home warranty - worth it?

[ktzmoh]

The home warranty we got with the house will expire in May and we are debating whether or not to renew.

Our appliances are very old - we expect the furnace in particular will not last much longer. For that reason alone, we are thinking it might be a good idea for us. But then I read online about these companies having lots of subtle caveats and  refusing to pay out.

Do you have any experience with these? is it worth it? I'd be pretty ticked if I sprung for the policy and still had to pay for a new furnace.

[tarheels]

The sellers have provided them with 2 of the houses we bought and I firmly believe they are scams. They will do whatever they can to avoid paying out. stephm0188 has a beaut of a story about her experience.

[ktzmoh]

hmmm. that's kind of what I was reading online - but we had no prior experience with them before buying (our sellers provided it too). why do sellers even bother providing them?

[aimeedyan]

I've heard they are a rip off but we closed in August and have used ours twice already - with no issues.

1. refrigerator died. $50 deductible, repairman was out the next morning to fix it.
2. 3 outlets in the house died. $50 deductible, repairman was out that afternoon to fix it.

We make a claim online, the system gives us the name/number of a local repairperson, we call and set the appt. Pay the repair person and done.

[littlemisssunshine]

I hate home warranties with the passion of a thousand suns. We had one with the house we bought two years ago (the sellers paid for it) and it was useless. I hated not being able to pick the vendors and being stuck with whoever the warranty company contracted. We had a couple of minor issues fixed no problem, but when a big issue came up (leaking shower handle faucet that leaked into our attic for months, grew mold everywhere and turned into a total bathroom gut job) the warranty company blamed it on the shower pan which was the one thing they didn't cover. We ended up out of pocket 8k for a total bathroom reno.

The other reason we liked the idea of a warranty was the ac unit was 30 years old and on its last leg. We kept thinking it was going to die, and two years later, its still chugging along. You never know how long something will last, you could be paying for a warranty for several years before something actually goes.

[stephm0188]

Bwahahaha.

No.

So we bought our house knowing that it had been a rental for a few years. We had an inspection done, and everything was hunkydory. The inspector noted a spot on the family room ceiling where the paint was a slightly different color than the rest and suggested we ask the sellers about it since the master bathroom was directly above. They didn't know anything about it, and since the inspection didn't turn up anything, we assumed all was well. We had a home warranty, so if anything was wrong, we'd be covered.

Moved in. I took a shower. Came downstairs. Yelled upstairs to my husband who was bathing our kid. "WTF, there is water dripping into the family room!"

So we called the home warranty company, and after paying a $50 deductible, they sent a plumber out. He cut a hole in the family room ceiling, said "Oh yeah, I see the problem. There's a gap in the caulking and its rotted out your subfloor. That's not covered." Then he handed us a bill for $100 and left us with a 4x4' hole in the ceiling.

So. Yeah. Not a fan.

[stephm0188]

They're perfectly within their rights not to cover that.

Before he cut the hole, I asked if the repair to the drywall would be covered. "Oh yeah, it's covered under the warranty." So I told him to go ahead. But since it turned out that it wasn't a plumbing issue after all, we were stuck with the bill for the visit and they wouldn't touch the drywall repair. That's just uncool.

We also paid them $50 to have someone look at the dishwasher that wasn't draining. "Pre-existing condition, not covered, here's a bill for the service call."

[Deleted]

Am not a fan either. Not worth it. They barely cover anything.

[sjh722]

Feb 27, 2013 22:08:50 GMT -5 ktzmoh said:

But then I read online about these companies having lots of subtle caveats and  refusing to pay out.

This is exactly what happens. Read the fine print - they tend to cover the part that is inexpensive/not going to break and leave you holding the bag for the rest. Or pay out a prorated amount for something like a broken appliance rather than replacing with something equivalent.

You're usually better off saving the $$ towards the eventual repair/replacement.


Sent from my ADR6350 using proboards

[sillygoosegirl]

We didn't get one (which upset our realitor), and I feel good about that so far. There have been a few things we might have called about so far, but most of them we've been able to fix ourselves for much less than the service call cost would have been, and the others we've hired out for not a lot more. Also, I want stuff fixed with high end parts--I want the freedom to make sure that happens.

ILs were here last week and complaining about how theirs has weaseled out of covering everything they've called them out for, including things they really thought were covered, like when the furnace stopped working. And they've been cutting every possible corner, often meaning that multiple service calls are required where one probably would have done it.

My opinion about insurance in general is that you should buy as little as possible. We have an emergency fund and anything a home warrantee would cover is something we can afford to fix ourselves. Some people come out ahead with the warrantee, but most people don't--that's how the companies make their money. I would be much more inclined to buy a home warrantee if it was somehow bundled with the inspection and would cover things (even big things) the inspector didn't catch. And it would hopefully mean that your inspector was someone the insurance companies had found did a good job of finding problems. As opposed to the inspector recommended by your real estate agent, who is probably selected for his ability to get deals closed.

