Action News Troubleshooters: Fight for air conditioner repair

It seems appliances break down just when you're about to use them. That's what happened to the air conditioner at the home of 95-year-old Dorothy Papst just before the summer season.

Papst has a fighting spirit but when her air conditioner stopped working she didn't know where to turn.

"I couldn't breathe," Pabst said.

She put her daughter, Kathleen Meyers, on the front line of what turned into an epic battle with a big box store.

"It was frustrating. It was the most frustrating. I would get on the phone and my decibel level would go higher and I would have to leave the room where my mother was, and go to a different floor, close the door, and scream my head off," Meyers said.

Meyers said the store kept missing their repair appointments.

"Four times and they never called me to say they weren't coming," she said.

That despite the fact that the family has had a master service agreement with the retailer since 1962 that covers all appliances.

"Well, in the meantime, meanwhile Father's Day weekend came up and there was a heat wave with mother not breathing and Bill having problems and mother not wanting to go anywhere without Bill we had to go to a hotel," she said.

Meyers dealt with all this for about a month until finally, she turned to the Action News Troubleshooters and our volunteer Gerri.

"Twenty-nine hours later, Gerri had it fixed," she said. "The technician arrived at 10:24 asked where the part was. I said I don't have the part because the part never got there, so his supervisor went down to South Philly and picked up another compressor. And by on the 22nd, I was finished. 29 hours after Gerri called me."

And not only did Pabst's air conditioning get fixed the family also got a check for more than $1200 to cover their hotel stay and other expenses!

When Meyers was asked what she thought about the Troubleshooters she said, "I think they're wonderful. I think they are fabulous absolutely fabulous."