free high efficiency furnace??

[TimG]

So this guy just came to my front door from Consumer's Choice Comfort Services saying that we meet certain criteria ($/month gas consumption, furnace age) that we could qualify for a free high efficiency furnace. no install fees, no nothing. they even come ever year to clean the furnace for free.

this sounds WAY too good to be true.

The furnace that they're talking about is a Goodman GMEC96
http://www.goodmanmfg.com/products/gas-furnaces/90-afue-gas-furnaces/96-afue-gmec96


I've never heard of goodman before.

Does anyone have any experience with this? like i said... too good to be true.. smells like a scam..

[B16EJ8]

Nothing in this world is free.... Definitely seems like a scam to me?:thumbsdow

[G-ZUS]

Did you let him inside to scope out your place?

[Dave P]

I don't like to admit to things like this, but I almost got had by this guy.

Came to my door, said he was working "with" the city of Calgary looking at older furnaces to see if they qualify for an energy rebate. He had a fancy badge that looked kinda like the city of Calgary logo so I let him in.

He looked, and then of course said I qualified. He asked me to sign something to allow him to look up the history of energy use in the house. We just moved in, so I was curious and signed.

It was supper time, the wife was working late, and I was trying to give my kid dinner. So I really didn't pay attention.

2 min later he is calling into some number and some lady is confirming an installation date, payment info, etc, etc. I freaked out internally as I didn't intend to sign up for a new furnace, but because it was just me and my kid, "politely" asked him to GTFU.

Took 2 days of calling random out of service hotline numbers, and emailing non responding emails and nothing. Furnace guy (third party) and furnace (delivered by third party, left on the lawn) showed up one day and I refused to let them in. Finally somebody called and confirmed my cancelled order. There contract has a 30 day cancellation clause which I referenced and they finally backed down.

I looked at the math, and you are essentially buying a furnace for $14k over 8 years. Thanks but no thanks. I felt really stupid as usually I am good at shutting people down at the door. But lesson learned.

[HomespunLobster]

Just had two of these guys show up at my door, wanting to check the furnace and water heater, instantly went "we'll we make sure you qualify for the carbon tax reduction next year, good if I leave my shoes on or off?" and makes his way to walk in. Closed the door more, politely said I'm not interested, replaced my heater last year and my furnace is fine. Again, said he'd need to check the sticker on it to make sure it's high effciency enough to avoid the carbon tax, asked if he should leave his shoes on or off and made another move. Told him to piss off, and if he came to my place again I'll be calling the cops.
Pushy fucker.

[dj_rice]

Originally posted by Dave P
I don't like to admit to things like this, but I almost got had by this guy.

Came to my door, said he was working "with" the city of Calgary looking at older furnaces to see if they qualify for an energy rebate. He had a fancy badge that looked kinda like the city of Calgary logo so I let him in.

He looked, and then of course said I qualified. He asked me to sign something to allow him to look up the history of energy use in the house. We just moved in, so I was curious and signed.




Same thing happened to me here in Edmonton but mine was a cute girl sales lady. So obviously I had no issues letting her in my house. Same spiel but she said she was working with "Govt of Canada" said I qualified, this and that. Started going through pricing and etc and I knew it was a scam so I told her Costco was coming next week to quote me on a new furnace. She ends up calling her boss for "tips" on how to close me. Didn't work. Tried getting her to leave and she would not leave. Eventually she gave up and left.

[revelations]

BTW, you are legally allowed to use an equal/low level of force in Canada to get these idiots to leave. Something like a push out the door comes to mind. If they resist you can up the level proportionally. Having a bat/club handy is good too.

Your home is your castle, but you cant just beat them up in Canada unfortunately (unless they are fighting back).

[spikerS]

Originally posted by revelations
BTW, you are legally allowed to use an equal/low level of force in Canada to get these idiots to leave. Something like a push out the door comes to mind. If they resist you can up the level proportionally. Having a bat/club handy is good too.

Your home is your castle, but you cant just beat them up in Canada unfortunately (unless they are fighting back).

you are technically only allowed to use appropriate and equal force being used against you IF it is in a hostile way is my understanding. would be cool to have this cleared up.

I have a baseball bat beside my bed in case some crazy guy wants to come play t-ball at 3am.

[Redlined_8000]

Some guy just came to my house to do a estimate on my houses efficiency for gas appliances? Told him to get off my lawn. Sounded scammy.

[revelations]

Originally posted by spikerS


you are technically only allowed to use appropriate and equal force being used against you IF it is in a hostile way is my understanding. would be cool to have this cleared up.




No. In Canada, once you've asked them to leave (and they have refused), you can use reasonable force to remove then. That force can be escalated if they refuse further attempts.

The police in Canada are SUPPOSED to act the same way (but some dont seem to.

For eg.

a) sales person refuses to leave residence after asking
b) you start to guide/push them out and they resist or fight back
c) you get a bat and defend yourself (not beat them to death though)



The defence of house or real property is available where:

Where a homeowner has reasonable grounds to believe that the victim was a trespasser
the trespasser had reasonable opportunity to withdraw after they ought to have realized they were trespassing,
the trespasser did not withdraw
the threat of force or actual force must not be more than was reasonable under the circumstances
the threat of force or actual force was no more than what the accused reasonably believed was necessary to remove the trespasser

A trespasser can include the police who are not lawfully in the dwelling house.

