Interested in opinions on this. I expect that consumers/homeowners will side with me & perhaps professional plumbers will not but....what do you think....
I bought a new hot water heater in May 2017. I paid a professional plumbing firm $1800 for it (at the time my back was to the wall & I needed it done fast, and they were the only plumber I could get who could do it right away, so I went along with that inflated charge, whereas other plumbers were quoting me prices of like $800 but unable to do it until the next week). The heater came with a 6 year "warranty" from the plumbing company (one with a fleet of trucks, many techs, etc and from asking around charge much more than any other firm in the area for any type of work that they do - plumbing, HVAC, electric, etc).
About a year later the unit started failing in that I could not get enough hot water to take a regular shower. We have very hard water here and I had the same issue with my previous water heater which required changing the elements twice during its 8 year lifespan (after 8 years that heater then started leaking from the bottom and was replaced with the one that I have now). Oddly the water heater I had b4 that one, which came with the house, lasted 12 years b4 that one started leaking and never had to have the elements replaced ever. All 3 units were/are Bradford White btw, same capacity models, but each one got bigger in footprint size from increased insulation etc I believe.
At the time of this current heater failing to heat long enough for the first time (again about 1 year after I bought it) I did not know if that would be covered by the warranty or not. I actually assumed that it would not be and was prepared to try to tackle it myself, thinking the company would just give an excuse like "we don't cover failures of elements due to hard water" under warranty.
So I investigated what I would need to do myself, what elements to buy, how to do the work etc etc etc (I never did this b4). Was talking to a friend about it who urged me to call the plumbing company and see if it was covered or not. So I did - and was extremely relieved to learn that they said of course it is covered, we'll take care of it no problem! And they did.
About a year later I had the same problem though. Called them again. They replaced the elements under warranty again. This time they even used "low density" elements which is something I mentioned to the tech the previous year which he had never heard of up until then (they are supposed to in theory last longer/better in hard water).
About another 1-2 years later had the same problem again (I may actually be misremembering and need to check my calendar to see, this either happened again for the 3rd time of this was the 2nd time, I 4get). Whether it was the 2nd time or the 3rd time the tech told me that his dispatcher said to tell me about water softeners and offer to install one for me - I think he quoted me a price of like $4000. I said no thanks, I can't afford that, just replace the elements, which he did.
At that point other than this being a pain in the butt for me having to get the elements replaced like every year I was OK with the situation, seemed like I was getting my money's worth after all. Even if the unit might have some design flaw and not work well with hard water, or the elements were just bad/failing too quickly regardless of the water quality, as long as they continued to do the right thing and fix it when it needed fixing I could live with it.
Then everything soured today, another year later. I cannot get enough hot water to take a regular shower again. I called them and they agreed to came out. Was given no indication that there was any issue with this on their end not being covered. No one told me, or called me to say "we will not do this anymore, that it is not part of the warranty etc". Instead I had to juggle around my day and rush back at the appointed time for the pumbing appt window, wait for the tech to come etc.
And when he got here that poor guy was then left to give me the bad news that "his dispatcher" told him he was not allowed to work on this again for free & that they had to charge me this time. I asked him how much and he told me it would be $500-something. I was in shock. Told him I was going to call the company the next day & demand to talk to the #1 man in charge (who I assume will just tell me to eff off but who knows).
IMO this is what a warranty is for - it doesn't work right through no fault of mine. They already told me as much and fixed this several times. How can they back out now? If they won't cover this situation for customers with hard water shouldn't they be up front about that and mention it when they came out for the first install? The tech tested the water and knew it was hard IIRC.
Also note that the first time this happened I told the tech that I was getting ready to try to do this myself because I was afraid that they would not cover this, and he asked me if I had taken anything apart, had I started to do anything myself etc (I had not) because if I did that would "void the warranty". Yet now they refuse to fix it (without what I see as a $500+ bend over bribe) and tell me to fix it on my own accord - which WOULD void the warranty they DO have in the first place!
What are my rights here??? Should they not even have fixed this in the first place if I follow their logic and were just doing me a favor out of the goodness of their heart? Shouldn't this be covered by their "warranty", one which of course spells out NOTHING at all as far as exclusions for service goes?
I am contemplating my options now - complaining to the BetterBusinessBureau, any consumer rights agencies, taking them to court, posting as many bad reviews about them as I can etc. Or am I in the wrong? Can companies pick/choose what they cover vs not without telling the consumer in the first place???? What is standard here??? What are my options?? I am really really frustrated. Afaiac if they will not continue to fix this when it has this problem then I want my $$$$ back and they can come & remove it!!! If not covered then what the heck IS covered? What if the problem this time isn't even an element??? Yet they won't even look at anything??? I just don't get it.....
