Mom called last week and told me she needed to have the air filter changed in her furnace.
I wondered why she wasn’t calling the HVAC company like she normally did. She told me the HVAC company was now charging her to change the air filter. Her maintenance agreement had lapsed and they wouldn’t change the air filters. She told me she considered purchasing another maintenance agreement, but since the warranty was no longer, she didn’t want to buy the maintenance agreement. I thought it was all the more reason to have a maintenance agreement, since the warranty had run out, but she didn’t think so. I told her I would send my husband to change the air filter, but she really needed to purchase another maintenance agreement. When my husband got to the house, he also suggested buying a maintenance agreement for the HVAC system. He told her we could help her negotiate another agreement that would cover the cost of the air filters, and someone come to the house and change them for her. She got upset because she thought my husband didn’t want to change her air filter, but then she realized he was trying to help her out. We spent the following Friday with her, while she had the HVAC technician to the house, talking about getting a new maintenance agreement for the HVAC system. She got her free air filters with the agreement, and the HVAC technician would come to the house and change them for her. She thanked us for our help and offered to take us out for dinner.