Home Warranty

[DeeInMS]

Tell me about your home warranty experiences. Who qualifies and is it worth it?


Thanks !!!

 

[Dotsie]

We've had our home warranty for over 10 years now. It has def. come in handy. We have a wall oven that would go on the fritz every time I used self clean ( I figured out what was going on after the 3rd time). Our "deductable" was $50 and the service person came out and fixed it each time within a day or two of me calling. The repair guy said the fix would cost about $150 if I didn't have the warranty.
We pay about $500 per year and that covers all of our appliances, hot water heater, central air, gas heater, etc.
Whenever we have to file a claim, we call our warranty call center (which is open 24 hours a day) and then they contact the service people.

 

[dawson5]

we had one that the sellers paid for with this house. Our dishwasher that doesn't clean well was really not cleaning anything at all. I called because we had it. It cost me $50 for him to order a $5 plastic part, took all of 10 minutes to fix. I could have done it myself. We had the condenser go out on the air conditioner. The insurance would pay for the part, new air conditioner was a better way to go. They sent us the money for the part, we used it toward a new air conditioner. Same guy came out both times. I wish I would have had an option on who could come out. He was slimy and creeped me out.

Warranty long gone now. We do most repairs ourselves. If we can't, we probably have a friend who can.

 

[kmacht]

They are a ripoff. You are much better putting the money you would have paid into a seperate account and just draw on that when you need it. The example above is exactly why. They state that they have had their home warranty for 10 years and pay $500 a year. Thats $5000!!!!. On top of that they have a $50 deductable each time they file a claim. The oven that kept popping cost $150 to fix but they paid $50. Ok so the warranty paid $100. They would have to have that oven fixed 50 times before they recoup thier 10 years of payments. Also, major items requiring big bucks are usually ignored or dismissied. The warranty company usually states that they have the right to bring in their own inspector to determine if something is truely broken. If you have something major like a failing foundation what do you think the possiblity is that the inspector that works for the insurance company will find nothing wrong.

http://www.homewarrantyreviews.com/category/scam

 

[Swimalie]

We had one that came free with our house when we bought it 3 years ago. We didn't use it in the first year and didn't renew. To us, they aren't worth it. So far, in the 3+ years we've had this house (and it's 6 years old now) the only 2 things that have gone wrong were things that would not have been covered by a warranty (siding blowing off in a wind storm was one). Instead, we save money each month, earn interest and if something does happen, we can fix it ourselves or pay someone to fix a problem.

 

[si-am]

We got a warranty from the sellers when we bought our house 2 1/2 years ago and have kept renewing it since. It has been so worth it for us, especially since DH isn't very handy around the house (and neither am I!)

We pay about $400 a year for it, and each service call costs $50. So far we've had to call them numerous times, mostly for plumbing issues. We got a new hot water heater out of it, and also had a toilet tank "rebuilt." I can't remember what else we've used it for, but I think it has paid for itself by now.

Plus, it's just going to be nice to have when our A/C or furnace goes. For example, if we put that $400 a year into savings, it would take 10 years just to save $4000!

I think the usefulness of it also depends on the age of your house, too. Ours was built in '84, so it's kind of at that age where stuff is going bad, even if it's already been replaced a time or two.

 

[auralia]

the sellers bought a one year warrenty for us when we got the house, 2 months later the AC went out... the Day after my daugher was born... in Georgia!!! so we needed it fixed fast and couldn't piss around. The repair company said the AC hadn't been "properly mantained... even though we had a bill of sale from the previous owners that it had been inspected and cleaned just before we purchased it... they said they wouldn't cover the part (450$) the repair tech said if he replaced the part it would just break again (he was a very nice guy) due to a problem with this model (looked it up problem did exist) so we just shelled out to get it replaced so our baby would be ok ... way too hot in ga for a newborn w/ ac. Anway the warrenty company denied our claim...so we sent them the bill that proved it was inspected... they didn't "like the letter head" from the company and said we were lieing, i had the company call them personally and had the reelestate agent get involved too the warrenty company didn't believe any of us and closed the case... they were worth less.... the original guy felt so bad about how we were treated he waved his 50$ fee and had someone install a new unit at a very good price the next day without even paying him because of the baby he came back for his payment a couple weeks later when we had time to settle down... but the warrenty company was WORTHLESS!!!

 

[Swimalie]

For example, if we put that $400 a year into savings, it would take 10 years just to save $4000!

See, I save that in 2-3 months.

 

[si-am]

See, I save that in 2-3 months.

With money you'd be paying into a home warranty? If so, that's pretty expensive.

My point was that if your A/C breaks within the first 5 years or so of owning a home warranty, it works out cheaper to do it through them than through savings.

Of course, not all of us are so lucky to put $1000+ into savings every month, anyway.

 

[DeeInMS]

Thanks for all of the feedback, the different take on situations are making me really think about if we really need it. My husband is pretty handy we are just worried about the big things.