ONTARIO VENTILATION COMPANY INC. Ripped off $100 London, Ontario

This company went to my dads house to get give him yearly inspection for the work he had done. While there, they told him that his 8 year old furnace/ac NEEDED to be replaced! After making confusing statements, he agreed to listen to the quote.

After FALSELY representing themselves as RHEEM authorized dealers (They buy Rheem from a wholesaler, not Rheem), they quoted him over $15,000 for new Furnace and AC! PLUS...to top it off......they also repeatedly said that he qualifies for FEDERAL TAX CREDITS......this is CANADA folks.....those tax credits which are printed on their brochures are from the States!

Shop around people! MUCH more qualified TRUE HVAC professionals out there. These guys are thieves and liars!

I too was contacted by Ontario Ventilation recently (last wednesday) by phone claiming someone from "the health and safety board" was in my area inspecting furnaces. I was never asked if I wanted my furnace inspected, I was told someone would be stopping by and when the best time would be, leading me to believe this was some kind of mandatory inspection. A polite man, with photo ID, arrived at my door and proceed to do a "furnace inspection" which consisted of taking the cover off my furnace, taking a single photo inside, scrolling through several pictures on his camera, then showing me a picture of a furnace blower fan with mold on it (no idea if it was even my furnace) then put the cover back on my furnace and started writing up an invoice while telling about all these great discounts they were offering. Still under the impression this was a mandatory service, I signed the work order and gave the man a $100 deposit, with a set time to do the service the next day. As soon as the man left my house I contacted Ontario Ventilation and questioned their involvement with the Ontario health and safety board, to which they replied they had no connection to any government body, that they were well aware that their sales tactics were misleading, that I wasn't the first person to complain about being misled, and that they had no plans of changing their "sales" approach. Later the same day I received a call to reschedule my service, which I reluctantly agreed to and arranged for a time the next week when I would be home. Two days later I received a message on my telephone attempting to reschedule again, I returned the call and got a voicemail service (it was a saturday evening) and asked to cancel the service, as everything was getting way too sketchy by this point and I didn't feel comfortable supporting this business and would rather support a local business who could provide me the same services at much better prices while not resorting to misleading sales tactics. Then this morning their truck rolls up at a completely different time than previously agreed upon (and since cancelled) expecting to do the service. I informed them I had cancelled my service and they went on their way. I proceeded to look up Ontario Ventilation on the better business bureau website only to find I'm not the first person to fall victim to this company, and that they have an overall grade of D (on an A+ through F scale). I was not surprised to find this report and have felt it necessary to share my experience and can only hope this finds its way to other people who may potentially be scammed by this company.

I would like to add to this complaint.  I am in Eastern Ontario and I JUST received a call from this company that attempted to tell me that they HAVE to come and inspect my furnace and they subsequently quoted my address (which was correct) and insinuated that I did not have a choice in the matter and that they would be at my door in 10 minutes. 

First of all, I did NOT contact this company who did identify themselves as the "Ontario Ventilation Company".  The woman on the phone said that two men wearing photo ID would be at my door in order to inspect my furnace.  When I told her that I did not have a furnace she said that it was required that they come in to verify that.  I told her further that I would not be allowing them in to my home and that if there was an issue my husband would meet them at the door.  I was then hung up on.  This happened today, November 2011.

In response to your letter I am not mistaken about what I heard, period.  The woman who telephoned me did say they were from the City and was calling on their behalf.  I am not the only person this has happened to.  There was a report about your company "working" our city on the local news.  It warned about how your furnace man was quite forceful to the elderly women whose homes he did get into.  I strongly suggest that you get new representatives to work for your company.  Also, be honest!

My name is Jonah, and I work for the Ontario Ventilation
Company.

I would like to shed light on the allegations that have been
brought up in this article. The main objections the customer had with us were;
sales tactics, refund of deposit, and the size of our company. I would like to
talk a little bit about all three of these objections and provide our side of
the information.

SALES TACTICS: We first contact potential clients by phone.
We have a script that each employee must follow, simply stating: We are in the
area providing furnace and ventilation inspections. We are provided all our
calling lists from CAN PAGES, and scrub all our lists with the Do Not Call
list.

An inspector then greets the customer with full photo
identification and begins the inspection. If the inspector finds dirt, mould,
or mildew in the customers ventilation system, a furnace and duct cleaning is
recommended. Our base price for ventilation cleaning is $599.00, but discounts
can be taken off the price. We give seasonal discounts, same area discounts,
senior discounts, and various other discounts.

REFUND OF DEPOSIT: 
Once the ventilation cleaning has been scheduled, we require a deposit
to book the truck. The deposit is given to book a tentative spot on the truck,
for the cleaning to take place. If the customer backs out of the cleaning
without adequate notice, we lose the ability to book that spot. The deposit is
a preventative measure we put in place to stop this loss of money due to lack of
notice of cancellations.

SIZE OF COMPANY: The Ontario Ventilation Company has been in
business for 5 years and has done everything in our power to make sure that
customer satisfaction is #1. We strive to make the customers 100% satisfied in
every cleaning we do. We have a limited number of employees, but have an
abundant amount of love and dedication that goes into every cleaning.  The biggest sign we are not just some fly-by-night
company, is that we accept all major credits. Fly-by-night companies cannot accept
visa Master card or American express. Our company is also TSSA certified, which
means we can do maintenance /replace furnaces and air conditioning units, small
fly by night companies have no authority to do such work

In conclusion, I am hurt to hear that one of our customers
was so unsatisfied with our work that he felt the need to write a slanderous
comment on the internet.  Out of the
6,800 customers we have had in the past 3 years, only 16 complaints have been
filed with the Better Business Bureau. That is a complaint percentage of less
than .002%. 

I would like to invite anyone that needs their ventilation
system inspected, or anyone that needs a duct cleaning from us in the future,
feel free to contact the office and set up an appointment with us at 1-877-271-8368

Sincerely,

Jonah Mattson

Ontario Ventilation Company 

The good comment maker from North Bay.  I work for them and as far as I have been able to tell we never say we are from the government or "the City" as you said.  If anyone did say that I think they should be let go or at least lectured because that is just wrong.  

We do get a lot of people we call asking if we are from the government or if the inspection is mandatory and as far as I know no body ever hesitates to say "NO not the government, we are a private business".  Or "NO it is certainly not mandatory but highly recommended  for your health and safety".

I', quite serious when I say it is wrong to lie about who we are and most of us never ever do so.  It might be annoying to get our calls but were definitely not scammers.  :)

Yesterday I received a phone call from a woman who said she worked for the City.  She said they were inspecting all furnaces in our City.  Could they make an appointment and check out our furnace.  I made an appointment with them.  They showed up today, on a Saturday, earlier than they were supposed to.  My husband stopped the one male who came to the door.  After an exchange of words the man left our home.  He tried to conceal from us, who he was and where he came from, however Ken noticed his company name on his tag, prior to this happening.  He was from the Ontario Ventilation Company.  He didn't get his foot into our door, nor were we scammed in the end.  However, they did approach us and tried to get into our home.  Buyers beware!  I wanted to reply to your letter to warn people how they are trying to get into our homes in the first place!  I hope this is of some help to anyone who may be the next recipient of a bogus phone call. 

I would like to write this report to say that the $50 was returned, it took a little longer than what was promised but they full filled their part.