(OT) People just don't respect home warranty plans

[The Warranty Stud]

I used to work for a home warranty company and it was amazing the amount of complaints that would come in, as if homeowners were expecting their $400 premium investment to turn into a pot of gold somehow.

Never mind that a disturbing proportion of homeowners are too busy to read and understand the terms and conditions of the policy, or they get sucked into dealing with dishonest real estate agents who are too busy to explain that "Well, you have to pay additional amount for the well pump coverage".

Of course, some of the contractors are bottom-feeders as well, but I don't think the sampling of contractors affiliated with any warranty company is significantly different from a typical sampling of contractors from the Yellow Pages.

Now home warranty plans are greatly helped by the wave of McMansion Developments in which the HVAC goes out within 5-6 months of each other on the whole entire block (say, 10 years after building). Wow, what whopping good equipment that was installed in the first place, probably some crap like Janitrol or Carrier.

And then even a few (thankfully not a majority) homeowners expect their bottom-of-the-barrel Caloric range to be replaced with Viking equipment! Or a Maytag refrigerator with a Subzero!

And then I loved the H/O's who shell out $800,000 for some 2K square foot disaster-waiting-to-happen and then get all ancy because they can't afford a new furnace. WELL IF YOU CAN'T AFFORD A NEW FURNACE THEN YOU CAN'T AFFORD AN $800,000 McMoneypit to begin with.

But then I also dug the occasional homeowner who had a Renewal policy (!) and then asks some really ignorant questions that he/she should have figured out 15 months ago when he/she first closed and got the warranty policy, and then mouths off, "Oh these home warranties are shit, I don't even know why I renewed." Well, DUH, why DID you renew?

Cheers, The Warranty Stud

[Malcolm Hoar]

Most home buyers don't even see the terms and conditions until well after closing when the home warranty company gets around to mailing them out.

Most home buyers are led into paying for the home warranty plan and many think it's just another one of those mandatory taxes and fees that gets tacked on as part of the escrow process.

Home warranty plans exist to protect the seller, realtors, home inspector, escrow agent and all the other hangers on, from getting dragged into a dispute in the event an appliance breaks shortly after closing.

Smart buyers insist that the seller pays for the plan. Of course, smart sellers build the cost into the selling price. So generally, the buyer pays one way or the other, and then expects service per all of the marketing hype and absent the actual agreement.

Home warranty companies, realtors and others are pretty happy with the status quo so nothing much is likely to change.

[Joseph Meehan]

Of course they do, that is exactly what they were lead to believe by the salesmen who are on commission and likely are getting more of that $400 than the home owner will ever see back.

[hallerb]

Lots of warranty companies are rip offs, they tend to be one time purchases by design so the company has no long term interest in customer satisisfaction, just PROFIT:(

I sold a home a couple years ago and bought the warranty for the new owner, to be nice and help sell house.

Although nearly every appliance was BRAND NEW except the urnace which I had serviced.

My experience was that everyone involved in home selling was a JERK, espically the home inspecors.

[RayV]

So why don't you work there anymore?

Weren't able convince the buyer at the end of the first year that they had to pay the renewal fee? Didn't try hard enough ruin the buyers credit rating with an unpaid contract they never saw or signed?

I guess your now busy selling used cars that were only driven by little old ladies to church...

Oh yeah, blow me.

[tjab]

No, they were expecting your company to provide the service they contracted to provide.

[Noozer]

No... They expect jackasses like you to do your job and repair problems when they happen.

I can hear my neighbours jetted tub two doors down. It's not installed to spec. Yet for some reason the warranty company thinks it's fine, even after two plumbers identified a whole whack of problems with the installation.

If folks didn't have to fight tooth and nail for even the simplest issues, you might have a leg to stand on.

[Daedalus]

That and if he hadn't cut off both his legs with a circular saw.

Jade

[Steve Barker]

crossposting eliminated.

Even though I think the OP was a troll (he hasn't replied back) I must add my comment.

I buy an extended warranty on any item I purchase. (within reason) I ALWAYS get my premium back. I would not purchase it if I didn't intend to use it. I've only purchased 2 printers in my computing career. I've owned 7 different ones. I've only purchased ONE digital camera. I've owned 3. I bought an '03 Explorer in Sept. '04. I've already had repairs performed that cost WAY over the premium price of the extended warranty. And by the time it expires it will have had the transmission replaced also. Thanks to ford on that one. They made it where I can't check the fluid. I always purchase road hazard on my tires for $3. I always have at least one in 4 replaced under that coverage. So, it would be foolish to badmouth people who want to turn their "$400 premium investment to turn into a pot of gold". It would be ignorant of those people NOT to want to take advantage of it.

[Zephyr]

I was one of the "lucky" ones, I got a home warranty when I moved in from the seller, I discovered a leaky pipe, the first plumbing company that was sent out to look at it and decided not to fix it because they though it would involve tearing out hardwood floor. They had the insurance company send me a check to buy out the issue, and leave me with the problem. I got sent 400 bucks and told, sorry, can't help you. Now, here is where the lucky part comes in. The first company to look at the leak did bother realizing that they could access the leak thru the wall in the sunken den on the other side of the wall. I fixed the leak with some pvc joint compound and a $2 elbow fitting. Took me 1 1/2 hrs to put everything back together including the drywall.

I think I made out okay.

But really the home warranties are crap, if you get anything out of them its the lowest quality stuff, and the contractors that work for them only do so because they can't develop a reputation of quality on their own to continue to find work. Case in point the plumbing guy that came to my house.

Dave

[Chris Friesen]

You're the exception, then. Stores love to push extended warranties on electronics because the vast majority of issues occur either during the manufacturer's warranty or else after the extended warranty runs out.

Also, a lot of extended warranties have fine print that allows them to jerk the consumer around.

I would probably get an extended warranty on a laptop due to the sheer abuse that they take, but anything else I wouldn't bother.

Chris

[Eigenvector]

Well I just bought my first home in March, last year that is, and I can tell you that in my case the home warranty just kind of appeared there with the paperwork along with a bill for it. I honestly thought it was part of the closing costs and wrote a check.

Having been duped for a year when I got the renewal in December I called them up and canceled - seemed like the most natural thing in the world for the nice lady on the other end of the line. Obviously they are exactly what you say - one shot deals for new home suckers.

[Bob Pietrangelo]

When I first started in this business, I got started doing work with a couple of warranty companies. The first one was with the local utility company. All they were worried about was getting the customer taken care of no matter what. They then farmed out the warranty to a true insurance company. Boy were things different. Thye wanted to decline as many repairs as possible, all kinds of small print. Then I tried a real estate warrany company. I did 2 jobs for them and then told them no more. They wanted bandaids on everything we did. They paid paupers wages to the contractors, they would make customers wait for hours or days for approvals, and billed them like $50 to boot. Seing it from the contractors end of the equation, they are snakes. It is a crap shoot, they want your money hoping nothing will break and if it does they do everything they can to cut corners or decline repairs, and you are hoping things will break under warranty hoping they will get replaced or back to in condition of usefullness.

My $.02