[SusanBAnthony]

We got one with our new house. I fully expect it to be worthless, but oh well.

[candreco]

We've actually had good experiences with ours- last house it replaced a broken washing machine, fixed a leaky shower and fixed the AC for just the service call fee, this house it replaced our water heater. Any one of these repairs/replacements would have been more than the annual renewal. The one time we paid the service fee and didn't actually get a repair was for a dryer that didn't dry and it turned out that the previous owners had royally clogged up the vent with lint and about 5 gallons of condensed water because they put in a flexible conduit that wasn't properly supported.

We also can generally figure out what the problem is ourselves first, and use it if we're reasonably sure that it's covered, and have no shame in calling back for a different service provider if the one assigned can't come in a reasonable amount of time (like the water heater- the company said their next availability was 5 days away, not acceptable, so we requested another one). On replacement stuff, we generally take the cash equivalent and put it towards buying the item we pick so we're not stuck with whatever the warranty company designates.

ETA: I will say that I wouldn't keep it going indefinitely.  Our first house, the realtor paid for the first year, we renewed two more years, the second primarily so we could transfer it to the buyers as we were planning to sell.  This house we're still on our first year paid for by the sellers, and will renew at least another year as it's an older home with a furnace and W/D that seem to be on their last legs.  I do think that there's a point of diminishing returns where the stuff that could go wrong already has, and you're out of mechanical things you're expecting to fail.  And FWIW, ours is ~$300/year, not the $500-600 range I've seen elsewhere.

[Deleted]

I hate them. Our house came with one. When cold weather rolled around our first year there we discovered that the heat wasn't working. We could hear the furnace kicking on but no air was coming up. We knew when we bought the house that all the HVAC was new. We first called the guy who installed the new HVAC equipment since the seller had given us his name and number at closing. He said he would be happy to take a look, and he found a clogged pipe. We ultimately decided to have the home warranty company handle the repair since it was covered. We offered to pay the guy for his time but he refused. We then called the warranty company and told them the situation. They sent out a plumber.....for an HVAC repair. The guy was dumbfounded and was all, "I can't fix that, I'm a plumber". Duh. So we called again and told them we needed an HVAC person. Then they started dragging their feet saying it would be days before someone could come out because we didn't live in an area where it was cold enough to constitute an emergency. But it was 50 degrees in the house, temps were dropping into the 30's overnight and we had no other heat source at the time (no fireplace, space heaters, etc.). We went ballistic and pitched a fit until they agreed to send someone later that day. In the meantime I went into work for the day and DH stayed to wait on the repair person. The repair did get made that day but DH said the repair guy was nasty and reeked of BO and smoke.

So yeah, not a fan. You have to push them to do anything and you have no control over vendors. I don't think they work with the highest caliber vendors either. If your house comes with a warranty that's fine. You don't have to use it and can just let it lapse. Then when they start hitting you up for renewal, tell them no thank you.

ETA: I totally forgot to add that when the repair was made, the guy tried to charge us twice what our deductible was.  DH basically said 'take it up with the warranty company and get out of my house.' 

[my4girls]

we have one with our new house, purchased by the seller. So far we had one claim and no issues. Like a PP mentioned- we're fairly handy and can figure out what the problem is and if it's covered before we make the call. Ours is very simple- submit a claim online, they had one of their approved companies call me within 24 hours, they came out a couple days later (could have come out that day actually but I couldn't be home). $75 later fixed our problem, he was there for a couple hours so it would have cost us way more than that without the warranty.

We have a plumbing issue too but we have already managed to figure out that it won't be covered so no point in calling them

[lb2006]

Scam. Worthless $499

[soozy87]

Our experience with our home warrenty company has been terrible. Our furnace broke 8 days after we bought the house. They claimed it was not working when we bought the house. It clearly was. In the event that we ever move and purchase a new home we will not be purchasing the warrenty, nor will we be renewing this one. Such a scam.

[emoflamingo]

I want to make a clarification, first, for a PP: Home WARRANTIES and home INSURANCE are different. Your home should be properly insured and for the correct amount of coverage.

Now, I agree that the warranties are a scam. We had one on our old house and they wouldn't cover any plumbing issues because they all turned out to be roots (we have crab grass in the yard and it is really hardy!), so we just stopped calling them. I'd rather pay 100% for someone who I know is going to do the job well than get stuck with some contracted person I don't know who will do a crappy job.

[goaskalice]

I've heard way more horror stories than good ones about home warranties. I'm not convinced they're worth it.