My Summer Will Be Hell. No A/C, Worthless Home Warranty.

[Nobody]

My A/C quit working over a week ago. Our home warranty company covers failed appliances, to include the air conditioning and heating. Our paperwork says all we have to do is pay the $85 deductible, and they will take care of the rest.

So we called and filed a claim. A few days later, an HVAC company showed up to diagnose it. They condemned the system and said due to faulty manufacturing by Trane, the heat pump failed because the copper and aluminum tubing that carry all of the gas and stuff for cooling was built under the unit. Over time, vibrations caused these to wear down and break. It's not something that can be repaired, and the only solution is to replace the heat pump.

We thought we were good to go, and have been waiting ever since for the HVAC guys to come back out and install a new unit. Instead, I just got a phone call from the warranty company telling me that the report showed the coils in the air handler in the attic were dirty, and even though that has zero bearing on the heat pump failure, they will not authorize replacement until the coils are professionally cleaned. The warranty conveniently does not cover that, and we have to come up with $525, which we don't have, to pay for that. Once we pay, the HVAC company will be out in 3-5 days to do the cleaning. AFTER that, the warranty company will authorize a replacement. It will take 3-5 business days to get to the HVAC installer, then another 3-5 business days to come out and install it. So if we came up with the money now, it would be some time in early to mid June before we have A/C again. Since we don't have the money to spare, and won't until August, we're just completely ****ed.

I informed them that my elderly disabled father with health problems, two young children, and three dogs live here, and none can tolerate the sweltering heat, and it will only get worse. The lady's friendly response? "I'm sorry Mr. Jones, I don't know what you expect me to do about that." I completely lost my mind on the lady. I went into full rage mode. Had she been face to face with me, I might have hit her.

In short, **** a home warranty, they will always find a way to still stick it to you. This Summer will be my hell.

 

[Elephant]

Window units are pretty cheap these days. You can get one from Home Depot for about 150 bucks.

Oh and you can have the one extra one I have!

 

[Nobody]

The problem is the design of our house. 2000 sq ft, 18 ft vaulted ceiling, split level open flooring. It's a lot to cool, and the one unit we have barely makes a difference. We would need two upstairs and two downstairs, not to mention all the breakers I have to upgrade. It would cost more to do that My luck is shit. Not just shit, but green shit with corn in it.

 

[SC_RedskinsFan]

I was curious how this would work out, I have always thought that home warranties were a sham. Sorry to hear that you are getting screwed, I would say to them that after they are cleaned and then replaced if you get a refund for having to pay for something that is useless....

 

[Boone]

You have a local news station? Most local stations have a '7 on your side' story team of some kind - call them and see if you can get them to check into it for you. They love 'the big bad money grubbing company is hurting a helpless family' angle...

 

[Nobody]

You have a local news station? Most local stations have a '7 on your side' story team of some kind - call them and see if you can get them to check into it for you. They love 'the big bad money grubbing company is hurting a helpless family' angle...

You read my mind. We have 10 on your side, 13 news investigates, and channel 3 taking action, I emailed all three.

 

[Miles Monroe]

The house we're in had a home warranty when we bought it. About a month after we moved in we noticed a hissing noise in the master bath. Using my stethoscope, yes I own a stethoscope, I tracked it down to under the shower. I also spotted a wet area at the foundation inline with the shower. We called the warranty company, and they sent out a plumber. First he tried to say the wet spot was from the AC drip line, and I pointed out that it was 25 ft away. Had him listen in the shower, and after having to get a bit assertive with him, he admitted it was a leak under the slab. He would call in the problem, and left. A day or two later I'm contacted by the company, who inform me it would cost me aprox 3700$ to repair. I dam near **** myself. They explained that I was responsible for the cost of breaking out the tile and slab to access the bad section of pipe. They would pay to cut and solder in a new section of pipe.

My exact words to the smug guy on the phone were, "kiss my hairy Italian ass." Called a plumbing company that did some work on the rental house we were in prior to buying this one, and got a quote of 1800$ to re-plumb the entire house. Most of the older houses down here were built with the pipes in the slab, and it's very common to have a re-plumb where they go go up into the attic / crawl space. Two days later, they came in, and within 5 hours they were done except for painting the areas they had to cut dry wall, which they did the following day.

 

[Nobody]

I went all out today. I drove down to NC and showed up in person to the warranty company's office and more or less dared them to tell me my family would just have to deal with the heat this Summer. To say I was assertive is an understatement. It's amazing how their demeanor changes when you're face to face and they know you aren't ****ing around. So they said they were putting in a work order for Carrier to deliver the system to my house, and the HVAC company would install it as soon as it gets here. Before I even got back home, Carrier called me to set up a schedule of a few different days when I would be available to sign for the unit. Then the HVAC company called me to let me know that as soon as the unit is here, they will put us as the top priority for that day and come right out and do it.

Say what you want, but sometimes being aggressive is what it takes to get shit done. And as soon as it's installed, I'm cancelling that sorry ass warranty. ****ers can kiss my ass.

 

[Special K]

Nobody! You're a man after my own heart when it comes to not taking getting screwed over sitting down. Good for you for taking the initiative and putting pressure on them, that's the only way to get anything done, unfortunately.

I had a crazy situation with water rights with my home in Colorado and the only way I got anything moving forward was to go into full-beyatch mode, retain a lawyer and threaten legal action and physically go downtown to the headquarters and raise hell. A bit out of character for me, but I got the issue resolved within a week and would do it again without a second thought.

I'm glad things seem to be working out for you though. I can't even imagine a summer without A/C in the humidity back there. Jeesh!

 

[Miles Monroe]

Great to hear. Get the system serviced once a year, it's worth the 80 bucks. My exchanger is 41 years old, the original when the place was built. My compressor is 16, and going strong.

 

[SC_RedskinsFan]

It is BS that you had to drive all the way to NC for anything to happen, it just goes to show you what a sham home warranties are. When we bought our house this past February we did not get one. Glad you got this resolved, but if I was you I would still talk to the local news and tell them what you had to do to get them to cover it.

 

[Snydershrugged]

We just had to replace ours too. Found a honest guy who got us a full heating and air setup for $ 3800. He walked me through every little weld and PVC connection he made, he at in Ben replaced a bunch of ductwork.

 

[MikeSr619]

That helps when you can see the work and get a true understanding of why it costs what it does. I like that.

 

[Elephant]

Still haven't had to run our's yet. Windows open, fans sucking any hot air out...nice breeze flowing through. I love it! I cannot stand artificial air, but I will love it when it gets too hot!

 

[Nobody]

Still haven't had to run our's yet. Windows open, fans sucking any hot air out...nice breeze flowing through. I love it! I cannot stand artificial air, but I will love it when it gets too hot!

I would love to have the windows open. Unfortunately, a moron designed my house. It's very long and narrow, with windows on one side only - the East side. Since the winds in the Summer are predominantly Westerly, opening our windows does nothing. It's irritating to say the least.