We bought our house in February 2001. The lawyer we hired transferred the hot water heater rental into our name along with all the other services. My first bill came in at $26.75 for one month's rental. It seemed steep, but I paid it. On April 10, 2001, another bill came in at $110.78 for a full year's rental.
Again, this seemed expensive compared to just buying a new one for $350.00 at Home Depot, but we were too tired to argue with them, so we paid it. In January 2002 we noticed that the hot water heater was leaking rusty water from the bottom. I pulled away the insulation and was shocked to find an installation sticker with the date 1978. $110.78 a year for a 23-year-old heater!
We contacted Union Energy to tell them this was unacceptable and that we were going to buy our own new one. They said OK, but it would cost us $65.00 to pick up the old one and $40.00 to "close your contract." What? It sounded like a racket to us, so we laughed at them and told them that the back of this contract (which I never signed) says these charges only apply if the customer wants it removed "before the end of its useful life." I would say that leaking rusty water all over my basement proves it is done for.
We bought the new unit at Home Depot and it was installed on February 20. We phoned Union Energy and told them to take this piece of junk out of here. No one showed up, so we phoned them again two weeks later. They said again that someone would be out to "inspect" and remove the unit. A month later, not only had no one shown up, they sent me a bill for another $110.00 for one more year of "trouble free" renting.
I somehow knew they would do this. I phoned them and told them that the unit had been replaced, was awaiting pick-up, and that we had already phoned them three times about it. Guess what they said: "Oh... we have no record of these calls." I told them not to pull this on me and to get this junk out of here. Finally, a week later, two "inspectors" showed up and took it away. A week after that, on April 25, I received a bill in the mail for $115.18: $65.00 for pick-up and $40.00 for "inspection and account closure fee."
I can't believe how crooked these people are. I ignored the letter, only to be hounded by them with letters and phone calls. I called their billing office and explained the whole thing again. I even tried to reason with them: Do you think that $225.00 is a fair price to pay for a 10-month rental of a leaky, 23-year-old unit? Would you pay that? Don't you technically owe me a refund for two months' rental? After all this, they said I would still have to pay.
To this day I am still being hounded with letters and phone calls. People, please watch out for this greedy, evil organization.
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