Family takes A/C repair fight to Action 13, gets results

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Living one day without air conditioning in Houston is an unbearable thought for many of us. So it's no surprise that many pay monthly for home warranty coverage that will help pay to fix a broken A/C But even with that coverage, a Harris County couple went more than 23 days without A/C, and so they turned to Action 13 for help.

When the Ramirez family's A/C went out they were not happy, but not too worried either. After all, they have been paying a monthly fee to Old Republic Home Warranty to help with just this sort of problem.

"Once I figured out what I was going to pay for, I went ahead and agreed so they can order the parts, get them out here, and get it fixed up," John Ramirez said.

Twenty-three days later, the family's A/C unit is still not working. They bought a window unit for the bedroom and Crystal left for her mom's house.

"Family's been displaced. My wife's been staying with her mother, and she has all the animals with her," Ramirez said.

The Ramirez family says they were told back ordered parts were to blame, but they added after we contacted the warranty company, a technician came out the next day.

"I feel like sine you all called them, they got someone out here to fix it," homeowner Crystal Ramirez said.

The family says when the delays started, they wanted a different repair company to come to the home.

Monica Russo with the Better Business Bureau has a helpful tip when it comes to dealing with home warranty companies.

"During research of a home warranty company, ask them in advance for a list of their providers and then cross reference those with ratings that you find online, ratings that you'll find on the BBB's website. And see if those providers have complaints, and if they do how they resolved them," Russo said.

Keep that in mind if you have a home warranty.

After our initial contact with Old Republic Home Protection, a service tech was there the next day for repairs. But the Ramirez family says it stopped cooling a few days later so another serviceman came out again and it's finally working.

When we contacted Old Republic for comment, those calls and emails were never returned.