While many of the items listed in this article are common maintenance and caring tips such as heating and cooling system annual inspection, there are couple of things we all forget - hire a chimney sweep to inspect and clean your fireplace, empty your hot water heater annually etc.

To better plan your home maintenance needs, check out out home maintenance tips article, which also has links to maintenance checklists available online

Here is the complete article:
Maintenance that makes $ense

Fortunately, I had Google Webmaster Tools configured for this website. I peeked into GWT for an explanation. There were some http errors but it did not have much details other than “4xx error” and a link to http status codes list as shown here (click on the image to expand the view) -

My next stop was to perform health check of the website and to check log files for errors. Everything looked good and no signs of a problem. At that point I realized that I do not have 24×7 monitoring on my website, so if my host server site was down, I will never know about the problem. I went ahead and set up monitoring using the free mon.itor.us service and set up alerts to notify me if my website goes down as a precaution.

Next I contacted my web hosting company and explained the problem to them. Alas! they knew what was going on… Apparently my hosting company Linksky had blocked all bots for few days to handle excessive crawling happening due some other sites hosted on the same server. After making several unsuccessful crawling attempts, Google removed my site from its cache and also from search results.

My web hosting company moved our site to another server which can better handle such issues quickly after I reported the issue. However, they did not act pro-actively and as a result my SERP position in Google is gone and it may take a while to get back to the same level. They should have blocked bot requests on only those high traffic sites, not all.

If you encounter this error, please make sure your web hosting company has not blocked Googlebots. It is always a good idea to to set up external monitoring using many services available online. This is a shortlist of some of those service and their basic plan is free

siteuptime.com
mon.itor.us
uptrends.com
checkwebsite.org

Visit Angie Hicks Blog to read the complete article

Angie’s List Top 10 worst grade earners:

1. Warranty companies
2. Home builders
3. Furniture sales
4. Internet service providers
5. Architects
6. Structural engineering
7. Solar panels
8. Taxi/Shuttle service
9. Entertainment/party services
10. Mattresses

Angie’s List Top 10 best grade earners:

1. Veterinarians
2. Dog walkers
3. Piano tuning
4. Animal training
5. Hauling
6. Hair salons/barbers
7. Upholstery cleaning services
8. Animal/house sitters
9. Window cleaners
10. Lighting services

VENTURA, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–California home buyers, approximately nine out of 10 of whom apply for home warranty contracts at the time of a resale home purchase, can maximize the benefits of this product by adhering to proper maintenance guidelines suggested by the Home Warranty Association of California (HWAC).

“The maintenance initiatives outlined by HWAC include action that can be performed both by home owners or maintenance firms procured by them to periodically service key items of equipment,” said Mark Lightfoot, president of HWAC. He added that since proper maintenance is a requirement of most home warranty contracts, plan holders maximize service benefits by adopting the practice.

Lightfoot noted that air conditioning, furnaces, heat pump condensers, and water heaters comprise the major equipment items on which home owners should focus. “These are the most costly items in a home and the ones likely to require proper maintenance,” he said.

To mitigate these issues, HWAC suggests the following:

* Change furnace and air conditioning filters regularly; winter for furnace, summer for AC. If you have several pets, monthly filter changes may be required.
* Regularly check the AC condenser or heat pump system. Keep trees and shrubs clear of these components to prevent air flow blockages. Also, hose down outside of units to keep the fins clean. HWAC notes that customers can secure a maintenance contract with a local AC company to help keep systems in proper operation.
* Flush water heaters regularly, particularly in areas of hard water, since it is considered the primary culprit of sediment build up, according to HWAC. Here, too, a plumbing professional can be hired to provide this service, HWAC reports.

“To minimize potential service denials, home owners with home warranty contracts are well advised to follow manufacturer recommended maintenance guidelines on respective home components. In addition, potential home warranty customers should ask about contract limitations on lack of maintenance and pre-existing conditions. All home warranty companies exclude known pre-existing conditions, however in some cases if the condition was not known by any parties, and not detectable by visible inspection and simple mechanical test, it may be considered covered by the terms of coverage,” Lightfoot said.

Read the complete article …

Home warranties are a hot topic, as many home sellers offer the additional peace of mind to attract buyers. But many homeowners are asking, ”Should I buy a home warranty for myself?”

Home warranties, or service contracts, are different from homeowner’s insurance, which provides hazard and liability protection. A home warranty is a service contract for an existing home that covers the breakdown of its major operating systems, such as a furnace, and major built-in appliances, such as a dishwasher. The homeowner buys the one-year service contract for $300 to $500 and pays a service charge, often less than $100, for each call.

These warranties are most common in home-sale transactions. In general, it’s a good idea for home sellers to pay for a home warranty as a marketing tool to attract buyers in a slow market, said Ilyce Glink, author of ”100 Questions Every First-Time Home Buyer Should Ask” and editor of the real estate Web site ThinkGlink.com.

