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The I'm so Angry W/O: The Home Warranty Tale of "Drippy," the Fridge.Jun 18 '03 (Updated Jun 25 '03) Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line Be a squeaky wheel. Know your rights under a home warranty program and be prepared to do battle for satisfactory repairs when necessary. My Dad would have written a letter on duct tape. My late father was not much of a repairman though he tried his best. He never picked up the nuances of repair work from his father as my grandfather preferred to do the repair and not be bothered by questions. This may be the genesis of the “capper” gene that was passed on to my side of the Doyle-Murphy clan (or so my mother would suggest). Consequently, when my Dad did household repairs there was usually some further breakage involved. And then a call to a friend or professional who could fix what was broken or duct tape the thing to death. My friends realize that my disability is not my fault. Generally I’m not allowed near their power tools and if I describe a repair that I’m facing they usually snicker and then suggest I supply the beers. I have honed my repair skills around the following skill set: 1. knowing the proper beer handoff procedure, 2. perfecting the ability to nod and grunt appreciatively, and 3. being able to curse appropriately. I have still failed to develop the proper butt crack physique, however, as I was born without an ass. What does this have to do with buying a home warranty? Plenty. Buying a home is a stressful task: dealing with mortgage brokers, realtors, and moving companies all at once is sure to even make the docile wombat upset and overwhelmed with details. The conventional thinking would seem to be that when offered a one year home warranty the buyer can afford to sleep well knowing that their home appliances and systems will be protected from disaster, either of their own making or through an act of God. Home warranties were developed and meant to be sold to people like my Dad and me. And suckers too, of course. When we bought our house the previous owners took out a one-year home warranty with American Home Shield (AHS) and we thought “Great.” It cost somewhere in the neighborhood of 500 dollars. My wife was secretly relieved as she is well aware of my “capper” tendencies and was able to memorize our landlord’s number by heart. I was relieved as well and also encouraged a bit since on the off-chance that I do a home repair properly, I’m pretty much guaranteed to get lucky later. And, if I screw up I can always call the repair people. Wrong. As many consumers learn later, warranties are a good thing for the seller and not the buyer. Most products do not fail for years and the price of some repairs negates the advantage of having a warranty in the first place. The appliances in our home are all 10-plus years old and we knew that there was a chance that something would break down our first year. Drippy the Fridge The Kenmore refrigerator was an older model but working well when we moved in. The other appliances were also older but functioning well (dishwasher, washer, dryer, freezer, and electric stove/oven). We decided to store our apartment fridge in the basement for future use to save time when moving in. The previous owners mentioned that the door gasket was cracked and could use replacement and that we should wipe off the back of the fridge regularly to keep dust from collecting there. Within a few weeks of being in the house my wife called AHS to inquire about someone replacing the gasket. There would be a 55 dollar service charge for someone to look at it. Repairman number one came and my wife described him as “not the Maytag man, that’s for sure.” He was middle-aged, rumpled, and in no mood to fix anything. He was dismissive of my wife’s concerns and basically told her “the fridge is fine, I see this all the time, this line lasts for ever, and if I replace the gasket it will never be as cold again, blah blah blah.” So for 55 dollars we got squat. [We later ran into him at a store and the man look positively reptilian to me.] We were in a holding pattern at this point. The fridge did appear to be performing OK. A few weeks later we noticed some leakage in the bottom of the fridge and thus began a weekly battle to wipe up excess water that would run down the back wall and collect in the space underneath the crispers. This went one for a few months until we noticed that the fridge was starting to drip more incessantly. We nicknamed it “Drippy.” The dryer had now started rumbling and tumbling and then stopped working. Another call to AHS was made, and this time my wife was insistent. Repairman number two showed up and stayed for the proverbial cup of coffee. My wife explained the trouble. “MMMM.” He seemed distracted, in a hurry, and spoke in a series of inaudible grunts as if he was tonguing a platypus. He said the fridge was fine but clogged. He quickly took off the cover on the inside of the fridge’s control box