Warranty companies deny AC claims in July heat by citing 'pre-existing conditions'

When a homeowner's AC fails in July, home warranty companies routinely deny the claim by having a technician spend 15 minutes on-site, then declaring the compressor failure a 'pre-existing condition' -- even if the system worked fine for months after the policy started. This matters because the homeowner is now stuck paying $4,000-$8,000 out-of-pocket for HVAC replacement during a heat emergency, which is the exact catastrophe they bought the warranty to prevent. The practice persists because 'pre-existing condition' is defined so broadly in contracts that virtually any wear-related failure can be retroactively classified as pre-existing, and there is no independent adjudication body to challenge the warranty company's in-house diagnosis.