Trusted Saskatoon Blog | All posts tagged 'scam'

JOB Heating & Air Conditioning’s wonderful staff will be more than happy to provide you with an estimate for any home comfort improvement that you have in mind. They also offer training classes at your personal site for maintenance and they also offer home heating tune-ups. JOB are Trusted Saskatoon Furnace experts and they can also help you with all your Saskatoon plumbing needs!In this Saskatoon HVAC article, Jeff Bolton, owner of JOB, highlights how important it is to be aware of scams in the Saskatoon air-conditioning and furnace marketplace.

JEFF FROM JOB WARNS AGAINST FRAUD IN SASKATOON’S HVAC INDUSTRY

The feeling of being ripped off is horrible, and I count myself fortunate that I haven’t been the victim of fraud very much in my life. However, I am sad to say that I deal with victims of contractor fraud too often in Saskatoon. In my latest article, I share another example that happened recently, as I want to educate consumers on what to look out for.- Jeff , owner of JOB

Fraud takes many different forms

I was recently at a lady’s home to provide a quote to replace the furnace and air conditioner. Her house was the same as most other homes in our city, in fact she lives just 4 blocks away from my family. She invited me in and we exchanged pleasantries, then I asked her the burning question that had been top of mind since I pulled up outside. Why was she requesting a quote for a new home comfort system in a house that was no more than 12 years old?

She explained that the night before her furnace had stopped working. This was especially an issue as the overnight temperature in Saskatoon had dropped to about -30C. Unfortunately, she was unaware that JOB offers 24-hour emergency service and she had called another company.

The other company turned up, identified the problem but they didn’t have the part required ( It was 4 am, so I give them a pass on that one,) . They returned at 8:30 am with the correct part to fix the issue and the tech took it upon himself to go through her furnace and air conditioner. He noted that there were old watermarks both on the side and at the base of the furnace, which I can verify. As someone that has a career in the furnace and air conditioning industry, the source of the water was very evident to me.It was clear that at some point, probably in the summertime, the evaporator coil had frozen and then melted.

One indication about this was the plugged air filter leaning up against the furnace.

The other technician told this very nice lady that her furnace was over ten years old and a crack COULD happen in the heat exchanger (even though he couldn’t find any crack) and that would send carbon monoxide into her home potentially killing her, her partner and her dogs!! If that ominous threat was not enough, he also told her that her air conditioner unit had a leak and would also need to be replaced.

Now, it is possible that she may have a leak in the air conditioner, but there’s simply no way to determine that when it’s -26C outside! Saying that she has a leak when there is a dirty filter right there is, “bullcrap!”

The other thing that I haven’t mentioned yet, is the 3 carbon monoxide detectors I saw in her home. I will not downplay carbon monoxide poisoning, because it is the biggest threat to life that we face in the HVAC industry, however, there was no sign of that here. When questioned, she confirmed that the carbon monoxide detectors had never gone off. In addition, one of the detectors displays the level of CO present and when I checked it showed zero.

Let me be VERY clear here, this person was simply using fear tactics to sell a new furnace and air conditioner to this lady.

If you get a flat tire on your Chevy do you buy a new Mercedes??

“But he said I’m in imminent danger!” Said the lady

The moral of the story about fraud in Saskatoon’s HVAC Industry, is to be careful, ask questions and deal with the right people. Start by looking for businesses on TrustedSaskatoon .com.

JOB Heating has been a TrustedSaskatoon partner from almost the beginning. We are both locally owned and accountable companies and we deal with local companies. Local people always care the most, we care about service and we care about people. We care because this is my city and my home too.

Contact Jeff and team at JOB Heating today.

JOB products and services include:

JOB Heating & Air Conditioning Trusted Saskatoon Furnace, Boiler and Air Conditioning Experts

JOB. Heating & Air Conditioning are Trusted Saskatoon Plumbers

When I started Trusted Saskatoon back in 2011, my aim was to create a website where consumers could find TRUSTWORTHY locally owned businesses who operate with integrity. I had suffered a few times from negative experiences and felt that there was something missing that prevented people being ripped off. I recently experienced first-hand ( again) the exact reason why I was driven to create www.trustedsaskatoon.com, as a real resource to protect and help YOU the consumer who is choosing where to spend your hard earned money!

