Business ProfileforGeco Industries

My experience with GECO company that has serviced my back-up generator has created major financial loss and has left me without any service support to receivecontinuous electric supply for my house in case of a power outage. I am kindly asking you to review the following case and suggest a satisfactory solution.


An electrician installed a stationary standby residential/light commercial generator set in my house last spring. The generator was put into operation in June 2020 by GECO company and this company became responsible for the servicing and maintenance the generator.

On August7th 2021, my neighbour's tree was struck by lightning. As a result, I had a power outage and my generator didn't turn on. I called GECO for help and a technician direct  me what to do. He suggested to open the generator box and look at its operational panel; I reported which lights on the panel were on. He figured out that I had electricity in the house, and probably some breaker or fuse was tripped. It turned out that the main breaker of the generator fuse box in my basement was off. I switched it back on and the power returned and all my electronic appliances were operational except my landline phone. Therefore, lightning was not the cause of my outage; rather a tripped fuse was the cause.

My generator was running for its weekly test on the 10th of August at 11:00 AM. My neighbour was visiting and commented that I didn't have to worry about the next outage. (*** **** ****** ***** **** *** *** ****.) I didn't hear the generator's test the next week (Aug. 17th) because I was out shopping during the test run. However, that night I experienced lights flickering for a couple of seconds. I went over to my neighbour to check if he had experienced the same thing He hadn't experienced any sign of a power outage. To make sure, I also checked my generator; it didn't show any sign of operation. (After the lightning there were lights above certain symbols; however, this time I didn't see any.)

I called GECO the next day (August18) and discussed the situation with a representative who told me right away that my generator was seriously damaged by lightning and that I have no warranty, that they

have 2-4 similar cases a year, and they have to replace these generators. The person also advised me to call my insurance company and file a claim. I asked him repeatedly about the warranty because I checked on the estimate given to me by the installer, ****** ******** at the beginning of the back- up generator instalment project and it listed a 5 year limited warranty. After this very unsatisfactory conversation, I called******, the maker of the generator, to check on the registration of my generator for the warranty. ****** confirmed that my generator is registered and has a 5 years limited warranty. I asked them to call GECO and state to the company the existence of the warranty. I also called my insurance company and asked for advice. The broker suggested to wait for the diagnosis and call later as any claim can affect my insurance fee.

Knowing that I had the warranty, I called back GECO and stated that I have a 5 year limited warranty and I couldn't understand how my generator could work for ten days if it were damaged by lightning.
I asked the representative to send out a technician who could assessthe situation and repair the
generator as soon as possible. They asked for my credit card numbers right away and promised to call very soon and provide me with the date of visitation. After two days of waiting, I called again for the visitation date and the company promised that they would e-mail me the date soon.

The technician from GECO came a week later on the 24th of August. My guests from Oakville had just arrived and stayed on my porch behind the generator during the repair as I divided my attention between the technician and my guests. The technician informed me that he had to change a part on the panel and the battery and it would be covered by warranty. It took him 15 minutes to fix the problem. I was very satisfied and shared my joy with my visiting guests (***** ****** ****** * ****** ****** ** **** ********* *** ********** They fully heard the conversation and are willing to testify about its content. I also called my insurance broker and informed her the positive outcome on the 1st of September. GECO has never informed me about the cost of repair until receiving the invoice for
$3,019.78 on the 8th of September more than two weeks afterthe repair.

I read the description of the invoice which was full of omissions and inaccurate facts and time sequences, and I called the company. I talked to three different people who did not provide their names. Finally, the last one promised me a call back 20 minutes later. I waited for an hour and called again and I stated to him that I am going to take action against the company if I don't get reasonable explanation for the hefty charge. I also called ****** and asked them about its warranty regulation.
Hearing the word lightning without listening to the full story, was enough for them to deny any warranty. Probably, they had already had the same faulty description regarding what was on the invoice. Three hours later a person, probably the manager, called me and promised me a better outcome; to get a warranty for the control panel ($2,317.74)only paying for the battery. The next morning, I found a message on my phone informing me about not reversing the bill.
I called ****** again without any luck with the warranty issue, but got an estimate of around $ 1,000.00 US, for the cost of the replaced control panel which amount is a lot less than the listed cost on the invoice.

Later on I had my final discussion with the manager of GECO who blamed me for not getting the warranty replacement from ****** and blamed the currency exchange rate for the cost of the control panel. He also informed me, that I should look for another company to maintain and service my generator because he doesn't want to work with a customer who questions his company's integrity.

I found GECO's actions toward me unacceptable and against all the rules regulating costumer rights.

They made up their mind about the action to repair my generator before seeing it. The lightning can destroy a lot things, and they may have had encountered other situations when they had to replace whole generators because of a lightning strikes. But their description for my case uses the word "probably."
The invoice is full of untruths and missing details; its only purpose is to justify the avoidance of the warranty and to include the ridiculous charge.
The company has never informed me about the amount they were removing from my credit card. When I received the invoice the amount was already listed on my bank account.
I gave them my credit card information, otherwise the company wouldn't have sent out the technician. I also got a reassuring opinion from the technician who repaired the generator.
In addition to my financial loss, the company is also cancelling the service because I questioned the competence and validity of the charge.
This treatment by the company is wrong. Please advise me about my possible actions against this company and help me to achieve a satisfactory solution in this matter.
Thank you for your help.
Sincerely, ***** *******

Arden, September 13, 2021