Complaint Review: Select Home Warranty - Nationwide

I signed up with Select Home Warranty in May of 2014 when we purchased a new home. When I signed up, I explained to the sales person that the reason I was signing up was that my home was built in 1999 and the hot water heater and the furnace were original to the house and I was worried that they were going to go soon. The rep explained that that was "what this policy was for". I purchased a 12 month policy, but they threw in an extra few months taking it to 15 months.

 

I filed one claim in the first year. The heat in our upstairs was not working well - rooms were not being heated evenly. After filing, calling, and having to follow up I finally got someone to come out to the house to check and I was told that it was a "duct problem" and not covered.

 

In April of 2015, when my original policy was about a year old, I received a call where Select was pushing me to renew. I was confused since I thought my policy was for 15 months, and they assured me that it was but if I signed up to renew then, they would throw in another 6 months free. Fair enough. I was told that if I did not want to keep the policy at any time I could get a prorated refund. I renewed.

 

In November, my hot water heater was not functioning well. We were losing pressure in our showers and the sinks were not getting hot. When I filed a claim I was told that "water pressure" was not covered. In my former home, we lost pressure and when we had a plumber come out to assess the problem, we were told that it was because our hot water heater needed to be replaced. We had replaced that hot water heater, and the pressure resumes to full pressure. I explained that it was not heating up as well and they reluctantly sent my claim through. After a week I had not heard from a contractor. I called Select. They said that I should have heard from someone and they would put it out to another contractor. I waited for several days and did not hear from the new contractor. Finally, I got the contractor's number from Select and called him myself. He told me he had asked Select to remove him from their list as he never received payment for the jobs he did through them. He was nice, and said he would come help me, until he learned that I was well over an hour away from him. This was obviously not the experience I had paid for - having to follow up on my claim for over a week, having to call the contractor myself to make the initial contact, and finally being told that the contractor would not do work through your company.

 

The last claim I filed was because my refrigerator was leaking. This time I was told that my policy did not cover leaks in the lines so this was not covered. Without sending someone out to asses the problem, there is really no way that Select could determine that this was a leak in the line. The refrigerator is relatively new (about 2 years old).

 

I decided I was done and wanted to cancel. I asked how much the prorated reimbursement would be and was told that I would need to email "[email protected]" to cancel and find out the amount that I would be refunded. I did that on 1/18/2016. I did not hear back from anyone until yesterday, 1/25/2016. My email inquiry regarding refund amount was never responded to. Had I known that total refund would be $21, I would not have canceled.

So, let's do the math:

I got the original policy in May of 2014 for 15 months - paid a little over $500.

Renewed in April of 2015: another 18 months.

Tried to cancel in January of 2016.

Original Policy was May 2014-September 2015

New Policy - another 18 months - September 2015 - February 2017

 

My prorated refund: $21

 

Apparently, the additional 6 months that was thrown in gets tacked on to the END of your policy - whenever that may be...not to the end of the original year. This is extremely deceptive.

 

When I was told the amount of the refund I stated that I would not cancel for this small amount of money - you have not mailed the check yet, for $21. I was told that the policy had already been canceled and I could not keep it. I asked to speak with a manager and was told I was speaking to a manager and that there was nobody higher to whom I could speak. When I protested, I was told that I could email "[email protected]" and someone would reply. I emaield and called again the next day. When I finally received a call back, from Eli, I spent about 20 minutes on hold to learn that "he could not reverse the cancellation". If he did not have the ability to reverse, why was I on hold for so long?

 

Complaints are:

1. Nothing is covered - before even sending someone out to asses a problem I was told that whatever I was claiming, not covered.

2. Trying to get a contractor to your house is unreasonably difficult.

3. They are not honest when they tell you if you want to cancel you can get a prorated refund at any time.

4. Now I am being told that my cancellation has already been processed, when it has not. When I originally asked to cancel I specifically asked what the amount would be which they did not provide (I have written documentation of this). Had I known it was $21, I would not have canceled.