TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) – An 80-year-old Toledo woman who went nearly a week without heat in freezing temperatures has now repaired her furnace.

The problem arose after a warranty company she had worked with for two decades initially failed to meet her needs.

The fix came from members of the Toledo community and the warranty company apologizes.

“Last week I was pretty depressed, I was really anxious about not having heat,” Mary Leiter said.

Now things are looking up for Leiter, just hours after 13 Action News aired Leiter’s story, a Local 50 union member reached out to help.

“Today someone came to fix the oven, I’m up and running, it’s comfortable here, I can see a light at the end of the tunnel, things aren’t so dark,” Leiter said.

Leiter had problems with Oncourse Home Solutions returning his calls and responding to his complaints.

On Saturday, a regional director traveled several hours to apologize to Leiter and try to rectify the situation.

“I felt like it was really, really sincere and it made me feel a little less hostile toward the warranty company,” she said.

In a statement, Oncourse Home Solutions apologized:

“At Oncourse Home Solutions, we are committed to serving nearly 2 million customers with excellence and providing them with peace of mind knowing we will be there when they need us. In this case, we failed to meet our high standards and we sincerely apologize to Ms. Leiter. Our management team is implementing enhanced controls and customer support measures to ensure customers receive the high level of service they deserve. We feel extreme gratitude to Ms. Leiter’s church, her caregiver, and the Good Samaritan who stepped in to help her during her difficult times. We are grateful that Ms. Leiter is giving us a chance to put things right. In addition to replacing his furnace, we promised to upgrade other appliances in his home…to ensure his home is fully functional and comfortable,” said Phil Edens, Chief Customer Officer.

“Which means I won’t have any problems with it for a few years to come and it’s definitely a big load on my mind,” Leiter said.

For now, life has returned to normal for her and she says she’s grateful for the outpouring of support.

“I feel really rejuvenated learning how many kind, generous, sympathetic people there are,” Leiter said.

Including his nurse Cate, who never gave up.

“She was going to push people’s buttons until we got something and that support was a big help to me because someone was paying attention, you know,” Leiter said.

Toledo 2J Supply Company learned of its history and donated the appropriate part. The price tag would have cost nearly $300.

In a statement, Assistant Branch Manager Nick Hammer said in part:

“It’s really dangerous and no one should be left without heat. We didn’t hesitate to help when we heard the story. I was grateful and blessed to be able to lend a helping hand to bring warmth back to him.

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