Photo courtesy of Ross Lavigne

By Scott Roblin & Charles Lefebvre

City Investigation

City issues notice about furnace installations

Jul 9, 2019 | 11:41 AM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – The City of Medicine Hat is sounding the alarm over an apparently defunct furnace installation company and are urging customers to contact them as soon as possible.

On Tuesday, the City put out a notice to residents and businesses who have had furnaces installed since 2016 by The HVAC Guys Inc. to contact them immediately.

The City has been tight-lipped over why they decided to make a public note regarding the business, however court documents obtained by CHAT News allege a pattern of negligence from the company.

Emails from the City allege The HVAC Guys Inc. installed at least two furnaces in Medicine Hat in 2018 without any permits from the City.

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Upon inspection at one of these sites, City crews found several safety code violations including gas lines failing to be installed properly, undersized filter racks, and missing combustion air and chimney liners.

They also visited two furnace wholesalers in December of 2018 and found The HVAC Guys Inc. had purchased 31 furnaces since the start of 2017.

However according to their records, only nine City permits had been issued to the heating and air conditioning company since 2016.

The City’s manager of safety code services Elgin Mann Jr. said they believe there may be more unaware customers out there.

“We’ve come to a belief that we have to reach out to the public of anybody that may have had this company do any work for them,” said Mann. “In particular, to the instillation of new furnaces in their houses or their businesses.”

The public notice does not pertain to installations performed by other licensed service providers, according to the City.

As for The HVAC Guys Inc. it appears as the company has gone dark over the last few months, with its website being taken down and no contact information listed for owner Darrin Craig.

In January, the Better Business Bureau also revoked its accreditation for the company due to ‘failure to respond to one or more customer complaints filed with the BBB.’

Craig had been ordered by the courts last month to provide the City of Medicine Hat with past records of the company.

That deadline had been set for June 20, however the latest court documents released on June 17 confirm Craig had been served the court order on June 7.

With many of their avenues exhausted over the last few months, Mann Jr. said the City needed another resource to aide in its investigation of The HVAC Guys Inc.

“It’s a big decision because we’re putting a name out there,” he said. “We just felt at this point it was prudent for us to go to the public because we need more information. The more information we can gather, the better for this investigation.”

Anyone who had a furnace installed by The HVAC Guys Inc. over the previous three years is asked to phone the City’s planning and development department at 403-529-8374.

More to come.