The repair failed. Here's how the failure becomes an asset.

The first 24 hours

1. Document the failure returning: temperature reading, photo, the time — the same evidence kit as an occurrence log.
2. Report it the same day, in the portal, in writing: "The repair of [date] has failed; the same symptom returned on [date] at [time]." Same-issue framing, dated, on the record.
3. Ask the counting question: "Confirm this is claim activity on the same issue, and confirm my current covered-repair count for this issue." Asked after every visit, the answers build your official count.
4. Note the repair's own coverage: ask what workmanship/parts coverage the repair itself carries and its length, and get the answer in the visit record — failed-repair arguments later stand on it.

What the failure does to your math

At Home Depot, a failed repair is another service repair on the same issue: with one more failure needed, you are at the replacement line. At Lowe's, a repair that was performed counts — what doesn't count is a visit where nothing was done; a performed-but-failed repair is not a "no fault found" visit, and if a summary ever classifies it as one, dispute that classification in writing with your failure documentation attached. Run your updated numbers in the checker after every visit.

The tone that works

Not outrage — record. The message that moves desks reads like a docket entry: dates, claim number, the repair, the failure, the count question. Anger is understandable and free to feel; the paper should read like a court clerk wrote it.