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When I purchased my house as a short sale, I inherited a home warranty. I would not have purchased this myself, but I received it as a gift. What the heck! I figured I would check it out. The original policy cost $365 and I paid $105 to upgrade it to include my refrigerator, washer, and dryer. Therefore, the one year cost of the warranty was $470. (Not all warranties are worth buying).
When I got my warranty paperwork, it came as a one page document that was covered on both sides with the smallest print permissible on a legal document with more exceptions than inclusions. Bad sign. I discovered one of the rules of this warranty is that I will pay $55 for each type of service call (plumber, electrician, appliance repair, etc.) So, what happened when I called the service after discovering an inch of water under my kitchen sink?
The GOOD news:
- I was able to reach a REAL person at the warranty company at 1:00 am. They gave me a claim number and a contractor to call. But, I couldn’t call to make an appointment until later in the morning.
- Besides the leaking kitchen sink, I had several small items that needed plumbing attention. I put them all on the claim so that the contractor could look at every one. Each problem must be listed in order for the repairman to take care of it. You can not say to the repairman, “Oh, by the way, this also needs to be looked at.”It has to be on the list.
- I was able to get two leaky toilets and a stubborn faucet attended to, small jobs that my husband could have done (love that Handy Hubby), but it was nice to have someone else do it and pay for the parts.
The BAD news:
- Any kind of filter system was NOT covered. The plumber could not TOUCH anything having to do with the filter system. I mean, really, he was not allowed to touch it.
- The plumber said he could not fix my faucet. He tightened it up, but said it would not hold. He said it was installed wrong, but because the filter system was part of the installation, there was nothing he could do about it.
- My warranty covered replacement with a “Chrome Builders Standard” faucet. What is that? It’s a junky plastic faucet that was not long enough to fit my kitchen sink.
- Since I didn’t want their faucet, I could buy my own faucet and they would replace it for $165. WHAT??? Yep, you heard right. If I didn’t want their faucet (which was unworkable) I had to buy my own and then pay $165 to have them install it.
- The warranty company said that they would give me a $100 cash-out if I wanted to buy my own faucet and pay to have it installed. I pointed out that it was going to cost me $165 just to install the faucet.
- When I inquired if using cash-out would void my warranty, a rep told me it would not AS LONG AS I used a licensed contractor and sent them proof of installation. Otherwise, my faucet would become an exclusion on my contract. This means that if my Handy Hubby changes the faucet (cost = $0), then my faucet is no longer covered. I have to pay $165 to a contractor to install my faucet for it to be covered.
So, dear readers, what do I do? What have you done with warranties gone wrong? Help me figure this one out.
Welcome to Bargain Babe! I’m Mara, and I’m so glad you’re here. I am an obsessive bargain hunter and penny pincher, and I am determined to live a full life without EVER paying full price. 
We got a home warranty as a gift from our realtor. It was part of our agreement upon hiring her.
Our company has had it’s ups and downs. We’ve done the back and forth thing a few times when it comes to what they’ll cover and what they won’t, but all in all, I’d say when you move into a home that is only new to you, having the warranty is very helpful. We got a new water heater and a new furnace from the home warranty company. Yes we had to pay for a few parts here and there and yes, they’re not top of the line products, but we didn’t have to spend $1000 each time to get things dealt with.
Our policy is up next month and we will not be renewing with that company (too much ire with their customer service), but we do have another company in mind.
If you’ve been in your home for a while and it was not built in the 1950s like ours was, most likely it is not something you’ll need. We’re pretty sure our furnace was original and the water heater was 20+ years old.
I beg to differ with the previous two opinions. I do live in a home built in the 1950s and I have lived here for 28 years. However, we buy the warranty every year, pay extra for the pool and equipment, washer, dryer, refrigerator and the second kitchen we have. They will not cover the refrigerator in the garage.
As with everything else you need to work the system and yes, companies are different. We have found one that is easy to work with and have had great results.
Granted, it doesn’t pay for itself every year but some years it pays for a few years worth of coverage.
Over the years we’ve gotten a new furnace, water heater, pool pump, pool heater, refrigerator, microwave, multiple pressure valves, drain clean outs, and various other leaks and plumbing problems.
Another feature is the building code upgrades. Our fire alarms were hard wired in and done to code. But when they came out and saw that they were not to today’s code, they upgraded them.
We also have a rental property and wouldn’t go without this policy. It’s so easy when the renter calls with a problem we just call the warranty co. and they schedule with the renter and that’s that.
Ok, what about the warranties offered through utility companies that cover appliances, furnace, water heater? I’ve always wondered about these. Our water heater is at least 10 yrs old, Not sure how old the furnace is – not original to the 80 yr old house and has a AC unit connected to it. But, our stove, W&D are brand new, stove/microwave 3-5 yrs old. Dishwasher will need replacement and fridge is about 10 yrs old. My main reason for replacing the kitchen appliances would be energy efficiency and just not working well. Not sure that’s really covered. Definintely the furnace & water heater & AC unit would be worth it….but seems like we need to first pay for the other items. Hmmm….I may need to check into this more. Has anyone else used these plans?
Bobbi – I don’t think your plan is worth it! Good grief – what a pain! And to items w/ junk AND pay for installation?! Hiring a plumber or having your DH install it would be less than the cost of the warranty, seems to me.
What about roadservice coverage. We have AllState Motor Club and last month locked our keys in the car – 30 min before we had to catch a train out of town! Cost us $50 to have a locksmith come out….but we’ve paid nearly $400 over the last 3 yrs for the service. I called and got the rate reduced almost in half for the upcoming year ($100) and since our car is 10 yrs old, we decided to keep it mainly for the disablement coverage.
In our experience the warranty company’s list of approved contractors are sub par. No one would actually FIX anything. It’s like paying for a band-aid that will almost assuredly FAIL. We had problems with our drains from the get go. We could get approved for a snake but the power clean they really needed was not included. Needless to say we continually had problems with drains backing up until we finally footed the bill to have the drains power cleaned ourselves and we haven’t had a problem since. Home warranties are like dental insurance – you pay a lot for not much coverage.
I, too, live in a house built in the ’50s. Over the 33+ years we’ve been in the house, we’ve had to replace the water heater once, the D/W once (free from a friend, paid only for the plumber to install it), and a few other rather minor things. However, the total bill to replace rusted out sewer pipes under the house, as well as to reroute the connector pipes around tree roots, cost a king’s ransom. Even so, that expense would not have been covered by any insurance. I’ve only heard negative things about any warranty insurance, and decided some time ago not to buy it.
we’ve kept the policy for almost 16 years and feel it is worth it….not having a handy hubby, it keeps peace in the house and we’ve had good luck getting electrical fixed, faucets, ant spraying yearly, and a new water heater…yes, a few times something wasn’t covered but it’s usually paid for itself and works for us!
When I bought my house, I had flooding in my basement which they would not cover, so I cancelled it. However, if you are buying a new house, I’d probably still buy one. Ours was through American Home Warranty and I’ve seen more complaints on them than any other company. Perhaps there are other better companies around? But here’s what I’d also do: there’s an expensive repair company here that does plumbing, electrical, and heating. I’d sign up for their yearly membership plan, which is $400 and let THEM inspect the house before I buy it, which is part of the yearly plan. Since they repair these things, they know what goes wrong — they noticed things in my house that the home inspector missed.
As far as the warranties offered by the utility companies, I suspect they are a wash. They wouldn’t be offering them if they weren’t making money on them.
Barbara,
Your company sounds like a godsend. What’s the name of it? And what city is it in?
Thanks!