Sep. 13--PROBLEM: Customer says warranty company wouldn't replace air conditioner

SOLUTION: After call from a Palm Beach Post reporter, he received a $3,495 check for a new unit.

Palm Beach Gardens resident Fred Crissman signed up for ApplianceGard, a service warranty program, for his central air conditioning, thinking $18 a month would be well worth it should his 10-year-old system break.

Like other Florida Power & Light Co. customers, Crissman found out about the warranty service from a brochure in his electric bill.

"It covers the cost to repair or replace your air conditioner," the ApplianceGard brochure states. A chart shows repair coverage from $75 to $1,250 and replacement from $1,500 to $5,000. A $50 service fee is required.

Crissman enrolled in early 2009 and paid the fee each month. FPL has 4.5 million customer accounts, 2,763 of which are enrolled in ApplianceGard. The utility's subsidiary, FPL Energy Services, gets a fee for billing the service.

When his air conditioner stopped working July 21, Crissman called an ApplianceGard customer service representative at a call center in Oklahoma. The contact was anything but satisfactory.

"They told me, 'There is no service provider in your area,'" Crissman said in mid-August. "My AC went bad, and they won't pay. It's a scam."

Close to 50 complaints have been lodged against the warranty provider with Florida agencies. The most frequent complaint was that claims were denied.

Although an ApplianceGard representative said Preferred Air Conditioning in West Palm Beach was contacted, a Preferred spokeswoman said the company's records do not indicate any contact.

Crissman said ApplianceGard told him to find an AC company on his own, have his unit repaired, and fax the bills to ApplianceGard. After Reynolds Air Conditioning in Jupiter said the system was beyond repair, Crissman purchased a new system for $3,495. He repeatedly faxed the bill to ApplianceGard, but ApplianceGard employees told him the bills were not received.

He turned to FPL.

And hung up after being kept on hold for 18 minutes and 12 minutes. Then, Crissman contacted The Palm Beach Post for help.

After inquiries from The Post, FPL Energy Services officials contacted Assurant, and Crissman received a check Aug. 27 from Assurant Solutions for $3,495.

Crissman was very pleased, though he declined to be photographed. But it's not the service most customers would get.

Under the terms of the contract, he would have been entitled to either zero, if the unit, like most older units, had rust or corrosion, or at most, a $500 payment.