A friend of mine was telling me how his Home Warranty helped him pay for a new AC unit. So I started looking into adding such a warranty to my house. In researching companies on the web it seems that almost all of them have dozens and dozens of complaints and reports of them refusing to pay for repairs because of the "lack of maintenance records", esp for any big dollar items like AC. I got "on line" quotes from a couple of them and literally within a minute or two of my hitting the enter key with my info my phone was ringing.
Anyone on here have any experiences? .. either as a user or doing work for them?
Agree. Over the years, most of the stories here have not been good. Essentially, what you're paying for is insurance. Now most people need insurance for their house, because if it burns down, they can't cover the cost themselves. But if a dishwasher or over goes kaput, if you own a house you should be able to cover it yourself. Even a new furnace, if you can't cover it, you can likely finance it if necessary.
And then you're free to deal with these problems as YOU see fit. Maybe you want a new oven instead of fixing the old one, etc.
My friend bought a warranty policy for a used house that he bought.
They replaced the furnace (bad heat exchanger), 2 garage door openers and repaired 1 garage door.
He said it was worth the money, but not neccesarily the hassle. He had to fight them tooth and nail to get the jobs done. They claimed the furnace problem was pre-existing because the inspection report said the furnace was "serviceable" but noted that the homeowner should consider replacing it soon.
He and the inspector had to convince them that the inspector would never have passed the furnace if the heat exchanger had been bad at the time of the inspection.
The garage doors were another hassle since they paid the serviceman for one GDO and the repair of the other door, so that's all he fixed. When he called to find out about the other GDO, they had closed the claim and he had to fight them to reopen it so he could get paid for the other GDO.
I bought one once from a famous big-box electronic superstore. They screwed me on a claim. I will NEVER EVER buy another extended warranty of any sort.
Get your head straight man! Think about this for just a second. Are these companies in business to help you or to make profit from you?
Take the premium and put it in the bank. After a few years, you'll have enough money to repair or replace anything covered.
There are differences though, YOU get to choose the service company. YOU get to choose the replacement unit if needed. YOU get to choose the quality level you want. Do you want to make those choices or some adjuster on the phone that is looking to get a big bonus this year by saving his company money?
I've been a homeowner for 46 years. At today's rates, that means I'd have spent over $18,000 in premiums. What would my return be? Maybe $3000. Two years ago, I replaced my oil fired boiler. It was still working so the home warranty company would not pay me anything, but I'm saving enough on fuel to pay for it. I've had a couple of other appliance repairs out of pocket.
I said $3000 because that is about what I spent to replace a couple of appliances with top of the line stuff. The warranty company would either repair them or give me a low end product.
I cannot think of an investment that is worse than extended warranty or home coverage. Very few people come out ahead on them short term, but long term, still better to bank that money.
Numerous repairs on an AC? I have to wonder if it should be replaced or if a better paid repair tech would fix it right the first time.
I've been in this house for 31 years. I've had two service calls and replaced four worn or broken appliances (washer, dryer, dishwasher, garbage disposal) in that time. I'm still thousands of dollars ahead by "self insuring".
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