Reliance Home Comfort Reliance Threatening credit record over a nonexistent contract Oshawa, Ontario Canada

We bought a house that had a 10-year-old Reliance rental hot water tank in it.  We offered to continue the contract, but only if Reliance installed a new tank as we were concerned about property damage due to leaks.  Reliance declined so we told them months in advance to pick up their tank on move-in day.

Reliance failed to show up on movein day, so we called them shortly afterward and asked them again to pick up their tank.  Reliance promised that a contractor would call to arrange the pickup.  No contractor called.

We took it upon ourselves to call around and determine who Reliance's contractor was, and had him remove the tank at his earliest convenience, which was about 2 weeks after movein.

We received a bill for 3 months' rental, which we respecfully declined to pay in several phone calls with Reliance.  This was eventually knocked down to $6.23 for 16 days of tank rental, when they finally realized we no longer had their tank. There was, however, a $35 "account setup fee" that we would have to pay if we wanted to settle with them.  Furthermore, the fine print on the bill they sent says that if we paid anything at all, we would be deemed to have agreed to a contract with them.

Reliance has now engaged two truculent collection agencies who are threatening to report the matter to the credit bureaus. 

We hope a fair solution can be found to this situation, and welcome contact from Reliance.  This report will be updated accordingly should an amicable resolution be found.