GREENSBORO, N.C. — Martha Rouse spent the morning outside in her flower garden. It’s not big, but she enjoys the simple pleasure of watering the flowers and all the beautiful colors.
“I love living here, I love the families that are here,” Rouse said.
She has only had the home a few years but has already made it a forever home. Not long after buying the house, Rouse purchased a home warranty to assist with any unforeseen issues or major problems.
One day in early August, the temperature reached 87 degrees, and the air conditioning unit died. Rouse immediately called her home warranty company.
“I’ve spoken with supervisors on three occasions. I’ve sent emails and still nothing,” Rouse said.
The delays lasted several days. Rouse would call but was unable to get the home warranty company to schedule a service call.
“You lie still (in bed) and that’s when you sweat and have hot flashes,” Rouse said.
It took almost a week, but Rouse was finally able to get the home warranty company to schedule a service call. A local repair company was contacted but the claim was slow to process.
“If they (home warranty company) can call me about renewing my contract, they can contact me about repairing my air conditioning unit,” Rouse said.
By now, a couple of weeks had passed, and Rouse was still without a working air conditioning unit. It was around this time she reached out to WFMY News 2 for some help.
“I emailed everyone else, so why not News 2,” Rouse said.
We quickly contacted the home warranty company and was told the claim would be escalated. It still took almost a week before a repair company was able to inspect the unit.
“I am furious. It is very disappointing,” Rouse said.
The local air conditioning company was all set to fix the unit and make the repairs but had to wait for the home warranty company to submit and process the claim.
So, we again reached out to the home warranty company to hopefully get them to speed up the claim. After a few days with little progress, we contacted the local vendor hoping it could assist.
Typically, in a situation like this, the local company must submit the claim and get paid before doing the work. In this case, the local air conditioning company agreed to fix the unit prior to receiving the money so that Rouse did not have to suffer any longer.
“I am so thrilled, and I can’t wait to say hip-hip-hooray for Kevin and News 2 and Sub Zero,” Rouse said.
It took a couple of weeks longer, but the home warranty company finally did reimburse the local vendor the cost of the repairs.
As for the home warranty, as you might imagine, Rouse is thinking about not renewing her policy.