Brown's Home Heating And A/C

Browns is the best AC/Furnace company! Their staff are so caring and the service is excellent. They are quick to respond and do a thorough job every time.
Really appreciate having this great company nearby. Thanks to Steve, Lana and Andrew!!!

I must say as a home owner I was more than satisfied with the installation of my new Air Conditioner , professional Installation, clean and customer caring I highly recommend Brows Heating in Pickering On the owners are great and caring family business Steve and Christine are honest owners oh by the way awsome service folks

I hate to put 0 stars because it seems like I am overly angry/bitter in writing my review. I'm not. I just was not satisfied at all with the company and I would absolutely not recommend this company. Please read review as to why, might be items that do not matter to you.

I called Brown's for two service jobs:
1. Furnace check-up and tune up
2. A/C emergency repair

1. Furnace check-up and tune-up
I called Brown's to do an annual check-up/tune-up on my furnace at the beginning of winter. This is the first 'annual' tune-up I did, so really didn't know what to expect.
- Felt like a sales called disguised as a tune up that I paid for
- Would not recommend service as no service was actually performed. THERE WERE TWO CRACKS IN THE FURNACE THAT WERE LEAKING CARBON MONOXIDE AND NOT CAUGHT BY THE CHECK-UP
- I would caution based on my experience and reading some other reviews that technicians create a disingenuous sense that they are looking out for your best interests as a sales tactic (I.e. to increase the likelihood of sales as well as to limit the likelihood that you will look to obtain a second opinion and/or quote).
--> To combat this:
1) Consider whether the technician is genuinely advocating for your best interests or just saying things to make you feel a false sense of trust. This is easy to test because it is always in your best interest to get a second opinion/quote. Even if the technician is saying to get a second opinion, consider whether you are being made to feel guilty about getting that second opinion/quote (example: "you could get a second opinion, they will tell you the same thing and charge you a heck of a lot more").
2) Regardless of any feeling of guilt: get a second opinion/quote. There should be no hard feelings about you doing this.

2. AC Emergency Repair:
My AC stopped working over the weekend and, with no other technicians I knew to call, I called Brown's (regretfully).
- Diagnoses was based on interview questions of me rather than inspection. Completely misdiagnosed the problem.
- Abruptly started ripping things apart. See above, misdiagnoses = ripping out things that didn't need to be ripped out.
- Did no work and charged nearly $200
- Was supposed to call back the next day to set confirm what was wrong and what next steps were. We are 3 days after the EMERGENCY call and still no call back.
- Ended up going to another technician. $200 down the drain.

This company did work from Feb. 2 in our home and our issue still wasn't fixed as of April 5. I paid them $1498.00 originally and they wanted another $409.31 from me. I had to call another heating company to come and fix the issue and paid them $1405.72 since the technician at Brown's couldn't actually fix out issue after several trips to our home and actually left gauges attached to our heat pump that drained our entire refrigerant. You will see the gauges in the picture attached. When I called and asked for him to come and remove the gauges it took over a month before we heard back from them. I was told by someone in the office that perhaps he left the gauges on so he could get readings over a period of time. The gauges were not installed correctly which resulted in the leaking of the entire coolant from the unit. We were told that the main board on the heat pump needed to be replaced. When I asked why, I was told because the battery in our thermostat was corroded and blew up the main circuit board. I also told him it should be under warranty but he said no since it was the battery in our themostat. He also quoted me to install a new Ecobee thermostat at $300.00 but I was charged $450.00 plus labour. We have since found out that there is nothing wrong with our old thermostat and it still works. We were misinformed by the technician and this company and they refuse to reimburse us for items under warranty or the additional costs that we paid due to them damaging our heat pump. We had to send many phone messages, texts and emails to get a response from them and they are totally unprofessional. They are now not even responding to our emails so trying to dodge their responsibility of reimbursing us for bogus charges and extra charges that we should not have had to pay another company.

I hired Brown's to install a new tankless water heater bought from Home Depot, an authorized retailer. I chose Brown's as they are authorized licensed contractors of Rheem tankless water heaters.

Not only do the issues described below speak to the lack of skilled workmanship, they speak to the lack of professionalism in addressing them.

- After the installation, I read the user’s manual and discovered the service valves were incorrectly installed in the reverse configuration. The end with the union nut should be attached to the water heater. Instead, the unions are attaching the service valves to the flex water lines. Moreover, the purge valves should adjoin the water heater, while the main line valves should adjoin the water lines. The reverse configuration is true in my case. See attached picture.

- Black iron pipe was used to connect the Pressure Relief valve to the hot water service valve. Iron will corrode when subjected to water, which likely explains the next issue.

- Dirty brown water is running from the hot water (pictures attached). As it was evident the discolouration was not going away, I informed Brown’s on Dec 14 2017. I received no word from Brown’s, so I notified Brown’s a 2nd time by phone call (Dec 19) and was given the runaround with the fault pointed at the water heater. I was directed to talk to Home Depot. Issues with the water heater should be handled by the contractor directly with Rheem, not with Home Depot. This is outlined in the owner's manual, and was previously confirmed by Brown’s. The correctness of the installation should first be investigated before pointing fingers at the water heater.

- The Pressure Relief discharge line should end at the floor drain so as to avoid hot water sprays that could damage property or scald people. Brown’s installed a single 3ft tube that ends 6in short of the floor. The floor drain is another 5ft away laterally. The concern is with scalding sprays if anyone is in close proximity should the pressure valve activate. The same concern applies when I stand beside the water heater to manually trip the valve lever in order to test its proper function (repeated annually).

