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Old 02-12-2017, 07:40 AM
 
2,951 posts, read 2,503,465 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MadManofBethesda View Post
Ah yes, here we go again. As usual, people who have never had a home warranty, have absolutely no experience with them, and have no clue how they work, always weigh in negatively and exclaim that no one should buy one. It is very similar to the Automotive Forum when the inevitable buy vs. lease discussion begins for the umpteenth time and those who haven't a clue about leasing always give their opinion that leasing is stupid.

Well, allow me to present a positive view of home warranties.

The house we bought in Las Vegas was 21 years old when we bought it in 2010, with mostly original appliances and HVAC (3 zone). The seller paid for a one-year home warranty for us and during that first year we encountered problems with our combination double wall oven/convection oven/microwave. The main issue was that the lower oven would not heat properly. We contacted the warranty company, they sent out a technician and it was determined that the requisite replacement part was no longer available. The warranty company then gave us the option of replacing the appliance with a unit of their choosing or taking the equivalent in cash. We took the cash and received a check for $2,714. I was completely astonished.

I decided then that I was definitely renewing that policy as necessary through the years. In the following three years (until we sold the house) we used them multiple times to repair our refrigerator, built-in wine cooler, HVAC units, put in a new toilet, garage door opener, and to replace a leaky kitchen faucet. Our annual premium was in the neighborhood of $450, so we definitely got our monies worth out of it.

All in all, we had an overall positive outcome with our home warranty company. YMMV.

So you have a good experience so the rest of us posting never had a home warranty, no experience with them, no clue how they worked, and are being negative. Ok an internet 'My truth is the worlds truth.'

Most homes in Vegas are sold with warranties. I had a warranty for a year, brand new house, not quite finished. The contractors warranty isn't good enough for me. However....

Did some investigating on the program. My appliances are expensive, they would of been replaced with cheaper. Basic program. Was worthless to me, would of never used it.

I have bought several HWP's, for all the homes I sold, it puts the buyers mind at ease. Makes the sale go easier.

My neighbors have one, had a dryer issue. Home warranty, sent out many different people to fix dryer. Took about 5 months to figure out the problem. Now me I would of chucked the dryer instead of taking stuff to the laundry mat, but they are cheap. In spite of this nightmare, I betting they will buy again.
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Old 02-12-2017, 08:34 AM
 
11,230 posts, read 9,218,366 times
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Individual experiences do not refute the fundamentals.

Warranty and insurance companies have to take in more in premiums and fees than they pay out, or they will cease to exist. This is how they work. If the thing you are insuring against could wreck your finances for life ($750,000 medical expense) it makes sense to insure against it. If the thing you are insuring against is a minor inconvenience ($500 home repair cost), it makes no sense to insure against it.

The fact that some people leave the casino with more money than they brought in, does not refute the fact that over the long haul the casino always wins. Not a lot of casinos going broke out there due to overpayments; same with insurance and warranty companies.
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Old 02-12-2017, 09:16 AM
 
11,156 posts, read 15,945,122 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chiluvr1228 View Post
People think they will replace a broken appliance with a brand new one but that is not true.
Of course they will. You quoted my post; did you not read it?

My garage door opener was broken and it was replaced with a new one.

My toilet was broken and it was replaced with a new one.

My wall oven was broken and it would have been replaced with an expensive new one, but I took the cash ($2,714) instead.
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Old 02-12-2017, 09:27 AM
 
11,156 posts, read 15,945,122 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by turf3 View Post
Warranty and insurance companies have to take in more in premiums and fees than they pay out, or they will cease to exist. This is how they work. If the thing you are insuring against could wreck your finances for life ($750,000 medical expense) it makes sense to insure against it. If the thing you are insuring against is a minor inconvenience ($500 home repair cost), it makes no sense to insure against it.
I agree with you 100%. However....

A new furnace is not $500.

A new a/c unit (or perhaps two or three units) is not $500.

A new refrigerator (depending upon the brand) is not $500.

A new oven (depending upon the brand) is not $500.

I'm not saying that everyone should run out and buy a home warranty. I am refuting the position espoused by many in this thread that home warranties are a scam and are uniformly and without exception a bad deal. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, it is my contention that if you purchase an older home with older appliances and HVAC systems, it would be foolish not to get one.

The home I purchased in Las Vegas came with a Sub-Zero refrigerator and a Thermador range and oven. It also had three separate a/c units, all of which were 20+ years old. I think it would have been foolish of me not to maintain coverage on those appliances and systems.
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Old 02-12-2017, 04:55 PM
 
11,230 posts, read 9,218,366 times
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Anyone who owns a house should be in such a financial position that even spending $10,000 on house repairs will not cause irreparable financial damage.


If you are average, you will spend more on house warranty premiums and fees than you get out. There will be a few people who get more out than they put in; and there will be a few who put in a whole lot more than they get out.


If you want to believe that you are somehow a special case, then go for it. If you believe that you will probably have similar experiences to other people with similar houses, then I would suggest you will be better off spending that money on something else, like an actual investment.


Your last point does bring up the fact that those who insist on "the top of the line" for house appliances (which are usually inserted into standard tract houses as an attempt to make them seem more "lugzhury") will also incur top of the line prices when trying to replace them with comparable equipment; whereas a normal appliance probably won't really last that much longer but will darn sure cost less to replace when it does crap out.


