Reliance Home Comfort review: Reliance gets a minus 20 out of a possible 10.

ANNEX

Reliance Furnace History

January 23, 2025:
Old furnace turned off due to carbon monoxide buildup and furnace being red-tagged.

January 23, 2025 @ 4:20 p.m.:
Met with a Senior Home Comfort Advisor with Reliance Home Comfort. Purchased new furnace.

January 24, 2025: Furnace installed.

January 24, 2025 at 9:13 p.m.: Furnace stopped working. #1
Called Salesman for Reliance, as our furnace which had been installed that day had stopped working. Was serviced by 11:40 p.m. that night.

February 14, 2025 : Furnace stopped working again. #2

February 21, 2025: Furnace stopped working again. #3
Visit from service department as furnace had stopped. (Technician said gas valve should be replaced, but “added zip ties”. No part was ordered.)

October 13, 2025: Furnace stopped working. #4
Technician recommended to replace molex connections….

November 9, 2025: Furnace stopped working again. #5
No one available until the 11th of November. Asked to speak with the Service Manager. Asked why the parts were not replaced. No further reponse from Reliance and the Service Manager did not call back.

November 11, 2025: After mentioning excess dust, Reliance suggested purchasing a better filter (5”). At the same time we purchased on their recommendation a replacement humidifier, both of which Reliance installed today.

November 14, 2025: Furnace stopped working again. #6.
Gas valve replaced today.

January 17, 2026: Furnace stopped working again. #7
Salesman responded to e-mail and said to call the priority service line at [protected]

January 29, 2026: Furnace stopped working. #8
As suggested by one of the service persons, we turned off the power to the furnace, waited a few minutes and turned it back on again. The furnace started working again once it went through its start up process.

February 2, 2026: Furnace stopped working. #9
Received several calls about arrival of the serviceman and the time of arrival kept changing. Apparently the work “was not assigned.” This was corrected and Reliance came on afternoon of February 3rd.

Sent e-mail to Reliance Salesman, saying we wanted the furnace replaced. No response.

February 11, 2026: Furnace stopped working. # 10
Turned power off to see if it would reset like before. Called Salesman: he said to call Customer Resolutions the next day and ask for the Office of the President.

February 12, 2026: Called Customer Resolutions as told.
Spoke with Josh. Said I wanted to speak with Customer Relations. He wanted to review the file and offered to book a service call. I told him there was no need to review the file and I did not want a service call; I wanted to speak with someone in the Office of the President in Customer Resolutions.

After 11 minutes into the call I was passed to “Kompal” in the Customer Resolutions Department. I asked once again to be passed to the Office of the President. Once again I was told that could not be done. Told her what our sales person said the night before (“Call Service, ask for Customer Resolutions, ask to speak with someone in the Office of the President”). She put me on hold. Five minutes later she came back on line, took the details on how many times the furnace had stopped working as I gave them to her and updated our information (cell number and e-mail address). She said the FSI team will investigate and someone will follow up within 24 to 48 hours. I asked how they will contact me. She did not know; either by phone or e-mail.

February 13, 2026: Senior service technician came to check the furnace. He checked the info on the smart thermostat much more thoroughly than anyone so far. Discovered that the gas valve had malfunctioned 127 times since installation. He ordered a new Motherboard and a wiring harness. Parts will be shipped by Carrier to here.

February 13, 2026: Evening. Moved furniture to accommodate new loveseat and discovered moisture damage in the wall. This is new. February 17th was able to check the furnace exhaust pipe leading to the outside. You can see light coming through the hole for the pipe – which is much larger than necessary. This needs to be properly sealed.

February 17, 2026: Called Customer Resolutions and spoke with“Haley.” Explained the situation of hole for exhaust pipe not properly closed and the moisture damage caused by it.
She ordered a service call to check it out. She also informed us the parts requested by Darcy were in Toronto and we should receive them this week.

February 18, 2026: Service technician, Ben, arrived. Showed him photos and moisture damage in wall. He took photo of moisture damage. He sent our photos of hole in wall which was not properly closed as well as his photo of moisture damage along with an e-mail to his boss “Al.” I asked that he also copy Customer Resolutions in the e-mail and he said he did. Before leaving he also took a photo of the damage around the smart thermostat which was installed last January.
He called Al, his boss, to ask what to do. Was told to leave things as they were until he could assess as he had not read the e-mail or looked at the photos since he was in a meeting.

