HSA Home Warranty Responds to Criticism
Home warranty companies take lot of heat from consumers especially on reviews sites like ours. Consumers think home warranty plans provide blanket coverage just like auto insurance. But these are different kinds of insurance products. Chances of your appliances needing repair are much more than your car getting involved in a road accident, although premium you pay is about the same. So, obviously insurance companies have to make some profit to stay alive and that is why there are small print clauses that exclude certain conditions. Not many people will read the contract and will be surprised when their claims are rejected. As pointed out by Mr. Lehmann below, positive experiences are less likely to be talked about and many reviews here on this site are overly negative.
The president and CEO of HSA Home Warranty has responded to the criticism and negative reviews on this site. We appreciate home warranty companies coming out and explaining the facts. We also think they need to ensure home owners understand the product terms before signing the contract. Homeowners warranty is one of those products that needs little bit of consumer education. Here is the complete response –
I feel that I have to respond to the comments that I read on this blog. I have been the president of this company for 25 years. It disturbs me to read these comments when I know that we work so diligently to deliver the best service that we possibly can. Unfortunately, the individuals who post their opinions are overwhelmingly those that feel that they were treated unfairly. I think that some statistics might be helpful to those individuals who read this site. We have 100 opinions posted on this site. Of those, approximately 25 are people who had a good experience and wish to share it. All others express negative comments. This is out of almost 85,000 people who filed claims with us last year. So you are hearing from far less than 1% of our claimants on this site. What you don’t hear is from the 85% plus who had claims and were very satisfied.
Furthermore, over 40% of our business comes from renewal customers who thought highly enough of our product and service to renew their warranty coverage. In other words a huge majority of our customers are very satisfied with their coverage and keep their warranty coverage with us for a long period of time.
While I applaud the high satisfaction rates of some of our competitors, you might notice that they do not have very many opinions registered. That is possibly because they only conduct business in a single community or state. The national companies, like HSA, have a more challenging situation in that they cover the entire country from Fargo, ND, to Abilene, TX to Philadelphia, PA to Orlando Florida. It is a tremendous challenge to form a network of vendors that covers the entire country. With this challenge comes some variance in the quality of service contractors performing the repairs. We do our best, every day, to bring on high quality service people. However, the alternative is no warranty protection if your community is smaller, more rural, or difficult to access.
There are those who complain that they had to wait several days in high heat or extreme cold to have their furnace or air conditioner repaired or replaced. If you look in your yellow pages you may notice that there are a finite number of companies who do this work. When there is a heat spike or a heavy freeze they are under tremendous pressure to accomplish all of the repairs. Whether you have a home warranty or not, it is likely that you will have to wait to get your repair work done. In fact, we believe that we do get repair people to you faster than if you did not have a warranty, because we send these companies a lot of business and have service contracts in place to establish high expectations with our service people.
Further, if you need a rare part or a new unit, we might be able to get them faster than the local company because we often buy directly from the manufacturer. Still there are only so many service companies and it takes time to get to you when there are weather extremes in your area. We also have a service guaranty in our contract that ensures we will respond to your service request in a timely manner or we will let you contact a vendor outside of our network to ensure fast service. Our people do their very best to bring you the fastest service possible. It is in our best interest to have satisfied customers.
Our CSR’s are monitored and trained on a daily basis. All telephone calls are recorded. We review these for quality assurance purposes and if there is a complaint about “rudeness” we listen to the call and review it with the CSR. As we review these we frequently find that the “rudeness” may have occurred after a customer became irate, abusive or profane with the CSR. We do instruct them to end the call if they are subject to extremely abusive language or profanity. The CSR’s are nearly always friendly, courteous and helpful. If not, they are retrained. If that is unsuccessful, further corrective action is taken up to and including termination.
With this response I pledge that all complaints about our service surfaced on this site will be fully reviewed to be sure the proper claim decision was made. While there are times when customers are upset that our contract terms do not allow us to cover every claim, I am confident that we stand by our service experience and address problems as they arise.
