Enmax Emergency Service

[JLau]

Last week we had a strong burnt smell coming out from our vents, so my wife decided to call Enmax and have someone come take a look at it at around 7pm.

The technician got here 1 hour after and said our furnace motor is burnt and he recommended us to replace it for 7xx (afterhour rate), or he can recommend his sister to help us do it the next day for about 4xx. I of course told my wife to not do anything because 7xx to replace a motor is pretty steep, plus whatever they charge to just come out and look at the furnace. When i got home, the bill they left me was 196.xx just for the inspection which took him 15 mins to complete. The next day i got a family friend who is a technician, to take a look at the furnace, thinking i need the motor changed. He ran a bunch of tests and found nothing wrong with the furnace (house is only 2 yrs old). Today i checked my visa statement, Enmax double charged me on that 196.xx amount.

I was told by someone that enmax covers certain emergency service calls (had someone call a technician out in the middle of the night beccause furnace was giving off a strong burnt smell), which enmax did not charge them for.

Does anyone know if 196.xx for 15 mins of check up and giving me a wrong cause of the smell legit, or can i call them and ask wtf?

[Unknown303]

Why wouldn't you call them and ask?

[JLau]

i am gonna call them tomorrow either way, but i wanna see if anyone has had similar experience, and does it really cost 196.xx for 10 mins of work? The tech was shady and even told me enmax charges a lot and would recommend his sister instead, he told me not to say anything cuz it is conflict of interest..

[Unknown303]

Originally posted by JLau
i am gonna call them tomorrow either way, but i wanna see if anyone has had similar experience, and does it really cost 196.xx for 10 mins of work? The tech was shady and even told me enmax charges a lot and would recommend his sister instead, he told me not to say anything cuz it is conflict of interest..

A 200 dollar callout doesn't seem to extreme to me but you never know. I'd imagine that Enmax has some leway on their charge outs.

[revelations]

Originally posted by JLau
Last week we had a strong burnt smell coming out from our vents, so my wife decided to call Enmax


I dont get how a regular home HVAC and Enmax go together :dunno:

Burnt what? If it smelt like ozone, sure ... the furnace is arcing somewhere, get a furnace tech.

If it smells like burnt hair, its probably dust.

[MrSector9]

phone his sister and let her know that you are going to let enmax know what he is doing unless he gives you a $100 donation towards your bill :P


Either 10 minutes or 45, most have a 1 hour minimum charge, vehicle charge and then travel time. You might be able to get it reduced if you call and complain (wrong diagnosis) but it does not seem overly steep to me for what it was.

[JLau]

it wouldnt be over steep if he actually diagnose it properly and not just give me bs and try and get more business for his sister...

[Unknown303]

Originally posted by JLau
it wouldnt be over steep if he actually diagnose it properly and not just give me bs and try and get more business for his sister...

Every one of us on here will just be speculating about what happened. Who knows what he found or maybe he did just bullshit a problem to push business to his sister. None of us know if this is true or not, you included really. A company was called after regular business hours and sent a tech over to diagnose a problem for you. They charged you for the service. That is all that is known here.

Whether he was right or wrong doesn't change the fact that your wife called the company and they sent a person to your house. Shitty deal? Yeah. But it's what happened.

[JLau]

well evidence would be me holding the bill with him saying "burnt motor", the fact is that the motor is not burnt, and i was charged a faulty diagnostic fee from the biggest electricty and gas provider in the city...

sorry to sound rude, but all in all, you are not answering my question

[Unknown303]

Originally posted by JLau
well evidence would be me holding the bill with him saying "burnt motor", the fact is that the motor is not burnt, and i was charged a faulty diagnostic fee from the biggest electricty and gas provider in the city...

sorry to sound rude, but all in all, you are not answering my question

No problem at all. All I'm saying is that they did send someone to your house after hours, and they dig diagnose the problem, just wrong. It really is no different than taking your car to a shop paying to have a check out and getting fed a bunch of crap about what's wrong with it. It's a shitty deal but it happened.

I would definitely be disputing them double charging you though. And if at all possibly maybe they will refund you the original amount if they have some policy about false diagnosis.

And your question was;


Does anyone know if 196.xx for 15 mins of check up and giving me a wrong cause of the smell legit, or can i call them and ask wtf?

And I've been saying as shitty as it may be they still sent a person to your house to check, which is chargable.

[redblack]

nobody works for free.. even if it is the wrong diagnostic. Why didnt you get your family friend to look at it that night?
have you tried calling an actual furnace company?

[yellowsnow]

If your furnace is only 2 years old, shouldn't it still have warranty? I would think the motor would be covered longer than 2 years

[FraserB]

Why would you call Enmax emergency for a furnace? I assume you also call your mechanic when the dishwasher acts up?

Unkown303 is right. YOU called, fully knowing it was after hours, you pay a much higher rate, especially for emergency service. It doesn't matter that you called the worng people and they couldn't diagnose, they still came when you called.

[Seth1968]

Originally posted by FraserB
Why would you call Enmax emergency for a furnace? I assume you also call your mechanic when the dishwasher acts up?

Unkown303 is right. YOU called, fully knowing it was after hours, you pay a much higher rate, especially for emergency service. It doesn't matter that you called the worng people and they couldn't diagnose, they still came when you called.

Enmax does have certified furnace techs. Other than that, I completely agree with your post.

Also, the fee is spot on for an after hours and/or weekend service call.

[Darell_n]

What was the actual problem? A burning smell should be a pretty obvious problem.

[JLau]

Problem is when my wife called them, they said it is going around 100 for the tech to come out just for diagnostic, which we were ok with. When he left, not only diagnostic was wrong, the rate was doubled.

And just so you guys know, Enmax has a 24 hour furnace related emergency line. A bad smell coming out of the furnace can mean a lot of things. I got her to call Enmax because she was the only one home and i rather trust a reputable company like them than someone off of Kijiji.