Mckinnon Heating Cooling

I own a number of rental units and the last thing you want, is a call from your tenants at 2 am telling you the furnace has broken down right in the middle of the winter (and on the coldest of nights). This is exactly what happened to me.

I've come to distrut many of the HVAC companies I've dealt with in the past. The previous HVAC company had given me the run-around and been in to service this particular furnace twice the previous year, even red-tagged the furnace and later removed the tag acknowledging an error on their part - I didn't feel comfortable calling them back again.

I had recently heard of Mckinnon through a business client of mine and called Michael, the president to explain the situation the next morning.

Within the same day, he had the problem diagnosed, gave me a couple of options and allowed me to make my own decision about whether to purchase a new furnace or not - which I did. They installed the new furnace the same day, my tenants had heat back within 24 hrs, and I didn't have anything to worry about. On top of that, they took care of all the paperwork to get me a chunk of money back with the government rebate program going on.

I've since read all the different reviews on Mckinnon Heating on homestars and felt compelled to share my own experience. I woudn't trust anyone else with my Heating and Cooling and glad I've got Mckinnon looking after me and my tenants.

Although, we found the service people to be reliable and efficient and pleasant to deal with; I would absolutely not recommend this company for the following reasons:
McKinnon was going to charge us for an expensive compressor while the compressor was covered under warranty. McKinnon mishandled our billing and double billing for a job they did not complete. McKinnon had absolutely no ability to listen to our complaint of double billing and were unable resolve their obvious mistake in a professional manner. Finally, and most importantly, aside from these above customer relation problems, they charged us over $1,000.00 and did not fix our air conditioner. Our air conditioner is not working.
Before proceeding, please review the company’s several negative Better Business Bureau complaints which have been unanswered by McKinnon.
Below is a detailed account of Mckinnon negligence.

Our LG ductless air conditioner was not working. We called Mckinnon Heating Cooling, to fix it. They had installed our unit. We first believed that our air conditioner was not working because squirrels had chewed through the existing outside lines. Mr. Michael Nepom came out to our house to look at our set up. He gave us options for the complicated repair. We decided on moving the lines inside our third floor office. McKinnon provided us a service quote for this. On the scheduled service day, the service technician Derek, realized the problem was with the compressor. The compressor was leaking and needed to be replaced. Derek told me the compressor was covered under warranty.
When McKinnon called to schedule the compressor replacement they told me that the compressor was not covered under the air conditioner warranty. I found this unbelievable as our air conditioner was only a few years old. I called LG and found out in fact that the compressor was covered under the warranty. I informed Mckinnon, however after several emails and phone calls McKinnon finally agreed that the compressor was covered. The compressor was replaced and our air conditioner was repaired or so we thought.
After the compressor job was completed, we received several invoices from the company. The invoices were not detailed and if they were the costs and the parts for the job didn’t seem right. We were late in paying our bill and began to receive calls inquiring about our payment. In the 11th hour, after threatening to send our delinquent account to collection agency, I realized that McKinnon had double billed us. One bill was for the service quote for moving the lines inside the house which was not done and the second for the replacement of the compressor. The second invoice was correct.
I tried to explain this to Sally in billing dept. Then, I began an email dialogue with the President, Mr. Michael Nepom. I consulted a lawyer as the threat of Small Claims Court was tossed around. Michael did not believe me. He said it was convenient that I discovered this problem at this time and would not look into the billing. I invited him over to my house to look and see that the lines were not moved. He declined and wrote me very several disparaging emails. Our account was sent to his ‘Para-legal/debt collector’.
Believe it or not, this collector was great. He listened and investigated the double billing issue. It was determined that, McKinnon had double billed us. We paid the outstanding invoice for the labour costs of replacing the compressor.

A/C was not working. I filled a online request for a service call, and received a call, and a appointment was made. At the time of the call the charges were told to me. Technician arrived in the window as promised. Techinician checked all possible problems, was very thorough, explained in detail what could be wrong, what my options were. He was actually a very friendly guy, unlike some service tech's I have dealt with. He fixed the problem and I believe if a company fails in their service promise to tell them, on the otherhand if a company delivers on their service plan, you should let them know...this company delivered.