Some customers complain about being non-renewed after a claim. On average, we pay 1.1 claims per contract. That’s our business. We pay claims and provide service to people. However, you may have seen allusions to receiving $10,000 in claims. Obviously we cannot pay that kind of money out on every warranty. These individuals usually have eight to twenty claims. If we did renew this type of property, the cost of the warranty would be raised very high for everyone else and make the product less available to consumers who need the budget protection our warranty provides. We also will non-renew for persistent abusive or profane language and for behavior we consider unethical. Just as you have the choice of warranty providers, we have the ability to choose not to do business with individuals who exhibit this type of behavior.
Some complaints are about hold times. We continually strive to improve our hold times. In these economic times longer hold times are a problem. You may have experienced them with airlines, banks, credit card companies, insurance companies, etc. We are actually pleased that we have been able to keep the standards that we have and even improve our hold times in several target areas. We have not moved to a foreign call center or outsourced our call center operation. All of your calls are answered here in the United States by HSA employees trained in the values of our organization. They take tremendous pride in providing you industry leading customer service.
I wrote this letter because I could not tolerate without response the people who call us thieves, liars and con men. We work very hard to deliver the best service and coverage that we can with integrity and fairness, and have done so for 25 years. We judge our success by the number of people who renew their warranty coverage with us year after year. These are the more than 85 percent of our customers who file a legitimate service request and receive fair and prompt service. If that were not true we could not keep our customers. Robert Lehmann – CEO & President of HSA Home Warranty
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I would highly recommend dropping your home warranty coverage and searching for a new provider if you feel the warranty is necessary. I initially thought that this was going to be an easy hassle free claim because they immediately took responsibility of the claim however it is impossible to get them to move forward on the claim. For the third time, I was told I’d receive a call back within 24 hours and have failed to get it. I somewhat understand that they are waiting on the contractor but what they fail to understand is that they picked them, not me. A simple call back with an explanation would be suffice. I’ve had claims with auto insurance companies before and they always respond quickly but this has been a complete disaster so far. No one seems to be concerned other than myself. If you’re looking to find someone that will respond to your claim in a decent time frame, I would definitely shop elsewhere.
1.5hrs wait time to be told my claim was disapproved and so I could leave a message for a decision maker (couldn’t even continue to stay on hold). Felt like two estimates and one month fault to repair time was fair for a roof. They cited that a BBB reputable contractor and technician was insufficient to make a determination on a roof leak. Their recommendation, I needed to tear the roof up to determine what was causing the leak. Anyone else see the fault in that logic. Compromise two layers of shingles and try to make a patch and you’ll make three leaks for every one you try fixing. Totally concerned with denying claims and not looking out for the customer. Unacceptable wait times and untenable process for determining the condition of the fault. Wholeheartedly recommend against HSA.
Wow…seems an almost unanimous opinion of HSA, at least here. I have had simlar experiences–profound wait times, constant search by HSA to bait repairmen with loopholes to avoid paying a claim, shoddy contractors, etc. etc. The response from the Prez was a BAD attempt at damage control; always someone else’s fault, blah, blah blah (What did you expect in 2011 from an insurance exec??)….remember the saying– “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire”.
Using HSA is a crap shoot at best, as you are always in the position of potentially holding the bag for a repair or being subjected to numerous charges for “noncovered items”. I won’t relate my experiences here, as they so mirror those already explained.
I got rid of HSA. For me, their “service” was often a run-around or shell game. CSR’s are hit or miss; some OK some worthless. In a nutshell, the product was not worth my time and frustration, let alone money. Consumer groups say in general home warranties are a bad deal for the buyer.
At the end of the day know your recourse:
1. As an insurance product, HSA is regulated in most states by your Insurance Commissioner. If you get nowhere with HSA and feel you are in the right, file a complaint with them. Nothing gets an insurance company’s attention quicker than complaints from a state insurance commission, as they can bar HSA from doing business in that state.
2. Use your state’s Attorney General’s Office for complaints—most have a Consumer Affairs Division and will investigate. Again, something insurance folks don’t like.
3. BBB is an option too, but they have no legal or enforcement abilities. They simply make headway with honest companies only.
Good luck to all of you who continue with HSA and some of the other unscupulous “insurers” out there. Caveat Emptor (Buyer Beware)!
