Post Your Problems / Lawrence Walsh: It takes phone calls, emails to resolve Brookline couple's water woes

Amanda and Dylan Hower experienced freezing pipes and low water pressure for an entire week in their Brookline home earlier this month.

They asked a plumber and a representative of the Pennsylvania American Water Co. to come to the house to assess the problem.

Each suggested that we may have a clog/crack in our service line from the main [line] to our house, said Mrs. Hower, 27, a housing specialist for the Pittsburgh Housing Authority.

Because theyre enrolled in a gas line and waterline protection plan from Equitable Gas Co.s HomeWorks program, they called Equitable, relayed what the professionals had told them, emphasized that no work had been done and asked what would be covered by their plan.

When no one responded after two days, Mr. Hower called again. The 27-year-old software engineer for Maya Design couldnt believe what happened next.

A HomeWorks representative said their claim wasnt covered because HomeWorks couldnt confirm that the [service] line was broken or leaking.

My husband could not get any other information from him and didnt catch his name because he was rudely trying to disconnect the call as soon as he could, Mrs. Hower said. [He] did not even explain what led [HomeWorks] to deny the claim.

She believes HomeWorks contacted the water company and accepted as fact whatever it was told without any investigation on its part.

That didnt sit well with Mrs. Hower.

In our attempts to contact [the water company] over six days, they didnt even know that we were in their service area, kept saying there was a water main break when there wasnt and gave us other misinformation, she said.

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Post Your Problems / Lawrence Walsh: It takes phone calls, emails to resolve Brookline couple's water woes