Bottom line
Like Enercare and Reliance Home Comfort before it, Simply Group is the latest financing and asset management company to acquire and consolidate the rental contract portfolios of HVAC companies that find themselves in legal or financial trouble after pushing consumers into long-term rental contracts with high cancellation fees and loans with predatory terms using high-pressure and deceptive sales tactics.
Pros
- No large up-front cost
- Low monthly payments
- They handle service and repairs, most of the time
Cons
- Extremely high cancellation and buyout fees
- Many complaints about their maintenance and repair services
- No coverage for damage caused by leaking tanks
Renting a water heater, furnace, water softener, air conditioner or any other HVAC equipment or home appliance is similar to buying an extended warranty in that it works as form of insurance. You pay more for the product upfront and get support should anything go wrong.
However, unlike regular insurance you are typically locked into a long-term (15 year) contract that is exorbitantly expensive to cancel or break. These contracts are very profitable for the rental companies and a bad deal for the majority of their customers.
Renting appliances is not common practice in Canada outside of Ontario. Purchasing your own unit can result in substantial savings over time, according to the Competition Bureau.
Further reading: Is renting a water heater worth it?
About Simply Group Financial
Simply Green Home Services Inc. (or “Simply Group”) is a home improvement financing company and consumer loans provider founded in Toronto in 2013 by CEO Lawrence Krimker and Co-Founder, Executive Vice President Joseph Krimker.
It is a “roll up” of the following brands and companies they acquired and merged:
- Simply Group Financial: non-bank supplier of consumer credit for home improvement projects, providing financing for contracts sold by other companies, including Provincial Smart Home Services.
- Simply Green Home Services and Sandpiper Energy Solutions: HVAC rentals
- Crown Crest Capital: the payment collector for Simply Green and Sandpiper
- SimplyLED Lighting Solutions: offers tailored LED lighting retrofit solutions in the commercial, industrial and multi-unit residential building space.
- EcoHome Financial Inc.
- SNAP Home Finance
As of June 2023, the company had 180 employees and facilitated $3 billion in home improvement loans for more than 500,000 Canadians and had $1.5 billion in assets under management (read: consumer loan debts) as of June 2023. The company reportedly booked $400 million in loans in 2022.
Their website states: “At this time, we’re only servicing existing customers” and does not provide a way to sign up for their services. They have a 1.8 rating on Trustpilot and 1.5 on Yelp.
In 2020, Simply Group was named Best Business of the Year by the Canadian SME National Business Awards.
Who owns Simply Green Home Services (Simply Group)?
Simply Group Financial, SNAP Home Finance (“SNAP”), and certain assets of EcoHome Financial, the “Simply Group Loan Business” was acquired by Financeit Canada Inc. on June 26, 2023 for an estimated $175 million to $225 million.
Financeit, which operates as a subsidiary of CommunityLend Holdings Inc., is in turn owned by InterVest Capital Partners, which acquired them in February 2022 from Goldman Sachs for more than $350 million, outbidding Simply in the process.
InterVest Capital Partners (formerly Wafra Capital Partners) is the New York-based private-equity arm of Wafra Inc., an investment firm owned and backed by Kuwait’s public pension fund that provides growth capital to private alternative asset management firms.
In October 2022, Wafra raised $1.5 billion for the Constellation Generation IV fund, the latest round by Capital Constellation, a joint venture between various sovereign institutional investors, including the Canadian Pension Plan, which contributed US$75 million.
Who is Lawrence Krimker?
Lawrence Krimker is the co-founder and CEO of Simply Group.
Krimker was named EY Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2021 in Ontario. He also owns SNAP Home Finance.
In a message posted on Simply Group’s website, Lawrence Krimker states: “I have long been an advocate for big business and small government. I believe that by and large, governments should focus on improving our infrastructure and social services and let businesses and consumers guide the free market’s evolving journey.”
As Director of Simply Green Home Services Inc., he has received 1 charge for failure to take reasonable care as director and as Director of Crown Crest Capital Corp, he has received 7 charges for failure to take reasonable care as director under the Consumer Protection Act, 2002.
Lawrence is a director of the (possibly defunct) non-profit Canadian Homeowner Protection Association, along with Vitalii Godonooga, Kirill Tatarinov and Salmeed (Ali) Mohammad.