There are so many negative reviews on this website that the president of HSA himself sent a letter to the webmaster here to defend his company. THIS SPEAKS VOLUMES. A presidents time is money people. You better believe that he wouldn’t have spent the time to send a lengthy defense and get this site to post it if they thought the complainers on this board were in the minority. Even if we were a vocal minority, it wouldn’t be worth his time to respond. This man is publicly blaming his customers for their bad experiences, not once even conceding that there could be an inkling of truth to the complaints, that he is sorry to hear about so many unhappy customers, that he’d try harder…nothing.
So many sites allow customers to review services, and there are plenty of good reviews on the internet, even on this site. It’s just not true that only unhappy customers write reviews.
Read the reviews for HSA. So many people going through so many similar things, it’s no coincidence. HSA knows that providing a service costs money, and they can make more money by giving customers the runaround however they can.
Dear Mr. President, I called you today. Why haven’t you called me back??? My guess is your busy with all the other unhappy customers, rather than providing the stellar service you claim your company offers. What a joke buddy!
Like many others on this blog my home warranty with HSA was part of my home purchase package. I have been with them and continued to renew my contract for 5yrs now paying over $400 a year, because I was BAMBOOZLED! I am a first time homeowner and thought repair/replacement coverage on my 25 plus y.o. home was a good idea as things do tend to go out and when my central air went out they replaced it quickly, however I did have to spend over $300 out of pocket on “not covered” expenses, but being niave I feel for it. Well last Saturday the blower went out on my heating/cooling system. HSA’s service contractors were out by Monday and advised the blower motor was indeed bad and needed to be replaced. Made since, its been working hard blowing hot and cold air for nearly 30 years, especially this year as we’ve had record hi temps of 90 plus degrees and heat indexes in the 100s for nearly 50 days straight. Well HSA denied the claim stating “lack of maintenance” crap! I requested a second opinion as I don’t trust the rude, unprofessionals they sent out and work for them. HSA refused to send out another company. I called the contractor back for a quote, $1200 to replace the blower but suggested that I just replace the whole system for $1600. Wow! That’s what I thought I was paying HSA for!! Like seriously if had I been puting that $450 premium in the bank somewhere instead of paying HSA, I’d have over $2000 to replace the system! Sheesh! On top of that, I’ve had two other company’s out today with quotes between $400-$800! Both stating the blower failed because of age and/or defectiveness. “Its just burned out!”. HSA and their contractors are crooks! I WILL NOT RECOMMEND THEM AND I WILL NOT BE RENEWING! BUT I AM STILL WAITING ON UR RETURN CALL MR. PRESIDENT!! Sincerely ~>Falana
I can honestly say that I will never do business with HSA again. While I won’t insult people at HSA I do find the business practices to be questionable. I waited 4 days to get someone to even look at a broken down refrigerator. During this time I spent most of my day waiting by the phone, making calls, and following up on calls. Several hours of my time was spent making phone calls for HSA and following up on problems that HSA’s dispatch system caused me…like telling vendors that my problem was resolved when it was not.
I live in a pretty large city and know of a lot of vendors that could have repaired my refrigerator in a much more timely fashion, but HSA could only call the 3 that were in their “Vendor Network” and if I wanted to find someone else then I could call and make my own arrangements.
Let’s think about this for a second…I requested a home warranty for convenience and if I wanted faster service I could call someone else, oh and by the way, I might have to pay out of pocket and apply for a reimbursement, but there was no promise that I would get refunded because even though I was “approved” to find someone else…but my claim was not approved and therefore carried no guarentee that I would be refunded any monies that I spent attempting to fix this issue.
Had I known these caveats I would have requested another home warranty company or I would have not got a home warranty at all.
Furthermore I know plenty of large national companies that have more robust networks of vendors, contractors, ect… that can respond to issues in a much more timely fashion…I work for one of them.
So, what am I alluding to by writing this post…simply put I expected satisfaction and resolution in a timely fashion…not a week after I make the first phone call and not to be let down in such a disappointing fashion.
Was my problem resolved…yes, but not by your company. No, I told them to drop my claim and I purchased a new refrigerator that was delivered today. I resolved my problem in a much more timely fashion without headache and phone calls.
