Imagine paying a few extra hundred dollars for an extended warranty. Then, you go to use it, but you're told it doesn't exist.
[WEB EXTRA: Warranty tips | Consumer Reports: Extended Warranty Buying Guide ]
That's exactly what happened to Marie Bernard.
"I would lie at bed at night and it would just go through my head, conversations with them, and I wouldn't sleep," said Bernard.
Frustrated and stressed, Bernard showed News 6 Investigator Eryka Washington the receipts for her brand new air conditioning unit that she and her son bought from Palm Bay Air and Heat back in April of 2014.
"We both split the air conditioning unit. The bill was $2,200. I put $1,100 on my credit card, he put $1,100 plus $420 for the warranty," said Bernard.
The warranty that was supposed to cover service for 10 years.
Bernard said she only had the Goodman AC unit a little over a year when it stopped working.
"All of the sudden one night, we had no air. It was really hot, 9 o'clock at night, and I called," said Bernard
Palm Bay Air and Heat came out, fixed it and gave Bernard a bill.
"He says that will be $170 and I said, ‘No, I don't have to pay anything. I paid for an extended warranty,'" said Bernard. "And he said, ‘I don't have any paperwork here.'
And I said, ‘You're the one who told me to pay an extra $420 and we'd have an extended warranty.'"
"Did you ever show Palm Bay Heat and Air that they charged you for that $420?" asked Washington.
"Yes, yes! I came out and showed it to him, and he said, ‘I don't have any paperwork here,'" said Bernard. "And I said, ‘That's not my problem.' But he wasn't leaving until we paid him."
It was then Marie checked her registration online, and under extended warranty it said "no coverage".
"I went, ‘Wait a minute, what do you mean no coverage? I paid for coverage.' This is the first time I really knew that I did not have coverage," said Bernard.
From July to October, Bernard said she tried to resolve this.
"I started calling and nobody was answering my phone, you know?" said Bernard. "They'd say, ‘She'll call you back,' never called me back. The time just gets muddled because I went back and forth so many times I was calling every other day."
Months later, still no refund or warranty.
"I was so frustrated, I didn't know what to do," said Bernard. "I said, ‘David, I'm going to call Channel 6 News.' He said, ‘Go for it, Mom.' ‘They always get results, they always get results from what I've seen on TV, I'm going to call them and see if they can help me.'"
And we did. After a phone call and visit to Palm Bay Air and Heat, a representative said they would refund Bernard the $170 she paid for that service.
She has now finally received a check in the mail.
"Did you think you weren't going to get $170 back?" said Washington.
"Oh yeah, I never expected to see that again, I really didn't, "said Bernard.
Washington also contacted Goodman AC. A Goodman company spokesperson confirmed Bernard does have an extended 10-year warranty and said she will get paperwork any day.