Troubleshooter: Hope Mills family gets broken heat system replaced after 6 years
HOPE MILLS, N.C. (WTVD) -- When the weather is cold, your heat is the last thing you want to stop working. For one family, even after several repairs, their HVAC (heating, ventilating and air conditioning) system would still not work.
Catherine Thompkins says she trusted the Bryant HAVC Unit she installed six years ago wouldn't give her many problems, but she was wrong.
"In the summer it wasn't cooling like it was supposed to be cooling and especially in the winter, it started freezing up, where even with any type of freezing rain it would freeze and then the system would not keep up with the temperature that we would set," Thompkins said.
She said since the unit was still under warranty, Bryant covered the majority of repairs. But despite these repairs, the unit still doesn't work properly.
"They did replace the entire unit with the exact same unit itself and we experienced the exact same problems," Thompkins said.
She said not having a working unit was frustrating.
"It was a lot of missed work. It was a lot of phone calls. It was a lot of, you know, constant meeting people over here to look at the unit and then, you know, nothing worked," Thompkins said.
She wanted Bryant to take action since the unit wasn't working properly.
"We were hoping that they would replace it with a working, comparable unit, that would efficiently heat and cool our home," Thompkins said.
But Bryant wasn't willing to do that. Instead, they wanted to buy back the system for $3,000.
Thompkins wasn't happy with that offer as she says they had more than $1,300 worth of out of pocket expenses when it came to the repairs.
She got in touch with ABC11 for help. We were able to contact Bryant directly, and they agreed to remove the unit completely and offered the Thompkins' a settlement that they were happy with.
"It's been a long seven years and just to be able to have something that is going to work efficiently and not have to deal with it anymore is definitely wonderful," Thompkins said.
Bryant issued this statement:
"Bryant is committed to working with our customers to resolve any issues with their home-comfort products. With more than 100 years' experience in manufacturing and servicing home-comfort products, we stand behind every unit that leaves our manufacturing facilities. In this particular case, Bryant worked with Mr. Thompkins for several years to provide excellent customer service. After the contractor who installed Mr. Thompkins' unit went out of business, four additional contractors worked to service the unit. During that process, Bryant honored our warranty and even replaced the entire unit. Bryant is disappointed that we have been unable to satisfy this customer and are offering him compensation to buy a replacement unit from a manufacturer of his choice."
Contact Troubleshooter Diane Wilson
