Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:01/11/2022

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Business sold me a maintenance care plan. To initiate the plan we had to pay extra than the regular fee for a single visit. This was supposed to be offset by preventative maintenance calls that the business would contact the customer to arrange. They failed to contact us and service was delayed outside the window of the coverage for the year I had paid for. This was during covid. I was patient and understanding. We called for a service call to clean a sensor and check system was operational (within the scope of our plan) and waited for a return call during business hours. A technician was arranged for 3 days later. I was then billed for a cancellation of renewal and a full price single visit with an emergency after hours charge (plan is supposed to prevent after hours charges even though there weren't any). Efforts to communicate respectfully with the business have been thwarted. The person answering phone lines will pretend they are too busy to talk to you and then e-mail deceitfully written information about your query. There have been multiple occasions where e-mails have received no response at all. The worst response was that "they don't remember their plan promising to contact the customer." I have a copy of the literature where it does in fact promise this. They are trying to take advantage of me and overcharge me and have threatened to send me to collections even though they haven't been open to discussing making their part of this billing right. I thought when I tried to contact them we would be able to come to a fair resolution on the billing, have it paid, and then continue to use their service. I obviously will never use them again as they have been entirely unprofessional. I need assistance because I don't trust paying the inflated bill will even stop them from pretending that I owe them more ***** **** ** ******* * **** ** *********** **********

  Business Response

  Date: 07/11/2022

  Good Morning,

  We are sorry to hear about the complaint made to us in which we would like to rectify. Everything that transpired is in the response below.

  We were dispatched to the residence of ** ********* *** Kitchener at the request of a gentleman named ****** ****** (through our after hours emergency answering service). As we had done service for the Southdale Property Management company he and Ms. ***** are/were associated with. We went to the residence and completed a minor repair to the furnace and sent an invoice to the ********* address on file. The previous year ****** had asked that we include this property in our We Care maintenance program and the invoice sent simply included the cost of renewing the plan $119.88 & HST. Our accounting dept made many attempts to contact Ms. ***** and/or ****** but did not receive a response until I made the decision to void the original invoice charge (to re-new the We Care Plan) as it seemed obvious there was no intent to re-new because we had not heard from the Property management company, ****** or Ms. ***** in months. The new invoice reflected the cost of the service call and a repair to the furnace flame sensor that would normally be billed out to a non We Care member as the re-new for the current year WE CARE plan had not been paid  (original invoice sent on Feb15-16 and at least 2 past due invoices sent by the accounting dept after the original invoice was sent..I e-mailed this new invoice to  ****************@*****.com on Sept 14th 2022.

  The following day I received an e-mail from Ms. ***** asking why she was being billed for any repairs because she had no record of us ever being at the residence in February. I went back to our after hours log report and copied and pasted the information to Ms. ***** from the log. She indicated that ****** was no longer associated with her and she was not aware he had called. She questioned the amount of the invoice because they  have a We Care Plan on the equipment and I explained that because the invoice had never been paid (Feb 14th) it was assumed they did not want to re-new the plan and the invoice was changed to reflect a non We Care members price.
  I once again altered the invoice to reflect the WE Care member pricing and sent the edited invoice to her e-mail. She contacted me wondering why she had to pay anything as we had not contacted her to re-new the plan (although we had sent several invoices indicating it was a We Care renewal.) She contacted me several times questioning the amount of the invoice but finally sent a payment via e-transfer on Thursday November 3rd.
  Due to the difficulty in collecting the outstanding invoice (February  14th 2022 to November 3rd 2022) along with the  negative comments made in her complaint to the BBB we have made a decision to not re-new her WE Care Plan and will be refunding the amount she sent to us on the 3rd of November. Mike M. Service Manager.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 09/11/2022

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:  As you can see in the attached e-mails Mike only got back to me after receiving the formal complaint. I thought he was trying to resolve the issue with me but now that I've read his response which only came after I paid him - and was not refunded - it seems further action is needed to hold the company accountable.

