Raleigh homeowner who 'bought' AC units learns lesson in reading the fine print

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- With temperatures sizzling, many North Carolina residents are relying on their HVAC units to escape the heat.

When Anna Retzlaff and her husband's air conditioning unit went out in their Raleigh home in July of 2024, they invested in two new HVAC units. Retzlaff said they called Service Experts of Raleigh, and the plan they were offered sounded appealing.

"No money down, preventative maintenance, all of these, like, pros of the program," Retzlaff said. "You can make payments. You don't have to pay $20,000 up front."

The Retzlaffs signed a contract to make monthly payments on their two new units. According to the contract, it's called the Service Experts Advantage Program.

"It was basically, like, laid out to us as it's like, it's like a car payment. It's like a credit-card payment," Retzlaff said, "You know, you end up paying a little bit more over time, but then it avoids the upfront costs."

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The Retzlaffs made payments for the last year under the terms of the program, and she said she never thought anything of it, until they listed their home for sale, and reached out to get a payoff for the two units.

"They told my husband, I think $31,000, they told me $35,000, and they said 'it could go up. It could go down. We don't really know," Retzlaff recalled.

She said she didn't understand why the payoff was so much.

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"I thought, you know, $26,000, we paid ($5,000) or $6,000 already. We were anticipating about $18,000 to $20,000 left for payoff," she said. But the response she got was: "'Oh well, it's in such and such page of your contract.'"

After having the contract emailed to her, Retzlaff saw that her husband had signed the "Advantage Program" agreement. Looking through the contract, Retzlaff said she was shocked to learn she had been leasing her two HVAC units for the past year and never actually owned them.

Retzlaff claimed that this was never explained during the initial installation.

"The word lease was never used," she said.

Retzlaff filed a dispute with Service Experts regarding a payoff. She later received an email explaining that it's a lease-to-service agreement for the installed equipment. They explained, and it is also in the contract, that the lease is for 120 months, which is 10 years. The program automatically continues month to month unless terminated, and early termination comes with a fee. Routine maintenance, repairs, and part replacements are included in the agreement. Retzlaff admitted that she did not read through the entire agreement when the units were installed.

The ABC11 Troubleshooter spoke to a Service Expert representative, who provided this statement: "We take Mr. and Mrs. Retzlaff's concerns very seriously since Service Experts' goal is to completely satisfy our customers' needs. We are working directly with Mr. and Mrs. Retzlaff to address their concerns and expect to resolve this matter soon."

Retzlaff said she has learned her lesson of always reading and fully understanding contracts before signing off on them.

"Just be on the lookout. Read the fine print and ask to see the entire contract before you sign it on an iPad," she said.

Retzlaff said Service Experts has given her a lower payout than she was originally offered, giving her full credit for her payments already made. She is currently deciding what to do next. Again, the key takeaway is to always read the fine print before signing any contract.