A service contract allays buyers’ fears that they’ll be stuck with a big repair bill as soon as they move in–if the stove and air-conditioning system break down, for example. In California, where it seems most real estate trends begin, home warranties are standard, with about 90 percent of existing-home sales including one, according to the Home Warranty Association of California.

”Of all the perks you’re going to offer, this is a cheap one,” Glink said.

On the other side of the transaction, savvy home buyers should ask for a home warranty. An eager seller is likely to throw it in for free.

Read Complete Article …

Sometimes back I read a comment in a discussion forum posted by a licensed plumber who worked for various home warranty companies. It is interesting to get his perspective of the home warranty. You can read the complete article from Yahoo! Answers Maintenance and Repairs section

His opinion -

The contractors go to your home and try to find reasons to get your claim turned down by the warranty company and warranty companies have a lot of reasons they will turn down claims for. When your claim is denied you (shell) out the 50 dollar copay plus the repair of your problem. The contractors do this because they make more money.

Now you know why your home warranty genuine repair claims are denied for all wrong reasons! He claims that home warranty companies do not encourage contractors to complete the repair work for obvious reasons. But don’t lose hope yet as we still have some good warranty companies and you can get their ratings from Home Warranty Provider Ratings link on this website. Many homeowners fight back warranty companies and used various tactics such as threating a law suite, approaching public media etc. and were successful.

Handyman continues and explains how he eventually quit his job that employed unfair tactics.

My boss actually told me to try and get claims turned down and my incentive was that he would give me half of whatever money I brought in. I did this for only about 2 months and had to quit because it is morally wrong.

Do not plan to drop your home warranty policy, after reading this article! Your situation may demand home warranty even though some claims get denied. Also, you may have a reputed warranty company.

Read the following article to find out if you really need home warranty before you make your decision

http://www.homewarrantyreviews.com/do-i-need-home-warranty

This page contains a list of articles and discussion threads about home warranty annoyances experienced by buyers. Most of the opinions about the services here are obviously not positive. However, you should be aware that bad experiences and bad news spread out fast, while positive experiences about these companies are not recorded very often. If you are looking to buy home warranty, you will never find a perfect company based on these opinions. The game is about weeding out the really bad ones by choice of elimination!

To keep these annoyances in perspective, we suggest you read our articles - Home Warranty Buyers Guide and Things you must know about home warranty

We also have user reviews on each of the home warranty companies available on this website. Please visit Provider Ratings section for a detailed review

Opinions stated below are from independent websites and homewarrantyreviews.com neither endorses, nor denies them.

Home Warranty Consumer reviews from My3cents.com contains a long list of reviews and covers many warranty companies. You can post your opinion as well.

Opinions from eHow.com - eHow.com published an article explaining how to get home warranty. Readers shared their problems with home warranty providers and policy here

Discussions forums at epinions.com contain reviews and home warranty scams

Complaints about AHS
From www.mortgagenewsdaily.com
From consumeraffairs.com

Problems with Mutual Warranty
Scam.com Article

Problems with First American
Epinions.com Article

Problems with 2-10 Home Warranty
How one person fought with 2-10 home warranty to pursue the claim

Please share your links and annoyances with home warranty companies by posting your comments below.

Homeowners insurance covers personal belongings and the entire house in case of burglary or natural disaster such as fire, lightning, tree fall etc., but it does not cover regular maintenance and replacement costs of appliances, and that is where home warranty coverage picks up. Home warranty is a wear and tear insurance against equipments and appliances such as heater, A.C. unit, plumbing and electrical systems.

What does homeowners insurance cover, and when?

• Personal property, furniture, clothing, jewelry etc. up to some value
• Structure and contents of the home
• Your living expenses if the home is not in a living condition due to natural disasters
• Appliances are covered as well, but only in the event of natural hazard or special circumstances.
• If someone visiting your house gets injured while in your property (slipping on the icy drive way for example) and if you are sued, you are covered by homeowners insurance.
• It protects you from a variety of events, including fire, lightning, tree-fall, burglary, storms.

What does home warranty cover, and when?

• Basic coverage includes the repair and replacement of major appliances such as Heating/Cooling system, Water Heater, refrigerator, Dishwasher, Range, Oven etc. Plumbing and electrical system are also covered
  Optional coverage varies across insurance companies. Some companies cover Clothes Washer, Drier, Microwave oven, and roof maintenance in the basic coverage, but other companies charge extra.
• Coverage is generally effective 30 days from the date of buying the policy. But please be aware that claims can be denied be insurance companies for various reasons, including what they “maintenance negligence”. Please read Thigns you must know before buying home warranty article for more details

Finally, homeowner insurance is required by your mortgage company, but home warranty is optional and may not be necessary for all home owners. Please read Do I Need Home Warranty article if you are considering it.