- Brown's is still in possession of my old water tank. They have yet to return it to an Enercare drop-off location. Until it is dropped off, Enercare continues to bill me the rental fee.

- As another HomeStars reviewer noted, Karen (titled "Needed and New A/C unit and new Furnace Air Cleaner"), Brown’s left a mess in the work area in the basement. Furthermore, a single drop cloth was used for covering only the carpeted stairs, yet leaving hardwood and ceramic flooring unprotected. I requested for more drop sheets, but the technician only had one. Outdoor dirt and leaves were left on the hardwood and ceramic, as well as the mess in the basement. When asked for it to be cleaned, the reply I was given was that he is a technician and it is not his job.

This experience with Brown's has been unpleasant. Until the issues are fixed, we do not trust the quality of the water in the house (e.g., to drink, to cook with). The standard of installation does not measure up to highly-skilled licensed tradesmen, and the services rendered have been unprofessional.

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Reply to Company's Response:
Christine,

While I had plans scheduled during the Holidays, I still tried to work around my plans just so I could get the issues fixed ASAP. There was contaminated water running through my home, which caused stress and mental anguish from possible exposure to any adverse health effects.

That said, even the appointments you proposed were inconvenient for yourself. For example, in reference to the Saturday appointment you noted, I had asked your representative what time the technician would be able to drop by. He said he would confirm after talking with the technician. In fact, I never heard back from anyone at Brown's.

So you can see I tried coordinating with Brown's, all the while inconveniencing me and my plans in order to work around your schedule, which as it turned out, you could not even keep. I have a transcript of this exchange between your representative and I, which I readily can share if you would like to read for yourself.

Along similar lines, you chose to believe your technician that I asked him to sweep the entire basement. The truth of the matter is that I asked him to clean only the mess that he created in the basement (outdoor dirt, leaves, wood chips, PVC pipe shavings, wire clippings, screws on the floor, etc). Your installers should be expected to clean up the mess he/she created, and come prepared with whatever equipment is necessary to perform the cleanup (cloths, broom, shop vac, etc). Your technician was set and ready to leave if I had not stopped him and asked if he was going to clean up. And when I did, the response he gave was that it was not his job to clean up and he did not have a broom. It wasn't until I further pursued this matter with your salesperson that he himself agreed to come by to clean up. This seems to be a recurring issue with Brown's, as I see another customer experienced the same issue and wrote a HomeStars review about it. See the review from Karen (titled "Needed and New A/C unit and new Furnace Air Cleaner").

You claim to stand behind your customers. Rather than you determining the cause of the contaminated water with your licensed trade skills, it was left to me to determine the exact faults in your installation. I relayed my findings to you in more than one occasion. Instead of apologetically correcting the issue right away, you passed-off responsibility and accountability onto the manufacturer, Rheem.

As authorized licensed contractors of Rheem tankless water heaters, you already have a relationship with Rheem and should be familiar with their products and policies. Your excuse of not having the owner's manual, or not being the supplier of the tank exhibits a message that is opposite to your statement of "standing behind your customers". Rather, it is evident of your lack of accountability. Furthermore, the manner of your response shows the lack of professionalism in owning up to your mistakes and the lack of accepting responsibility.

Used Brown's Home Heating for my Yearly Furnace Tune up for the first time ever. We are totally satisfied with this company and the employee who serviced our 17 year Furnace. Being a home owner of 16 years and owning 2 homes, this is the first time a company has actually explained step by step what they were doing. Down the road this is a company I value for my new furnace, due to the company/employee "honesty" that my furnace was showing signs it was still ok for now.

Very disappointed with my experience with Brown's and would not recommend them. I had purchased a hot water tank from them and had them install it. The owner Stephen sent 2 inexperienced guys who put the heater on a cart and rolled the cart with dirty wheels down my carpeted basement steps without using a tarp of any kind. They assembled the exhaust with the incorrect glue, (even I could tell by the colour that it was the wrong cement). I questioned it and the owner Stephen agreed and sent a senior installer to my home to reinstall the exhaust. I gave Stephen a second chance and hired him to install a gas line for my BBQ. The owner sent a young installer who didn't tighten the gas valve on the meter. My neighbour complained about a strong smell of gas, I called Stephen who arrived and tightened the valve. He drove off without any apology or acknowledgement of the carelessness of his installer.
I recently had a new furnace installed by another company who advised me that the installers of the hot water tank (Brown's) recognized a red flag with the installation. A flexible hose from the main gas pipe to the water heater was used instead of metal pipe. I paid for these installers to fix again another mistake made by Brown's installers. The reason I am writing this is that I don't want other consumers to experience the problems I did. This is a natural gas installation, there is really no room for error by an installer. If this company is willing to pay me the $150.00 I had to pay the other installer to fix their installation mistake, I will be happy to remove this poor rated review.

We had Brown's Home Heating come and first put in a heater in our separate garage/work shop, but then were told we could change it to a Furnace - which we did. It works amazing. There were a few little bumps along the way, but it has all been corrected.

Thanks for the professional service.

I had a technician come over to check on our Furnace. As I had a bad experience with another Home Heating company I was more than pleasantly surprised when the technician arrived. He was more than honest and told me what he was doing every step of the way.

I'll be using Brown's Home Heating for my furnace and air conditioning needs in the future. Thanks for a fast, honest response to my furnace problems. PS I don't usually write reviews like this.

I hired Brown's Home Heating and A/C to replace my mothers old Air Conditioner and also replace her Furnace Air Cleaner. My mother was happy to have a new air conditioner, as the old unit was about 15 years old, so it was time. Next summer she won't have to worry about her A/C stopping in the heat.