ENGL 1010
9 October 2013
A Coil Headache It all started on a warm, summer day when I came home from work and walked in the house. I immediately noticed how warm it was indoors compared to outdoors. I went over the thermostat and noticed it was 78 degrees in my house and the air conditioner was running. I wondered how long it had been running and not cooling the house down. I went out the back door, looked over the deck, and noticed that there was frost building on my utility cord that went into the house. Great! The last thing I needed was another breakdown during the warm months. I thought to myself, “I will just call my home warranty people to come and fix it.” According to First American Home Buyers Protection Corporation, “A home warranty helps protect your investment while you enjoy your home.” (www.homewarranty.firstam.com). Home warranties are the best thing homeowners can have to protect themselves from costly repairs. Some repairs aren’t covered by a home warranty policy if he repair is due to lack of maintenance. My first solution was calling First American Home Buyers; they will send someone out for a flat fee to check out any problems I might have with my home appliances including my air conditioner. My son, who I thought was paying attention to what the repair man was doing, told me that repair man left a quote. However it was going to cost more than $60.00 that I wrote the check for. I called the repair people and the receptionist said she had to wait until the tech came back to speak with the warranty company and let me know if the repair is covered which was the A coil needed to be chemical cleaned. Obviously I thought it should be covered it is frosting up outside it is not like I could go fix it by squirting some water on it making go away. The next day the receptionist calls me back and she said the warranty company is not going to cover the fix due to it being a maintenance issue. I asked her what she meant and she said “A Coil had be cleaned, and that is a yearly maintenance and not a repair.” I said how much is that going to cost?” She said 399.00 like it was nothing. I dropped in my seat, thinking “Are you kidding me.” So I get on the phone with the warranty company and the lady said that it is not covered because I am supposed to maintenance my air conditioner once a year. I explained they were just out here a year ago for the same problem, “How can it be that dirty and not be covered?” Why did they not tell me the first time, a year ago, that it needed this cleaning?” I wish I would have been told I would of saved up for it and not gotten hit with such a large dollar amount at one time. She told me I did not have to go with that company I could get a second opinion. My second solution is finding a second opinion for free. Everyone wants to charge a fee just to drive up the driveway and not even knock on the door. I call around and found a company Fred’s heating and cooling that was willing to do a second opinion for free. I had them come out to the house and this time I was there to watch how they looked at the unit inside. For one, the technician could not even get the top of the unit off to look at the A coil. I was wondering if the other guy even looked at the A coil or just assumed. But then, he went below the unit, pulled off the cover, and unscrewed a piece that left a hole big enough for a camera to look through. He went out to his truck, and got the camera attached to a long arm that bends. He inserted the camera pointing upward and said “Yes the A coil is dirty” and he took a picture of it to show me. I said, “Ok, they want to do a chemical clean for 399.00. Is that a reasonable quote?” He said, “For that