Spark Heating & Air Conditioning Ltd

Here is the email I sent to Spark regarding the termination of their services: Hello, This email is to cancel the club membership for my furnace. I am cancelling because the pricing to repair my air conditioner vastly exceeded(even with membership pricing) competitor pricing for the same services, which gives me skepticism regarding paying for anything at all from Spark Heating. I figured paying extra for a subscription so I could have priority service and “discounted” prices would be worth it, but I have never been more wrong. My AC was no longer working and I said “Hey, since my furnace is covered by Spark I will just ask them to repair my AC”. A tech came out, said it would be ~$700(These prices are off memory now, it was level 4) to perform a leak test that would take multiple days, and in the best case scenario he would have to replace the valves and recharge the system totaling over $2000.00. At this point I had no ideas of typical pricing, so we started off with this leak test. Afterwards, speaking to my coworkers they described to me what they had paid in the past, which was WAY cheaper. So I called the tech back and told him to finish the leak test(since he already started), and that another company would be completing the work. The entire time this tech was pushing us to purchase an entire new AC system, to which he said they start at around $5000, but that based on the best case scenario of an already guaranteed $2000.00 repair that could only go up in price, it may be the better option. At the end of the day, I was charged over $800.00 for the service tech and a 4 day leak test. Do you want to know what your competitors rate was? $611.00 for a leak test, recharge and leak fix, all in one day. I asked your competitor how much it would cost for a brand new system and he said he would be able to get it in place for ~$3000.00 Please tell me how your prices are even remotely reasonable. Even your “club” rates do not even come close to this. Just one of the “Level 4 Repairs”, be it the leak test or the recharge, just one of those totals more than the entire bill of your competitor. Needless to say I am not happy with Spark Heating and as a result I am no longer interested in having any of my equipment serviced by you guys. I have not yet, but will be leaving online reviews regarding my experience that will essentially be a carbon copy of this email.

Cleo came out to our home and did an estimate to replace our 40 year old furnace. He was very knowledgeable and straight forward about what needed to done. The install was done by Greg, Darwin and Cleo and they were all friendly and professional. We are very satisfied with the result and quality of the work done.

We've been dealing with Spark for a bunch of years now. Their staff and management are always committed to the best service and great customer relations. We take advantage of their service contract plans for our heating and air conditioning appliances (and they just added a plumbing division, so we added our water heater to the program) and are very pleased with the regular service that we receive. In addition, the service contract generates a credit balance that can be used to discount (or pay for) repairs, new products (think filters), etc.

If you own a Maytag furnace installed by these people, beware that they may not have the parts to service it, and you should immediately end your warranty subscription with this company. (I asked them several times to replace a failing zone pump, they ignored me). Ive even called Maytag in Ontario and the part I need doesn't seem to exist.The zone controller in our home failed, and the owner isn't returning any emails even to sell me the parts... they also removed my UV system and will not return it. so, the $15,000 I'm spending to make sure I have a serviceable unit is not being spent with Spark. I've found them to be more profit-centered than customer focused, and for that reason, I'm out. I can recommend either Action Furnace or Ram Mechanical out of St. Albert. I have all of this documented, this is not misunderstanding, and I severely doubt whatever nifty response, if any, comes from them to this review.

Recommend that you AVOID this contractor. The management and owner of Spark Heating lacks integrity and professionalism and their ethics are questionable (reading some of the other negative reviews I have a similar theme to share). We have been a long term customer (>5 years over 2 homes) on a monthly-paid service plan (2x/year service) that was sold as offering preventative maintenance yet in retrospect they always seemed to find something to upcharge for during their semi-annual visits. However the final straw for us was when we really needed service support and we were shocked at the immature response we received. Our AC unit in our new-to-us home stopped working (unit was 6 year old) the owner of Spark, Cleo, came out to diagnose the problem. He advised us that the unit was improperly installed and actually laughed at us in a “sucks to be you” manner when he advised that the unit wasn’t registered and therefore not under warranty. He made NO attempt to reach Carrier, the manufacturer, on our behalf as I would have expected from a company that believes in customer service. He verbally indicated that the repair might be ~$3,000 but wouldn’t give an actual quote (see other comments below that they don’t like to give quotes rather just surprise you with a final bill). We then contacted another contractor who came out, contacted Carrier on our behalf and negotiated a 50% discount on an evaporator and a 10-year warranty. The final cost was a fraction of what Spark alluded the repair bill might be. When I called Spark to cancel our service plan and shared my feedback of our experience they proceeded to charge us for an additional 2 months of service premiums (Nope! No apology, just a firm commitment to their cancellation clause). SHOCKING LACK OF INTEGRITY. In closing, I highly recommend you find another contractor before considering Spark Heating for any type of service (if they don’t disappoint you now they will eventually).

In moving into our new home, we asked the previous owners who they had install and service their heating and a/c system. They used Spark and highly recommended us to call them. We did and we are pleased with the knowledge of the technician (Scott D), his professionalism and demeanor, and we'd recommend Spark for any family or friends. It's also great calling their office and having Lauren state 'How can we make you smile?' She sets a great tone, and is pleasant to talk to. Together as a team, Spark seems to deliver on their vision. We are pleased customers!

I have been a client of Spark Heating for many years for the service and maintenance of my furnace and air conditioner. I highly recommend this company for all of your home needs. The staff and technicians are very professional, respectful and friendly. I feel secure in knowing that Spark is taking care of my equipment. My service technician, Scott Deshane, is such a kind and knowledgeable young man, and he takes extra care in explaining things to me. Do not hesitate to contact Spark Heating ... you will not be disappointed.

Spark does not deliver on its club membership, is way over-priced, and has poor communication. As part of the club, you get an annual maintenance inspection. In month 11, we tried to make a booking for the inspection in month 12, but were told to wait until month 13. When we did finally book it, Spark cancelled it (even though club membership is supposed to give you priority) and we were rebooked for "the next time we are in your area", which was month 14. The technician did do a thorough inspection and was professional. However, we decided to cancel the club membership and Spark told us it would take up to 30 days to cancel. Meanwhile, we were dinged for another month and it took 40 days. Like other reviewers, we also asked for a quote on installing new A/C and Spark (owner Cleo) quoted the highest of five quotes ($2000+ more than the next competitor). We asked for model specs, etc. but never got a reply. We would very much like to support a local business, but were quite disappointed with Spark.