Beaver County Family Without Heat For 9 Days Points Finger At Home Warranty Company
BEAVER, Pa. (KDKA) - A Beaver family can finally take off their coats and turn off the space heaters. The family said it spent the last nine days without heat, fighting over the phone with a home warranty company.
Jamie Quigley, mother of three, reached out to KDKA's Meghan Schiller in desperation and said, "help, we've had no heat for more than week!" Jamie called her home warranty company immediately, but after days of freezing temperatures, she'd had enough.
"It's been crazy, it's been nine days since we've been without heat," she said.
With three girls at home, Jamie said space heaters only helped so much.
"Yeah, you have to put a heater in the bathroom to make sure it's warm, trying to make sure their bedrooms are warm. We've been mostly sleeping in the living room to try to keep warm," she said.
With the thermostat hovering below 55 degrees, Jamie's husband Jed called the home warranty company. The Quigleys just bought their home in April.
"Oh, I was highly upset. I couldn't believe they let us go with three kids in the winter," said Jed.
Jed considered this to be an emergency and believes the HVAC company chosen by the home warranty company did not. This morning, he called another company.
"I called somebody else. They actually called me back and they said, 'we'll be up there within the hour,'" he said.
All while Jed said the first HVAC company couldn't get it fixed until Monday.
"The part that they picked up was in Monaca. I don't know where they were getting their part from, but wherever they were getting their part from wasn't even the part we needed."
Now Jamie asks: What kind of coverage is that?
"And I told them 'what if we go through another company?' [They said,] 'You can't do that, you can't send us the bill, it's who we picked' when they're not doing anything."
Less than $250 and one hour later, another local company fixed the furnace. The Quigleys tell KDKA they wish they knew better.
"When they say it's covered and then they try to find loopholes so you have to pay money and you don't have to, because it should be covered, like it says in your contract."
KDKA reached out to the home warranty company involved, AHS. After news time, the company emailed saying, "We apologize for the Quigley's frustration with their recent service request. Our team is reviewing this matter and we will share a formal statement once we have additional insight."