Don’t know when we should expect to hear from Reliance regarding the hole in the wall and the moisture damage.

February 19, 2026: Furnace stopped working. # 11
Temperature is 62 at 11:00 p.m.

February 23, 2026: Senior service technician Darcy installed new wiring harness and new motherboard.

February 24, 2026: Original installers to come and rectify problem with wall being left open at install and which hole has caused moisture damage in room immediately above. Still waiting to hear back from Customer Resolutions as to how the moisture damage will be rectified. Hole filled with foam. Photos taken of wall damage.

March 1, 2026: Furnace stopped working. # 12
House was cold when we got up. With the temperature down to 62 degrees we turned the power to the furnace off and restarted it. There was no error code on the thermostat. The furnace started working again…until?

9:25 a.m. Called Customer Resolution. Office closed.

Wrote an e-mail to Senior Home Comfort Advisor with Reliance. Included this history with the e-mail.

March 2, 2026: 8:22 a.m.: Called “Haley” at Customer Resolution.
Told her furnace stopped again. Furnace has to go. Need to talk with someone to decide what should go in as a replacement. Confirmed Darcy, senior technician replaced the motherboard and wiring harness on February 23rd. Put on hold while she called the branch.

9:35 a.m.: Branch has advised: send a senior technician out.
I interrupted her and said “No”. We have already had a senior technician. It is not going to change anything; the furnace needs to go. I told her she has been good to deal with, but if we add up all the time we have spent waiting for a technician, with the couple of hours window each time, all the worry about when the furnace will break down again…I said it has been too much; the furnace has to go. She informed me that they had to send a senior technician to assess the problem before anything could be done. This had to be done to “start the process.”

March 3, 2026: Alex, Senior Technician, checked furnace. Nothing wrong with furnace. He saw when furnace overheated and stopped and also saw the 127 times the gas valve malfunctioned. He took a picture of that info on the smart thermostat and also a picture of my list of times the furnace has stopped. His recommendation: have the gas meter checked in case it is the problem. Will call Enbridge today and do so.

March 3, 2026: 11:52 a.m. Spoke with Enbridge and explained the problem. They sent a technician who checked the meter. He had us turn up the thermostat so the furnace was running while he continued to check the meter. The meter was 8.3”wc and when the furnace was running it was 7.8” – 7.9”wc which is perfectly normal. There is nothing wrong with the gas meter and it is not causing a problem with the furnace. The technician’s name was Mark.

March 4, 2026: Spoke with “Dyo” at Customer Relations [protected]).
I provided the information which Enbridge had provided: there was nothing wrong with the gas meter; it was functioning fine. I requested the name and address for the President of Reliance. He said to send my request for a replacement furnace to [protected]@reliancecomfort.com. I pushed harder and also got the following e-mail: [protected]@reliancecomfort.com I also asked for the name and address of the President of Reliance once again: Sean O’Brien, 2 Lansing Square, North York, ON. M2J 4P8.

In addition to the above saga regarding the furnace, I am including information about other dealings with Reliance Home Comfort.

When purchasing the new furnace in January 2025 we were informed that we were entitled to a newer water heater rental as ours was fairly old. We were also informed at that time that we were entitled to six months rent free for said new water heater rental.

The new water heater rental was installed on January 30, 2025. Unfortunately Reliance continued to not only charge us for the water heater rental when we were supposed to get six months free, but charged us for a different type of water heater which was more expensive. They would not take our word for what was installed even though we provided them with the serial number. Instead, we had to sit for another four-hour window waiting for a technician from Reliance to come and verify what had been installed. This was after spending a considerable amount of time trying to reach someone at Reliance to deal with the matter. This was eventually resolved.

CASH OUTLAY

January 23, 2025: $8,475.00 Furnace

November 13, 2025: $1,130.00 5” Filter and humidifier

TOTAL: $9,605.00 Total for furnace, 5” filter and humidifier

Less: “No Frustration
Guarantee” on
November 19, 2025: - $ 500.00

Final Total Cost: $9,105.00 Final total for: furnace, 5” filter, humidifier

ANNEX UPDATE

March 4, 2026: Received a response from Nicole Cousley, Office of the President apologizing “for the frustration caused” and saying she will investigate our concerns and get back to us tomorrow.

