Mckinnon Heating Cooling

I had a pretty disappointing experience with McKinnon this week. On Tuesday I called to ask for a repair visit because my 8 yr old HE gas furnace had stopped working (during an especially cold week). I called them because they are one of a few distributors of parts for the type of furnace I have. Based on my conversation with another HVAC company/the internet/my eyeballs I was quite sure the venter motor needed to be replaced, however they said they weren't willing to order the part and still needed to diagnose, which makes sense I guess.
A nice staff member (Phil) came and within literally 5 minutes agreed the venter motor needed replacing. He said he'd come back the following day at 2pm with the new part and lent me a space heater. He said he'd let me know how much the part would be beforehand, but agreed that the cost would be 'closer to $200 than $800' (which was the way I asked it).
Then came time for the bill - I was shocked: $55 for a 'truck fee', which indeed the receptionist had told me about, but then $85 for labour! This reflected their $125/hr labour fee, minus a $40 coupon from their website. It turns out they don't charge by 15 min or 30 min increments - 5 minutes of labour and you're charged for the full hour!
The next day (after a long cold night), the McKinnon receptionist called me after 2pm to let me know the part would be $680. She assured me she'd called to suppliers and this was the best price. Also, it couldn't be installed until tomorrow, as it was now too late in the day to get the part. Finally, she told me that the labour cost, even though this would take under 30 minutes to install would be $125. The full hour I'd paid for the day before would not factor in. I expressed my dissatisfaction and a manager offered to charge $75 for labour instead.
In the meantime, I called another HVAC company - they quoted me $411 for the same part, installed it the following day and ended up not charging me any labour.
I went with this other company, and won't be using McKinnnon ever again.
The icing on the cake was today when McKinnon left a message saying my card had been declined and threatening to send the bill to collections! I'd been trying out the new Visa Debit card I'd just gotten (not very smart, I admit) and it turns out it can't be used as a Visa. I called and gave them my regular card number.

Approximately 5 years ago we had a high efficiency furnace installed by Mckinnon. The furnace ran well for the first two heating seasons and was a considerable improvement over our old furnace.However,in its third and latter years the equipment experienced several failures where it would not provide heat. These failures were generally quickly repaired with parts covered under warranty but were nonetheless an inconvenience and a concern given that we are frequently on business trips.

When the last failure occurred we called Mckinnon to express our dissatisfaction with the equipment and our concern about its reliability going forward. We were reminded by Mckinnon that they were only installers of the equipment and not the original manufacturer. Nonetheless we were asked to submit copies of our original purchase order and some of the latest repair reports.

To our delight three days later we received a call from Mckinnon to inform us that sometimes one just gets a lemon and that they were willing to replace equipment at no cost to us with an additional 10 year warranty.

The next day we had a new furnace, the same model but obviously upgraded, no fuss no muss and no paperwork. It is a pleasure to know there are still companies out there that take pride in their work and have a true understanding of customer satisfaction.

In closing we would just like to add that we have been very pleased with all the personnel that have either come to repair our equipment or install the new equipment, even if we did tell them we would prefer not to see them again.

Das & Judy.

My water heater was old and too small and after a bad experience dealing with Direct Energy, I decided to take matter into my own hands, and did some research on finding another company to provide me with a new date heater. When I called McKinnon heating, Michael the owner took the call and was extremely knowledgeable and was very quick to help me out. I was pleased and grateful that they were able to offer me options that Direct Energy had mislead me about and in fact had told me were not possible. The workers that changed the tank were professional and courteous. I am happy to recommend them to others.

Short and sweet, Brian and Bob are amazing. I've been using Bob to service my furnace and AC every year since moving to Oakville, on the referral of my real estate agent. I wouldn't consider ever using anyone else. They're fast, and effecient and above all, honest. They're work has always been stellar. Love these guys!

Had a situation where the local gas company shut my service down as the previous homeowner had put some stucco on the house and partially buried the gas meter. the same day, the furnace died so I'm left without gas or heat. Called McKinnon and they responded promptly to get the red tags off my gas, and install a new furnace. They also patched up a lot of visible leaks in the HVAC at no cost. Would highly recommend them as their team stayed until the wee hours to get it done and worked with the gas company to get my service back up and running.

They are the best, I called my regular company and they were too busy. I called McKinnon and they came and repaired my Heat next day as promised. They are now my new go to for all HVAC needs; and they are honest.
Thank you :^)

Michael and his team did an amazing job to help us with our furnace. We first needed a service call to assess the issue. As we both work, the tech was able to do his service call after hours which was very helpful. They called ahead to confirm timing. We needed a quote to either repair the issue or replace the furnace. Michael prepared a quote and took the time to discuss it with us, outline the pros/cons and all of the options. He asked specific questions about our home so that they could really tailor a solution. He provided good insight into the options, but not to technical which I appreciated. He was very responsive to questions. The techs arrived exactly on time on the install day, were friendly and mindful of our cats that added some stress to ensure the housse door was kept closed. We highly recommend Mckinnon and use them for all of our heating & cooling needs. EArlier in they year, they installed a gas line for us to run our BBQ and they service our AC, fireplace and humidifier. I also recommended them to my sister who now also uses them. Thank you Michael and your team.

My furnace was broke down and I called them for services. They provide advise and how to save me cost down the room base on my room sizes and location of the furnace. We trust their advise and the job was complete and the rate is good

I needed a repair on a commercial boiler. Explained the size of the building to the technician. After arrival the technician noted that the boiler had more btu's then he was allowed to work on. He admitted that he should of asked how many btu's prior to coming but he still had to charge. Not sure why I had to pay for their mistake.

The boiler was replaced October 18 2002 - how do I remember? Because there was a Stones concert that day to which all of the crew had tickets. The first delay was because the asbestos removal person had not done his work. They called him p and he came with a utility knife and slashed off a section of the insulation at the end of the hot water pipe. When they started working they wedged open a basement window so that they could get their power cord into the basement. In doing so they cracked the window. When it came time for lunch they all pulled cans of beer out of their bags. there were further delays in the afternoon - they did not check valves on the radiators so that when they lit up the boiler and turned on the pump, oily black water came gushing out of hte attic radiator which had no valve on it. Now they were running through the house with their filthy boots wiping up water with a bed cover they grabbed on the way. At one point in their frustration at not getting the jobn done sooner they were yelling at each other on the front lawn. My wife phoned the sales rep afraid that a fight would break out. The next day I called when our hot water heater stopped working. A technician came over lit the pilot then did some extra checking at my request. the wiring on the pump relay was completely wrong and a joint in the gas line was not sealed properly and was leaking gas. Responses from the company were rude dimissive and evasive. This is not a company that is willing to take responsibility for any of their work. We never fully settled the bill on that job, replaced the window, cleaned up the mess and never wanted to see McKinnon again. However, this year an annual furnace inspection resulted in a 45 day tag because the certified technician determined that the chimney liner was inadequately small - 5" instead of 6" in fact the flue out of the furnace had a reducer on it - and that the chimney liner was sealed by concrete when the building code stipulates that there should be a 10 mm gap between concrete and liner. The response from McKinnon: "Have you had your water heater changed since the furnace was installed? If so, they are last company to work on the gas system so are responsible for hte chimney liner." Do not expect any sense of professional responsibility from this company.