Article content

When Ontario banned the problematic practice of door-to-door sales of certain household items in March 2018, it left out thermostats.

And so here we are in the hallway of Paul Carbonneau’s spotless home in Kanata, looking at a new “smart” thermostat, a space-age looking unit controlled from anywhere with a cellphone.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Egan: Senior feels burned after 'free' thermostat leads to $12,000 liability Back to video

“They came in and installed it for free, and now it’s costing him $12,000,” said Paul’s son-in-law, Robert Fox.

It gets worse. Carbonneau, 70, is battling some age-related cognitive impairment and admits his memory of the events on Oct. 25 is not as sharp as he’d like.

But we know this. On Nov. 20, the family sent a letter of complaint to Canadian Safety Standards saying that three salesmen or agents had duped him into accepting the thermostat, then persuaded him to lease a water softener for 10 years at $93 a month (with tax).

“To be honest, I felt overwhelmed by these people surrounding me,” Carbonneau said last week. “I was confused, for sure. They came into my house under false pretenses to install that stupid thing downstairs.”