I will not renew with HSA nor will I recommend HSA to anyone. I will be telling my real estate agent that your company does not provide quality service and that my experience has left me very upset.
And by the way…perhaps all the training you put your CSRs through should also be given to the supervisors, because when they talk in circles and fail to respond to the problem at hand that tends to upset people…especially very patient people who spent over an hour waiting to speak to them.
Dear Sir – I have been a client for aprox. 8 years and have been very happy with your company until now. Without going into to much detail, my AC has been out since May 3rd. The company that you sent to fix the problem was out six times and it still does not work. I have had three other firms come out at my own exspense and they have found that the parts that were replaced were not compatabile with the unit. I have spent hours on the phone with your company (most of the time on hold) and have received no help. Every time I call I have to speak to different person and go over the whole chain of events again.
If you meant what you wrote then I would like the opportunity to see if you really mean what you say. I have included the website of the firm that I am employeed with. I am SVP of business development (which can be confirmed by going to said site)and would like to have the chance to discuss the problems that I have had with your firm, in hopes of possibilty offering some suggestions for improving the service. I await your response.
Dear Mr. Lehmann, After having problems with my heating and air,I searched for the CEO of First American and found that I have not been the only person with this problem. I have been dealing with this problem since 5/17/2011. The orginal tech. stated that the “system should be replaced.” The tech made a very specific report. Since then I have had to fax the workorder hire my own person, that gives the same diagnosis and your company refuses to replace the system. My poor animals have been so hot, and I have had to find friends to stay with due to the heat. This is truly gotten out of had, and there is not any intergity with First American Warranty.
Thank you all for the testimonials of our competitors! I read these and think about how we handle things, and probably 90% of you would have been more than satisfied with a policy from Residential Warranty Services. You should also ask your Realtors how much they received in compensation for some of these policies, and check your mailboxes as there has been a class action lawsuit filed against at least one of them. Thanks again for the content for my next newsletter to agents!
You can see a copy of our policy, clearly published on our site, at http://www.rwswarranty.com.
Dear CEO, Robert Lehmann: We renewed our warranty with HSA because we didn’t know better, not because you did a stellar job in our first year with you. We didn’t have a need for a Home Warranty service in our first year. Therefore, we ignorantly defaulted to what was handed to us when we purchased our new home. We have now learned to shop around before doing things like that: ask others who they use, read reviews online, and survey our possibilities.
Therefore, basing your success on the number of renewals is not always a good judgment of your success and customer’s satisfaction.
After reading all of the recent complaints all I could do is laugh because I am going through the same thing. You have to read the fine print for these warranties because in that fine print, nothings covered. I had an issue with my water heater which I filed a claim for, they sent some joke of a plumber out to my house who told me they couldnt do anything for me and collected my $75 deductible. The next night I had water all over my floor AGAIN and called a plumber from my area to come fix the problem that should have been fixed in the first place and got charged $217. I call HSA to get my money refunded because the part that was replaced was suppoed to be under warranty and they said they would refund my money, but still have not received anything and no one wants to return my phone calls!!! Very annoyed and extremely angry!! Would never recommend this warranty to anyone I know! On top of the $217 issue, I had another plumbing issue in my kitchen that cost me $899, but wasnt covered because it was a pressure issue. That was in the fine print. Really??????? If I dont receive a call soon I just might take my complaints to the Better Business Buraeu
