Solidcare Home Improvements Inc

I am filing a formal complaint about Solidcare Home Improvements Inc. ("Solidcare").

The following describes how a sales representative from Solidcare, with an energy auditor, through a series of deceptive actions, took advantage of government energy rebate programs for their own profits.

On October 1, at the expo in Markham, I was stopped by salespersons from Solidcare stating they could do attic insulation with an energy rebate. The sales representative quickly came to my house the next business day, on October 3, to make me sign the payment form for a total amount of $1808, and I paid a $100 deposit right away on the spot. During the home visit, the representative did not enter the attic for assessment, but just stood on the ladder at the attic hatch and symbolically peeked into our attic for a few minutes. I requested him to take pictures of our attic for me. He did nothing on the standard attic assessment, for example, assessing the sealing of the attic floor, attic ducts, electrical boxes, and air sealing. He did not do any measurement of adequate insulation for R value. He did not check if there was any mold in our attic.

He did not discuss any information with me about why my attic needed "top up to R60" written on the form. He informed me: 1) that the auditor was coming to my house soon in 2 days with a charge of $678 for the audit; 2) a "deposit $100 is refundable if audit failed" (written on the form); 3) cellulose material is the only material used across Canada for attic insulation. He did not disclose other options of insulation materials that can be chosen, for example, fiberglass batt, blow-in fiberglass, spray foam, etc. He did not review with me whether my attic has any issue or not with the sealings of the attic floor, attic ducts, electrical box, air sealing, mold, etc. Instead, he rushed me to sign the paperwork and pay the $100 deposit. He did not allow me to make any informed choices. Instead, he pressured me to urgently sign the paperwork with no time to change my mind. His urgency made him put my wrong name on the form. I even told him that the name on the form was not correct, however, he responded "it doesn't matter, as long as you paid." The time he spent in his visit was all about getting me to sign the form and to secure a deposit of $100 for a full payment of $1808. There was no standard practice with respect to the attic assessment and information delivery and discussion associated with the attic insulation work process, etc. Thus, I was completely left bewildered.

Subsequently, I was called by an energy auditor sent by the representative, who came to our house in 2 days for the "energy audit" on October 5. Again, there was no standard of practice revealed. The auditor did not enter the attic but just stood on the ladder at the attic hatch to symbolically take a peek at our attic for a few minutes. I requested him to take pictures of our attic for me. He did nothing on the attic assessment about sealing of the attic floor, attic ducts, electrical boxes, and air sealing. He did not do any measurement of adequate insulation for R value, and he did not check if there was any mold, etc. He did not discuss with me anything about our attic insulation status, whether our attic insulation is adequate or not. Moreover, he did not talk about our attic status of attic floor sealing, air sealing, mold, etc. He did not do any measurement of insulation R value. He did not review and discuss with me our attic insulation adequacy, or any results of his symbolic "audit." However, he made me pay him $678 on the spot right away. He did not even go through with me what would be happening onwards. No report and no next steps were informed until I repeatedly demanded an "auditor report" and I called Enbridge for information on next steps, etc. I asked him what if we have enough attic insulation and he reassured me: "you will get a full refund."

While I was still confused and bewildered, the representative quickly sent two young guys on October 8 (three days after the audit without any verbal and written report), and one month before my demanding for the audit report (actually, the auditor would not issue me his audit report until I repeatedly demanded by multiple phone calls and emails), to start to blow in attic insulation. Upon seeing the exact cellulose material and online information on the risks of the cellulose material, we called for them to stop right away.

As a matter of fact, the sales representative did not disclose to me the different choices of insulation materials in terms of fundamental material safety, reliability, and quality. We were appalled to find out later serious risks of the cellulose materials on professional websites: "Recyclable cellulose insulation - This type of insulation is when the recycled paper products are shredded and mixed with fire inhibitor sprayed into the attic to achieve the insulation effect. Because the attic is hotter in the summer and has a circuit-winding complex, this kind of insulation cotton material is straightforward to burn and may produce irreversible fires, despite a fire inhibitor added. As professionals, we believe that all people will not risk the 1% possibility of their lives and property being burned down. Many small factories mainly produce this kind of insulation material, and the quality level is uneven; the price cost is also significantly lower than the pink glass fibre cotton. Another fact is that the flame inhibitor may cause severe injury and damage to the respiratory tract. It is not a recommended insulation material."

Based on their unreliable and non-professional actions exhibited by both the sales representative and the auditor, I questioned their credibility and reliability given their non-standard practices and failure to perform any proper inspections. We found online and asked most local attic insulation companies and had attic experts do our attic assessment that both the representative and the auditor did not do. All local experts entered our attic and took time to diligently assess all aspects of our attic, including all the sealings of the attic floor, attic ducts, electrical box, air sealing. They also did measurement of R value, and checked mold, etc. After their attic evaluation, they reviewed with us all details of our attic status including all aspects of sealings and mold etc. All local attic experts unanimously advised us that our attic insulation is adequate and does not need further insulation topping for at least 5-10 years and no need to waste money for unnecessary topping for now. In contrast, the auditor failed to follow the standard practice and ethics and never reviewed our attic details with me, simply because he did not actually enter the attic for examinations at all.

After my repeated demands for an audit report, the auditor finally emailed me his "audit report" on November 5. However, upon reviewing his report, he wrote "topping up insulation to R60." Given the fact, the auditor did not enter our attic but just stood on the ladder at the attic hatch to symbolically and quickly peek at our attic for a few minutes. He did nothing on the attic assessment on all aspects of sealing of the attic floor, attic ducts, electrical box, air sealing. He did not measure the R value of our insulation. He did not check any attic mold status. Moreover, he did not and could not review the details of our attic conditions whatsoever. Clearly, his report was made in concert with the sales representative for a series of misrepresentations designed to perpetuate their scam. The auditor took $678 from me right away. I contacted the auditor and the sales representative numerous times via calls and emails requesting them to refund me $678 from the auditor and $100 from Solidcare ever since.

I also contacted their management multiple times to express our serious concerns as stated above. I requested a full refund of $778. Solidcare refused to refund me $100. I wrote an online review. Solidcare managers asked me to remove the website review and never refund me the $100 deposit.

The auditor also refused a full refund for his audit report. He was not responsive, refused to respond to my emails or calls, or hung up on me. He also refused to provide me with the information on his regulatory body of registered energy auditor. Instead, he, in concert with Solidcare, spoke for, protected, and represented Solidcare. Solidcare and the auditor were in collusion with each other. The chain takes advantage of government energy rebates to hook up naive customers to pay them a total of $2486 for unnecessary attic insulation topping without the attic being assessed.

Upon numerous attempts of emails requesting a full refund, the auditor at a later day on December 16 only refunded me $228 (1/3 of $678). Solidcare Home Improvements Inc. was made aware of the auditor's above actions but refused to send a full refund.

In summary, both the representative from Solidcare and the auditor did not do our attic assessment, but colluded with each other for a chain to take advantage of the government energy rebate program for their own profits. Their unethical and unprofessional practice must be condemned, and they must be held accountable. I demand a full refund from the auditor in the amount of $452 and a return of my $100 deposit from the auditor / Solidcare. I would also like to address this type of scam to protect the public from these types of schemes.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon.

Thank you.

February 3