Eco Energy - Ripoff?

[psicodude]

This is more of a heads up than a question.

My wife received a call from a rep from Eco Energy on Friday. He stated that they were helping homeowners get ready for the "NDP Carbon Tax program" by assessing your home for inefficiencies. The guy was really aggressive and made it sound like they were working for the Government. My wife was busy with the kid that day and basically said "whatever". Fast forward to this evening, and a guy shows up to do the "assessment". He claims that they are not selling anything (red flag) and that they are just trying to help people "go green" (flag #2). I'm always interested in saving money by being more energy efficient, so I let him in. Big Mistake.

The dude looks at my furnace for about 4 seconds and comes to the conclusion that it needs to be replaced (My furnace is 13 years old and non high-efficiency). He whips out this website with a calculator on it and claims that I would save $115 per month by going with a high efficiency furnace. He says that the Government is mere months away from forcing people to upgrade their old furnaces (outright lie?) and that prices are going to skyrocket next year.

What they offer is $99 per month to "rent" a brand new furnace, all in. It includes installation, yearly maintenance, etc. I ask him the term... 10 years!!! $11,000 for a furnace? Really? He goes on to tell me that this is a really average price and that they are throwing in installation and maintenance for free. I basically told him that I wasn't planning on touching the furnace this year and kicked him out of my house. I just did some Google searches and these guys are super sketchy. Tons of complaints, of course.

It sounds like they are hitting Calgary hard right now, so be aware. I would love to hear from an expert what a high efficiency furnace actually costs these days. They were selling Goodman furnaces, whatever the heck that is.

[Fuzz]

The guy came by my place on Friday, I was working outside. I had already seen the CBC story on these dillholes, so I told him to go pound sand. He acted all naive like he didn't know what I was talking about calling him a scammer, I told him I knew he just wanted inside my house to sell me a furnace. He almost continued, but I put my headphones back on, and he carried on.

Do not let them into your house. Don't let anyone in your house you haven't invited, they could be casing the joint.

[Northendzone]

Meh, many businesses operate on a model where they don't actually want to sell you anything

https://youtu.be/22-ON-snZWA

[EVERLAST]

It's definitely a ripoff.

Furnace rental with expensive maintenance written into a contract on top of everything hidden in the fine print.

The furnaces and air conditioning they install are crap.

They were at my house this evening and said were coming into your house to look at the furnace......to which I said pardon??

Yeah we're , ummm no your not fella. Time to kick rocks and if you come back.

They are using every excuse and expired promise to get in tho.

Carbon tax credit rebate
Energuide rebate (no longer exists?
Same substandard warranty

You pay allot more for the extras and can do way better shopping around

[Mr.Coffee]

Yeah same thing happened to me. They make it sound like they're with the government or something, it's definitely very misleading at first and if you're not on your guard I could see how people get tricked. Did not sign up.

[CroFlames]

You know these clowns are going to rope in some unsuspecting seniors and/or immigrants who don't know the system well and they'll get swindled.

I hate people like this.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by EVERLAST

It's definitely a ripoff.

How much does a new furnace cost? I know there are a lot of variables, I'm just looking for a ballpark. Like if I asked how much does a new car cost, and acceptable answer would be $20-40K.

[Canehdianman]

Originally Posted by ken0042

How much does a new furnace cost? I know there are a lot of variables, I'm just looking for a ballpark. Like if I asked how much does a new car cost, and acceptable answer would be $20-40K.

3k-6k

[Frequitude]

Ah man, you know your mom's getting up there in age when the first thing I thought of after reading this was to text her.

[dubc80]

Originally Posted by ken0042

How much does a new furnace cost? I know there are a lot of variables, I'm just looking for a ballpark. Like if I asked how much does a new car cost, and acceptable answer would be $20-40K.

I paid $4500 or so last fall for a new high efficiency Bryant furnace and a 40gallon hot water tank. All-in installed. This included some coring they had to do into my foundation to run extra vents and piping.

