HWA (Home Warranty America) Bad Service

The story: Our ejector pump broke (ejector pump is similar to a sump pump, but pumps out wastewater to the city sewer instead of storm water to the yard) in our new house. I called HWA. I was told I'd get a call from a plumber at 9am the next day. I didn't. I called again at 11am. I was told the plumber would call that afternoon. I called him. He didn't know what I was talking about, b/c he was closed on Sunday. He only comes out for emergencies on Sundays, and this was not classified an emergency. (What if it rained and our basement flooded? Not sure.)

The plumber did come out Monday morning. He notices it's an "ejector pump" (by function, not by pump, the installed pump is a sump pump). He calls HWA. They say it's not covered (nice home warranty, it doesn't cover the basic elements of the house). Problem is, we had to pay the plumber $100 before he would set foot in the house.

I call HWA to discuss. They say they'll listen to the first call I made, and if I said "sump pump", they are not at fault. A manager will listen to the call and the cust. service rep. will call me back. I request that the person who listens to the call be the one who calls me back. They reluctantly agree. They say it will be 24-48 hours.

Six days later I get the call back. After talking to the manager, it is explained to me that HWA's policy is to make NO attempt to clarify the problem over the phone, even if it is easily discernible between a problem that is covered and one that is not covered. The reason is because some people don't know how to tell the difference between pumps. I suggest that asking the question is easy, and a warning that if the pump is not a "sump" pump, informing the caller that they may be paying $100 for no reason would be appreciated. HWA makes no admittance and stands by their policy.

I said I understand your policy and I disagree with it and I would like to cancel my policy. They offered a prorated refund with a $30 cancellation fee.

Overall poor handling of a request. A simple question would have saved us the $100 payment. It's just bad business.

Comment On This

We have only been in our home less than 4 weeks. Our issues are a leaky a/c unit that dumped water in our sons bedroom.

So we call HWA. The guy said in order for them to fix what is broke, we would have to fix something else out of our pocket first...isn't a warranty company supposed to help fix something of an ant hill before it turns into something of a mountain?

To make it short and to the point, I threatened a lawsuit if I did not hear what I wanted to hear on Monday- which by the way is after a 30 day clause which i find funny. Anyway. Today we spoke with our agent who sold us the house and she was told they are refunding us our money. I better get all of 380.00 dollars back too!!!

I dont care what home warranty company anyone has- if it says "Uknown Pre-existing Conditions" as being covered, they won't cover it!!!!

Seems like this company needs a little coal from Santa CLAUSE.

It's a RIP off. It only covers things like appliances- which we dont need because we are already covered as they are all brand new!

The speel looks great on paper, but between the lines are evil. To top that off, I'm surprised businesses who service contract for HWA don't go broke! I spoke with my cousin who is a top AC man and he says they are a joke. They do not pay enough in gas money to cover a thing!

SCAM BOTH WAYS! Consumer and Business!!!