Nothing works anymore

Trouble with heat pumps: “We want to heat again”

"First the inverter was replaced, now it's the compressor - after only three years," Mario Vorhauser is surprised.

(Bild: zVg, Krone KREATIV)

The environmentally friendly new heating system should last for many years. But the compressor of a Flachgau homeowner's heat pump broke down after three years. The manufacturer left him hanging, the homeowner complains. He now has to heat with electricity at great expense and has been waiting for weeks for a repair.

Nothing has worked for around three weeks. Mario Vorhauser is furious. The heat pump installed when the house was built in 2021 is on strike. "We can now only keep our house warm with electricity. Since then, we've needed four times as much as usual. When will our heating finally be repaired?" asks the homeowner. He is outraged and says: "I've never experienced such poor customer service."

The well-known manufacturer has not contacted him at all since the breakdown, not even when he asks. "Nobody cares about it. We already reported three weeks ago that the pump was no longer working," says Vorhauser.

New compressor needed for 3400 euros
At that time, after a long wait on the customer hotline, a technician from the company did come. However, he replaced a part that was not the reason for the failure - the pump stopped working again the next day. "The replaced inverter wasn't the problem at all. Since then, I've been waiting for the promised refund of the costs of 1238 euros," explained the man from Flachgau. What he didn't realize: During the second technician visit, he was suddenly told that the compressor was broken and a new one was needed for 3400 euros.

Vorhauser turned to the customer service manager of the manufacturer's technicians because he did not want to accept this. His argument: "The compressor is supposed to last 50,000 operating hours. Ours only has 10,000. I don't see why I should have to pay for the replacement after such a short period of operation."The company is considered the Mercedes of heat pumps"I chose this company in 2021 because it is considered the Mercedes of heat pumps," Vorhauser continues to wait for a repair. The manufacturer told the "Krone" on Tuesday that it was investigating the matter thoroughly. They are taking it very seriously.