Colonial home warranty service for my home was purchased on 2/8 as a result of home buying. The seller agent chose it for its low cost I believe.
On Nov/13 mid-night my heater was down. The weather was approaching freezing during that time so the heater had to work harder. I called Colonial Home Warranty next day and a contractor Eco System was dispatched for diagnosis pretty soon. I paid $45 service call fee per contract.
After the diagnosis, Colonial told me I needed to submit the maintenance record before they could authorize the repair.
As a new home owner, the only service I had was the air duct cleaning back in May, but I couldn't find the receipt (you can imagine the mess from the inter-state moving). So I managed to call the cleaning company Total Air System Kleaning for the record. This company was very cooperative, and sent me the record. I forwarded to Colonial on 11/17.4 days passed, my whole family was still under no heating condition while the weather was near freezing.
Colonial asked for more service records, at the same time saying that they will only cover one of the two repair items based on Eco's diagnosis (diagnosis showed both main control circuit board and smart gas valve damaged). The reason: one was primary damaged, the other one was a secondary damage. Per contract only the primary damage is covered.
After calling them again, Colonial suggested to repair on my own and they would reimburse me later. I took the suggestion as I could not wait any longer, and Thanksgiving was approaching. No one wants to have a cold holiday. I called Eco System in on 11/21, with total repairing cost of $514.
At the same time I found a service record from previous owner done on 2/21 and submitted to Colonial on 11/21. I also sent the repair record and invoice from Eco system to Colonial on 11/22. After that I did not hear anything back from Colonial.
I did not contact them until the Thanksgiving/Christmas holiday season passed. On Jan/23 I called Colonial and was told they never received my invoice/repair record. So I sent them again (all sent by email, I have all the emails in my email box), and they said the invoice was not detailed enough. I called Eco and got the detailed invoice (with cost of each item plus labor cost) and sent to Colonial.
On Jan/27 Friday I was told Colonial will call me next Monday. No one called. I called them on 2/2 and was told Colonial would not reimburse me at all because all maintenance records were deemed invalid.
I felt like I was dealing with a scam company, whose only purpose is to rip off customer, or trying to deny the repairing cost. This is the worst company I have ever dealt with: irresponsible, self focus instead of customer oriented, even lying, cheating...
Even the technician from Eco System felt the same way and told me this was the worst home warranty company. Don't go for them next time he said. This kind of company should not exist in business. I've filed a complaint to BBB, and going to sue them through California small claim court.
Hope all the reviewers be cautious when choosing a home warranty company. Do not choose Colonial Home Warranty, and do not let the seller agent choose this one due to their low cost.
0 comments