basement is damaged due to Reliance hot water tank leaks

When you discovered the leak and you called Reliance immediately as anyone should in such as situation, what did they do? Did they send someone out, what did they say regarding the collateral damages?

Pretty sure they won't cover you at all. It will all be on your home insurance. All they will do is sign you up for a newer, more expensive contract.
Best to get out of the contract if you can and get your own tank.

my sink drain plugged once in my basement and caused a small flood, does that mean i can sue the sink manufacturer for causing the flood?

GoodFellaz wrote: ↑ my sink drain plugged once in my basement and caused a small flood, does that mean i can sue the sink manufacturer for causing the flood?

Do you rent your sink and make monthly payments? For as much as reliance rips everyone off, they should insure against any damages from the tank.

engineered wrote: ↑ Pretty sure they won't cover you at all. It will all be on your home insurance. All they will do is sign you up for a newer, more expensive contract.
Best to get out of the contract if you can and get your own tank.

Even the home insurance company will cover damage from a hot water tank leak dependent on the age of the tank. At least with my insurance, don’t remember it exactly, I think the tank needs to be under 12 years old to have coverage from leakages.

Reliance will likely only cover any damage to the tank. Home insurance will be responsible for other damage.

healsio wrote: ↑ Does any have experience/suggestion for filing a property damage claim against Reliance?

Here's a generic T&C agreement from Reliance on their website: http://reliancehomecomfort.com/wp-conte ... ntract.pdf
Liability
• We are not the manufacturer of the water heater and
we make no representations, warranties or conditions
as to the performance of the water heater, except for
those which are given by statute and which you cannot
waive. We will not be liable for any loss, damage or injury
of any type (including as a result of any water leakage)
arising out of or related to this agreement or caused or
contributed to in any way by the use and operation of
the water heater or any indirect, incidental, special or
consequential damages, even if reasonably foreseeable.

There seem to have been cases in the past where Reliance was ordered to pay damages: https://www.mcdougallinsurance.com/2013 ... ank-leaks/
The rulings establish that consumers who lease or rent products will generally receive the protection afforded by the CPA throughout the terms of the leases. The ramifications for the insurance industry are very significant given that insurers pay millions of dollars in claims each year as a result of damages caused by such products.

Check your specific T&Cs for your rental.
Not sure if having T&Cs absolves them of all responsibility, or if the consumer protection laws like in successful court case would override them. Either way, I highly doubt they jump up to pay you anything. Most likely they will point to their T&Cs and deny you any claim, leaving you (or your insurance provider) to fight it further if you wanted to.

engineered wrote: ↑ Do you rent your sink and make monthly payments? For as much as reliance rips everyone off, they should insure against any damages from the tank.

I lease my car and make monthly payments. No coverage there.

Read your contract with them, standard terms of service. Not their issue nor their liability. Don't waste your time.

Now is a good time to get out of the contract. Tell them to come pick up their broken tank.

coffeeguy wrote: ↑ I lease my car and make monthly payments. No coverage there.

Read your contract with them, standard terms of service. Not their issue nor their liability. Don't waste your time.

I'm not arguing that reliance with cover anything. I already said they won't. I was just pointing that the sink comparison is not good. The problem with reliance is that people think they're getting something for their $40/month, like maintenance or leak insurance when they're just paying them many times the value of the tank and get nothing in return.
Shame on all of our gov't reps for allowing them to force these scam contracts on all new home buyers.

chimaican wrote: ↑ Now is a good time to get out of the contract. Tell them to come pick up their broken tank.

Is that even an option in the contract? But OP should try if he can. And definitely don't sign up for a new $10k 20 year contract.

engineered wrote: ↑ Is that even an option in the contract? But OP should try if he can. And definitely don't sign up for a new $10k 20 year contract.

When they come to replace his tank with a new one they'll rope him into a new contract. It's not like they'll bring an older used tank. The original rental contract was for the old busted tank.

Does the contract specifically state that any repairs or replacement to the tank constitute a contract renewal?

I bet when you get repairs done on your water tank, the contract stays as is. replacing your tank IS technically a repair, it solves a problem, what if the tank had a hole rusted thru it? i swear if these sneaky guys put some mumbo jumbo wording into their contract to sucker you into a new one every time you replace your tank due to a technical problem then we have a bigger problem here and its not the tank its the company and their shady terms of service

Nothing unites RFD more than a topic on water heater rentals lol

Love it

coffeeguy wrote: ↑ I lease my car and make monthly payments. No coverage there.

Read your contract with them, standard terms of service. Not their issue nor their liability. Don't waste your time.

Car is different. As far as I know, it is pretty much the only item that you lease where you are responsible for maintenance and damage (that you didn't cause yourself) even if you do not own it. Anything else that you lease is usually covered by the actual owner (apartment, house, Internet modem/router or TV terminal...), unless you damaged it yourself. Even with a water heater, Reliance will cover damage to the water heater itself and not the renter.

Anyway, we are talking about damage caused by the item rented here, not damage to the item itself. I don't think your leased car damaged your property unless you did it yourself (ex: smashing you garage door).

With the crazy monthly payments for a water heater rental and the fact that Reliance is responsible for maintenance (that is why you are paying for so that you don't need to do anything yourself to the water heater: no installation, no maintenance...), it would make sense that they would cover damage caused by their own water heater (I know they won't).

healsio wrote: ↑ Does any have experience/suggestion for filing a property damage claim against Reliance?

You should file it with the municipality who supplied you the water as it's the water that did the damage.

JEDI Force wrote: ↑ it would make sense that they would cover damage caused by their own water heater (I know they won't).

They will, you just may need to go to court to get them to take responsibility and pay. See link to court cases I posted above: https://www.mcdougallinsurance.com/2013 ... ank-leaks/

Basically they ruled the Consumer Protection Act applies to water tank rentals, and Reliance is liable for damages due to the unit failing.
Further from that case:
Section 9(2) of the CPA provides that the implied conditions applying to the sale of goods by virtue of the SGA are deemed to apply to goods that are leased or otherwise supplied under a “consumer agreement.” That term is defined in the CPA to mean “an agreement between a supplier and a consumer in which the supplier agrees to supply goods or services for payment.”

The plaintiffs were both residential users of the hot water tanks; the tanks were supplied for (rental) payments; and the agreements with Reliance Home Comfort, therefore, were “consumer agreements.”

Someone mentioned car leases and the article above even noted:
The question of whether or not some types of leased products (one example might be cars) will have the CPA protection or will have a more limited or different form of protection awaits further clarification.

Though they are not the same thing, since a leased car would usually only cause damage due to driver error, not a fundamental defect in the car. So I don't see how this would compare.

pootza wrote: ↑ You should file it with the municipality who supplied you the water as it's the water that did the damage.

Should find the real source and sue the dinosaur that peed it out.