Choice Home Warranty

Defective Product or Warranty for $1,600.00

12th of Sep, 2011 by User23799

We purchased the "Total Plan" home warranty for our new home on 7/26/11. We closed on our home 8/25/11 after a thorough home inspection was completed in which many potential problems were identified and repaired before the sale was complete. The air conditioning unit was inspected and was working properly at the time. No concerns were identified by the home inspector. The unit was also working well when we moved in our new home on 8/31/2011. On 9/10/11 (6 weeks after the warranty was purchased) the unit stopped cooling our home. We immediatly notified Choice Home Warranty thinking "this is why we purchased a complete home warranty (just in case something like this happens)". On 9/12/11 a service tech was sent to our home and found the compressor on the 12 yr old unit had failed. After filing the claim with the warranty company and no response. On 9/13/11 I called Choice Home Warranty and was transferred several times. After a long period of holding, I was told that my claim would not be paid. They said it was determined that the loss must have been due to a pre-existing condition since my policy had only been in effect for few of weeks. I ask to speak to a supervisor. I was told that the warranty company had a department that analyzes the possible cause of each loss and it was determined that a compressor on an airconditioning unit does not fail in such a short period of time. I explained the home inspection and the fact that the unit had been operating perfectly until the day of the claim. I was told there was no coverage under my policy and to refer to my contact under the 'Limits of Liability' section. I asked if there was anyone else i could speak to to appeal the decision and was told that my only recourse was to provide the 12 years of maintenance records for the unit to prove it had been serviced according to the manufactureres recommended guidelines for service and the decision could then be re-considered. I, of course, just purchased the home a month earlier and could not provide these records. Even more troubling, after speaking to the local air conditioning repair company that was sent to my home by Choice Home Warranty, I was told that they did work for several home warranty companies had only been contracting with Choice Home Warranty for a short period of time. I was the 7th claim that they had filed with Choice and the 7th denial to provide coverage under this warranty plan. The cost of the new compressor for our a/c unit was $1600.00 which we paid and now have a cool home again. We want other consumers to know of our story and beware of this home warranty scam. We had another home warranty company for 10+ years on our prior home and had several claims during that time with absolutely no complaints. Do not make Choice Home Warranty your "choice" when selecting a home repair warranty.