I bought a new hot water heater in May 2017. I paid a professional plumbing firm $1800 for it (at the time my back was to the wall & I needed it done fast, and they were the only plumber I could get who could do it right away, so I went along with that inflated charge, whereas other plumbers were quoting me prices of like $800 but unable to do it until the next week). The heater came with a 6 year "warranty" from the plumbing company (one with a fleet of trucks, many techs, etc and from asking around charge much more than any other firm in the area for any type of work that they do - plumbing, HVAC, electric, etc).
About a year later the unit started failing in that I could not get enough hot water to take a regular shower. We have very hard water here and I had the same issue with my previous water heater which required changing the elements twice during its 8 year lifespan (after 8 years that heater then started leaking from the bottom and was replaced with the one that I have now). Oddly the water heater I had b4 that one, which came with the house, lasted 12 years b4 that one started leaking and never had to have the elements replaced ever. All 3 units were/are Bradford White btw, same capacity models, but each one got bigger in footprint size from increased insulation etc I believe.
At the time of this current heater failing to heat long enough for the first time (again about 1 year after I bought it) I did not know if that would be covered by the warranty or not. I actually assumed that it would not be and was prepared to try to tackle it myself, thinking the company would just give an excuse like "we don't cover failures of elements due to hard water" under warranty.
So I investigated what I would need to do myself, what elements to buy, how to do the work etc etc etc (I never did this b4). Was talking to a friend about it who urged me to call the plumbing company and see if it was covered or not. So I did - and was extremely relieved to learn that they said of course it is covered, we'll take care of it no problem! And they did.
About a year later I had the same problem though. Called them again. They replaced the elements under warranty again. This time they even used "low density" elements which is something I mentioned to the tech the previous year which he had never heard of up until then (they are supposed to in theory last longer/better in hard water).
About another 1-2 years later had the same problem again (I may actually be misremembering and need to check my calendar to see, this either happened again for the 3rd time of this was the 2nd time, I 4get). Whether it was the 2nd time or the 3rd time the tech told me that his dispatcher said to tell me about water softeners and offer to install one for me - I think he quoted me a price of like $4000. I said no thanks, I can't afford that, just replace the elements, which he did.
At that point other than this being a pain in the butt for me having to get the elements replaced like every year I was OK with the situation, seemed like I was getting my money's worth after all. Even if the unit might have some design flaw and not work well with hard water, or the elements were just bad/failing too quickly regardless of the water quality, as long as they continued to do the right thing and fix it when it needed fixing I could live with it.
Then everything soured today, another year later. I cannot get enough hot water to take a regular shower again. I called them and they agreed to came out. Was given no indication that there was any issue with this on their end not being covered. No one told me, or called me to say "we will not do this anymore, that it is not part of the warranty etc". Instead I had to juggle around my day and rush back at the appointed time for the pumbing appt window, wait for the tech to come etc.
And when he got here that poor guy was then left to give me the bad news that "his dispatcher" told him he was not allowed to work on this again for free & that they had to charge me this time. I asked him how much and he told me it would be $500-something. I was in shock. Told him I was going to call the company the next day & demand to talk to the #1 man in charge (who I assume will just tell me to eff off but who knows).
IMO this is what a warranty is for - it doesn't work right through no fault of mine. They already told me as much and fixed this several times. How can they back out now? If they won't cover this situation for customers with hard water shouldn't they be up front about that and mention it when they came out for the first install? The tech tested the water and knew it was hard IIRC.
Also note that the first time this happened I told the tech that I was getting ready to try to do this myself because I was afraid that they would not cover this, and he asked me if I had taken anything apart, had I started to do anything myself etc (I had not) because if I did that would "void the warranty". Yet now they refuse to fix it (without what I see as a $500+ bend over bribe) and tell me to fix it on my own accord - which WOULD void the warranty they DO have in the first place!
What are my rights here??? Should they not even have fixed this in the first place if I follow their logic and were just doing me a favor out of the goodness of their heart? Shouldn't this be covered by their "warranty", one which of course spells out NOTHING at all as far as exclusions for service goes?
I am contemplating my options now - complaining to the BetterBusinessBureau, any consumer rights agencies, taking them to court, posting as many bad reviews about them as I can etc. Or am I in the wrong? Can companies pick/choose what they cover vs not without telling the consumer in the first place???? What is standard here??? What are my options?? I am really really frustrated. Afaiac if they will not continue to fix this when it has this problem then I want my $$$$ back and they can come & remove it!!! If not covered then what the heck IS covered? What if the problem this time isn't even an element??? Yet they won't even look at anything??? I just don't get it.....
