Help--A/C Is Not Cooling Efficiently and Warranty Co. Stinks/Nations

Updated on November 22, 2009
S.H. asks from Grapevine, TX
9 answers

I'm hoping someone has had experience with this before and has some advice. I have a warranty that the seller bought on my home (purchased in October). With the summer months upon us I've just started having serious troubles with a 10-year-old A/C unit. The warranty company sent an A/C company out (3 days after it quit working!) & they had to come three days in a row as it wasn't fixed each time. Now it's blowing, but it's on consistantly and never goes off because it doesn't hit the temperature I have it set on. It could be 73 or 78, it won't go off. Needless to say I'm worried about what my next bill will be. The one I just got was $290/double last months bill! From what I'm told, the warranty companies will keep fixing and fixing the system and NEVER replace it. Any ideas?

I'm having a handyman install a whirlybird in my attic tomorrow too.

This A/C thing is going to break me! I must find a solution.

By the way, that warranty company is called NATIONS RESIDENTIAL SERVICE. Also when my A/C went out a week ago Friday evening, they didn't/wouldn't submit the order until the following Monday--and they then had 48 hours to get someone out here. It was 98 degrees the next day. According to their policy they don't service on weekends, only business hours under "normal conditions." Well, when I asked about "normal conditions" the answer was "Normal conditions in Texas, that's between 80 & 100 degrees!" Nice hu! Nevermind that it's deadly and a house is uninhabitable.

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A.S.

answers from Dallas on

Dear S.,

Yes, we have just gone through this with our warranty company as well. Our warranty company paid to have our coil replaced, which would have costs thousands of dollars had we not had them. But they were a pain to deal with. I had to call them every day to get the status on our claim. They eventually came through. But we were without air for 1-1/2 weeks.

Another thing--be sure to request a room air conditioner for one room so you and your daughter can sleep well at night. We had to pull some strings through our realtor but she was able to get us a room ac.

Hope this helps.

A. S.

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C.A.

answers from Dallas on

We too had the same problem. We ended up, finally, just calling an a/c company and paying for hte repairs ourselves. I would suggest you give this company a call. They were fair and not too expensive. They even came out on the day we called them.
Atmac
214-428-COOL

We even did a maintenance plan with them. They will come out 2x a year and check the units (heat and a/c) out and clean them, etc. for 128 for the 1st system and 99 for each additional (we have two a/c systems). I was really impressed with their professionalism and their service.

C.

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D.D.

answers from Houston on

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T.L.

answers from Dallas on

What did they tell you was wrong with it? What did they have to do?

We just moved and had to have the warrenty air co. come out and correct a problem with our air in our old home before we could move. We would have it set at 73 but would register at 78 or higher in other rooms. They said it was a problem with the compressor and we paid I think $800.00 (the warrenty deductable). It did take a while for it to stop running all the time. It drove my husband crazy. He was so worried about the cost. Try running it at a higher temp like 78 untill it can catch up.

I would say for a 10 yr old unit your may be lucky that you don't have to replace it or pay the large deductible. It just sounds like your having bad luck. In the summer months air companys have over a week waiting period and have high turn over with their employees. We had a fuse go out once and we had to sleep on the floor down stairs untill the air guy could come out and replace it. I was pregnant and misurable. If we had known it was a fuse we would have just done it ourselves.

Well good luck and keep the fans on.

Mom of 2 1/2 year old boy.

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J.G.

answers from Dallas on

WOW! You have already gotten lots of advice on this - and I too have to put in my two cents about home warranties sticking. I was 8 months pregnant in April and our air started going out. Long story short, my husband took the air conditioner apart himself after the warranty company did nothing and the repair company they sent out came three times before telling us we needed to having it cleaned for a meer $800 - which was not covered on the policy - imagine that! Anyhow - my husband actually made it better and it works find now - for free. Our unit is about 10 years old also and another repairman that we paid told us it would need to be replaced because they don't really last that long...obviously he was wrong too - my advice is if you know someone handy have them take a look - you don't have much to lose if you are going to have to replace it - at least that is the position we took when we were in your shoes - and it worked out for us - hope it does for you as well.

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K.K.

answers from Dallas on

1st let me say that when your warranty expires with that company, don't renew it! Maybe you can post another request on mamasource to look for a new warranty company if you think ya'll will want a warranty again.

We experienced some problems with our warranty company and the ac companies they were using a few years ago in our first home (which was built in the 70s). One company they sent out to "fix" the problem made it worse and did really shoddy work. So the warranty company ended up sending a different company out to fix everything. I would suggest you call your warranty company and demand that they send out a different ac company to find the actual problem and get it fixed. We did end up renewing our warranty each year we were in the house just because the house was older and we knew the second we didn't have a warranty that major things would go wrong. We never did quite find out what was wrong with the AC...they did end up replacing something (i think they called it the "handler"?) but every year they would have to come out to add freon. They told us that a properly functioning ac unit shouldn't need freon added yearly, so there was probably a leak under the slab. The warranty company wasn't going to go through the expense to find out about the leak under the slab because apparently it's very expensive, so they ended up "buying us out" on the ac unit--just gave us some money and said that was all they were going to do about the ac for that policy. So since that policy was getting ready to expire and we were starting a new one (with the same company--don't know why we never thought to switch companies) we would be able to call them on the ac again in the future...

Well...i don't know if any of that was helpful at all...best of luck!

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S.C.

answers from Dallas on

Hi there,
Though what they did was legal, try registering a problem with the Better Business Bureau. The BBB will contact the company and get their side. We did that with our builder and got results. It could work/help here as well. Take care and stay cool.

S.

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J.S.

answers from Dallas on

This happened to me just a month ago. They wouldn't come out for 2 days, and that was legal. I have a baby at the house, and they (the warranty & AC company) said that was all they could do. I ended up calling another company on my own, and they fixed it that night. The warranty people called me the next day because I was so angry at them. They just explained that there was nothing they could do, and I informed them that I already called someone the night before. The warranty company had me fax them the bill, and they refunded it. It cost me $400, and it was worth the money that my son was sleeping soundly in his bed and not suffocating under the heat.

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J.C.

answers from Dallas on

Hi S.,
My home warranty company also stinks. American Home Shield. It took 16 days for my evaporator coil to be approved by them for repair. In the meantime I had water leaking from the rusted drain pan down from the attic to my upstairs hallway. I finally had to make a hole myself in the ceiling for drainage and to stop the water damage. The warranty company of course doesn't pay for secondary damage A.K.A. my water damage. We won't be renewing. I think I will be better off.
J. C.

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