I recently bought my house off of my brother. I was didn’t want to get the home warranty because I knew everything in the house was in good working condition, but my brother said he would pay for it just in case something happened. After a week of living in the house our dishwasher stopped working. First it would just continually run and never actually stop or dry the dishes. Called HSA and they sent out a repairman. He looked at the dishwasher for no longer then 5 seconds. Said that its not working because the face plate was peeling. The part of the face plate that is peeling is just a small piece of plastic that doesn’t matter at all. He then told me the dishwasher was 20 years old (dishwasher was bought a year ago from a retail store)and he couldn’t get the parts. He then went into his vehicle for an hour and a half and came back in handing me the phone. It was the warranty company on the other end saying they wont replace it cause it was not working before we moved in and it is not normal wear and tear. Little did they know that I bought the house off of my brother and I know it worked before I moved in. I fought with them for hours and they told me they would talk to their vice president and he would call me. I never heard from him but did get a call back days later. They asked me a few questions about the dishwasher and said I would get a call from sears with a replacement. Then two days later I got a call from them saying they would split the cost with me. So not only did I have to pay $75 for the repairman to come for no reason.. they now want me to pay $300 to replace the dishwasher. Obviously we don’t have the money since we just bought the house and spent all our money on stuff for our first house. Not only did they screw me.. they screwed my brother who paid for the warranty. Please Mr president and CEO tell me how you can explain yourself on this one. Although I’m sure you will never get back to me. Just like your employees who wouldn’t take my call and i had to leave a message and you vice president who won’t return my call. Tell me how it feels to know you have enough money to pay for anything you need fixed in your home because of the money my family has paid you yet you refuse to help those in need. These people above are in even more need.. their furnace has broke and need heat in their house so their family doesnt freeze to death. Of course you could care less cause your nice and warm in your house. People like you should be ashamed of how you take advantage of people.. and then you try to make them look like the bad person in your response. I would be happier if you just said you like taking peoples money and not helping them in return. Oh and the best part is that I asked who I can speak with to file a complaint… the supervisor said “you can file your complaint with me” so I said.. “so I file a complaint with the person I am complaining about” she said yes hahaha.. This company is a joke and absolutely a scam. Till the day I die I will work towards making sure people know about how this company treats people.
The warranty was provided by the seller of our home. We had several failures with out heat pump that were covered, after much back and forth with the company as to spend thousands to repair a very old unit with constant failures or to replace the unit. Finally, HSA agreed to replace the unit. Once the new unit was finally delivered and installed, it did not operate – literally. HSA feels that since they purchased a new unit that carried a warranty by the manufacturer, they were no longer responsible for the existing claim. To my knowledge, there is some disconnect between the installer, HSA and Lennox, therefore we are left hanging with no heat or air conditioning.
What is even more amazing, prepare yourself.. THE CLAIM WAS ENTERED IN DECEMBER OF 2010 – TODAY IS APRIL 28TH 2011. I HAVE NOT HAD PROPERLY FUNCTIONING HEAT OR AIR CONDITIONING FOR OVER 4 MONTHS.
I am on hold with HSA as we speak.. going on 1 hour.
I’m a regular homeowner wich believes in having a home warranty,is a step that when you take it,might payout in short and long term.I had been thru 5 companies that offered me homewarranty some good some a lot less then that.At one time I thought ,that I will never find a homeowner insurance company,wich will treat the customer in a professional manner,my frustration was going thru the roof,but I didn’t give up.I started to look up on the internet,comparing the reviews,and after a long search I found finally a company called”HSN”,this company had a good review coverage,and decided to give it a try,well not very convinced that will be a lot different. My first claim,a few years ago,was a regular one,they handle the claim pretty fast,and in a professional manner,that repair cost them like $380,and to my pleasant surprise they even send me a letter to thank me for my business.After that I had several claims for repairs,and of course each time was a letter with thanks for my business,even if some times the repairs were pricey for them.Wow,that was a first for me,because none of the 5 companies that I had before,”HSN”,they treated me this way and even thank me after they have to pay a pretty dollars some times for my repairs.I mean this guys they show the same professional treatment every time,and trust me I had several needs with my repairs,but this guys never failed me.You don’t have to take my word for it,just try it ,and see for yourself.For me this is the 3rd year that I’m renewing my policy with ”HSN”,and I hope they will never cease to treat me and my repairs ,the way they treated me till now.They treated me in such a proffessional manner that, I felt that was my turn to thank them to,and thru your site I found the opportunity to do so,for wich I thank you.”HSN” keep up the good work,of course I understand you cannot make everyone happy,but if you keep your cool and don’t give up,and treat your customers in the same professional and pleasant manner all the time,you will win to.