Acquisitions
In 2016, Simply Group acquired Sandpiper Energy Solutions from Oakville Hydro (“OEC”) with 24,000 clients. Oakville Hydro had acquired the portfolio from Norfolk Energy’s (a subsidiary of Norfolk Power) Home Comfort Division in 2013.
In November 2018, Crown Crest Capital acquired a portfolio of rentals from Home Trust, which they had acquired the year before from Nationwide Home Comfort and placed a $15,000 lien on customer homes.
In September 2020, it was reported that Simply Group had completed the acquisition of Home Capital Group’s “point-of-sale retail lending portfolio” which had previously carried on through its subsidiary Home Trust Company for $71 million.
This portfolio is presumably the same referred to in the class action lawsuit against Home Trust and Ontario Energy Group where Home Trust allegedly purchased an interest in the lease agreements from OEG, collected money under the lease agreements and to have registered liens against homes.
In October 2020, they acquired SNAP Financial Group Inc. and SNAP Home Finance, which offer home improvement loans with 240 month amortizations for $511 million.
In November 2020, Simply Group acquired Dealnet Capital Corp and its subsidiary EcoHome Financial Inc., a consumer financing company that had previously be founded by Daniel Wittlin in 2010, sold to Chesswood Group (CHW.TSX) in 2015 along with Blue Chip Leasing Corporation (“Blue Chip”) for $64 million, and sold to Dealnet in 2016 for $35 million.
Acquisition of Ontario Consumers Home Service (OCHS) contracts
In 2017, they acquired Ontario Consumers Home Service (“OCHS”) and Simply Comfort Home Services (“SCHS”) Simply Comfort Inc. with ~53,000 accounts and 1,700 accounts Green Planet Home Services (“GP”) for $6.5 million. Crown Crest Capital took over the contracts in July 2017.
Charges were laid against Consumers Choice Comfort Services Inc. director Eugene Savitskiy for failure to take reasonable care as director under the Consumer Protection Act, 2002.
These companies were the previous iteration of HVAC rental companies with generic, seemingly interchangeable names. Ontario Consumers Home Service would sell door-to-door, the bill came from Ontario Consumers Home Services, and cheques were made payable to Maxium Financial Services Inc., the latter two businesses having the same address in Richmond Hill, Ont.
OCHS and their directors President Vitali Godonooga and CEO Vasili Tatarinov had been hit with 63 charges under the Consumer Protection Act in 2013 and had been signing customers up for water softeners, air filtration and other equipment via door-to-door sales. The charges were later withdrawn.
Between December 2016 and February 2017, Ontario Consumers Home Services committed more than a million violations of the Rules. During that period, the company made over 96,000 unsolicited calls to Canadians whose numbers were on the National Do Not Call List (DNCL), some of which were outside of the permitted hours.
Ontario banned unsolicited door-to-door home energy appliance sales in 2018 due consumer complaints.
Consumers Choice Comfort Services and Simply Comfort Inc. filed an assignment in bankruptcy on October 1, 2020.
Vitali Godonooga is now listed as President of Simply Comfort Estate Inc., a property management company founded by Marina Zhurkevich incorporated in 2019 specializing in short to long term rentals, which is registered as having one director: Eugene Savitskiy
Acquisition of the rest of Green Planet Home Services contracts
In February 2020, they completed the acquisition of the rest of Green Planet Home Services (“GP”) accounts for $21 million from Larry Galbo, President and CEO of Green Planet Home Services of Etobicoke, ON. The initial purchase in 2017 was $6.5 million for 1,700 accounts.
GP sold water heater, furnace and air conditioning rentals door-to-door in Ontario in 2013, racking up dozens of complaints and news reports.
Complaints and legal actions against Simply Green Home Services and associated companies
CBC report in Ontario
In January 2020, the CBC reported a consumer being quoted $32,406 to buy out her furnace and air conditioner contract from Crown Crest Capital after paying more than $7,000 total in monthly rental fees since 2016 when she signed up with door-to-door salesperson from Consumers Choice Comfort Services.
The consumer’s lawyer informed Crown Crest that because his client signed a contract with a 10-year term, he calculated that the buyout price should be about $15,000.
While the company’s manager of collections wouldn’t budge, once CBC news contacted Crown Crest, their lawyer Alfred Apps responded with “It was just something everyone missed,” and “We’ll be resolving it today.”
CBC report in British Columbia
In March 2020, the CBC reported a consumer who was quoted $10,633.73 to buy out her furnace rental contract from Simply Green Home Services who sold her a 10 year rent-to-own agreement via a door-to-door salesperson in 2018. At that time, the consumer had already paid approximately $2,400 in monthly fees.
