HVAC Home Warranty Dispute
consumer protection attorney Kentucky Jul 25, 2026
Location: Kentucky My HVAC has had issues since 6 months after I bought my home. I have a 2 year home warranty that ends in November. Recently, the air conditioning stopped working completely. I had an independent contractor come out and tell me a I had a leak in my system, which resulted in the pipes outside freezing over. The independent contractor told me it needed to be replaced. I called the warranty company and they sent someone out. The warranty contractor topped my 25 year old, non-retrofitted, R22 system with R422B refrigerant and left the premises in about 10 minutes. For those who aren’t familiar with HVAC, this is a big no-no and can cause a lot of issues, mixing refrigerant is prohibited. Thankfully I got the whole thing on camera. This was a month ago. I did not complain because I figured they knew something I didn’t, like maybe my system had been retrofit before I bought the place. Fast forward to last week, I call the warranty company again because my thermostat is always reading above the temperature it’s set to. I request a different contractor, they oblige. This new warranty contractor tells me the coil is dirty and he has to get authorization to work on it. I tell him the contractor from a month ago put in the R422B at which point he told me my system is NOT retrofit and that the issues I’m having are consistent with mixed refrigerant. I complain to the warranty company, I put everything in writing. I send them the video of the first warranty contractor mixing the refrigerant. The second contractor’s write-up supports me. The warranty company tells me that they must send the warranty contractor that mixed the refrigerant to “fix their mistake”. I refuse and tell them I want a different HVAC company— I’ll take the most recent company they sent over from their network. They tell me he won’t take the job for liability reasons. I respond that if they are denying me covered services because I won’t allow the contractor who mixed the refrigerant onto my property, I need that in writing. I tell them I will make a complaint with the KY DOI if they do not find a way to resolve the issue. What are my legal rights in this case? Can they make me use the shady contractor? How can I handle this to my benefit?
