"Home Protection Plan" purchased through Coldwell Banker Burnet Realty in Shoreview, MN - upset with service received

Complaints.com received the following consumer message on January 7, 2003:

From: PAUL THAO [Email User] RE: "Home Protection Plan" purchased through Coldwell Banker Burnet Realty in Shoreview, MN - upset with service received

Dear Complaints reader,

We purchased our home last summer and decided to buy the "Home Protection Plan" through our real estate company. The warranty is active for only one year from the time of purchase for three hundred and sixty-five dollars. There's a fifty dollar deductible for all services.

Well, with our luck the electric range's "bake" option won't work on Thanksgiving day. We had a late dinner that night. It took over four hours to cook our eighteen pound turkey - on convection roast.

The following week I contacted our home warranty company and informed them of our range. They were able to schedule one of their contractors (Sears) to come out and test our unit. At seven o'clock Monday morning I hear a knock at the door while I'm getting my little girl ready for school.

The guy comes storming in without introducing himself or removing his dirty shoes and goes straight to the kitchen. After about one hour, the technician says that his company does not have the part he needs to conduct any repairs on the unit and that he will be calling our home warranty company.

The person on the other end wanted to talk to me. It was our home warranty company, she tells me that since the part needed to repair my unit is not available they'll go ahead and do a replacement. I was surprised. Because the previous owner of our house bought two three (matching) appliances of the same brand-name and all stainless. To my discouragement I discover that the company could only replace it with another brand name which would be GE, a four hundred dollar unit in white or black.

I did some researching work and found out that my unit is still worth over sixteen hundred dollars even with the one malfunctioned part, the maker of this brand name said that the unit was purchased by the previous owners in 1999 and it's still under their coverage. They could send me the parts for free and I'll have to pay for labor.

My home warranty company however has refused all my requests and information that I gave them - they have been nothing but rude, unprofessional and untrained. Comment from their professional staffs, "Of all the years I've been with the company we do not do exact replacements or come close to it, you get what our companies give to us. There's nothing else we can do for you."

Do we as consumers insure our properties only to that of something less in value?? If I insure my Honda am I paying for the cost of something comparable to it or less? When in fact I'm paying for the vehicle name, model, type of options and the VIN of the vehicles itself. And if I were to lose the vehicle in anyway I'm collecting the value of it at the time and not something from an auction.

Thanks for listening.