Water Heater Rental
- Thread starter SkyRider
- Start date
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Haven't rented a tank in 12 years.
FWIW, when I had to replace my water heater, I purchased one from Home Depot. The tank had a 9-year warranty, and it's been running smoothly for almost 12 full years now. Based on 2000 rental rates with no increases, I figure it was paid off in about 5 years.
FWIW, when I had to replace my water heater, I purchased one from Home Depot. The tank had a 9-year warranty, and it's been running smoothly for almost 12 full years now. Based on 2000 rental rates with no increases, I figure it was paid off in about 5 years.
It's not going to be pretty. From what I understand they will have you pay a cancelation fee that could be substantial if your contract is not about to expire, but I understand they can change your contract at will. Be careful, be very careful. they must be losing a bundle with customers leaving and want to get their pound of flesh any way they can. I think April 1 is the day all these changes are to take effect.
6 years ago when I bought my house I call DE and asked if they could come and replace my water heater. It was over 14 years old and was inefficiant and I was worried that it was rusted out. They told me that because there was currently nothing wrong with the unit I would have to pay for the service to have it removed no matter how old or what shape it was in. I of course said no thank you to the cost and would call when it broke.
Sure enough 4 months later the bottom let go from the rust and flooded my basement with 40+ gallons of water, soaking carpets etc. Call DE, they came out and said they would replace but I need to "upgrade my plumming" as it wasn't to code for the new heater. And as you can expect the cost of the new heater would increase by $7 a month but I would save money by having a more efficiant unit.
So with a BIG F*ck You, I spent the money ( $1200 installed ) and got an on demand water heater, which has paid for itself in about 3.5 years in energy savings and I never run out of hot water.
So to DE and their strong arm, bullshit cash grab tactics FU !
So go get your own system and cut those f*ckers out.
Sure enough 4 months later the bottom let go from the rust and flooded my basement with 40+ gallons of water, soaking carpets etc. Call DE, they came out and said they would replace but I need to "upgrade my plumming" as it wasn't to code for the new heater. And as you can expect the cost of the new heater would increase by $7 a month but I would save money by having a more efficiant unit.
So with a BIG F*ck You, I spent the money ( $1200 installed ) and got an on demand water heater, which has paid for itself in about 3.5 years in energy savings and I never run out of hot water.
So to DE and their strong arm, bullshit cash grab tactics FU !
So go get your own system and cut those f*ckers out.
Like I said, making agreements with companies for monthly fees is never a good thing. They will not look out for your best interest. Once you sign on the dotted line...it's just a matter of time before they fuck you. i ended a contract with Telus for my mobile stick last year. and never knew I have $200+ over paid. Although i still get invoices showing a negative amount. it's been 8 months and nobody was calling me that they owe me money...Nobody. but owe them $20 and they will hound you and put interest on it too. The only upside is the person I talked to said she wil process it right away and I should get a cheque for that amount in 3 weeks...will I? only time will tell...
Renting Hot water tanks does NOT make any sense.
I bought mine back in 2000, replaced it last year.
It's stupid to rent. Maybe back in the day, but not now. Not at the prices that they want.
Just go to Home Depot and buy a tank and either install it yourself or pay a plumber to install it. HD will even install it for you for a reasonable price.
I bought mine back in 2000, replaced it last year.
It's stupid to rent. Maybe back in the day, but not now. Not at the prices that they want.
Just go to Home Depot and buy a tank and either install it yourself or pay a plumber to install it. HD will even install it for you for a reasonable price.
I was paying DE rent for my old water heater for years until I said "can I just buy it from you?"...they charged $40 and I haven't paid a nickel since......I better buy a new one soon though, as it is getting ancient......Another clown knocked on my door last week asking to see my tank, so he could rent me one...I said "Go away"...they won't sell me one, they only rent ( they were some small company with green in the name).
They are pretty busy at DE.
Was on hold for half an hour and some guy took my information for a call-back within 48 hours.
Must be a lot of pissed off customers...
Was on hold for half an hour and some guy took my information for a call-back within 48 hours.
Must be a lot of pissed off customers...
the house I bought a few years ago has a rental tank, I didn't know it was a rental until about a year after we moved in. DE doesn't have my name, the bills still come in the old owners name. I have never paid them a dime...don't really know if I am on the hook or not...
Thanks for the link Rub. I got their letter (which is not dated - nice trick) last Friday which does not really give you enough time in my opinion to properly analyze the decision since the deadline is April 2. The rental tank came with the house so we just kept it. At $15/month who cares. I priced new tanks at Home Depot on the weekend since their cancellation/buyback rates seemed pretty high and guess what? They are! To buy back a 15 year old system you pay between $204 to $1,154. Just ridiculous compared with the price of a new tank. Anyways reading the letter with a healthy dose of skepticism (since no utility gives away anything for free), you can pretty much guess that they are coming out ahead on this one. I am glad that the Star's story confirms it. I am calling Direct Energy tomorrow and will keep my current contract, which I don't even have a copy of since I was not the one who even signed it. You'd think that they could also include a copy with the letter so you can properly compare alternatives. I will also be recording the call and asking for a reference number since you really can't trust these guys. Eventually I plan to go to a tankless system since they have come down in price and are more efficient than a tank.
I entered into the rental agreement with DE almost exactly 4 years ago in 2008. I seem to recall they had a schedule on their website that showed the buy-out price by year of contract. I tried directenergy.com to-day and couldn't find the buy-out price schedule. Where can I find this price list?
I can answer that one.
You are.
Remember when you bought the house and you went to sign the papers at your lawyer's place? You probably (like most of us) didn't even bother to read what you were signing then. Somewhere in all that mouse print and legalese was a requirement that you would assume the various rentals on the place. At the time you signed, it would have been the time to tell the previous owner that you would not assume the lease on the tank period.
Now that said, if you've fallen through the cracks, you are laughing.
(I fell through the cracks with Bell Telephone once and had free internet for 9 years before they figured it out. When they did, I just said, "I dunno" and that I would pay them going forward. They seemed happy with that.)
If I was to buy another house and it had a rental tank in there, I would refuse to assume the rental agreement right out of the gate. I would remove the old tank, put it in the back yard and tell DE or Enbridge that they had 48 hours to pick it up orelse I would be scrapping it and sending them the bill for pickup. (Odds are they wouldn't even pick it up.)
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jtk, you are right...the purchase agreement had some general clause about rental equipment (which as I understand is a standard part of the deal as the real estate agents don't want to be on the hook). Ignorance is no excuse though.
I may have fallen through the cracks, the bill comes in someone elses name so I just do the 'return to sender' thing. they don't have my name or number...but that would not be that big of a deal to get. If they wise up I will tell them to come get the tank and I will get a new one, a buddy is an HVAC guy so he can get me one for a deal.
I may have fallen through the cracks, the bill comes in someone elses name so I just do the 'return to sender' thing. they don't have my name or number...but that would not be that big of a deal to get. If they wise up I will tell them to come get the tank and I will get a new one, a buddy is an HVAC guy so he can get me one for a deal.
I emailed them about this. Their first reply was that they investigated and found that I was already on the new agreement because I supposedly had my water heater installed on Sept 16th 2010. Nothing I can do apparently.
I emailed back saying this wasn't true and that I wanted a copy of my T&C and stated that I want to be on the old agreement. This morning, upon further investigation, they discovered that I signed up earlier and am therefore eligible to remain on the old agreement.
Keep your eys on these ripoff artists and don't get shafted.