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Comments

99 days ago by Smiller

CHOICE HOME WARRAMTY WILL NOT PAY LEGITIMATE CLAIMS...BEWARE!!!
I filed a claim for my air conditioning unit on January 4, 2011 via an online claim report on Choice Home Warranty’s website, www.choicehomewarranty.com. (See Exhibit 1) I received an email giving the name of a company named Famous A/C & Heat. When I called, their phone number had been disconnected. I called Choice Home Warranty to let your company know this information. This is not the first time this has happened when filing a claim with Choice Home Warranty. I was assigned another company, Higher Standard A/C & Heat, and I made an appointment for them to check my unit on January 5, 2012 (See Exhibit 2) that came out and determined my unit was bad and needed to be replaced. The contractor indicated that he would contact Choice Home Warranty and give them pricing on a new unit.
After not hearing a word from Choice Home Warranty for several days after the service call, I received a call on January 9, 2012 asking me if the repair was done to my satisfaction. This was not the first time for a break in communication at your company either. I indicated that the repair company told me they were waiting on approval from Choice Home Warranty and I asked the representative to please find out what is going on with my account and contact me back.
I received a call later in the day on January 9, 2012 from the authorizations department at Choice Home Warranty telling me they could not cover my AC unit because I did not submit a maintenance report on my A/C unit. I was never requested to send this. When was Choice Home Warranty going to ask me for this? When the repairman called me wanting to know status? I took a day and searched through that years receipt and found a maintenance record that Choice Home Warranty had requested which I emailed to a supervisor in the authorizations department, a Jonathan Busby (See Exhibit 3). Mr. Busby indicated on the telephone conversation that it would take an hour or two after receiving the form to approve the repair. No response whatsoever. I received no response from a supervisor.
I made yet another call to your offices the following day, January 10, 2012 requesting status on my approval to have my A/C replaced. I was told by Mr. Busby that one (1) receipt was not enough, that I would be required to have another receipt. Choice Home Warranty required 2 per year. My contract DOES NOT indicate such a requirement. I asked Mr. Busby why I had to call and wait on hold for so long to be told this additional requirement and why he did not contact me via phone or replying to the email I had sent him the day prior. No response.
I took the rest of the day and located another invoice. The following day, January 11, 2012 I emailed the 2nd maintenance record to Jonathan Busby (See Exhibit 4), indicating that I had located a second invoice for maintenance and requested that the Supervisor PLEASE respond to my email as to status of my claim. No response whatsoever.
The next day, January 12, 2012, after no email or phone call response, I sent a 2nd request email to Jonathan Busby as well as the ENTIRE Claims Department for status on my claim. (See Exhibit 5) I made yet another phone call that day, and was told by a representative R. White, that Choice Home Warranty had not received my second invoice despite me sending that email to Supervisor Jonathan Busby as well as again that same morning to Jonathan Busby as well as the ENTIRE Claims Department. I forwarded both emails previously sent to Jonathan Busby to representative R. White (See Exhibits 6 and 7). I asked for the name of the owner of the company or the President and I could not get Choice Home Warranty to give me any name. I searched the internet and found the Better Business Bureau as well as LinkedIn and found the name James Moss as President and an email address for Mr. Moss. Later in the day on January 12, 2012 I sent another email to the Claims Department and including the address given of jmoss@choicehomewarranty.com. (See Exhibit 8) Again, no response.
At 6 pm January 12th, 2012 I received a call letting me know that, my claim was denied as my invoices were not thorough enough. I was asked for records which I supplied and my claim was still denied.
On January 13, 2012, I sent a CERTIFIED LETTER to James Moss President of Choice Home Warranty (See Exhibit 9) and a separate CERTIFIED LETTER to David Bailey (or the current VP of Customer Service). (See Exhibit 10) I have the signed received receipts on both letters postmarked January 17, 2012. I have received no response to either letter as of this date.
I read through my contract (See Exhibit 11) and Section G deals with Mediation in the event of a dispute of the claim denial. It states I must agree to file a written claim with Choice Home Warranty and allow them thirty (30) days to respond to my claim. All written claims must be mailed or emailed to cr@choicehomewarranty.com. On January 17, 2011 I sent an email to cr@choicehomewarranty.com. (See Exhibit 12) A few moments later I received a DELIVERY STATUS NOTIFICATION (Failure to Send). I once again called Choice Home Warranty and I was told by your representative Tiffany that info@choicehomewarranty.com is the address that I send a mediation claim to if cr@choicehomewarranty.com was not working. I sent a new email to info@choicehomewarranty.com as requested as well as to the President James Moss at jmoss@chicehomewarranty.com. (See Exhibit 13) I also forwarded a copy of the DELIVERY STATUS NOTIFICATION (Failure) to info@choicehomewarranty.com and also to President James Moss at jmoss@chicehomewarranty.com. (See Exhibit 14)
On January 18, 2012, I sent a 2nd request to acknowledge my request for mediation (See Exhibit 15) to info@choicehomewarranty.com and also to President James Moss at jmoss@chicehomewarranty.com. I have never received a response to any email sent to Choice Home Warranty.
On January 18, 2012, I sent a CERTIFIED LETTER to CUSTOMER RELATIONS requesting mediation on my denied claim. I have the signed received receipt on this letter postmarked January 20, 2012. (See Exhibit 16) I have received no response to either letter as of this date.
According to the Contract I have, Choice Home Warranty has until February 20, 2012 to respond to my mediation request, IF in fact the MEDIATION CLAUSE in Section G. Mediation is valid in Texas.
On 2/9/2012...I received a call at 10:45 this morning from Choice Home Warranty. The man got me so flustered with his statements I was not able to get his name. I have the 4:32 minute phone call in my call records though. The male caller indicated that he knew unequivocally that my air conditioner unit was bad PRIOR to me buying the policy from them on 7/7/2011. I asked him how he could possibly know that as CHW did not do an inspection PRIOR to issuing this policy. I stated to him I have all my energy bills that are less than average for my size home indicating that the air conditioning was working just fine and was not overworked or inoperable and also the 2 maintenance records I have within the VERY YEAR he has said he KNOWS my unit was not working.
He stated he wanted to refund my year policy amount PRO RATA which he went on to explain that they would take out PREVIOUS REPAIR work out of my $341.25 policy leaving me with a negative $95.00 meaning I would owe $95.00 after canceling my policy which ends in 8/2012! How can I owe money if I have 6 months left! I have not asked that my policy be cancelled as of yet, pending determination of the mediation so why would I want to PAY $95.00 to cancel now? I would be entitled to a refund of around 7 months premium in my accounting.

I am forwarding copies of this call to the Texas and NJ Attorney General's Offices for the cases