And finally, don't forget that appliances can be repaired.
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Old 02-13-2017, 09:10 AM
 
Location: Raleigh, NC
5,808 posts, read 6,868,174 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by turf3 View Post
Individual experiences do not refute the fundamentals.
The quote I like to use is "the plural of anecdote is not data". The concept of confirmation bias also seems relevant.
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Old 02-13-2017, 10:03 AM
 
Location: SW Florida
15,202 posts, read 10,213,389 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MadManofBethesda View Post
Of course they will. You quoted my post; did you not read it?

My garage door opener was broken and it was replaced with a new one.

My toilet was broken and it was replaced with a new one.

My wall oven was broken and it would have been replaced with an expensive new one, but I took the cash ($2,714) instead.
I meant to say they will not replace a broken appliance with a new one IN MOST CASES. What they did with my mother was they kept replacing parts on her 25 year washing machine rather than just replacing it. It would work for a few weeks and then the warranty company was back again to fix it. So she had to pay the service charge every time they came out. Finally, they gave her a new one which when you consider the yearly contract fee plus the per visit fee she could have bought her own new washer.


They will jury rig something as much as possible not to have to replace it. And if you have an expensive appliance they will not replace it with the same quality. They also will take forever to get an appointment to come to your house and they will never have the parts you need on their truck. Not ever. From the time you call them to repair, IN MOST CASES WITH MOST WARRANTY COMPANIES will be a minimum of a week. Most people don't want to wait that long when it is 95-100 degrees out and their a/c breaks.


Like I said maybe you were fortunate in that you had a good local company but by going to Yelp or googling ARS or AHS you will see thousands of complaints.


http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/n...ties/index.htm
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Old 02-13-2017, 01:03 PM
 
11,230 posts, read 9,218,366 times
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Even if they do exactly what their contract says they will, over the entire population of people who buy these products, the customers will put in more money than they take out.
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Old 02-17-2017, 07:48 AM
 
11,156 posts, read 15,945,122 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chiluvr1228 View Post
They also will take forever to get an appointment to come to your house and they will never have the parts you need on their truck. Not ever. From the time you call them to repair, IN MOST CASES WITH MOST WARRANTY COMPANIES will be a minimum of a week. Most people don't want to wait that long when it is 95-100 degrees out and their a/c breaks.


Like I said maybe you were fortunate in that you had a good local company but by going to Yelp or googling ARS or AHS you will see thousands of complaints.


Why You Should Avoid Home Warranty Choices - Consumer Reports
Really? You've conducted a survey, have you? You have data and statistics to back that up?
I have no experience with ARS or AHS, so I can't tell you how they operate. What I can tell you is that whenever I had a problem with my company in Las Vegas, they had someone out within 24 hours (unless it was a weekend). Now I will say that in a couple of cases, the home warranty company would give me the name of a firm, and when I contacted them, they would say that they couldn't come out for 48-72 hours. However, in those cases, I simply called the home warranty company back, told them what the repair firm said, and then they reassigned the call to a repair firm who could respond the next day.

And as I noted in my earlier post, it did take awhile to reach resolution on the combo double wall oven/convection oven/microwave because they had to search around looking for parts. Fortunately, only the lower oven was malfunctioning, so we could still cook just fine. However, when it became obvious that it couldn't be repaired, they simply cut me a check for $2,700+ so that I could buy a new one if I wanted to. (BTW, I never bothered to because the top oven, which also included the convection and microwave ovens, continued to operate just fine. And when we sold the house, we noted the problem on the disclosure and sold it as is.)

Last edited by MadManofBethesda; 02-17-2017 at 08:05 AM..
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Old 02-17-2017, 08:03 AM
 
11,156 posts, read 15,945,122 times
Reputation: 29827
Quote:
Originally Posted by turf3 View Post
Anyone who owns a house should be in such a financial position that even spending $10,000 on house repairs will not cause irreparable financial damage.
Of course. But that still doesn't mean you would want to spend $10k if you could spend $400 instead. I paid cash for my $85,000 Jaguar, and could easily do the same again if I totaled it in an accident. That doesn't mean that it would be prudent to forego collision coverage on my auto insurance policy, does it?


Quote:
Originally Posted by turf3 View Post
If you are average, you will spend more on house warranty premiums and fees than you get out. There will be a few people who get more out than they put in; and there will be a few who put in a whole lot more than they get out.
Thank you, Captain Obvious. That's true for all types of insurance (health, disability, life, auto, warranty, etc.) and all insurance companies. Insurance companies take in more money than they pay out because their "average" customer pays more in premiums than they receive. If that wasn't true, those companies wouldn't be in business.

Any other words of wisdom to impart?

To reiterate yet again (and yes, that's redundant)....

I am not suggesting that everyone should rush out and buy a home warranty policy. Unlike the rest of you, I am simply stating that it isn't a 100%, absolutely black-and-white decision to forego buying one. In fact, if you are purchasing an older home with an older HVAC system and appliances, it would make sense to buy one at the very least until you've lived in the house for awhile and come to know it.

And of course, if you do choose to purchase a home warranty policy, you should shop around for a good provider.
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