My 70+-year-old retired father purchased a Generac whole-home generator approximately three years ago from Teck Electric in Dyer, Indiana. The generator's primary purpose was to ensure that his home would never be without power because my stepmother suffers from declining COPD, is currently in hospice care, and requires oxygen 24 hours a day.
When the severe storm on August 11 knocked out power to more than 90% of Northwest Indiana, including my father's home, the generator failed to turn on.
As a result, my stepmother's oxygen stopped.
My father and brother immediately began calling hospice and 911, but because the storm had just passed, they could not get through to anyone--not even 911. Realizing this was a life-or-death emergency, they decided they had to get her to the hospital themselves before she could no longer breathe.
When they went outside to get the car ready, they discovered that a large tree branch had fallen on top of both vehicles. They were able to remove the branch, despite damage to one of the cars, and rushed my stepmother to the hospital.
She remained in the hospital for 10 days because the power at my father's home was not restored until August 20.
In the meantime, my father and brother repeatedly attempted to contact Teck Electric for emergency service. They explained that the generator failure was literally a matter of life and death and that the unit was only about three years old.
After three days, Teck Electric finally returned my brother's call and told him to purchase a new battery from AutoZone. That did not solve the problem. After he called again, a technician was eventually sent to the home on Monday, August 17.
The technician reportedly determined that the generator needed a new part and said it was being ordered immediately, should arrive within 24 hours, and that they would get the generator running as soon as it arrived.
On August 19, hospice informed the family that my stepmother needed to be released from the hospital or risk being removed from hospice care. However, she could not safely return home because there was still no power and no working generator to operate her oxygen equipment. Hospice began making arrangements to move her to one of their facilities until power could be restored.
Fortunately, power returned on August 20, and she was able to return home on August 21.
As of today, August 25, the replacement part still has not arrived--or at least has not been installed--and the Generac generator remains out of service.
To make matters worse, the power went out again at approximately 2:00 a.m. on August 24 and remained off for about four hours. Thankfully, my family was prepared because they already knew they could not depend on the generator. They had a two-hour battery backup and an emergency oxygen tank provided by hospice.
My brother continues to call Teck Electric's main office and has received little to no response. He has also repeatedly called the 24-hour service line and left multiple messages without receiving return calls or updates.
Today, I personally went to Teck Electric's Dyer location to ask whether the part had arrived. I was told, "It should arrive today, but we have not received confirmation."
I understand that the recent storm created an overwhelming number of service calls and that many electrical companies are extremely busy. However, this situation involves a hospice patient who requires continuous oxygen to survive. This is not simply a matter of being inconvenienced without electricity.
If my father and brother had not been able to act as quickly as they did, my stepmother could have died. If my brother had not been there, my 70+-year-old father may not have been able to get her safely to the hospital on his own--especially after discovering that both vehicles had been damaged by a fallen tree branch.
The generator was purchased specifically to prevent this exact situation from happening. Its failure nearly had devastating consequences, and three years after its installation, it is still not operational more than two weeks after the initial outage.
I believe people in Northwest Indiana should know about this experience, particularly families who rely on backup generators to protect medically vulnerable loved ones.
Update: Sept. 3rd. received a call our part was finally in, as of Sept. 16th. still have not received a call from a repair personal to come out and fix the generator, no one is answering our calls, storms expected for the next few days, stepmom on anxiety meds hoping she wont suficate if they lose power. read more