Sara Shares A Real Life Roofing Story

Not long ago I returned home to find that a local 'cedar shake expert' roofing company had stopped by. They spoke to a family member in my absence and delivered a flyer, product brochure, business card and a detailed $12,500 quote for a new roof. I had not requested a quote, however the company representative said they wanted to provide it to us as a courtesy as they were concerned for us. They noted that this was their recommendation based on the many issues they could see whilst working on our neighbours roof. The company had been next door for a few days repairing and re-roofing the roof and they said that had given them an excellent opportunity to see the issues on our roof. Even better, because they were in the area, they would do it for a special reduced price – how kind of them!

Unfortunately for this roofing company, they pitched their quote to the wrong homeowners...

Being the owner of Trusted for nearly 9 years, means that I have learnt a lot of best practices when it comes to quoting. In addition to that, I have lots of people sharing with me who NOT to trust in Saskatoon. This company has been mentioned to me at least a dozen times over the years, so I was bound to be suspicious of the quote and the motivations behind it.

Naturally, I wanted to find out whether these roofing ‘experts’ were right about the issues with my roof, so I called one of our Trusted Saskatoon Roofers, Scott Roofing to take a look.

Scott Roofing

Scott Roofing has over 30 years years of experience in the Saskatoon roofing industry and they are the first roofing choice for many of Saskatoon's top contractors. Owner, Scott Landru has extensive roofing experience, skills and knowledge.They have proven track record and we know them to be a trustworthy reliable roofing contractor for both builders and homeowners who value friendly service and honest advice.

A Roof Inspection

Scott visited my house with some team members, and inspected my roof from ground level as well as from on the roof itself. They also checked via a drone to make very sure they had done a thorough job. After a few days he sent over the report and a quote that I have attached below.

Please note that the roof showed “signs of normal wear due to ageing”, but that it still had a “projected remaining life expectancy of 15-25 years” so in his expert opinion there would be no reason to complete a roof replacement or any repairs any time soon.

Scott’s information raised the question, WHY would this other roofing company give us a quote for $12,500 for a new roof when there was nothing wrong with it? Was this just a genuine mistake, or was there something a bit more sinister to the story?

WHY You Should Always Do Your Due Diligence

Upon further investigation, they have 19 (yes,19) cases against them due to issues with past jobs, so it is clear that there is a trend beginning to appear with this business.. They are NOT trustworthy.

Roofers are often seen as untrustworthy by homeowners, as there have been too many stories like this of people being scared into thinking that their most valuable asset is going to be wrecked by a roof that is in 'desperate' need of a replacement. To add to the problem, few Canadians make the necessary verifications, such as ensuring the company they are signing with legally exists (16%), has proper insurance (19%), a business licence (27%), and a clean legal history (14%). This exacerbates the problem and leads to people being ripped off unnecessarily.

So, what point am I trying to make by sharing my experience??

I want to emphasize that you should ALWAYS shop around and get at least 2 or 3 quotes whenever you need a job done, to ensure that you do not get ripped off by a disreputable contractor or business owner. Alternatively, you can cut out all that leg work and save time and stress, simply visit Trusted Saskatoon, where you can find a Trusted Saskatoon businesses in 40 categories. We KNOW them, we care about them AND you the consumer. We have checked them out for you and we work with them to maintain standards. They share their experience and advice with you in articles like this - we have collected over 1000 helpful articles in our Trusted Saskatoon library . We GUARANTEE that we only promote trustworthy integrity driven locally owned businesses who are invested in our community and will always complete work to the highest quality for a fair price on time!

I will not name the other roofing company - that is not my role- Trusted is here to support and promote the businesses we partner with, those operating in line with our Trusted Guarantees. We stand by them and so do all of our other wonderful Trusted Saskatoon partners.