and sucked out some water with a turkey baster. “That’s done” he announced. “Where’s the dryer?” The dryer was the same story. A quick look. A test of the circuit breaker. “You need an electrician to reset the circuit breakers. Call one and then I’ll come back.” [This sounded professional until after he left and I realized that the dryer was plugged into a separate box of its own. When I reset that breaker the dryer started and still rumbled and tumbled.] Another call to AHS commenced. My wife was now a woman scorned and assaulted by incompetence. She was also pissed off and inconvenienced. About this time our realtor checked in with us and my wife told her the sordid details of our experience. “Let me know if I can help.” Repairman number three was the best of the lot and a complete professional. He quickly diagnosed the dryer issue and ordered the spare parts to fix it. He ordered a gasket for the fridge and we needed to wait a week for his return. During the week we were playing phone tag and such with AHS to schedule another appointment, “Drippy,” took a turn for the worse. Certain foods were not chilling correctly. Beer!!! Ice Cream!!! Salsa!!! Baby Food!!! The fridge was apparently on its way out. On his return trip Repairman number three educated us about proper electrical outlets and we were encouraged to fix the connectivity issues after he installed the new rollers and parts that the dryer required. The dryer works and the pleasure of wearing hot clean undies has returned to our abode. He looked at the refrigerator too. He diagnosed the problem as a bad compressor and noted that in his work report. He mentioned that the cost to fix it would be high and that in his line of work, it would be best to get a new fridge at that point. He suggested we pass on his recommendation to AHS. My wife called AHS and explained the situation to the coordinator and then the tenor of the conversation suddenly changed. The “helpfulosity quotient” dropped without warning as the coordinator pointedly told my wife that “they are not in the business of replacing appliances.” My wife pointed out that the costs to replace the gasket and a new compressor would approach that of a new fridge. She also pointed out that the warranty materials specifically mention the replacement option for appliances that cannot be fixed to the owner's satisfaction. “A new compressor is $300.00” said the coordinator. “We’ll replace that.” “But our freezer food is defrosting. Can’t you just replace it?” The coordinator went for the jugular: “Why don’t you rent a fridge and we’ll reimburse your costs up to X amount until the other is fixed.” Click. My wife was incredulous and caught up in the verbal kung fu. She called our realtor back and related the latest refrigerator repair snafu. The realtor at this point related that they had received calls from other buyers caught in the same situation and that she had expressed her concerns to her bosses about the home warranty service. The concern was that the realtor would also suffer bad publicity if their buyers continued to have problems with repair services under the home warranty program. The next day the coordinator called back but my wife was out and she told me she would call back. She didn’t. The following morning the realtor called and said that we would be getting a new fridge after all. We could buy what we wanted up to X amount and the AHS would reimburse us. We have since purchased a new one and received a reimbursement check as agreed. We are happy to have reached a resolution with AHS but would have to rate their service as poor and their communication skills as mediocre. A lot of our aggravation with the program could have been eliminated with one or two phone calls. It should not take three repair calls before someone can fix an appliance. We currently do not plan on renewing the warranty service on our own for another 500 dollars or so. I have bought a book on home repair and have duct taped my friends' numbers to the back of it. I have a Point The moral of this tortured tango is this: If you have a home warranty, be prepared. Read the warranty agreement very carefully and know your rights under the program. If considering purchasing a warranty for your home, you must gauge for yourself whether the benefits are worth it for you. Make an educated guess about the long-term life of your appliances and house systems to judge whether the economics of the program makes sense. The home inspection report could be a resource in making this decision as the inspector will make notations about all the house's systems and appliances. If you are a home repair incompetent, consider all the benefits and weigh the cons carefully. If you receive a warranty from a house seller be prepared to exercise your rights under the warranty. In either case, be prepared for battle. [This is part of the ”I Got So Mad I Got My Daddy To Write A Letter W/O!!” sponsored by kris-kochanski and munkus.]  |
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