Home warranty dispute leaves Wake Forest family without heat for months
WAKE FOREST, N.C. (WTVD) -- Home warranty woes left one Wake Forest family in the cold. After months of no relief, this family reached out to Troubleshooter Diane Wilson for help.
"It's been hard. It's been hard. Just bundling up." That's how Cynthia Uzoho and her family try to get by when the temperature is cold.
This all started when Uzoho contacted her home warranty company American Home Shield in November.
She said her furnace, which was just replaced earlier in the year under the home warranty, was acting up again. When American Home Shield sent a technician out to her home, he discovered a big problem.
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"They said that it could have carbon monoxide. It could have actually leaked into a house; that's how bad it was because of the pipes that he didn't even seal like he supposed to. So they had to actually cut our gas off so we could be safe."
Wake County's Chief Mechanical Inspector confirmed the concerns about the furnace installed by an American Home Shield technician. He said in an email that the furnace was "unsafe," noting that a PVC pipe was broken in two places, releasing CO gas into the crawl space. He also found the drainpipe on the coil, the furnace was improperly installed and not hooked up, plus his email noted numerous other issues.
He also wrote that the work was completed without a permit when the furnace was replaced despite Uzoho paying for it.
Uzoho said to Wilson she has been trying to get American Home Shield to get her furnace working again properly.
"The people who are working for American Home Shield now don't want to come behind him because they said, 'I guess (we'll) be held responsible.' So American Home Shield is like, don't know what to do, so they just pretty much got me in limbo," Uzoho added.
Uzoho went weeks without a working furnace and she's still paying monthly for her homeowner warranty.
"They just tell us they'll call us back; that's all we get."
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Uzoho reached out to Wilson and she got in touch with American Home Shield and received the following statement:
"We take great pride in providing quality service and valuable protection to our customers. If we fail to meet these expectations, we work to do the right thing and ensure the situation is properly resolved. We sincerely apologize for the delay and frustration Ms. Uzoho experienced. Our customer care team worked closely with Ms. Uzoho and her unit is repaired and working properly. We deeply value our relationship with Ms. Uzoho and look forward to serving her in the future."
It still took some time, but finally, Uzoho now has heat again throughout her entire home.
"I got a new system and it's really great and it's warm in here. I'm actually feeling hot right now," Uzoho added. Instead of fixing the unit in Uzoho's home, another company hired by American Home Shield gave her a whole new unit. She said to Wilson, "Thank you so much for everything you did a great job!"
If you have a home warranty, know that the company sends out their contractors, you don't get to choose who does the work.
Uzoho suggests once you are made aware of the company that the home warranty is sending out, to do your research on that company. Also always read the fine print, as often not everything is covered in a repair and you do have to pay out of pocket for some repairs.
