Couple Misled By Warranty Mix-Up

Jan. 26 - KGO (KGO) -- A lot of us have warranties for items in our homes, but how often and how closely have you looked at those warranties? 7 On Your Side takes a look at a warranty mix-up a Bay Area couple claims was designed to mislead them.

Justin and Angela Wooster bought a water heater back in 1999 and didn't give it much thought until last year when it stopped working. A few years earlier, they say they received a yellow sticker in the mail with emergency shutdown instructions.

Justin Wooster, Consumer: "The wording on the sticker said, 'Place this over our old sticker,' which led me to believe that it was from the company that had installed our previous water heater."

They called the number on the sticker, but when the repair man arrived, the Woosters told him they couldn't find their warranty.

Justin Wooster: "'We'll go ahead and install it, just pay us the full amount and as soon as you can produce that 10-year warranty we'll refund your money.'"

But when they finally did find the warranty, it was from a different company. The yellow sticker they received and stuck over the original sticker was actually an ad from a Southern California based company.

John Gilroy, President, Just Water Heaters: "They had a sticker on their water heater just like the ones that we've been mailing for years to our customers."

John Gilroy runs Just Water Heaters, the Bay Area company that handled the Woosters original installation. He says he's hearing from his other customers about this confusion.

John Gilroy: "They say, 'Did you change your name?' because they got things in the mail that looks like us and they were customers of ours for years. We tell them, 'No, it's just somebody who's advertising and trying to look like us.'"

Just Water Heaters sued the other company called Affordable Water Heaters and recently settled. But Gilroy says the problem persists and he believes it's no coincidence the yellow sticker the Woosters got looks like his.

John Gilroy: "And he made it bigger so it fits over our old sticker. It looks like somebody took advantage of our successes."

We called the president of Affordable Water Heaters and he spoke with us for a while, then hung up the phone. However, several days later the Woosters were contacted and they will be receiving a refund.

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