Incompetent Enbridge Gas Water Heater Event

Location: Ontario, Toronto
Industry: Utilities
Annoyed By: Enbridge Gas
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Our water heater that we are renting through Enbridge Gas sprung a leak, so we called the Enbridge number for service. When we got through to someone, we explained the situation only to find out that they could not send anyone out until the following morning. So, we were stuck all night with a severly leaking water heater. But it gets worse.

The person showed up during the usual "between 9am and 1pm" routine, they looked at the tank and "confirmed" that there was definitely a leak. They then proceeded to write out a request for another person to come out at another time. I asked "Wait, you mean you can't fix the tank today?" and they looked at me dumbfounded and said "of course not" as though I had two heads. But it still gets worse...

Now, the guy thinks I'm trouble maker, so he takes a look around and determines that my house is "breaking code" because we don't have the "appropriate" ventilation into our furnace room. He could not quantify what "appropriate" was, but he did day that a 6" fresh-air duct would do the trick. He said that we had to have this done within 15 days or they would shut-off our gas service. Note that our house was built in the 50's, and the Enbridge Gas had been to our house multiple times before for the annual service maintenance on the boiler and they never mentioned any additional venting requirements...but alas...

I paid a contractor to run a new vent into the furnace room, cost $275 in total. So, the next Enbridge guy comes out to replace the water tank, and I start off by showing him the vent, and he says "that's overkill, you don't need that much venting!" Needless to say, I'm a little upset. But it gets worse...

He replaces the water tank, and I think "well, at least we're done", but nooooo...this guy then says "Hmmm, you don't have any carbon monoxide detectors. You have a three levels on this house, so you will require one for each level." "What?!?" I asked...so, I had to run out and buy 3 carbon monoxide detectors, then he had to come back, and he then complained that he didn't like the location of the detectors (I had mounted them in the stairwell at each level).

At that point, I stopped him and asked for his credentials and qualifications as they relate to his line of questioning. He then simply signed the papers and left.

Overall, I am hugely disappointed with these 3rd-party providers that Enbridge uses, and I hope they understand how these same providers have tarnished their brand. But, Enbridge (like Bell) are quite often the only game in town for many people so therefore will rarely have to worry about servicing their customers with any level of professionalism.