"Taylor Weaver" wrote in message
...
Our house is covered under a home warranty (HMS / Homesure, a subsidiary
of Cross Country Group). I figured I would never have to use it, but we
found a problem with our furnace--the heat exchanger has failed. The
warranty people sent a technician to look at the problem, and he found
that the furnace needs to be replaced. The home warranty people have
agreed to replace the furnace which I am very pleased about. However
they have come up with a laundry list of things which "aren't covered"
according to them regarding the installation, such as wiring the furnace
and connecting it to the duct work. These items are listed in the
contract as being covered, but they are claiming that any wiring is a
"modification" and an upgrade. They told us that our wiring is not to
code, despite the fact that the technician never looked at the wiring,
the technician is a plumber and NOT a licensed electrician (checked the
state licenses), an electrician told us that nothing is wrong with it,
and the warranty company couldn't give any reason why it would need an
"upgrade" other than mumbling something about connections. Duct
connections are a similar story. The contract even says it includes
separate trades (e.g. electrician/plumber/etc) when needed for a
replacement, less the deductible.

They eventually presented the option of either replacing with a basic
furnace or a cash credit to have it done ourselves. Ok, so far so
good!!! If we choose the replacement, they will pay their hired
company to do the work (less everything they consider "not covered"
which appears to be most of the installation except dropping it off).
The hired company is not a dealer of the value furnace manufacturer and
is not interested in sizing it properly. The cash option is great,
although it is also based on a minimum installation, $1000 total.

The warranty company has been extremely hard to deal with (never call
back when they say they will, virtually impossible to speak to a
supervisor, don't provide anything regarding the claim or their denials
in writing, and I'm not even sure if they would uphold the cash credit
if we sent them an invoice copy at their request). I'm concerned
because they appear to be avoiding the wording in their own contract
regarding what is covered. Does anyone have any suggestions of how to
deal with a company like this or getting them to uphold their own
contract?

Meanwhile I don't want to operate a furnace with a bad heat exchanger,
so I want to get this replaced ASAP and they seem interested in dragging
everything out as long as possible.


You are screwed. Home Warranties only protect the builder and the warranty
company.

If you can get a check for $1000 out of them, then you are doing very well.

Most home warranties include a provision where the home owner signs away his
right to sue in a court of law. An arbitrator selected by the home warranty
company is used to arbitrate disputes. The homeowner often has to pay the
$1000 fee to arbitrate, even if they win the case.

Home warranties are worthless crap.