You can get something cheaper from places like Action Furnace, but I heard the furnaces they sell are junk. Goodman brand. Same as the ones these guys are selling.

[saillias]

These guys came to my house about a year ago or more, lied and said they were with the city of Calgary. I simply don't answer the door anymore. It's either a solicitor or a politician. On that topic, here's m column idea for edgy journalists: "Are millennials to blame for failing doorbell industry?"

[Regular_John]

Originally Posted by dubc80

I paid $4500 or so last fall for a new high efficiency Bryant furnace and a 40gallon hot water tank. All-in installed. This included some coring they had to do into my foundation to run extra vents and piping.

You can get something cheaper from places like Action Furnace, but I heard the furnaces they sell are junk. Goodman brand. Same as the ones these guys are selling.

Would you mind sharing who installed that for you? You can PM me if you don't want to post it publicly.

[CaptainCrunch]

I'm always stunned that people are getting taken in by schemes and stuff like this. I mean we all have smart phones and the internet, and its always there. From scam software to marketing companies to home renovation scams to stuff like this.

Excuse me Mr Sales person I just have to check something wait right there.

Go search the Internet or even Calpuck and then come back with a baseball bat and tell them to get the hell off your lawn.

When my parents got the call from direct energy, I told them to leave the guy outside and took my dad through a google search. when some yutz phoned him and told him that he was from microsoft and that there was something wrong with his computer, I told my dad to put him on hold and we went through google and found the scams.

I get it that these people are starting to target the old, or foreigners that aren't maybe tech saavy or are easily intimidated or flustered, but the tools are really out there.

And if some scum person shows up at my house to sell me something like a furnace or spare concrete or whatever and I ask them to leave and they refuse, I tell them that I'm going to phone the cops and tell them that I caught him inappropriately touching my 10 year old son or daughter (I don't have either) but that usually gets them to stepping.

[Resolute 14]

Not really, CC. Most people, by nature, don't like engaging in conflict. So when a bait and switch scammer like this is very aggressive or persistent, some people will cave just to get the person off their back. It's basically the only reason Direct Energy survives.

Even legitimate places do this. Go to the San Diego Zoo, and you will find people aggressively trying to get you to donate to support the zoo - and not just one time, but recurring monthly donations. This after charging $50 to get in.

[CaptainCrunch]

Yeah, I get this, I find it sad that these people are finding out about these scams way after the fact. If a Shaw or whatever was smart they would do a campaign to help people to use the internet to actually protect themselves.

Of if they came up with an on line or phone based app that was easy enough to do key word searches based on what these people say.

Its funny that my dad who used to live for conflict like this basically completely softened up and can be intimidated by these crooks.

when I moved my parents into a place with no stairs because of my moms accident the first thing that happened was that Direct Energy called them and said that the previous tenants owed them money and my parents would have to make good on that in order to get their power, it was so greasy and it was really tough to even find any one at direct energy to talk to to tell them to take a large pile of sand and a hammer and to start pounding the sand up their a$$es.

But then again, I'm a complete jerk and sometimes I take a little too much joy in arguing with people.

[Fuzz]

App idea... scam checker. Punch in the name of the company and see if it comes up in your area.

[dubc80]

Originally Posted by jaydorn

Would you mind sharing who installed that for you? You can PM me if you don't want to post it publicly.

http://www.adegreeabove.com/
Keith Bergen is the guys name. He's a one-man shop.

Really liked the service we got and the cost was very competitive with the other bigger companies who I got quotes from.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

App idea... scam checker. Punch in the name of the company and see if it comes up in your area.

I may develop an app like that, and charge $1.99 for it.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by ken0042

I may develop an app like that, and charge $1.99 for it.

Sounds like a scam to me...

I'd stick virus laden ads in it.

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by ken0042

I may develop an app like that, and charge $1.99 for it.

Make it a free app to search but you have to pay 1.99 to find out if it's a scam or not.