Water heater replacement - ecoENERYGY visit today

[Scryed]

Hi all, I'm curious if anyone had someone recently visit your home to inspect your water heater. The person came unannounced from a company called ecoENERGY Home Services Inc (www.ecoenergyhs.com). They looked at our 75L water heater tank and recommended down sizing to a 60L, and they would do it for free for us. And our water heater is a rental from DirectEnergy. I tried looking online and couldn't find much about this company. Has anyone ever dealt with ecoENERGY? Should I even let them replace my water heater tank even though it's free?

Any help or advice is appreciated as I'm a little new to this!

[CeeEll]

Sorry I got no help....but.....

I don't know if they are the same guys but we have been getting calls from a number that displays as "ecoEnergy". My husband finally answered the call this morning. They were asking if we wanted to replace some stuff (not sure exactly what because my husband answered the call). He told them we already did and got the government rebate last year. (we replaced furnace, a/c, water heater, insulation, etc when we bought this house 2 years ago). We were shrugging, thinking "why is ecoEnergy calling random households to ask these questions and don't they know who already got the rebates and such?". Then we concluded that it probably was a business using the name ecoEnergy, misleading people to believe that it was the gov't ecoEnergy program.

[fieldhousehandyman]

Avoid it if entirely possible! They are just one of a number of companies that will get you into a rental contract that is as expensive, if not more so, than your existing contract, and for generally a much longer time frame, but with the added penaltie of onerous (expensive) penalties for breaking the contract.

Why would you replace a perfectly good 75 gallon tank that made a huge environmental impact to produce in terms of raw materials and energy when it likely has five, ten or even fifteen years of useful service life?

Just say no, and when you want to replace your tank, you find and contact the company to do it!

And the company has absolutely no affiliation with the government run ecoenergy program whatsoever, they hijacked the name to try to use the goodwill of the program... That is your first 'red flag' about them.

[GapBoyPCS]

The first flag would have been them showing up unannounced. The second flag is your gut instincts wondering if this was actually okay.

I'd personally avoid any further contact. As already mentioned, they spoofed the Federal government's "ecoENERGY" logo and put a maple leaf where the "o" is supposed to go.

[Scryed]

Hi guys, you're absolutely right. It sounded fishy, so I figured I could do some research myself online but found squat about them online. I did find a lot about the ecoEnergy retrofit program from the government, which is entirely different. Thanks for all the advice, I'll tell them we're not interested right away.

The company makes it seem like they're helping you because they'll replace your water heater to a more eco friendly one thus saving you gas/electric. But you would have to sign a contract and who knows what kind of water heater they'll give you.

Thanks again!

[DavidY]

If you are currently renting your water heater, you might want to look to getting out of the contract. There are plenty of threads here at RFD that discusses why this is a not good way to have a water heater for the short term.

Dave

[Scryed]

Thanks Dave. I'll definitely look into buying the water heater instead of renting.

[DavidY]

Thanks Dave. I'll definitely look into buying the water heater instead of renting.

Remember to check what it will take to get out of the rental agreement....there is often a fee attached to it. There are threads here on what brand of water heater to buy....GE at HD has a longer parts and labour warranty if you have buy it from HD and have HD/their approved plumber install them....others often have only a 1 year warranty on labour.

Dave

[fieldhousehandyman]

Usually the best way to get out of a rental contract is to buy out your existing water heater, terminate the contract, and leave it in place until you actually need a new one. A rental company like Reliance or Direct Energy will enable their client to either purchase their tank outright, or cancel the contract (pay the cancellation fee, have the tank removed), and then purchase a tank of their own and have it installed. The former ends up meaning you are purchasing a tank at an inflated price, the latter results in getting a competitively priced tank, but with the addition of cancellation penalties.

Generally, it is much more sensible to buy out your existing rental tank.