HawthorneVillager.com

Any Tips for cancelling Reliance Water Heater?
I am trying to minimize costs. I have rented for over 84 months (Minimum Rental Term) so no premature cancellation charges.
Seems they charge $65 to pick up water heater which seems like BS to me. It looks like 830 Harrington Court in Burlington is the closest place to drop off the water heater to save this charge.

I am buying my water heater from Rona (I have gift cards to use).
Any recommendations on companies to install the water heater? I am aware of North Halton Heating but not sure how highly regarded they are.
http://www.northhaltonheating.ca/
Are there any other installers who will support the install with emergency service?

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

I should note that when I purchased the house on resale it came with the water heater so I never signed the original contract.

please let us know how this goes.
we are interested in doing the same thing.
we owned our water heater for 20 years in Calgary and never had a problem.
same as you ours agreement came with the house.
I agree this renting cost is bs.

Like "on Beaty Trail", I've never had a problem with an owned WH. The odds of having a problem with a WH are quite low.

The first thing I do when I buy a house with a rental heater is buy it out or have it removed and install a purchased unit. Bad bad bad economy to rent, same with service contracts. (Falls into the same category as "extended warranties".) Sure, if something goes wrong with a rental it's their problem to fix (your inconvenience until they get to it) but you pay for this several times over during the life of the WH. Witness the firm resistance when you call to buy it out or have it removed.

FYI a gasfitter can remove and install the new WH. Cost varies so do yourself a favor and get a few quotes. Even with the cost of the re & re factored into the price of a new WH, you're way ahead of the game.

I got a nice surprise, after 3.5 years I got a collection from reliance. The previous owner neglected to put the water heater on the statement of adjustment. They wanted 3 years of back rent.

That really sucks. Aren't those sorts of details what we pay legal fees for when buying a home (rhetorical) ?
I suppose chasing the previous owner for compensation would be an exercise in futility.
More fodder for buying it out from the get go.

No, your right, no point in calling the previous owner. Considering they still were trying to contact him. he only let them he moved after they hounded him for years.

So who was getting the monthly bill for those first few years ?

I'd like to know how this goes too. I tried to get out of it with the builder but they refused to take it out of the contract (obviously because they get money from the rental and they get a free water heater)...

Get protection. They’ll probably send some goons to your house to make sure you “get the message” about the value of renting.

Yes, it's a symbiotic relationship between the builder and Direct Energy. The builder doesn't have to supply a water heater (like it used to be... and I'm sure that never came off the price of a new home). Instead, Direct Energy (or whoever) supplies the WH and gets to milk the new owner with monthly fees totaling several times the cost over its lifetime. There is some value in them having to service it should you have a problem but the likelihood is very low (there are exceptions to everything, in few cases it works out to be beneficial).

As the original owner you might have inadvertently agreed to a Water Heater contract buried deep in the paperwork. I suspect you may be able to buy out the contract but it will be higher than the price of a new water heater depending on how long you've lived there, pro-rated but still overpriced. Personally, I would still buy it out if I had any inkling of living there for a long period of time.

I've looked into it as well. They told me that if they come and take it out it's a few hundred, if I take it out and they pick it up it's $65 or I can drop it off in Burlington for no charge. There wasn't a cancellation fee, it was pretty straight forward. Haven't done it yet though.

We didn't get any bill as all mail addressed to the previous owner was presumably forwarded.

My understanding is once you pay the invoice, in the fine print you assume the rental agreement. So don't pay and they can come and repo there waterheater. Or get a new waterheater installed put the old one out at the curb and inform reliance that there property is on the curb and to come and get it or tell them they need to remove there property from your house as you have no agreement with them.

[quote="glocklover"]We didn't get any bill as all mail addressed to the previous owner was presumably forwarded.[/quote]

Previous owner's bill is their problem. However, you may be able to call reliance and ask them the cost to purchase the water tank (cost on the date you purchased the house, and assuming no previous payments owed). You can then determine, based on the cost and age of HWT, whether it is worth it for you or not. You may want to call right away and start a new account with the rental company. That account should have $0 balance owed.

New construction I purchased last year had HWT installed by Direct Energy and starting with the rental agreement was a requirement for me to close the house. However, I purchased the HWT in the first month after closing, to ensure I don't pay rent in the long run.

The agreement appears to offer a buy-out... does anyone know how much their "fair market value" is?