Bottom line
Renting a water heater or other home appliance from Reliance is similar to buying an extended warranty as it works as form of insurance. You pay more for the product upfront and get support should anything go wrong. However, it is a great moneymaker for providers and a bad deal for the majority of their customers and not a common practice in Canada outside of Ontario. Purchasing your own unit can result in substantial savings over time, according to the Competition Bureau.
Pros
- No large up-front cost
- Low monthly payments
- They handle service and repairs
Cons
- High cancellation fees
- Many complaints about their maintenance and repair services
- No coverage for damage caused by leaking tanks
About Reliance Home Comfort
Reliance Home Comfort installs, rents and services water heaters, furnaces and air conditioners to 1.7 million Canadian households primarily in Ontario, but also in western Canada.
The company was started in 1999 as the water heater rental division of Union Gas (now Enbridge), which had a monopoly over a large portion of Ontario. The company worked with home builders to pre-install gas-powered water heaters to increase usage and reliance on Natural Gas as a source of fuel.
Due to regulatory changes, the unregulated water heater rental business was split off as Union Energy in 1999 and acquired by Epcor for $160 million in 2001, spun off as UE Waterheater Income Fund in 2003 and purchased by Alinda Capital Partners for $1.74 billion in 2007 and purchased by CK group for $2.8 billion in 2017.
Who owns Reliance Home Comfort?
Reliance Home Comfort is owned by Hong Kong-based CK Asset Holdings Ltd. (75%) and Cheung Kong (CK) Infrastructure Holdings (25%) owned by Chinese-Canadian businessman Victor Li, and his father Li Ka-shing, Hong Kong’s richest person and 30th richest person in the world, with a net worth of $35.4 billion. They acquired the company from US private equity fund Alinda Capital Partners for $2.82 billion in 2017.
How much does it cost to rent a water heater from Reliance?
Ontario residents can rent a hot water tank from Reliance Home Comfort for $20 to $35 per month depending on the size of the tank. Tankless water heater rentals are commonly found in new builds and cost $35 to $50 per month.
In addition, the agreements stipulate that these charges are increased every year by the greater of 3.5% and Ontario CPI.
These rental agreements continue until the “end of the useful life” of the unit, which is from 10 to 20 years and an average of 16 years. At $35 per month, payments made during the agreement would add up to $4200 to $8400 – 3 to 6 times the installation cost of the tank (about $1500).
Further reading: Is renting a water heater worth it?
Reliance Home Comfort contract example
For installs made before November 5, 2014, the following agreement applies:
You will not be able to terminate this agreement until you have rented the water heater for at least a period of 84 months following the commencement of your rental agreement (the “Minimum Rental Term”), unless you buy the water heater from us in accordance with this agreement.
If the water heater has reached the end of its useful life and we are not installing a replacement, you shall at such time own the unit.
Example buyout schedule
I was not able to find a copy on their website, but I found a few examples online:
| Age (Years) | Buyout price |
|---|---|
| 4 | 1800 |
| 5 | 3,726 |
| 5 | 1500 |
| 7 | 700 |
| 7.5 | 2118 |
| 8 | 895 |
| 9 | 700 |
| 10 | 545 |
| 10 | 700 |
| 11 | 329 |
| 11 | 810 |
| 12 | 600 |
| 14 | 1400 |
| 14 | 210 |
| 15 | 700 |
| 16 | 25 |
| 16 | 25 |
| 20 | 100 |
How to cancel a Reliance Home Comfort water heater contract?
Agreements started in 2009
A consumer was recently quoted:
- $150 + HST – Drain, disconnect and removal from the home
- $150 + HST – Pickup already drained and disconnected
- $150 + HST – Account Closure Fee
- $100.00 – Dropped off to our nearest drop off location.
An appointment is not necessary, but the drop off hours were limited to: Mon, Wed, Thurs from 8am to 12pm
Agreements started after Nov. 5, 2014
For agreements started after November 5, 2014 and until November 5, 2024, the 2014 Competition Tribunal orders to Reliance Home Comfort applies, which state:
Termination
- Reliance shall permit a Customer or its Agent to terminate a Rental Agreement at any time by submitting a Notification of Termination by telephone, facsimile, e-mail or webform.