March 6, 2026: 4:13 p.m. Received e-mail from Greg Davis, Customer Resolution. He has “contacted the branch managers to review the service history and recommend further”…? Asked to allow 2 to 3 days to review.
March 6, 2026: 7:43 p.m. Received e-mail from Greg Davis. The equipment is under Warranty with Reliance and the manufacturer. The manager “has a team of service techs they would need to inspect the equpment before making a further decision. Someone from our service team will be contacting you to make arrangements.”
March 6, 2026: 8:34 p.m. I responded to Mr. Davis: “This equipment has been examined and examined and examined by many service technicians as well as by two senior service technicians. We cannot possibly imagine what else they would examine as they have spent many trips here and have come up with no plausible explanation.
The bottom line is this: the furnace is being replaced at Reliance’s expense and we want it done now. We have been incredibly patient and that stops now. This has been going on since the night the furnace was installed.
We want a qualified person from Reliance to attend our home to recommend a suitable replacement and then we want the replacement installed immediately after we agree to that recommendation.
We are copying the office of the president with our response to your e-mail.”
March 7, 2026. 12:20 p.m. Received a response from Hailey Thomas, Office of the President. They are reviewing the details, are looking into the matter and will follow up with us on Monday.
March 7, 2026: 12:33 p.m. Received a call from “Rab” of the service department. She was calling to schedule a service appointment for technicians to come, review, and diagnose the problem. She was not with the Resolution Department, just the service department. I informed her that Reliance has already sent their best technicians. Our lives have been consumed by Reliance; no more technicians; no more time tied up for 3 ½ to 4 hours each time. She said she would relay this information back to the Manager and call me back. She said she would call me back today and that she worked until 8:00 that evening. No further calls received.
March 10, 2026: 1:17 p.m. Called Customer Resolution section of Reliance at [protected]. Spoke with Justine: someone from the Office of the President supposedly left a voice mail for us yesterday, March 9, 2026. Neither the landline nor the cell phone reflect either a message or a phone number from Reliance. This call took 21 minutes and absolutely nothing was accomplished. (We were on hold for a considerable amount of that 21 minute period.)
1:42 p.m.: Called Office of the President at [protected]. Not available. Left message for them to call me back on either landline or cell, but to do so before I start teaching at 4:00 today.

