I had my furnace replaced and AC installed by an HVAC company in May 2022. The quote stated that the work came with a 2 year labor warranty and 12 year parts warranty. In January-ish 2023 I noticed some white sediment around the base of the indoor unit (the unit is in the basement so I don’t see it often - it’s likely the sediment was there earlier) It seemed to get worse over the next couple months, so in May I emailed the company with pictures and a request for feedback (“Is this normal? Do you need to come out?”, etc) but they didn’t respond.
In August 2023 I called the company and to my surprise, the number was answered by a different company name. The original business is still listed on Google, but the website and phone number redirect without notice to the new company. I explained the situation to the new company, who scheduled a warranty-covered visit. A couple days later (before the scheduled apt) I got a call from another person with the company stating my apt had been misscheduled and I would be charged for the visit, since it had been more than a year since install. I explained that the original work had come with a 2 year labor warranty - after checking with her service manager, she came back and said that the labor and parts were under warranty, but that I would still be charged the trip charge (around $190) as well as for “any special equipment or heavy machinery used to make the diagnosis.” I expressed concern that this seemed to go against the warranty, and she stated that the original company that gave me the warranty no longer existed. She went on to state that they had originally honored that company’s warranties, but that “they knowingly did bad work on so many occasions that we’ve gotten a lot of these calls and it’s money out of our pocket, so we can no longer honor these warranties carte blanche.” I canceled the visit in order to better understand my rights - I’m worried that based on communication so far, it’s totally unclear what parts of the warranty they’ll honor and I may get charged heavily and unexpectedly for service.
So, questions:
- When a company buys another, do they assume responsibility for that company’s existing warranties, etc? If so, is there a law or regulation I can reference when attempting to convince them to do the work?
- The first company quote said “2 year labor warranty” but didn’t specify what that covered. Is there a legal standard there? If the new company has to honor the old warranty, what is covered under the labor warranty (trip charge, “heavy equipment diagnostics”, etc)?
- What’s my best next step? If I have a legal right to this warranty service, what laws or regulations should I cite to the new company to convince them, and what do I need to be careful of when communicating with them?
Thank you, hopefully-legitimate legal people of the internet! 💕