"24/7" and "emergency service": what an HVAC company can honestly claim

Why this claim matters more than most

"24/7 emergency service" is probably the most common line on HVAC websites in the GTA. It's also one of the easiest to get wrong. A homeowner in Scarborough with no heat at 1 a.m. in January doesn't read the fine print. They call the number, and either someone answers or they call the next company and leave you a one-star review.

AI tools make this sharper. When someone asks ChatGPT or Gemini "who can fix my furnace tonight in North York?", the answer is built from what your website and Business Profile say. If you say 24/7, you may be named for exactly the calls you can't take. If you don't say anything, you may be left out of the calls you can.

Landlords add pressure. The City of Toronto says landlords must keep rental units at 21°C or more from October 1 to May 15, and must respond to urgent vital services requests, such as no heat, within 24 hours. Property managers searching at night for someone who can come are a real market, and they remember who answered.

What the law expects

Canada's Competition Bureau says it's against the law to market anything in a way that's false or misleading in a material respect. Two parts of how this works matter for "24/7":

• The general impression counts, not just the literal words. The Bureau's page on the general impression test says a message can be misleading if it's literally true but leaves out information that would likely change what a customer does. "24/7 emergency service" with a footnote saying "October to April, no-heat calls only" gives a general impression the footnote doesn't fix.
• Fine print doesn't rescue a headline. The Bureau's advertising dos and don'ts say not to use a disclaimer to contradict the message it relates to. They also note that businesses can be held responsible for what their employees say, and that nobody actually has to be misled for a practice to be found misleading.

This isn't legal advice, and most HVAC companies that overstate their hours will never hear from the Bureau. But the same standard is what a homeowner applies at 2 a.m.: did you do what you said?

Decide what you actually offer

Before changing any wording, write down what really happens after hours. Ask yourself, or better, ask whoever is on call:

1. Who answers after hours? A person who can book a technician, an answering service that takes a message, or voicemail?
2. How long until a call back? Fifteen minutes, an hour, next morning?
3. Which calls do you take at night? Any call, or only no heat, no cooling and water leaks?
4. Which months? Many GTA shops run nights only in heating season.
5. Which areas? Your night technician may cover a smaller area than your day crews.
6. Is there an after-hours fee? Customers will ask.

Your honest answers decide your wording.

Wording that matches what you do

What really happens	Say this	Avoid
A person answers 24 hours, any day, and a technician can be sent	"24/7 emergency service. A person answers every call, day or night."	Nothing; you've earned it
Nights only October to April	"No-heat calls answered 24 hours a day, October to April."	"24/7" with a footnote
An answering service takes messages at night	"After hours, our answering service takes your call and a technician calls back within an hour."	"24/7 service"
Voicemail at night, call back in the morning	"Open 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., seven days. Messages left overnight are returned by 7:30 a.m."	"Emergency service"
Same-day during business hours	"Same-day service for calls booked before noon, when we have a technician free."	"Always same day"

Specific beats vague. "No-heat calls answered 24 hours a day, October to April" is more useful to a homeowner, and easier for an AI answer to quote correctly, than a "24/7" badge.

Put the wording in text on your site. If your 24/7 claim lives only in a graphic, readers who use screen readers miss it, and so do the crawlers that AI answers rely on.

Setting it up in Google Business Profile

Hours

Google's guidelines for representing your business say to provide your "regular customer-facing hours of operation". For a service business, the honest test is whether a customer can reach someone who can help during those hours. If yes around the clock, "Open 24 hours" is accurate. If nights are voicemail, they aren't customer-facing hours.

The same guidelines let you use seasonal hours as your regular hours while a season is running, and add "More hours" for specific services, generally as a subset of your main hours. If you run 24-hour coverage only in winter, change your regular hours when the season starts and again when it ends. Put a reminder in your calendar for both dates.

Holidays

Google's special hours page suggests confirming your hours for official holidays, even if they don't change. Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day fall in the middle of heating season, so set them deliberately, open or closed, rather than leaving Google to guess.

Your name

The guidelines don't allow hours in the business name, and use "Regal Pizzeria Open 24 hours" as an example of what's not acceptable. "Smith Heating 24/7" as a profile name risks suspension. Put the hours in the hours field and the details in your description.

Test your own line

Once your wording is set, check it like a customer would:

• Call your own number at 11 p.m. and 3 a.m. on a weeknight in November. What happens? How long until someone calls back?
• Ask ChatGPT and Gemini "Who can fix a furnace tonight in [your city]?" and "Is [your business] open 24 hours?" If the answer doesn't match what you offer, find where the wrong information comes from: an old directory listing, a past version of your site, a review that mentions night service.
• Check your listings on HomeStars, Yelp, the BBB and any directory you've used. Old "24/7" claims tend to linger there after you've changed your site.

Google may also call the number on your profile to confirm details like hours, so whoever answers should know your real hours.

This week

1. Write down what really happens after hours, using the six questions above.
2. Rewrite the claim on your homepage, emergency page and Business Profile description to match.
3. Set your Business Profile hours to what's customer-facing now, and add holiday hours for December.
4. Call your own line after 10 p.m. and note what a customer would hear.
5. Search your old listings for "24/7" and fix the ones that aren't true.