WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — There are certainly worse things in life than not having hot water. The list is very long when you think about it, but when you are about to take a cold shower, the list gets a bit shorter.
Mike and Belinda Briggs found out what it is like to go without hot water. Their tankless hot water system was not heating the water like it usually did, and they heard a rumble when turning on the hot water in the bathroom.
“Trying to wash your hair in the kitchen sink. I am not very tall, so that was a problem trying to get into the kitchen sink to wash my hair,” Belinda Briggs said.
The couple contacted their warranty company which sent out a technician. The issue had escalated, and the technician thought the best solution was to replace the unit.
“He went downstairs to the crawlspace, and in 30 minutes, there was a knock at the door, and he said that it has gotten worse - there is now water filling the gas lines,” Mike Briggs said.
They called the warranty company, but the company would only agree to cover repairs to the unit - not replace it. The technician ordered the parts to repair and set a date to come back to try and fix it. However, the parts wouldn't be here for at least two weeks.
“The longer it took for the parts to arrive, what little hot water we had, started to stop,” Belinda Briggs said.
A few days later, there was no hot water at all. Mike called the warranty company and the repair company about expediting the repairs.
“We just felt like we were making multiple phone calls and no one cared. They just did not care that we had no hot water,” Belinda Briggs said.
The news would get worse in the next few days. The parts needed to repair the system were on backorder and would not arrive for two more weeks.
The couple reached out to News 2 after being told they would be without hot water for another two weeks at a minimum.
“We didn’t know what else to do,” Belinda Briggs said.
Our Call for Action contacted the warranty company and informed them we are looking into the matter. A representative told us they would research the case and call us back. It did not take long before the warranty company agreed to replace the system rather than have the Briggs family wait any longer for the parts to repair the unit.
“We needed an advocate for us to get things moving forward,” Belinda Briggs said. “I just want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
They installed the new hot water system a day later, and Mike and Belinda tell us it is working well.