This winter, I had an extremely frustrating experience with my furnace service. I'm subscribed to a plan that supposedly covers both maintenance and repairs. In 2024, I had two annual maintenance visits by Enercare technicians, with the last one occurring on December 27. After each visit, the technician assured me that the furnace was in excellent condition. However, on March 6, 2025, the furnace stopped working, leading me to call for support. A technician arrived the next day, conducted thorough tests for over an hour, got the furnace running again, and identified the issue as a faulty Exhaust Vent Venter that needed replacement, that technician was very professional, kind, polite and patient. He ordered the part and instructed me to contact support services once it arrived to schedule an installation appointment.
The part arrived on Tuesday, March 11, and another technician came the following day to install it. Instead of installing the Exhaust Vent Venter, he inspected the fan, placed a red tag on the furnace, and claimed there was an issue with the secondary heat exchanger, necessitating a full furnace replacement. He quickly arranged for another technician to provide a quote. Frustrated, I contacted customer service again and spoke with a manager, who agreed to perform another inspection by first replacing the Exhaust Vent Venter and then conducting a combustion test analysis to determine whether the furnace was irreparable. Unfortunately, when the technician arrived the next day, he seemed influenced by his colleague who had placed the red tag, and he simply checked the tag and left without touching the furnace.
My concern is why the secondary heat exchanger issue was not identified by the previous three technicians who thoroughly inspected the furnace on three occasions: in August 2024, on December 27, 2024, and on March 07, 2025. Given the conflicting diagnoses from different technicians from the same company, I believe I have the right to request another diagnostic and opinion from a different technician to make an informed decision.
I have been an Enercare maintenance plan subscriber for many years, paying thousands of dollars, and in my case, Enercare's support services have proven to be a waste of money. Their initial response to issues appears to be recommending a replacement rather than addressing specific problems. This approach seems to be aimed at avoiding costs for parts and labor while promoting the sale of new equipment. read more