Once again it was only after CBC news contacted Simply Green, their lawyer Alfred Apps confirmed that the parties had reached a settlement, the terms of which are confidential.
Ontario Consumer Beware List
Crown Crest Capital Corp has had 5 charges laid for failure to refund under the Consumer Protection Act, 2002 listed on Ontario’s Consumer Beware List.
Consumer Protection B.C.
In June 2016, Simply Green was cited for “engaging in deceptive acts or practices” and fined $1,200.
In June 2020, Simply Green Home Services was banned from engaging in door-to-door sales in BC for 1 year after an investigation found the company was using deceptive sales practices and refusing lawful refunds.
Over the course of 13 months, the agency has received 31 calls about the Ontario-based company’s business dealings in B.C.
Better Business Bureau, meanwhile, says it has fielded a total of 114 complaints against the company in the last three years from across the country.
Class action lawsuit
A class action lawsuit was filed on July 7, 2021 against defendants Crown Crest Capital Management Corp., Crown Crest Financial Corp. and these companies’ CEO and owner, Lawrence Krimker alleging that the defendants’ conduct breached consumer protection law, in that the defendants registered amounts on people’s home title that had not been disclosed to consumers.
The lawsuit can be joined by consumers whose HVAC agreement was assigned to Crown Crest.
How much does it cost to rent from Sandpiper Energy Solutions?
It costs $129.99 per month to rent a combi boiler from Sandpiper Energy Solutions. Payments increase by up to 3.5% annually on the contract’s anniversary date. The term is for 180 months (15 years), for a total lifetime cost of at least $23,398, not taking annual increases or tax into account.
Potential additional fees include the greater of $50 or the actual bank charges for the failure to pay (defaulting) or insufficient funds.
The seller, the installer and the financial company collecting the monthly funds are often three different companies. In the following customer’s case, Sandpiper Energy Solutions is the seller, the HVAC contractor was MRM Home Comfort Ltd and the company collecting payments is Crown Crest Capital.
Thanks go out to one of their customers (you know who you are!) who contacted me and was kind enough to provide the following documentation in order to help others “avoid getting scammed like I did”.
Further reading: Is renting a water heater worth it?
Simply Group Financial loan example
- Interest rate of 12.99% APR is within the usual range of interest rates charged on a personal loan (6.99% to 47% – the maximum legal limit), which depend on your credit score and lower than the interest rates of credit cards (20%). However, it is higher than the Canadian average rate (June 2023) on:
- Term length of 60 months is the duration of the payment schedule committed to. Personal loans typically have term lengths of 6 to 60 months.
- Amortization period (240 months/20 years): The length of time it will take to pay off a loan in full. For personal loans, the amortization period typically aligns with the term length (6 to 60 months), but the Simply Group Financial loan stretches out repayment of the loan over 20 years – 4 times longer than the term length. Longer amortization periods reduce the amount of the monthly loan payment, making it look as cheap as possible, and maximizes the amount of interest paid to the financing company over the course of the loan.
Sandpiper Energy Solutions contract example
Example buyout quote
Sandpiper Energy Solutions Builder Rental Equipment Agreement
The home builder can receive an “installation allowance” in return for installing and commissioning a unit of rental equipment and sending the the name, address and closing date of each home the equipment has been installed in.
First, know your rights under the Ontario Consumer Protection Act when signing or cancelling a contract and more specifically, when dealing with door-to-door sales and home service contracts.
If you are a customer and you would like to cancel your contract, you have a few options:
- Join the class action lawsuit against the associated companies, which alleges breached consumer protection law in registering security interests against consumers’ home title.
- Cancel within the 10 day cooling off period – You can cancel a contract for any reason within 10 days of receiving a written copy of the agreement. To request a cancellation, send the company a message in writing either by email or by registered mail so that you have a record of when you sent it and have a record of the communication. Keep a copy of your letter.
- Cancel within 1 year
- False/misleading representations – If the business has represented their goods or services in a false, misleading or deceptive way, you can cancel the contract and get a full refund within 1 year by sending a written request to the business.
You can also report instances of to the Competition Bureau using the online complaint form or by telephone at 1-800-348-5358. - Contract is missing information – If the contract was from a salesperson either at your door or in your home and does not include specific information about the goods or service and your rights as a consumer (see Requirements for Direct Agreements), you can cancel the contract within 1 year of entering into the agreement.