As mentioned on this website, home warranty policies will not cover everything you care about at your home. At some point you would need to get your hands dirty. By learning more about your home appliances and maintenance needs, you can increase the life of the equipments and will avoid the pain of dealing with home warranty company for repairs and maintenance. Of course, you will save quite a bit of your money. But more than anything, it is a very satisfying experience to fix something on your own and become more knowledgeable!

Here is a collection of good resources about home maintenance.

Home maintenance checklist

Every home owner should maintain a checklist of home maintenance needs. Just like your car, all your home appliances need to maintained to avoid malfunctioning. Use the templates from here that would suite your situation. Set a reminder using your email or other scheduling systems so that you won’t miss your “inspection”

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Here is a collection of good maintenance guides for your reference

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Repair and troubleshooting of home and appliances

Here is the list of best guides that I have found so far. Most of them have demonstrations with images and videos. Youtube.com is another resource of course.

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Do it yourself Projects

It is always fun to take on some home improvement projects at your spare time. It takes some time and effort, but the satisfying experience and the joy you will get after you finish a project successfully is worth it.

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Homeowner Resources

Here is a list of useful resources for homeowners. This list will be updated as and when we find useful websites. Please feel free to suggest your favorites!

Homeowner Insurance Lowdown

This website contains many resources such as homeowner insurance, warranty, and financial info essential for a homeowner

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Want to suggest a new resource? Please provide your feedback about home maintenance and remodeling links here

Dealing with claims - General Guidelines

1. Maintain call logs - For each call, note down
   • Date, time and duration of the call
   • Customer service rep’s *full name, rep ID, call center location
   • Supervisor’s name if you got transferred
   • Conversation highlights
2. Always stay calm and never be rude. Be mindful of claim center reps’ situation. They spend their whole day fielding tough questions from irate customers. They will certainly help you if you are nice to them; otherwise they will play by the rules hard and fast. Explain your position and ask them to help you out. Remember, they have nothing to lose and your fight is against the company, not the rep
3. Do not call during peak hours and Mondays They will not be able to spend time with you during business hours. Avoid morning hours, lunch time and Mondays.

If you have followed the above guidelines, you can deal with most of the claims. But then there are tough claims which requires a special approach.

Dealing with tough claims - How to play the game

1. Gather all details at once before you make the call - Collect all the details such as account #, model #, service contract, claim center’s 800 # etc. I prefer to keep this info online so that I will have access to the details from anywhere. You can use a draft email saved copy, or Google Notepad kind of online service. Use the same notepad to add call logs each time you make the call. If time permits, collect details of similar claim denial issues - from your friends or from the experiences posted on the web
2. Pay attention to agent’s greeting message - Greet the agent and note down her/his name, call center location and time in your call log immediately. Address them using their name to make them feel respected.
3. Explain the problem patiently and ask them to help you resolve it. Understood, you are frustrated and dissatisfied with the service, but stay calm and respectful. You cannot get personal and express your anger against the agent, who is not directly responsible for the situation.
4. Provide details of your sincere efforts to resolve the issue - Justify as to why you think this claim should be processed. Explain how many times you have called before and mention the name of the rep you spoke last time.

Playing Hardball - They won’t listen. What Next?

5. Call some other time - Some reps are helpful, so repeated calling will help most of the times.
6. Speak to a supervisor - This won’t help much, but you can give it a try. Supervisors are specialized in dealing with irate customers and will not be of much help.
7. Loyalty Threat - Tell them you have been a loyal and long time customer and you will be disappointed if they do not honor your claims
8. Contract Termination Threat - Tell them you will terminate their service if the issue is not resolved. But do not cancel the service on the same call. Call at some other time and ask them to terminate the service as the very first thing. When they ask for the reasons, explain your problem. Your case will be considered more favorably now. Do NOT terminate the contract before you have completed remaining steps here.
9. Badmouthing Threat - Warn them that you will drag them through the mud by publicizing your bad experiences. You should be willing to report the problem to news papers, TV channels, online discussion forums, blogs and finally set up a website and collect all similar experiences about that company. Check out this video - how one homeowner won his insurance claims with the help of a TV channel
10. Official Complaints with BBB - You can complain with Better Business Bureau (BBB), which will be happy to resolve the complaints and mediate between businesses and customers. BBB is not a govt. organization but it does promote integrity and business ethics in the marketplace. It will also keep public records of all complaints and companies do not want to be blacklisted there.
11. Official Complaints with State Attorney General Office - If you honestly believe that you are victimized by a business, lodge a complaint with the attorney general’s office. They will launch an inquiry. Nevertheless, you can threaten your insurance company about that you will contact attorney general’s office.
12. Law Suite Threat - Threaten them with personal or class action law suite. Do not use this threat unless it is really necessary. Most of the companies have their position covered legally and this may not work unless they are engaged in unlawful practices