Mckinnon was called in to repair an on-demand heating system that would not maintain the flame for more than a few seconds and would spontaneously turn on when there was no call for heat. Four visits (two different technicians- one completely incompetent), 6 weeks, $650 dollars, several parts ordered, at least 10 phone calls to Mckinnon and still all the same problems remained and then they send a guy to sell us a $10,000 new unit because the next part needed is no longer manufactured. They say that they have billed us for the work done, but how are we to know if any of this was necessary. Nothing they did ever fixed anything. They say that we have to trust them that everything they did was necessary. How are we supposed to trust them when nothing they did made the boiler work? We were living in the cold and without hot water for weeks. When I talked to the company president Michael he admitted "we dropped the ball on this" but they stand by their work. What does that mean? He offered no refund whatsoever and he suggested we take him to small claims court so we can waste even more time dealing them. I wish I saw these reviews ahead of time since others appear to have the same problems repeatedly. I checked the Better Business Bureau rating for this company and it is an F. They have 3 complaints against them and have not responded to them. I suggest people report their problems on this forum and contact the city contractor licensing board at licenf@toronto.ca STAY AWAY FROM MCKINNON.

Our complaint is not that the boiler needed replacing. The problem with Mckinnon was that they kept charging us for yet another thing they claimed would "fix" the problem, but nothing they did fixed anything. We had four visits from them and had to call them repeatedly to get a response, and they continued to charge us more and more. They only offered to refund the charges for the useless work that they did if we gave them another $10,000 for a whole new system. We went elsewhere and got the job done for a third of that price. If they were so unfamiliar with the heating system, they shouldn't have taken the job and charged us for their unsuccessful "trial and error".

Should be Mckinnon Heating and Terrorists.

I have been a Mckinnon customer for 15 years. Two days ago I called them because the heat exchanger in my boiler was blocked. I needed it repaired ASAP so I could turn the heat back on. The temperature outside was -15C and my house has 100 year old "insulation".

Upon arrival, they immediately red tagged it and disconnected it from the gas supply. I asked if they could please repair it for the short term and they said it was not worth repairing. I asked that they please keep the gas water heater running and they said they could only do that if I agreed to buy a new boiler from them. I said I was not looking to shop around and they left it running.

They then sent their salesman over to sell me a new $9000 system. They also said before they would work on a replacement I would need to remove some asbestos, install a newer chimney liner, build a small furnace room in the basement etc. Then they lent me some small electric heaters from Canadian Tire.

I contacted another company for a second opinion. They said that although the unit was quite old, what it really needed was a good cleaning. I asked Mckinnon to do this and they again refused saying it was not worth it.

I had the heat exchanger cleaned and restarted the heating system. This was just in time as the water pipes to our top floor had already frozen. If the pipes had burst it would have done substantial damage to our property.

The next morning I woke to find Mckinnon trucks in front of my house disconnecting my gas at the meter. They not only turned off my heat, but also shut down my 3 gas fireplaces and water heater. It seems that if I am not going to buy a new system from them that I am not allowed to have any heat in the house at all.

I then contacted another company - Laird and Son - who was able to send someone over immediately. Their technician inspected the whole installation and found no problems. Then then turned the gas meter back on and ran several computerized tests before certifying it as safe.

The moral of this story is buyer beware. Seek a second opinion. While Mckinnon focused on finding problems and holding me hostage, Laird and Son found immediate solutions and worked through the problem. In future, I will be giving my business to Laird and Son.

I gave Mckinnon a "1" only because the salesman left the small electric heaters as he bolted out the door. I would give "Laird and Son" an "11" if the web site would let me go that high.

After moving into our home and running our furnace for a year we decided to get it checked out as there was a hint of gas smell in the air (and you should do it anyway).

We called and got a few quotes (both time and cost) and McKinnon visited us and did a full inspection determining that the gas valve was leaking. McKinnon tried to find a replacement part - even aftermarket, but as the brand is no longer even sold (it was a Shomar, Sears furnace brand until the early 90's) could not find one.

For the replacement we got several quotes including one from McKinnon and ended negotiating with them to get a two stage variable speed Colman (same as a York model I was quoted on, just different badge) installed plus relining our chimney. The installation was made trickier by the fact that I had asked them to run the intake and exhust pipes to a hard to access place.

