I purchased a one year warranty for my kitchen and laundry with National Home Protection (NHP).
On their website and in their printed literature, the boast that "... Your NHP warranty contract saves you mmoney by offering full replacement coverage for your repairs. That means regardless of the cost, we'll repair or replace the item in question for a low "per visit" fee." I have found this to be false advertising.
Today's date is 11/15/07. Over FIVE months ago, on approximately 6/11/07, I contacted NHP, and they referred me to Authorized Service Center (ASC) with whom an appointment was set up to look at my refrigerator. The freezer had stopped freezing; the refrigerator was not cooling properly; and it was making a funny sound. I lost all of the food in my freezer and the perishables in my refrigerator. Several days later, ASC's technician, Ed, came out and replaced the thermostat, saying that it should start freezing immediately. It took approximately two days to freeze ice, so I purchased all new food. Within a few days, I realized that the freezer would defrost every several days. I thought that perhaps this was just the system readjusting itself. Every time I would get ready to report the problem, it would start freezing again, so I tried to figure out when it might defrost again. Then I called NHP twice and was left on hold so long that I had to hang up because I was at my job. I finally got through to a customer service person, and she said I had to call the local company (ASC) since the service call did not resolve the problem, and it had been less than 30 days.
I called ASC, and they quickly scheduled Ed to return to my home.By this time, I had lost all of my frozen food (again) as well as food in the refrigerator part. When Ed came to do the repairs, he said it was the defrost timer which he replaced. He gave me his cell phone number and told me to call him if I had any more problems, that he could schedule the repair calls.
The freezer started freezing again, so I purchased food. After several days, it began to defrost, so I called Ed. He said he would put a work order in and someone would call me back. A few more days passed, and the back of the freezer was becoming very hot to the touch. I called him again, and he said the company was cutting back and he was no longer with them and that I would need to call them directly (which was fine with me I was only doing what ASCs employee had told me to do). By this time, the refrigerator had started making a buzzing sound, and my lights were flickering all over the house. When I opened the freezer, all the food was melted/defrosted, and the plastic panel where the cold air comes out was totally melted!
The food in the refrigerator part was completely ruined and smelled. I unplugged the refrigerator to prevent a house fire and called ASC. They sent Anthony out; he determined that it was a service error where Ed had incorrectly wired the timer; and commented that he had never seen anything like this before. He took the parts and said they would get back with me that was on a Thursday. I got a call on Tuesday or Wednesday of the next week after I faxed a complain letter to Mr. Lasster with ASC, and they scheduled a service call for Saturday. After waiting five hours on Saturday 8/4 (the end of the 8 A.M. - 1 P.M. Appointment window), Anthony returned. He replaced three parts but was unable to finish the work because another part was needed. He graciously told me I'd be called when they could come finish the work.
By August 13 I still had heard nothing, so I wrote and faxed a letter to National Home Protection but never heard anything. The letter included the following: "I realize the repair company's agreement with you is to exhaust every possibility before recommending replacement. I would say the employee's error more than took care of this and being without a refrigerator for over two months is a joke.
"At this point, the only professional thing to do is replace the refrigerator, PLEASE. I am prepared to file consumer complaints if necessary. I have talked to lots of other people who have had warranties, and they never had the problems I have had. A home warranty is supposed to provide peace of mind, and yours has done just the opposite."
I included my cell and work number for a response but never got one. So on Thursday, August 27, I phoned National Home Protection and spoke with a rude man who said I had been called at my home number a few days earlier. He said they had decided that the refrigerator could not be repaired, and that they did not have any refrigerators to replace it - that they were on backorder. However, they would be willing to pay me $189.63 to buy a new one. I told the man that there was no way I could purchase a new refrigerator the same size with an ice maker for that amount. He basically said that was my problem. So I told him I wanted to speak with someone higher. He said he would refer my case to the "Disputes Department, " and someone would call me on my cell phone after the Labor Day Holiday (9/3/07). I never heard anything, but several weeks later, a salesman did call me on my cell trying to sell me another year's policy, at which time, I told him about my refrigerator problem. He said he would transfer me to a customer service representative. I held for several minutes and was disconnected. Today, November 15, I spoke with another rude employee who told me that they had called me on 8/31/07 and they were prepared to pay me $213.00. I told him this was unacceptable - that they needed to replace the refrigerator, and he said they didn't have one, that they were on backorder. I asked to speak to the Disputes Department and he said they don't speak to anyone. I told him I would proceed with whatever I had to do to satisfactorily resolve the rip off they have committed.
So, here we are five months later - no refrigerator! And the mold and mildew are lovely. I plan to keep it as "evidence."
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