Upon having a water heater repair completed late in the evening, the repairman packed his things, telling me all was fine – a dirty sensor needed to be cleaned. Shortly thereafter, we noticed a very strong gas smell emanating from the furnace room. Before turning in I called Reliance to ask if smelling gas was normal, perhaps as a result of the gas having been turned off and on. The gas had been running for at least an hour and a half.
The agent was very concerned and said no this was not normal and in fact an emergency. We were told to not answer phones, turn on lights, ring door bells - etc. She quickly put the Gas Provider (Enbridge) on the call who instructed me an emergency call had been made to an inspector who would be at my door within 5 minutes. He was. He identified the issue as the gas connection not being made, and the gas was left to flow freely, without a complete connection of supply to hot water tank. See image below. He was nice enough to complete the connection and test for leaks. There were not any and we left windows open overnight to clear the smell.
I cannot imagine how this story might have ended had I not made the call to Reliance.
A follow up call this morning offered no apology or recourse. So disappointed.
I will be looking for an alternative to this company. Not just because of the mistake that was made, but how it was handled – as though it was not a big deal.