The serviceman who did the installation, Suari, was a true gentleman and answered all of my questions throughout the day. Suari ran some of the neatest PVC line that I have seen, out of the way, and exactly to where I wanted it. Beyond that, and this is what impressed me the most he stayed from 9:30 in the morning until midnight (there was a lot of conversion required from the old furnace to the new duct work as well as extensive PVC work) to make sure that we had heat for the night and hot water in the morning.

AS can be expected with that kind of day there were a few small things that needed to be addressed - the condensation tube needed to be re-run as he did not have enough length to reach our sink and he jury rigged something for the evening, he ran out of silicon and so had some minor caulking touchups to complete and the cementing around the new chimney duct needed to be redone as it had sagged). I left an e-mail with Barry our sales rep when Suari left so he was aware of the great service that we had provided and to ask when they would be back to complete the job.

Suari showed up at 9:30 the next morning (I had received a call at 8 letting me know he was coming) and quickly did a bang up job of finishing.

These guys arrived on time for everything, did great work, and were very communicative throughout the process. I highly recommend them.

.Hired Mckinnon Heating and Cooling to install a furnace and ac unit. Both pieces were done on time and they cleaned up after. A perfect job.

They completed the paper work for rebate programs for us and we are completely satisfied with everything they did. I would recommend them highly

I recently had my 60 year old, oil burning furnace and electric water tank replaced by McKinnon. Before installation they made a consultation visit and explained the installation of a new gasline into the house, pipes and venting that were required installs - where, how and why. The whole process of removing the old furnace, oil tank and water heater and installing the new equipment was painless and efficient. Special thanks to Barry Martin and Michael Nepom for their extra attention to detail and follow up post installation. And big thanks to servicemen Tony, Paul and Sal who were curteous, competant and expained the entire process while they were doing it. They were clean and respectful of my home during the installation - laying dropsheets, cleaning up and ensuring that I understood how everything worked. I have already recommended McKinnon to a neighbour who has to replace their furnace. Other companies could learn a few things about customer service from McKinnon: I am in the service industry and rarely see the excellent service that I received. Cudos to McKinnon.

If only this site was around 3 years ago, I would not be out $900 dollars.

I called McKinnon heating and cooling to fix an air handler in my condo unit in 2005. Air handlers are a heating system that uses water from the hot water tank.

McKinnon was a spectacular failure in every possible way. The technician who initially responded improperly diagnosed the problem, determining that a new pump was required for the unit ($500 part).

Four more appointments had to be scheduled to install the new pump. The technicians failed to show up three times.

When the new pump was finally installed 5 weeks later, it only temporarily resolved the problem - the fix lasted about 12 hrs.

I called McKinnon to come back and fix the problem. Again they did not show up to the appointment. At that point I realized any attempt at resolution was futile.

I wrote a letter to Michael Nepon, the President of the company, explaining every detail of the situation and asked for a full refund.

Mr Nepom refused to give me a full refund. He challenged my story, and told me that my facts contradicted facts that he obtained from his staff. When I emphasized that my facts and statements were honest, he lost his temper and accused me of calling his staff 'l*ars'. He offered a 50% refund which I told him was not reasonable given all the lost work time waiting for his techs to show up, and the fact that a 50% refund would leave me with an air handler that was still broken and $450 out of pocket.

I called the manufacturer of the air handler to inquire about the issue and to see if they could refer me to a maintenance company in the GTA. The company rep I spoke to on the phone was extremely helpful (Enerzone out of London, ON) and after hearing my description was confident that I could fix the problem myself. He talked me through it over the phone, and after about 15 minutes the problem was fixed. Turned out to be a very common problem and one that any competent technician should be able to identify. The Enerzone employee sounded shocked that any tech would think that replacing the pump would fix the problem.

I thought about taking McKinnon to small claims court over the $900, but decided it was not worth it in the end as it would take too much of my time and would probably not result in a full refund.

Home owners beware. McKinnon is a bad company to do business with. They mishandled a thermostat swap which resulted in my home being 14C for weeks during November, December and January. Their techs were late or didn’t show up at all. They were not knowledgeable and they made false representations about my heating system. Now I am seeking judicial remedy against hundreds of dollars of unauthorized charges.