  Items that are problematic:
  
  
  "We were dispatched to the residence of ** ********* *** Kitchener at the request of a gentleman named ****** ****** (through our after hours emergency answering service). As we had done service for the ********* Property Management company he and Ms. ***** are/were associated with. We went to the residence and completed a minor repair to the furnace and sent an invoice to the ********* address on file. The previous year ****** had asked that we include this property in our We Care maintenance program and the invoice sent simply included the cost of renewing the plan $119.88 & HST." (THIS IS NOT SENT TO THE PROPERTY E-MAIL AND AT MAY HAVE BEEN ADDRESSED TO ONLY ****** WHICH IS DIFFICULT FOR THE PROPERTY MANAGMENT - I RECALL ****** WAS IN COMMUNICATION BECAUSE HE DIDN'T AGREE WITH CHARGES - THE OFFICE MANAGEMENT WAS NOT HELPFUL IN CLARIFYING OR RESOLVING BILLING WITH HIM)
  
  "Our accounting dept made many attempts to contact Ms. ***** and/or ****** but did not receive a response until I made the decision to void the original invoice charge (to re-new the We Care Plan) as it seemed obvious there was no intent to re-new because we had not heard from the Property management company, ****** or Ms. ***** in months. The new invoice reflected the cost of the service call and a repair to the furnace flame sensor that would normally be billed out to a non We Care member as the re-new for the current year WE CARE plan had not been paid  (original invoice sent on Feb15-16 and at least 2 past due invoices sent by the accounting dept after the original invoice was sent..I e-mailed this new invoice to  ****************@*****.com on Sept 14th 2022." (THIS IS THE FIRST PROPERTY MANAGEMENT RECIEVED THE INVOICE. IF **** HAD THE E-MAIL FROM PREVIOUS PAYMENT AND WAS RESOURCEFUL ENOUGH TO SEND IT IN SEPTEMBER, WHY HAD WE NOT SEEN IT IN THE MANAGEMENT E-MAIL SOONER? ADDRESSING BILLS TO A SINGLE PERSON MAKES IT DIFFICULT WHEN THAT PERSON DOESN'T SHARE THEIR COMMUNICATIONS WITH MANAGEMENT)
  
  
  "The following day I received an e-mail from Ms. ***** asking why she was being billed for any repairs because she had no record of us ever being at the residence in February. I went back to our after hours log report and copied and pasted the information to Ms. ***** from the log. She indicated that ****** was no longer associated with her and she was not aware he had called. She questioned the amount of the invoice because they  have a We Care Plan on the equipment and I explained that because the invoice had never been paid (Feb 14th) it was assumed they did not want to re-new the plan and the invoice was changed to reflect a non We Care members price." (I DID NOT SAY THERE WASN'T A RECORD OF SERVICE - I SAID THAT I DIDN'T UNDERSTAND WHY I WAS BEING BILLED FOR A SINGLE VISIT AS A WE CARE PLAN MEMEBER AND ASKED FOR CLARIFICATION WHAT THE PLAN SERVICED SINCE I HADN'T RECEIVED A SINGLE COMMUNICATION REGARDING BOOKING SERVICE FOR 2021/2022 BEFORE PREVIOUS MEMBERSHIP WAS SAID TO HAVE EXPIRED. I THOUGHT THIS RATHER ODD SINCE A SELLING POINT WAS THAT THIS PEACE OF MIND WOULD BE PROVIDED. I BELIEVE THIS TO BE ******S ORIGINAL DISPUTE WITH BILLING. MIKE RESPONDED THAT HE DIDN'T RECALL THE PLAN PROMISING THAT HIS COMPANY WOULD DO SO. I SHARED COPIES OF THE LITERATURE TO WHICH I GOT NO RESPONSE.)
  
