I need advice on collecting from Home Warranty.

[bibsoconner]

OT. Hi. I need some advice on dealing with a Home Warranty company (CRES) that doesn’t want to cover a repair. I’d really appreciate some advice on the best way to proceed.

We recently (February) bought a house in the Point Loma area and like many sales, it came with a home warranty. Most (500 out of $635) of the warranty was paid by the seller, but obviously, the buyer is ultimately paying for it and everything else in the form of a higher sales price. When we moved in, the shower worked ok. Perhaps the hot water was a little under pressure but no big deal. Recently, the hot water has diminished to a dribble. I did some checking and research. Long story short, sediment/deposits/salts has messed up the cartridge. It’s not cleanable/fixable (tried that!). Some knucklehead installed or fixed it without the screen filters! Anyhow, I called CRES and they sent out their own plumber. He looked at the situation. There was other problems (diverter to shower/tub messed up). A sink faucet needs repairs. Etc. Anyhow, he (not me!) tells CRES it’s going to be $722.50 for the total job. CRES told my wife on the phone that they will only pay $265 of that. They will either cut me a check and call the matter closed or I can pay the plumber the difference.

I have gone over the 4 page contract and nowhere do I see anything about a monetary limit. As far as I can tell, the shower is covered. The sink faucet is questionable. My question for the experts is how best to proceed? I will of course speak to them myself and demand they fully fix everything but I want to have my ducks lined up so to speak. Has anyone faced this situation? Is BBB the way to go? Small claims court? Government agency (Insurance commissioner?).

If they get away with this, I’ll have to seriously consider changing my profession from software engineer to home warranty issuer. What a deal: Collect $635 and refuse to pay out if the claim is more than that. How could you lose?

I’d appreciate any advice and comments.

For those curious, I present a few more details.

The equipment (shower and sink) is KWC brand, a brand I’d never heard of before. It seems to be a fancy brand and very expensive. I can’t say I’m impressed. Arguably, you can’t blame KWC for someone not installing the filters, but still the stuff seems not well constructed in my humble opinion. The plumber that CRES sent said it’s a big deal to change out the shower with another brand, thus the desire to keep KWC. Although, I’m not strongly opposed to CRES putting in something else (cheaper). Should I be opposed to it? The setup is pretty cool (if it worked :)). There is a main diverter/temperature valve. This is the main cartridge and controls temperature. This is the one missing filters. There is a separate knob (diverter I think it’s called) that turns on the shower. There is yet another knob that will channel the water to 3 massaging spouts. The sink is pretty cool to. It looks like a saucer with a pole (handle) coming out from the middle. Turning on the handle makes water come out over the saucer.

Again, I stress that all these prices were from their plumber! Frankly, I don’t have a lot of faith in their plumber. The best bet for getting it done right would be to hire someone I trust. Of course, it would be hard to present them with the bill (which I suspect would be less than their quote, especially if I got rid of KWC) after the fact.

Dave

[DataAgent]

Does the contract contain a dispute or arbitration clause?

[bibsoconner]

Thank you DataAgent for the quick reply and great question! I missed it when I read the contract, but yes, there is a “Dispute Resolution” clause that says one must use American Arbitration Association. I’ve attached the document (only 3 pages) for those interested :).

Frankly I find it quite confusing. “Faucets” and “Fixtures” are noted as Not Covered but only under the section BATHTUB WHIRLPOOL EQUIPMENT so it’s not clear (to me) if a normal bathroom sink faucet that’s leaking is covered or not. I didn’t mention it in my first posting, but I’ve already had some somewhat negative dealings with them. The electric pool cover malfunctioned a week after we moved in. We had paid extra for the policy to cover pool and pool equipment. We called them and were informed that a pool cover is not pool equipment. I pointed out that it didn’t say it was excluded anywhere in the contract. Their response? “Since it’s not listed as covered, it’s not covered”. Luckily it only cost me $100 to fix the pool cover.

[bibsoconner]

[img_assist|nid=18836|title=Uploading pdf of contract|desc=|link=node|align=left|width=100|height=81]

Hmm. Not sure I can upload pdf…

[moneymaker]

Get 2 more quotes,see if they are relatively close. I had to replace one of ours and was surprised how expensive the part was, ceramic disc=expensive. Unfortunately it is probably not worth your time to take them to court, unless you enjoy that sort of thing i guess. You are getting more out of it than you paid in so don’t be too greedy, especially if it says fixtures are not covered. didn’t read above post-sounds like diverter is definitely covered. When ours broke it was in the open position so had to shut off the main to keep the hot water from coming out, until fixed. Me personally I would take the check and fix it myself, but that’s just how I am.

[bibsoconner]

Thanks moneymaker. You’re probably right. When you factor in the hassle, it probably is better to just take a check for ~$250. Like I said, I’d prefer to use a plumber that I pick and trust. That said, it does bother me that they can (from my point of view) just arbitrarily say, “Oh, that’s too much. We’ll just pay you this.”.

[njtosd]

This is the classic problem of paying up front for services to be provided later. It reminds me of Wimpy in the Popeye cartoons – “I’ll gladly pay you tomorrow for a hamburger today.”

The problem is that if the home warranty company breaches (after you or seller pays them) you have to pay for arbitrators or litigation to get what you bargained for. Which will always cost more than just doing it yourself. I generally won’t pay for a warranty (or insurance) unless it is so cheap it doesn’t really matter or it would be worth litigating if the warranty or insurance policy were breached. Otherwise, there is little motivation for the company that has already collected the money to pay for your repairs.

[Author]

Posts