March 10, 2026: 8:18 p.m. Sent e-mail to Hailey Thomas and Nicole Cousley at the Office of the President regarding the above note.
March 11, 2026: 9:00 a.m. Karen from the Office of the President at [protected] called regarding my e-mail of yesterday to Hailey Thomas and Nicole Cousley. She informed us that Nicole was away from the office. Karen said she would be dealing with our file in Nicole’s absence. I will send her the e-mail exchanges and our furnace history record to fully brief her. She will get back in touch with us some time later today.
March 11 2026: 9:27 a.m. Forwarded Reliance Complaint Record as well as all e-mails sent and received from Reliance to Karen Bisson, Office of the President.
March 11, 2026: 9:57 a.m. Received e-mail from Karen Bisson, Office of the President, stating they were waiting for the report from Enbridge Gas regarding the meter check.
March 11, 2026: 10:20 a.m. Responded to Bisson via e-mail:
“We did not receive a written report from Enbridge, just a verbal report from the technician who checked the meter. Have you requested a report or are we the ones to do this?
We would note that you mentioned the last technician’s comment that the furnace stopped working on a very cold day. Please note that it also stopped in more temperate weather, such as October and November of last year and the weather should not have been an issue then. Of course that also begs a question to the technician: Isn’t the coldest weather when you most need a reliable furnace?
Please let us know about the report from Enbridge and whether we need to do something.”
March 11, 2026: 11:08 a.m. Received a response from Reliance: they are not able to request the paperwork from Enbridge. Their technician should have left a copy with us during the visit. We were asked to obtain a copy of the report.
March 11, 2026: 1:53 p.m. Spoke with Anj at Enbridge regarding Reliance’s request for proof of what we reported regarding the meter check. She said she “sees it in the notes” but was unable to extract the notes and send the information to us. We were informed we had to go through the Ombudsman to request that information and it could take up to six (6) weeks to get it. I informed her we could not wait that long and explained why. After putting me on hold she came back with an alternate remedy which we agreed to. She put a note on the account indicating we were authorizing Reliance to access the information regarding the meter check on March 3rd.
March 11, 2026: 2:30 p.m. Sent e-mail to Bisson at Reliance. Explained the situation regarding my discussion with Enbridge about the meter check and and the solution Enbridge suggested. We provided her the number, extension, and our adress to call Enbridge and obtain the information they wanted.
March 12, 2026: 8:21 a.m. Received e-mail from Bisson at Reliance: due to privacy reasons they are unable to contact Enbridge on our behalf.
March 12, 2026: 8:52 a.m. I responded via e-mail to Bisson: asked who told her that and whether she called the number and extension I provided. Explained once again we gave permission to Enbridge for Reliance to obtain that specific information.
March 12, 2026: 8:55 a.m. Follow up e-mail to Bisson: “in the meantime please make an appointment for a qualified person to attend our home and recommend the appropriate reliable furnace to replace our present one.”
March 12, 2026: 11:05 a.m. Called Enbridge. No record of Reliance having called to obtain information they want regarding the gas meter. Obtained work order number to give to Reliance. Also confirmed that permission to grant Reliance access to our file for that work order was indeed on their records and that that permission removed any privacy issues Reliance might have been relying on to delay things. Apparently Enbridge never gives a written report regarding a gas meter chedk; it is not their standard process to provide a written report. It is, after all, their meter and not ours.
March 12, 2026: 11:26 a.m. Wrote to Bisson: “Further to your e-mail of 8:21 this morning, we have followed up with Enbridge and have been informed that their records show that no inquiry from Reliance regarding the March 3, 2026 meter check has been registered. To further assist you we have obtained the work order number: [protected].
We also checked to make sure the permission for Reliance to gain access was in fact on file and related to said work order. We also verified that our permission granted to Reliance removed any possible issue of privacy relating to your accessing your required information regarding the above-noted work order.
Once again, please call to arrange a time for a qualified person to attend our home to recommend the appropriate reliable furnace to replace our present one.”
March 12, 2026: 2:06 p.m. Wrote to Bisson at Office of the President the following: “We understand that you have some type of policy which does not allow you to contact Enbridge on our behalf to obtain the information you say you need to allow you to change the defective furnace and complete this file. Thus we are formally waiving Reliance’s privacy policy or any other policy issues that could prevent your office obtaining the information you need by placing a call to Enbridge.
Please note that the information you are seeking is not for us, but rather for your company’s own purposes. We have already complied by asking Enbridge to have the meter checked. We have informed you in writing that the meter is functioning fine. As stated in an earlier e-mail, we have even taken measures with Enbridge to provide a way for your office to obtain the information since you will not accept what we have stated in writing that we were told by the person from Enbridge who checked the gas meter and what was confirmed when we spoke with Enbridge. We were informed by Enbridge that they never give a written report when checking a gas meter. This is not their standard practice, so we do find it surprising that Reliance is not aware of Enbridge’s policy regarding meter checks. We cannot fathom that Reliance has not encountered such a situation prior to this.
In other words, the gas meter is not the problem that has caused Reliance’s furnace to be unreliable by failing so many times despite the many service calls to attempt to resolve the matter and we cannot see any reason to delay any further the replacement of the furnace.
Please call us to schedule a time for a qualified person to attend our home to recommend a proper and reliable replacement furnace.”
March 13, 2026: 10:44 a.m. Received the following response to our e-mail:
“Good morning,
Thank you for your message. I understand that this has been a frustrating process, and I genuinely appreciate the time you’ve taken to follow up with Enbridge. To proceed with a furnace replacement, we do still require written confirmation from Enbridge that the meter was checked and found to be operating within normal parameters. This documentation is a required part of our internal process, and we’re not able to move forward without it.
Although you have kindly offered permission for us to contact Enbridge directly, our policies do not allow Reliance to request customer-specific service information from a third party, even with a waiver. Enbridge will need to provide the written confirmation directly to you, and you can then forward it to us. If Enbridge’s frontline team is unable to issue a standard report, they may be able to provide an email, letter, or internal case note confirmation upon request or through their escalation team. Any written format is acceptable.
Regarding your request to escalate this matter to Sean O’Brien, the Office of the President is the designated and final escalation point for customer issues. Our team is empowered to resolve this file, and I will continue to support you through to completion.
Once you receive written confirmation from Enbridge, please send it to me and I will proceed with next steps right away.
Thank you again for your patience.”