so the wife signed a contract for a home water heater....

[stuntman]

National came by convinced my wife to let them into the basement to see the water heater blah blah....she asked the guy to tear up the contract and she said he did (maybe he did , maybe he did not). So I got home called National told them to cancel it and send me a confirmation letter and a reference number for the call. The guy said there was no reference number and he could not send me a cancellation letter but could send me an email. No email arrived (not that it would be any good).

So I am guessing National are a POS low end pile of crap company and I have to do this the harder way. For those with experience/knowledge is a registered letter the best way to deal with this????

thanks.

Stuntman.

P.S. please no don't take any wooden nickel advice...wooden nickel advice will meet a stern FU / flame. thank you for your co-operation.

[Maymybonneliveforever]

If you have a contract for a rental hot water tank, normally you can't get out of the contract for at least 5 years since it gives them the opportunity to make a considerable profit. If you decided you want to get out of the contract after 5 years you need to buy them out, they won't just cancel it. The only way you can get out of a contract is when the hot water tank can no be repaired and needs to be replaced, but that is at there discretion. In other words, it's broken, can't be repaired and I don't want a new one since it's past the 5 years. It's not in there best interest to let you out of a contract since to them, that's guaranteed monthly payments. We on this forum have found they will say and do what ever it takes to keep you signed on.

I would double check your contract for your specific details, but we've found that's it's almost impossible that renting will get you a better deal then buying outright.


Hope ths information helps.

[Cheap Cat]

There is a 10 day cooling off period for contracts signed at the door worth more than $50.

See:
http://www.sse.gov.on.ca/mcs/en/Page..._Contract.aspx

[Maymybonneliveforever]

There is a 10 day cooling off period for contracts signed at the door worth more than $50.

See:
http://www.sse.gov.on.ca/mcs/en/Page..._Contract.aspx

Then maybe I misunderstood, when you said, "National came by convinced my wife to let them into the basement to see the water heater blah blah....she asked the guy to tear up the contract and she said he did"......... I thought you already had an existing contract with National and that was the only reason you allowed them into your home, which was to view the hot water tank which you were renting from them.

My bad, I read it wrong then.

[sacabeans]

Then maybe I misunderstood, when you said, "National came by convinced my wife to let them into the basement to see the water heater blah blah....she asked the guy to tear up the contract and she said he did" I thought you already had an existing contract with National and that was the only reason you allowed them into your home, which was to view the hot water tank which you were renting from them.

My bad, I read it wrong then.

Dont they need to call you to confirm that you want the service? Without the phone call I do not believe the contact is valid. So make sure your why does not answer the phone.

[Keigotw]

National came by convinced my wife to let them into the basement to see the water heater blah blah....she asked the guy to tear up the contract and she said he did (maybe he did , maybe he did not). So I got home called National told them to cancel it and send me a confirmation letter and a reference number for the call. The guy said there was no reference number and he could not send me a cancellation letter but could send me an email. No email arrived (not that it would be any good).

So I am guessing National are a POS low end pile of crap company and I have to do this the harder way. For those with experience/knowledge is a registered letter the best way to deal with this????

thanks.

Stuntman.

P.S. please no don't take any wooden nickel advice...wooden nickel advice will meet a stern FU / flame. thank you for your co-operation.

Were you renting from National before?? if not if you signed a contract with National, don't they have to come and removed the old water heater and install a new one?? if so, just don't let them in
don't let them install it

[stuntman]

late follow up....sorry for the late follow up.

CheapCat provided correct information:
http://www.sse.gov.on.ca/mcs/en/Page..._Contract.aspx

Other notes:
-The guys tore up the contract for my wife....the *ssH*** still called it in.
-the guy came across as fair and nice.....
-I was jerked around by national on the phone....they said they would send email confirmation etc but did not until the 3rd call.
-I ended up sending a registered email (for the sig) stating the contract number and stated that I wanted them to cancel.


thanks for the replys

[diggler649]

I don't trust any hot water tank company. Having said that, unless you plan on owning your tank, you have to go with one. Just figure how large of a tank you need and get quotes from different companies.

When we bought our house, we found out that the home builder had signed a contract with National. At first I was concerned because I heard so many bad things about them. However, I only pay $23.99 per month for the tank rental, which is about $5.00 cheaper per month than what I was paying Direct Energy at my old house. In addition, the tank is bigger than my old one. So I can't really complain.

[firechkn]

I don't trust any hot water tank company. Having said that, unless you plan on owning your tank, you have to go with one. Just figure how large of a tank you need and get quotes from different companies.

When we bought our house, we found out that the home builder had signed a contract with National. At first I was concerned because I heard so many bad things about them. However, I only pay $23.99 per month for the tank rental, which is about $5.00 cheaper per month than what I was paying Direct Energy at my old house. In addition, the tank is bigger than my old one. So I can't really complain.

Since your tank is new and better why not consider buying it out? I bet the cost of buyout is only $1200. At the 4 year mark it would have been paid off and the rest is gravy. That's what I did as soon as I moved into the new house without giving them a chance to incur extra monthly payments.

[adamyeshi]

Direct Energy isn't even a part of Canadian, they came over from the states in 2002 and bought off the owner ship of your current tanks at 150-200 dollars each and make you rent it untill it breaks down, my grandma had no hot water from one of their new tanks it wasn't working properly, called and they say its new and cant do anything about it, then i searched for the company. found out its not even on the TSX, they got people into energy contracts and all that stuff, going around telling people they are from enbridge, and put home "protection plans" on people's furnace or A/C when they are like completely new and charge they 30 dollars a month for stuff they already have with the manufature warranty. rentals on water tanks are 10 bucks before, they increased them now to like 15 bucks, and another raise in january for 50 cents more, a tank is a few hundread dollars only, and they wont change any tanks less than 16 years, unless its broken beyond replacable. i asked them if i can get a new one and if there will be a contract on it, they told me i have to pay a fine to remove it as long as its still working, no matter how old, even 20+ years. while those sales person who came to my door had contracts for 10-15 years i feel so sorry for these idiots who say they are happy with direct energy.

Wonder if Ellen Roseman the writer gets paid by saying stuff for direct energy to attack all their competitiors, but i got out of direct energy's gas contract, "protection" plan, and my bill went from 200 to 100 a month.
what kind of company does "protection"? is it like a mafia? geez. protection that u dont need and pay. this is just jokes


heres what i found
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_Energy

Direct Energy was fined C$157,500 in 2003 after investigators discovered 21 forged contracts trapping customers into long-term energy deals.[14] According to Paul Massara, then the president of the company, the forgeries took place between June 2001 and April 2002. Both Direct Energy and a company it acquired, Energy America were charged with employing unethical business practices, with Energy America being fined over $500,000 in penalties for enrolling customers without permission and using deceptive sales pitches. The companies were found to have used unethical business practices in Michigan, Georgia, Texas, Ontario and Manitoba.[15]The Ontario government has since passed a bill that would require energy retailers to follow up on each contract sold to ensure the customer had willingly made the purchase.

[jimmy-j]

email this person.. i emailed nhs to complain and this person got back to be fairly quickly

skerr@nationalhs.ca
sascha kerr

[97gst]

Make sure this doesn't happen again, get a divorce.