Complaint Review: Old Republic - Internet

I perfectly understand Old Republic is in business to insure they only repair what is broken and in their eyes that may differ from the consumer's point of view. I was generally happy with their responsiveness and customer service except for two specific occasions.

First was when we needed a new water heater and they admitted that the decision boiled down to a plumber's opinion on how long was too long for the heater to heat the water from cold. The plumber they sent told me "This needs to be replaced but they aren't going to do it". Sure enough, they didn't. But wait, didn't Old Republic say it was on the plumber's discretion? As it turns out he was telling me I should replace it while telling them it didn't need repair. Old Republic said they'd gladly send another but I would have to wait 1 month, file a new claim and pay a new $60 service fee. When I called the contractor directly about it and complained, he offered to come and do the service for me at a "discount". It's an interesting business model to sell the customer on needing work done, tell Old Republic to deny the claim and then pick up the work for yourself. From other dealings and talking to other customers, it's apparent this kind of practice is fairly widespread among their service personnel. They don't want to get paid simply on the cut get from OR, they want the retail of a new unit etc. They will consistently try to parlay your disappointment into their own gain. Which seems especially dastardly given the fact that these contractors are helping see to it your claims aren't paid. When I brought this up with OR, they assured me nothing like this actually happens and they would look into it. Come on. It happens, they aren't looking into it. They don't care because if the contractor does it on the side it doesn't involve them. The customer pays the for the warranty, the service visit and the full breadth of the work? Sounds like a heck of an all around profit model.

Despite the incident listed above, they'd done some decent work. I'd painstakingly gotten them to replace a pool pump, an A/C unit and a PRV. Because of that, my wife and I decided we'd at least consider renewing. When I called in I was told that I wasn't eligible for renewal and that I couldn't buy a new plan either. My property had essentially been blacklisted. WHO DOES THAT and moreover WHY?! They couldn't (wouldn't) tell me why. They had a supervisor call me who curtly continued to tell me there was nothing they can do, it has been decided. No explanation, no appeal. I was just out. After calling in a bit more I was told by a sales person that Old Republic essentially does an audit on all their policies and cuts out the ones who had big expenditures. She went on to say that a majority of their customers don't have little or no paid claims year to year. 

Moral of the story: it is fairly difficult to get Old Republic to pay for things. If Old Republic doesn't want to pay, expect their inspecting contractor to still offer to do the work (Since it does need to be done after all). Also expect Old Republic's contractors to offer some level of maintenance plan on the item that would just be between you and his company. If Old Republic does pay for things things though, don't expect to be a customer next year. They have essentially admitted (and certainly have the actions to back it up) they are a company who is only interested in taking very good care of those who pay but need nothing done.