- False/misleading representations – If the business has represented their goods or services in a false, misleading or deceptive way, you can cancel the contract and get a full refund within 1 year by sending a written request to the business.
- Failure to refund, breaking the Consumer Protection Act – If the business fails to refund you as requested, you’re outside the 1 year timeframe, or you think the company has broken the law in the Consumer Protection Act, file a complaint with the Consumer Protection Ontario. These complaints eventually lead to provincial investigations. Charges commonly laid against these kinds of companies include:
- Unfair Practice – False Misleading
- Fail to Refund
- Direct Agreement – Fail to Deliver Valid Contract
- Door-to-door selling (banned under section 43.1 of the Consumer Protection Act)
- Claiming to be affiliated with, or endorsed by other companies or government programs – If the salesperson falsely posed as a representative of a legitimate corporation such as Enbridge or Google or a government entity or program such as the Ontario Energy Board or Green Homes Grant, report it to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre toll-free at 1-855-495-8501, contact the organization that they were claiming to be affiliated with, and/or contact local police.
- Leave an honest review – On Cansumer, Trustpilot, Google, BBB and others.
- Failure to provide rebate/buyout/device as advertised – Report this misleading marketing practice to the Competition Bureau, file an official complaint with the BBB, and a formal complaint with Ontario Consumer Affairs
- Post to social media – Such as Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. These companies must maintain their online reputation in order to get new customers. The more people post about their experiences online, the harder it is for bad experiences to be covered up.
- Contact the media – Ask CBC Go Public, Global News, and CTV News to publish your story. They all publish stories about HVAC scams those who have their stories published typically have their contract concerns resolved by the company.
- Check for illegal liens on your house – Have a lawyer do a title check to see if a company has registered any illegal liens against your property. See https://www.ontariohvacscam.com
- Get a lawyer – A lawyer will be able to tell if the contract you have is enforceable, whether the lien on your house is legal and what your options are.
- Buyout the contract – It may be cheaper in the long run to pay the contract cancellation fee/penalty, get rid of the rental equipment and replace it with units that you own.
The buyout price is calculated based on the following formula:
(Monthly Payment x 105) x (1- (0.005 x number of payments made) and are subject to HST.
The buyout amount starts at 58.3% of the total payments associated with the contract of $23,398 (before annual increases and tax) and decreases from that amount by 0.5% per month or 6% per year:
| Month | Buyout price | Buyout price after tax |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $13,580.71 | $15,346.20 |
| 2 | $13,512.46 | $15,269.08 |
| 3 | $13,444.22 | $15,191.96 |
| 4 | $13,375.97 | $15,114.85 |
| 5 | $13,307.73 | $15,037.73 |
| 6 | $13,239.48 | $14,960.61 |
| 7 | $13,171.24 | $14,883.50 |
| 8 | $13,102.99 | $14,806.38 |
| 9 | $13,034.75 | $14,729.26 |
| 10 | $12,966.50 | $14,652.15 |
| 11 | $12,898.26 | $14,575.03 |
| 12 | $12,830.01 | $14,497.91 |
| 24 | $12,011.08 | $13,572.52 |
| 36 | $11,192.14 | $12,647.12 |
| 48 | $10,373.20 | $11,721.72 |
| 60 | $9,554.27 | $10,796.32 |
| 72 | $8,735.33 | $9,870.92 |
| 84 | $7,916.39 | $8,945.52 |
| 96 | $7,097.45 | $8,020.12 |
| 108 | $6,278.52 | $7,094.72 |
| 120 | $5,459.58 | $6,169.33 |
| 132 | $4,640.64 | $5,243.93 |
| 144 | $3,821.71 | $4,318.53 |
| 156 | $3,002.77 | $3,393.13 |
| 168 | $2,183.83 | $2,467.73 |
| 180 | $1,364.90 | $1,542.33 |
At the end of the contract term, you can continue to rent month-to-month, return the product to them or buy it out for $700. If you do not choose, they of course assume that you selected to rent month-to-month and continue to charge the monthly fee until you contact them about it.
Note: Section 184 of the Criminal Code states that recording private conversations is legal as long as one of the parties involved in the call consents to the recording.
