Allied Home Warranty - Here's how a very clever scam works:
One of my A/C's went out on a newly purchased townhouse. Allied sends out Lone Star Repair to look at it and they charge $65. Lone Star tell me that the required part is no longer available, and out-of-pocket (non-covered charges) will be ~$5,000. Well, it's a 2 1/2 ton system, and only 10 years old. Something doesn't sound right to me, so I call my HVAC company with whom I've been doing business for years. They say of course the part is available, and the job will cost about $1,100.
I send that quote to Allied. Allied responds that they sent my quote on to Lone Star, that Lone Star has now (magically) found the part, and now the out-of-pocket charges are only $1,100. Whoa, I say! I have a quote for the entire job for that much!"Too bad", says Allied, "We only do business with Lone Star, and by the contract that's the way it is." Why, I wonder, would Allied use a company that is obviously so much more costly? What's going on here? Well, sports fans, the internet is a wonderful thing...
An hour of research uncovered that, through several holding companies, Allied and Lone Star Repair, are owned by the same person - one Andrew White! So, your "policy" does nothing more than give you the privilege of paying a premium for doing business with Lone Star Repair, at a cost to you absolutely no different than if you had no warranty at all. Allied even keeps the fact of its ownership of Lone Star a secret from (many) of their own employees! I wonder why that is?
This is, quite simply, as crooked as crooked can be. Don't allow yourself to be scammed. Avoid Allied like the plague. (It may also be of interest that Andrew White also owns a chiropractic clinic. I'll leave that for you to judge.)
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