A Calgary homeowner is warning others after booking a furnace and duct cleaning service with one company, only to have a different one show up at his home.
Jean Dube told Global News he had been meaning to get his furnace and air ducts cleaned for a while, so when he got a call out of the blue from a telemarketer he jumped on it.
The caller said he was from Reliable Duct Pro with offices in Calgary and Edmonton. Dube said he went on the company’s website and liked what he saw, so he booked an appointment for the next day.
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“The door rang, I went to the door. There was a fellow there — he wasn’t in uniform — but he explained he was from Reliable and said, ‘Could you show me to the furnace room?’” Dube said.
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Dube said he did, but he then started to get suspicious when the furnace tech didn’t have any of the equipment listed on the website.
He said he then checked the van parked in his driveway and saw another name on it, not Reliable.
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“I went out and I spoke to who appeared to be his wife,” he told Global News. “She explained that the main truck was cold and it hadn’t started. It had broken down so they called them and sent them instead.”
Dube said he continued to ask her questions, including what their relationship was to Reliable and was told Reliable was the “marketing arm” for some local companies.
Dube said he then cancelled the entire service call.
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“I didn’t feel comfortable with what was going to happen. It’s my furnace, it’s winter time and you kind of want a certified tech to do that.”
“Plus there was no company identification other than something written on the side of the van which had nothing to do with the company that contacted me,” he said
On its website, Reliable posts it’s a locally owned and operated company with offices in both Calgary and Edmonton.
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Global News went to both addresses listed but could not find the company. We did get a hold of someone at the phone number listed, but despite many attempts to find out a physical location we were not able to.
A company representative did tell us that Reliable did nothing wrong, adding Dube cancelled the service and was not charged.
Global News continued to ask why a different company was sent out to service his furnace and ducts and were told Reliable’s service technicians were busy that day, so the company had to contract the service out.
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Global News requested an interview to explain the confusion but were repeatedly denied.
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Dube said he doesn’t believe the local contractors were scamming him, and he felt badly for turning them away.
“That was probably the only work they had that day.”
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But Dube added he did not hire them, he hired Reliable and he wasn’t about to take any chances. He then contacted Reliable again to ask if they could come back another day but he was shut down.
“He got a little animated and said it wasn’t in his best interests to take our business.”
Reliable Duct Pro is not accredited with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) but it does have a few reviews on the site, which are not favourable.
Dube told Global News he has heard warnings before from other companies about furnace and duct cleaning “imposters”, so he decided not to take the chance giving them his business or his money.
“I didn’t lose any funds, I’m very grateful for that,” he said. “I just felt that they had misrepresented what it was.”
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