I, too, have had the unfortunate experience of dealing with a company that sends out contractors that no one has heard of only to learn that “non covered expenses” completely make this warranty not worth the paper it’s written on. Yes, the A/C coil is covered but, the “non covered expenses” totaled $600. The contractor was unwilling to negotiate on any of these absurdly overpriced items – because that’s is the only way they make money on warranty company claims. Examples of prices gouging - * mastic” (similar to joint compound) they want to charge $85 when I can by a tub of the stuff at Home Depot(HD) for $15 and use a tenth of it. * “drain line modification” $85 – this is 3/4″ PVC and requires rerouting less than a foot of the stuff. It is .25/foot at HD * “condensate float switch” $120. Although mine works fine, they want to replace it with a new one. I can buy a new one for $8-$14. * “freon recovery” $120. Even though my system is void of freon because of the leak, there is still oil in the system and I can understand environmentally safe approach to recovering this stuff. * disposal of old coil” $85. I can take it myself to any recycling yard for free. Of course, non of these “non covered charges” are non negotiable so, I will not be using this company. I’m not against this contractor making money. I am against ultra inflated prices to make up for the crappy arrangement that the contractor probably has with HSA. I will not recommend this contractor or HSA to anyone I know.
I have several properties and I have a home warranty on all of them. I made the mistake of switching from my regular company American Home Shield (which yes does have its challenges) on one of my properties to HSA… It is easier to say everything has been a challenge.
My tenant whom I was told was allowed to call in claims, called in for the AC not working. She was told an owner had to call in, I called in and again reiterated that the tenant needed to be able to call in claims and placed the claim. I was told they have no vendors in my area (which is the case for all service calls I have now found in the area in which my property is located) and to go ahead and contact a vendor of my choosing. I practically have to beg my regular AC Company to go and do this job because they have had nothing but bad experiences and promise them as a good customer I would pay them if the warranty company did not come through. The AC Company goes out to the property (the same day) calls in to HSA – no answer, can’t get through; finally they do the work so the system will cool. For a week they call HSA trying to get the claim taken care of and get the much needed coil. Finally the frustrated AC Company calls me. I call HSA – on hold for over 10 minutes, someone picks up, then hangs up on me. I call back immediately – no answer. Finally 8 days after the service call I was able to get through and conference call my AC company in on the call. As I listened at one point I started to laugh at the questions…this isn’t some fly-by-night shop. They are extremely reputable and in town a long time with a big business. Finally the gal at HSA puts us on hold…long enough for me to schedule AC check-ups at my other properties. She comes back and says it’s too much money we need a second opinion. Then my AC guy says, fine, but I still need to be paid for the work we did, and she places us on hold again…schedule more appointments…for her to come back and say her supervisor is busy and she’ll have to call us back. After she hung up, I called back in to find out when this 2nd opinion would be taking place (remember they don’t have any companies in the area). I was on hold again. I was told I would need to speak to a supervisor. She couldn’t get me through to a supervisor because she was on the phone. I said I would hold and she said the supervisor wasn’t here. When I asked if there was an available supervisor she said, she isn’t available and I asked, I thought she wasn’t there. Finally I settled for voicemail and no resolution.
And to Mr. Lehmann: I am a repeat customer, and it isn’t because I am satisfied, it seemed like the easy thing to do…No thanks…I’ll go back to American Home Shield: At least they have people to do the work and big name companies like Sears. If you are going to be a big company fine, but don’t forget what got you there, by taking care of the customer and remember those small company values…because BIG doesn’t always mean you get to stick around in this economy…consumers will go elsewhere.
I pray that the next homeowner in need of a home warranty reads these consumer complaints first, and if by some chance you happen to have a home warranty purchased with your new home and it’s HSA….”BEWARE.”
You’re in for a headache. I’ve only been in my home for six months and the vendor, Cook Construction, and HSA are unprofessionals.
My roof had a leak and it has taken weeks to get the vendor, Cook Construction, to come out. They misdiagnosed the problem, the same leak in the same area is now worse than it was before. Upon trying to get the vendore, Cook Construction to come back out, I’ve been told it may take up three weeks before we can come out and no gurantee tehn of a date.
HSA is no help, they stated “Cook Construction” is the only vendor on our list for roofing repairs.
There isn’t enough character space for me to indicate the headache that I have and the time that I’ve had to taken off from work and the phone calls that has been made for me to try and get a competent person at HSA and their so call vendor to perform a job that has been paid for, or to say the least diagnose the issue correctly.
