The Heat Saga

This past weekend I went away on a work retreat. The company I now work for goes on two retreats a year. The owner has a piece of property up near my dad's place and invites the company up for a weekend of poker, food and snowmobiling or snowboarding.

After a fun weekend up north (where I was the chip leader for most of the night - but more on that in another blog), I came home to rest.

It was kind of chilly in my condo, but I was so tired I really didn't think about it too much and had a nap. When I woke up it was even colder. So, I called my dear old dad to find out what I should be looking for. Well, there was no heat or hot water and we could not get it to turn on.

Since I rent the hot water tank (which to make a long explanation short also handles the furnace / heat - it's a dual unit), I called Direct Energy. I stayed up until after midnight waiting for them to come and check it out or to call me back. Of course, neither happened. Enbridge who supplies the gas - hey, they showed! But, it wasn't a gas problem. I ended up having to take the day off on Monday to wait for the direct energy guy to show up. He did, he misdiagnosed the problem and I had to wait for a part that I actually didn't need (great). So, the next guy did some further checking. The unit is done and has to be replaced. Okay, let's get that done because now it is 51 degrees in my house. Well, they need to schedule and get a variance, blah, blah, blah. This is at 3pm. But, of course nothing happens for the rest of the day. So, today they sent out another guy who checked to see if I had attic access. Of course, none of the three guys that have been here before checked for that. NO, of course not. Because now I'm on day 3 of no heat (when it's -20 out there) we wouldn't want to speed things along. So, it turns out I don't have attic access so now we are waiting for the condo complex to get them into the neighbour's condo. After that maybe they will schedule the replacement that is going to cost me over $1000 (yet, it's a RENTAL). Plus, my rental costs will double.

Thanks to a friend's suggestion I have now called my insurance company and they are sending out a contractor to look to see if I'm covered under my house policy.

My dad is also looking into some other options and maybe he will be able to do the work and then I will own the unit and won't have to pay direct energy another penny.

I highly recommend that if you pay them any of your money now that you get out from under them. They are horrible and their customer service is non-existent.

Now I'm on the phone with them again and of course they haven't kept track of my previous calls so I am now on my 6th case number (in 3 DAYS)!