Removal
Reliance shall permit a Customer or its Agent to:
- drain, disconnect, remove and/or return to Reliance the water heater that is the subject of the Rental Agreement; or
- request that Reliance drain, disconnect, remove and/or pick up at the Installed Address the water heater that is the subject of the Rental Agreement
Fees
Other than any outstanding rental payments and interest charges owed, Reliance may not charge any Exit Charges other than a:
- Maximum termination charge of $200 (unit is less than 1 year old) and a maximum of $40 (unit is more than 1 year old and less than 10 years old).
- Maximum pick-up charge (not including draining or disconnection) of $65 in respect of a natural gas, a maximum of $125 for an electric.
- Maximum pick-up charge (including draining and disconnection) of $125.
- Any cost to repair damage to Reliance units only when the following two conditions are met:
- the damaged unit is less than seven (7) years old; and
- the damage was caused by a Person other than Reliance, the proof of any such damage being caused by a Person other than Reliance resting with Reliance.
- Purchase price voluntarily agreed to by a Customer to purchase the unit outright. (optional)
How some Enercare customers have saved money
NOTE: May not work with Reliance
As reported by Mark Wessel in the Toronto Sun, after several drawn out calls lasting over 40 minutes each time with Enercare, is that if you push hard enough, they’ll put you through to a supervisor who with prodding, will give you a 20% discount off the buyout price. Alternatively, they offered 15 months in credits – equivalent in value to over $500 that was paid directly to our Enbridge account in order to continue renting for another 15 months.
This kind of offer has also be reported in several Reddit threads, which have stated the offer starts at 3-month credit and can go as high 15 months.
You’ll have to call in and complain, ask to cancel/buyout the unit. Then maybe tell them you’ll escalate the issue to their executives, consumer protection and go to social media, etc. They’ll offer you 3 months free. Say no. They’ll offer 6 months. Say no again. They’ll offer 12 months. Take that. Call back in 12 months and repeat.
You’ll still have a contract, but after the period of free rental credits ends, the buyout price would be lower than before as the unit would be more than a year older and you’ve saved hundreds of dollars in the meantime.
They really, really don’t want you out of your contract.
Regulatory actions against Reliance Home Comfort
2014 – Reliance acquires National Home Services, which was fined for door-to-door sales practices
Competition Bureau makes National Home Services (acquired by Reliance on same day) pay $7 million for misleading door-to-door sales
2014 Competition Tribunal consent agreement
After Reliance was found to be using using anti-competitive processes that made it difficult and frustrating to return or cancel their water heater rental, the Competition Bureau issued a consent order ordering Reliance pay a penalty of $5 million and modify its residential rental agreement termination and water heater return policies to:
- Not require customers to obtain an authorization number before returning their unit
- Allow a new supplier to terminate a customer’s account on their behalf
- Not unreasonably restricting where and when a unit can be returned
- Not charging unwarranted fees to switch providers or terminate contracts
- Open new return depots
Customer reviews
No Introduction on Brutal Contract Till You Call to Complain.
Brutal Contract, don’t do it. Nobody mentioned an 8 year review
on the installation. Costs thousands of dollars to cancel the “rental”. Completely misleading information. Don’t do it!
Never Again
They don’t tell you that they’re going to put a lien on your home, nothing in the fine print either. Only found out when we tried to sell. Also after 5 years at the same rental price every month they decide to increase the amount every month by $36. This company is so shady. Will never deal with them again after this experience. Would give zero stars if I could.
Inexperienced & incompetent HVAC technicians
A technician made determination that our furnace has to be replaced based on the amount of ??? detected by his “breathalyzer-like” handheld device. He didn’t even did a test why 24VAC cannot be detected by the thermostat. Just before he stepped out of my house, I asked him about this. He said that there is a limit switch that is normally closed, and opens when the temperature reaches a certain limit. If I were the technician, I’d test for blown up fuse and the stepdown transformer in the control board. I’d test the limit switch too. If all three of these passed the test, then the whole control board has to be replaced. The whole furnace should not be replaced.
During initial installation of the new furnace, one of the technicians opened/closed the bathroom faucet by force, causing the two handles to be out of alignment. I am afraid that the threads of the handles have stripped. The initial installation had been declared a lemon. The technicians did not put back the furnace room door that they removed. They left their mess behind the furnace.
