Complaint Review: Select Home Warranty

Beware of this company! I purchased Select Home Warranty about 5 months ago after the Sales Reps promised to include 'roof leaks' in the contract for free. I went back to my contract to verify this before composing this complaint. The contract states that I pay a $60 service fee for each service call. I contacted Select Home Warranty because I had 2 missing shingles that needed to be replaced on the roof. I know this because I had originally contacted a roofing company who told me that the roof was in good condition and all I needed was to have the shingles replaced. That roofing professional advised that I could simply call a 'Handyman' to replace the shingles for a small fee.

Because I knew that my contract with Select Home Warranty covered this, I scheduled the service with them. I explained fully the issue and even took a picture of the missing shingle and sent this to them. They agreed that this was covered, and that I was responsible for the $60 service fee. The contractor that they assigned came out, and I pointed out the area where the shingle was missing. After about 20 minutes, he knocked on the door and told me he was finished.

I asked him if I was to pay him, and he told me that the company would bill me. This was different than Select Home Warranty's emailed instructions sent the day before, which directed me to pay the $60 to the contractor. However, based on the contractor's comments, I waited for a bill from Select Home Warranty. On the following day, however, I received a bill for $402 from the contractor that was sent by Select Home Warranty.

As I had not received anything from Select Home Warranty, I contacted them and they said they would research as they had not information on this service. I was told it would take 48 hours to research whether or not the service was approved. I questioned why they would tell me it was approved before the service and then need to "research" to determine approval after the work was completed. The response was that I would hear from them in 48 hours.

In less than 24 hours I recevied an email from Select Home Warranty saying that the warranty did not cover leaks. I never requested leak repair and did not need a leak repair. However, if I had needed a leak repair, 'simple leaks' are included in my contract. During this conversation, Select Home Warranty reported that their system cited a 'diagnosis' of roof leak. Again this was not the work discussed and it was not the work needed, and most importantly--my contract says 'simple leaks' are included. At any rate, leak or no leak, as a customer I should have been given the opportunity to approve or decline the work. This simple act of customer service should have been covered by the $37.50 payment made to Select Home Warranty each month.

The short time in which Select Home Warranty took to deny this claim indicates that they never had any intention of paying, regardless of the work performed. The fact that the contractor declined to take my $60 service fee indicates that he knew that Select Home Warranty would not cover the claim; and the 20-minute contractor visit to my home indicates that the contractor did not fix a roof leak. I also have an issue with that contractor (Chief Roofing) because I never authorized the repair and was never advised of the $402 price until after the unauthorized work was performed. 

I believe that this company's only business is sales, and the actual service as described in their contracts is incidental at best. I also believe that they use contractors who inflate prices and falsify 'diagnosis' in order to cheat unsuspecting customers who are relying on their warranty company to oversee these repairs. I'm just beginning my letter-writing campaign against this company, but BUYERS BEWARE OF SELECT HOME WARRANY.