A dwelling house includes hallways and stairwells,[3] as well as stores.

There is no obligation to retreat when defending a dwelling house.

Any force used that was above and beyond force necessary to defend property is criminally liable.



https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Canadian_Criminal_Law/Defences/Defence_of_Property

[dj_rice]

I started to unzip and thats when she started to finally leave. :banghead: :rofl:

[bigbadboss101]

So if your wife is home alone best to tell her to not answer the door?! I think I will ask her to keep the storm door locked as well because I have had situations where people opened the storm door and tried to peek thru the glass of the regular door.

[revelations]

I put up a sign right by the door bell.

NO SOLICITING
NO SALES
NO FLYERS
NO MARKETING




No more JWs, furnace idiots, roofers, flyers.

[BokCh0y]

I've heard of goodman before, action furnance uses a lot of their stuff.

Is there a specific company these scammers are with beside bs'ing bout working with CoC of GoA?

[InRich]

Originally posted by revelations
I put up a sign right by the door bell.

NO SOLICITING
NO SALES
NO FLYERS
NO MARKETING




No more JWs, furnace idiots, roofers, flyers.

I'd still ring your doorbell :rofl:

[dirtsniffer]

Guess I'm lucky to have a dog that makes people hesitate about asking to come in. I usually open up the door nice and wide so she can bark from behind me in full view.

Why do you guys even let these people get a word in.

[ga16i]

Originally posted by revelations
I put up a sign right by the door bell.

NO SOLICITING
NO SALES
NO FLYERS
NO MARKETING




No more JWs, furnace idiots, roofers, flyers.

I think there's a market for NO FUCKERS signs. :rofl:

[A790]

I have a sign and it means nothing. I still get Mormons, JW's, salespeople, etc. that knock on my door.

Once a pair of Mormon's showed up at 8:30 on a Friday night. I opened the door (holding a glass of wine and stoned out of my tree), looked them up and down, and politely said "boys, we lead very different lifestyles."

BTW, when someone comes to your door, I find saying "sorry, I am inebriated and legally not capable of entering into any kind of contract or transaction" gets them to leave pretty quick.

[spikerS]

Still my go to.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a334/Snorakk/solicitors_zps342c8b3a.jpg

[jdmXSI]

When I was in door to door sales, I came to the conclusion that the people who had no solicitor signs were there for people who had a hard time saying "no". Mind you, I was actually selling something with value (oil change, entertainment, dinning certificates) that saved people money. Kind of like Groupons but 10 years ago haha.

[revelations]

When I was doing cold calling some decades ago, the self-made signs I took heed of while the store-bought ones I didnt care as much (claim I didnt see it if it was located someplace off to the side).

[spikerS]

Calgary Police just posted this on their Facebook page....


Furnace Scams in Calgary
We are again warning residents after receiving several reports of aggressive and potentially fraudulent furnace salespeople visiting homes in eastern Calgary.
The salespeople go door-to-door telling residents that they are building inspectors and that they must be allowed inside to inspect the home’s furnace or else the residents could face fines. Once inside, the salespeople claim to find problems with the furnace and/or hot water tank and aggressively try to sell the homeowner new ones.
We are currently working with The City of Calgary Licence Division to investigate these incidents. Calgarians who have similar experiences are asked to report it to our non-emergency line at 403-266-1234.
Here are some tips when faced with situations like these:
• Always ask to see identification to confirm that people are who they say. Legitimate door-to-door salespeople are required to have visible identification in Calgary.
• City of Calgary building inspectors generally only visit homes by appointment, or in emergencies. They always have City of Calgary photo identification and drive marked City of Calgary vehicles.
• Before allowing a contractor into your home, ensure you are dealing with an approved contracting company that is properly licensed and insured. The City of Calgary’s new contractor tips and tools page provides valuable advice and an online business licence database for valid contractors - http://www.calgary.ca/PDA/pd/Pages/MyHome/My-Home.aspx…
• If you encounter a door-to-door salesperson or business without a business licence, report it to 311.
• If you are told your furnace does not meet safety codes and must be replaced, you can often check this information with The City of Calgary’s Technical Assistance Centre - http://www.calgary.ca/…/I…/Technical-Assistance-Centre.aspx…
For more tips on recognizing legitimate building inspectors, please read this post: http://www.calgarycitynews.com/…/whos-at-door-city-inspecto…
For information on building codes and how to protect yourself from contractor fraud, visit calgary.ca/myhome.

[sabad66]

My parents almost fell for this. Luckily they called me right before they were about to sign and i todl them to tell the guy to leave.

[95EG6P]

Originally posted by dj_rice
I started to unzip and thats when she started to finally leave. :banghead: :rofl:

lol :)

[speedog]

Originally posted by spikerS
Still my go to.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a334/Snorakk/solicitors_zps342c8b3a.jpg

Good thing you are not my uncle's neighbor as I had the unfortunate task of going to his neighbors these last two days to let them know that my uncle had suffered a major brain injury and would not be returning home and that they may be seeing some strange vehicles/people entering and leaving his home - certainly having someone acting like an asshole to me would've just made my day.

[Sugarphreak]

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