  
  "I once again altered the invoice to reflect the WE Care member pricing and sent the edited invoice to her e-mail. She contacted me wondering why she had to pay anything as we had not contacted her to re-new the plan (although we had sent several invoices indicating it was a We Care renewal.) She contacted me several times questioning the amount of the invoice but finally sent a payment via e-transfer on Thursday November 3rd." (AS YOU CAN SEE IN THE ******** EMAILS I SENT PAYMENT ONCE THE INVOICE REFLECTED THE AMOUNT IT WAS SUPPOSED TO FOR A RENEWAL IN GOOD FAITH THAT IT WOULD MEAN A CONTINUED RELATIONSHIP AS THE PAYMENT WAS TO COVER RENEWAL AS MIKE SAID. HIS RESPONSE HERE WAS NOT SENT UNTIL AFTER RECEIVING PAYMENT INDICATES THAT HE HAD ONE GOAL WITH HIS COMMUNICATION TO ME AND SINCE HE HAS NOT ATTEMPTED TO RETURN THE FUNDS, IT SEEMS THE DECEPTION ISSUE STILL STANDS.)
  
  
  "Due to the difficulty in collecting the outstanding invoice (February  14th 2022 to November 3rd 2022) along with the  negative comments made in her complaint to the BBB we have made a decision to not re-new her WE Care Plan and will be refunding the amount she sent to us on the 3rd of November. Mike Mallette Service Manager." (I CANNOT COMMENT ON WHAT COMMUNICATIONS MAY HAVE BEEN SENT TO ******. MANAGEMENT RECEIVED NOTHING UNTIL SEPTEMBER. I HAD AN EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TIME TRYING TO RESOLVE THE PAYMENT WITH **** MANAGEMENT AND THINK THEY SHOULD BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR THEIR ROLE IN DELAYING PAYMENT. IF ONE ISN'T ABLE TO CALL DURING BUSINESS HOURS AND SPEAK TO SOMEONE AND HAS TO WAIT ON DELAYED EMAIL RESPONSES, ONE CAN ONLY DO SO MUCH. ONE CANNOT BE EXPECTED TO PAY A BILL THAT DOES NOT MAKE SENSE WHEN COMMUNICATION EFFORTS ONLY BEGAN RATHER RECENTLY. IF I AM TO HAVE RECEIVED A REFUND I WONDER WHERE IT IS. I DO NOT THINK THEY SHOULD BE ABLE TO CONTINUE SELLING THEIR MAINTENANCE PLAN IF THEY CANNOT ADMIT FAULT THAT THEY MADE NOT A SINGLE EFFORT TO RENEW IN 2021 NOR DID THEY ATTEMPT TO BOOK SERVICE. THEY ARE SELLING SOMETHING THEY DON'T INTEND TO DO IN MIKE's OWN WORDS)
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ******* *****

  Business Response

  Date: 09/11/2022

  Hello *******, 

  It is Shawn **** responding to your message. What would you like Rick (the owner) and I to do to resolve the problem? We have had maintenance plans out for a long time and i'm not sure what happened with the miscommunication here but will make sure the staff knowhow to set them up and maintain them to make sure it's always in the customers best interest. Plans are set up to extend equipment life and keep everything in great working order to keep the household safe.

  It wasn't our intention to lose anyone on a plan or your trust in us. Somewhere along the line things got mixed up and thats on us so will be happy to rectify the problem. 

  
  Sorry about the headaches this whole situation has caused. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 11/11/2022

  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

  All I ever wanted was for the business to be accountable to perform the services being signed up for. Knowing they will retrain staff to ensure customers are taken care of properly is an appropriate solution. My billing only became an issue when my membership wasn't renewed and no one reached out to either do this or perform preventative services being signed up for.

  As I have paid to renew I would expect to be able to use the service for this period. The actual technicians are great and don't have the attitude problem of the service center.

  Perhaps forced paid time off and resources are needed for the employees who have taken out their frustrations on customers. Maybe conflict resolution training is also in order for these employees as simple requests to fix things that have gone wrong shouldn't end with a battle.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  ******* *****