I would like the faucet fixed. Several months have passed, no one came to fix it. I followed up last month. A technician took picture of the faucet and sent it to his boss. I had priblem communicating with this last technician. Seems that he listens only to things he would like to hear.
The second installation was successful. They used bigger diameter PVC pipes going to and coming out of the furnace.
Don’t expect them to live up to their “Service as soon as same day inc. weekends & holidays” as their bill statement says
Water heater quit Sunday. Phoned 10 am Sunday – said there was appt. available Tuesday 7 – 11 am. Asked if there was anything sooner, she put me on hold, then said she had permission to send someone today and for me to wait for the service tech’s call. After waiting, at 2:30, I phoned back – got a different person who said there was NO order for service that day & that my appt. was for Tuesday 7 – 11 am and to wait for the tech’s call (she explained it would come up as a blocked number). Cancelled by winter tire install for that day, and I told her I had to leave for work at 1 so that should work. Tuesday 11:15 phoned again as tech was a no show. Got a different person who said the tech has me on the schedule. I explained I had to work at 1, but my husband would be here at 3:30. On hold again, said he contacted the tech to let them know there would be no one here from 1 – 3:30. My husband called me at work at 5:00 pm – surprise – tech a no show. After 2 days waiting & still no hot water I was not in the best of moods when I called them. They told me the tech phoned at 2:37 but no one answered. She kept talking over top of me when I was trying to explain all the arrangements I had made earlier, but she kept saying I should have been home when the tech called. I said my appt was for 7 – 11 & I was there waiting. Then I was put on hold again, after 5 minutes I hung up. She phoned my husband back, the next date that could be arranged was Friday, so one of us has to take the day off work to get this repair done. Checked the phone when I got home – there was NO call from a blocked number. By Friday, (that’s if the tech shows) we will be 6 days without hot water, & 3 days of waiting around for service that was not going to show up in the first place. If you enjoy wasting your time & being blatantly lied to – “call on reliance”!!
Worst service ever
Have had no hot water for four days as of tomorrow, the customer service is robotic, nothing personal about them given certain circumstances.
I will be cancelling my rental .
Leave a review or submit a complaint
If you have experience with Reliance Home Comfort, we’re interested to know your thoughts. How long have you been with them and what do you think about their service, contracts and value? Let us know by leaving a review and sharing your experience below!
As homeowners we were also shocked three years ago when we went to get a line of credit and were turned down because of a lien Reliance put on our house. We had no choice but to pay it off, which was a lot of money! We got a lawyer and it was discharged. It’s been three years since that happened and we went to extend our line of credit just two months ago to find out that the lien was never taken off! ! Apparently, the Land Titles Registry Office doesn’t have to tell homeowners when this happens so the owners could still have a lien even though you have a discharge. Maxium Financial was the company Home Reliance went through to put a lien on my property, but Maxium Financial had changed their name to a numbered company and it’s necessary to include that in the paperwork when taking the lien off. The Land Titles Registry Office gave Reliance 5-8 days to fix this paper work in order to take the lien off and Reliance never bothered, so the Registry withdrew the discharge and kept the lien on the house. Here we are three years later, we owe nothing after paying reliance a huge lump sum of money, and we now have two lawyers trying to contact someone at Reliance to help us (specifically, the woman who signed off on it the first time they tried to discharge it). She won’t return their emails and calls. My lawyers don’t understand why they won’t take the time to fill in papers to take a lien off of our property when we don’t owe them any money. This is our life that they are messing with. We cannot secure any line of credit ever again with any bank until they complete the paperwork and have the lien taken off. What are they gaining from doing this to us, after paying them three years ago. Unfortunately, we are now discussing court action at this point and going to CHCH media, who is very interested in this story if they have more people willing to share. It looks like there are many, so this definitely is an option I will now start exploring this week.
Sounds familiar. It is becoming a fight to get the lien lifted on my property. Just see who owns Reliance and you will understand why there is a ‘don’t care attitude’
This is the huge catch for reliance, putting a lien on homes that were worked for by many Ontarians, if you are with reliance’s contract best way to do is buyout and run far far away from this company.