COPPERAS COVE, Texas — Catrina Jackson bought a home in Copperas Cove three years ago. Her mother bought her a policy with First American Home Warranty, and she specifically paid extra to have her air conditioner covered. When the air condition went out on July 14, Jackson called the warranty company.
It didn't get fixed until Aug. 23, and only after she called 6 News.
When the air conditioner first went out, Jackson contacted First American Home Warranty the next day on July 15. She said a contractor came out on July 18 and diagnosed the issue.
But then... things started to get strange.
Jackson said the first company that came out, called Airmax, sent in their report on July 18 before they left her home.
Ten days later on July 28, however, a second company came out, and started the process from square one.
"They started the whole process all over again. They said the compressor is out. We need to replace the compressor or the whole air conditioning unit. The compressor is hard to find so it is better to replace the unit," Jackson said. "I was like 'yes I'm aware of that.'"
Then, on Aug. 1, Jackson got a response from the company. In fact, she actually got two responses, via email, which were 20 minutes apart.
The first email stated Jackson would not be covered and said,"...First American has determined that the Item failure is not covered under the Contract and is denying the claim."
The second email stated: "We have authorized the following for (Jackson's address) Replace Air Conditioning Outside the home."
The air conditioner did not get replaced. When Jackson called customer service again she said she was told by one representative she must get her air conditioner's coils cleaned before it could be repaired. When she called again, Jackson said another customer service representative said they didn't know what the first representative was talking about. She was stuck.
"I'm was like 'what do I need to do? What are we doing here?,'" Jackson said. "We pay extra for this every month. What do we need to do?"
Jackson said she kept getting different answers and, at the same time, her 13-year-old daughter had just been scheduled for a major surgery related to her cerebral palsy. Jackson said her daughter needed to have surgery on both legs and she wanted her daughter to be able to recover at her own home, with air conditioning.
6 News contacted First American's Home Warranty division and the First American cooperate communication office on Thursday with multiple calls and emails. Eventually a representative said the company would look into it.
6 News continued to contact the company this week and eventually got a brief response on Monday.
"Out of respect for the privacy of our customers, First American Home Warranty does not comment on the details of customer claims. However, we contacted this customer and are working towards an appropriate resolution," First American spokesperson Marcus Ginnaty stated in an email.
It turns out, other things were happening behind the scenes.
In an interview on Tuesday, Jackson told 6 News she had actually heard from Airmax, the first contractor that came out, on Friday. She said the Airmax representative claimed First American was now calling the job "an emergency."
"He said 'They (First American) tried to get ahold of me and get everything in order and your air conditioner is now an emergency install. The only issue is that we don't have an air conditioning unit right now but we have it ordered and we should have it Monday or Tuesday,' Jackson said.
Airmax followed though and installed the air conditioner Tuesday morning, over a month after her A/C first went out.
Jackson was thrilled to finally have a working air conditioner but she was still frustrated by the lack of answers from First American.
"It shouldn't take anyone having to go though all of these steps to get something fixed that they pay for every month," Jackson said. "Is this your normal process?"
6 News contacted First American again on Tuesday to ask if the company had any additional answers or responses to share. First American has still not responded at the time this article was written.
Jackson said she is extremely thankful because her daughter will go into surgery tomorrow and will now be able to come home to a comfortable home.
She said it only happened because she called 6 News.
"I don't think it would have gotten fixed without y'all,"Jackson said. "First American was giving me the run-around. They were not helping me. Without your help I would not have gotten it fixed. I believe that 100 percent."