Contact
Simply Green Home Services
- Web: https://www.mysimplygreen.com/
- Email: information@mysimplygreen.com
- Phone: 1 (800) 764-5138
- Mail: 2225 Sheppard Ave E., Suite 800, Toronto, ON M2J 5C2
Sandpiper Energy Solutions
- Web: https://www.sandpiperenergysolutions.ca/
- Email: info@sandpiperenergysolutions.ca
- Phone: 1 (800) 764-5138
- Mail: 2225 Sheppard Ave E., Suite 800, Toronto, ON M2J 5C2
Crown Crest Capital
- Web: https://www.crowncrestcapital.com/
- Email: customersupport@crowncrestcapital.com
- Phone: 1 (800) 764-5138
- Mail: 2225 Sheppard Ave E., Suite 800, Toronto, ON M2J 5C2
Customer reviews
A NIGHTMARE!!!
Crow Crest installed three years ago an Air Conditioning that didn’t fit my electrical system, making it impossible to function, ever since, it’s been a terrible experience, they haven’t fix the problem but I’m still paying every month for something that is not providing the service I’m paying for.
They also BREACHED consumer protection rights by registering on my home title the amounts to be paid for the equipment WITHOUT MY CONSENT.
AC unit
There are a # of issues with Simply and with Sandpiper. Both are very hard to contact, I had to find the Executive in charge of Billing and CS to get anybody to talk to me. Initially I had a salesguy from the Heating and Cooling Co. come to my house when I was looking for an AC unit. I signed a contract with him on my porch based on him assuring me that I would be saving 45.00/mo. That turned out to be not accurate. It took me 6 months with CS and Billing, after finding the Exec in charge of CS and Billing, to get the monthly payment down near a reasonable amount. Also the salesguy had put my contract with Sandpiper without telling me. I thought I had signed with the Heating and Cooling Co., they had good reviews. When I had a chance to check the reviews for Sandpiper, I saw they had upwards of 2 hundred bad reviews, all having to do with CS and Billing. Is this legal. I never would have signed a contract with Sandpiper had I had a chance to check their reviews. Jim Schenkel
AC unit
A salesperson came to my house, representing The Heating and Cooling Co., I ended up signing a contract for 84.99/mo for an AC unit after hearing promises that my bills would be 40.00 lower. This didn’t happen. And my contract had been given to Sandpiper. I tried numerous times to contact CS and billing at Sandpiper, but could never get thru. I went up the Exec ladder at Simply and found the exec who had the CS and billing Depts. under her. She had CS and billing contact me. I asked both to tear up my contract and take the AC unit back. Neither would. CS at Sandpiper finally agreed to drop my monthly charge down to something more reasonable, but still negotiating with billing at Simply for a buyout. After seeing all the negative reviews, I am nervous over their sleazy practices. There could be a lien on my house that I don’t know about. I cant believe these companies are getting away with these sleazy practices. If you know of anything that can be done, pls tell me…Jim
scam
Water heater contract supposedly signed in 2008 by elderly parents. Zero paperwork on this nor did they received any monthly statements (I did their filing) Sandpiper said they did not ask for statements? House sold in September 2022 and since there wasn’t any paperwork, we didn’t contact them. A rigamarole to get info as there is still an automatic monthly withdrawal – March 2023. Paid a cancellation fee. They wanted a money order or bank draft – more money and difficult for many seniors to navigate!! I used a credit card and will closely watch my account!! Received a dodgy-looking emailed purchase receipt to say I paid the cancellation fee but no actual confirmation the contract has been cancelled?? Invoice has address but not my parents names? I asked for the signed contract, received an unsigned generic one. How many others have been money grabbed by this group of companies!
I am writing on behalf of my deceased mother who was pushed into a 15 year contract to rent a furnace at the age of 87
My recently deceased mother was tricked into getting a new furnace being told by the sales person that furnaces needed to be replaced. She was 87 at the time and forced into signing a 15 year contract. Because of problems with waterflow we asked that a water softener be installed. Rather than a water softener they installed a carbon filter. They came once to inspect the furnace and commented that they forgot to put a humidifier on it (Their error) so there is another monthly charge. We made arrangements to have a water softener installed, then they put in a reverse osmosis unit. The water heater is the only thing that was rented in the 50 years my mom lived at the house and until the Hydro handled it there was no problem. These people are crooks. They have put 3 liens on the house even though payments are being made monthly. Do not get involved with Simply Green/Green Planet, Sandpiper or Crown Crest corporation as they are crooks.
Leave a review or submit a complaint
If you have experience with one of Simply Group Financial or an of their associated companies, 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!