I only pray my posting will save the next family and if we as consumers post enough, write enough complaints to the right person, maybe someone will hear our cry and put companies like HSA out of business.
Times are too hard and my hard earned dollars are needed in many areas. I only ask to get my dollar worth from any product that I’m purchasing. That is not occurring with HSA and management is no assistance.
BEWARE!!!!! DO NOT PURCHASE THIS PRODUCT!!!!!
My wife and I just bought a house in August. The previous owner paid for the HSA home warranty as part of sale. I have to say I have been extremely dissappointed with the lack of service I have received from them. We have had two leaky spots in our roof and neither were covered. Both times they sent out a tech to take a look at our roof which cost me 60$. The guy they sent barely look at my roof and basically told me what I all ready knew. Then the next day I get a call from HSA saying they won’t cover it. I feel like in both situations the agent at HSA could have just denied me based off of my original discription, but instead they insist on sending out a tech which costs me 60$ and I still get nothing from them. So for a product that I originally paid 0$ for has now cost me about $200 to see no results. I still have about 6 months left with my warranty and I have no intention of calling them again. Next time I will figure it out on my own without getting my hopes up that maybe this home warranty will cover anything. Actually they did cover one thing, a problem with my heater. The only reason they covered it is because the tech they sent out lied about what he fixed so he could rip off HSA and get himself paid. In response to what the CEO said about there being 85% of their customers being satisfied and not writing complaints. That has got to be wrong. Out of the 4 times I called them they were helpful 0 out of 4 times. I would say the other 85% of their clients probably don’t have internet access or the time to write a complaint, but Im sure they still have complaints because HSA is no help.
No I am going to get childish so you can stop reading if you want.
Hey HSA , you guys suck, booooo. Why don’t you stop being so crappy. If you were a food you’d be lima beans covered in broccoli and barf. Do you smell that oh it’s that stinky company HSA, boy they stink. Your service is like an M Night Shaymalan movie, big hype, a good idea, but the result is so bad you leave angry. I hope you all fail and fail hard. I hope your at least spending my hard earned money on something fun like a jet ski, while I get to sit at home with no money for a jet ski and a leaky roof. Every lyric that Eminem wrote about his wife also pertains to your company. HSA what does that stand for Helpless Sucky A-holes. Your agents have the easiest job in the world, I wish someone would pay me to pick up the phone say no and then cash checks. In an economy where so many people are stuggling it must feel good to take peoples money and do nothing in return. Don’t Get HSA.
HSA is in the business of making money-period. They are not remotely concerned with customer service, home repairs or customer satisfaction. HSA has denied every claim, except one, that I have submitted. The one they did cover, a clogged drain, was the least expensive and I’m guessing that’s why it was covered. Any high price repairs (heating, cooling, roof, etc) will be denied. My 94 y.o. steam boiler has been putting off high carbon monoxide emissions for 2 years now. I’ve had 3 service technicians assess the boiler to see if it can be repaired, which I paid for. Since it is so old it can’t be repaired since there are no parts available. Then we got hit with a huge snow storm, and my forced air heating system could no longer keep up so I had to start using my boiler. I had a technician from a highly recommended heating company come and light my boiler and service it. He immediately told me that I needed a new boiler because the carbon monoxide levels were way too high to operate it safely. Fortunately, they were able to start work right away in replacing my boiler. My next call was to HSA to file a claim, since I DID READ the HSA contract, it is a covered item. Of coarse it was denied by HSA. Even though a HSA representative talked with the technician installing the new boiler, who explained in great detail what was wrong with the boiler, on two occasions. Every time I try to follow-up with HSA they tell me it is denied because they don’t have a “diagnosis”. I’m not sure how much more they need. One would think that if a 94 year old boiler is emitting high carbon monoxide levels that should be enough to justify the need for a new boiler-but it’s not. They told me they wanted a second opinion before even considering my claim. I asked them if they wanted me to use my boiler and risk killing my family (I have 2 very small children) just for one of their substandard companies, that they send, to get a second opinion…HSA said “yes”. I about fell off my chair. Please, please don’t purchase this warranty. HSA is getting richer as the rest of us grow more and more frustrated that we bought this ridiculous coverage. My next call was then to the reality company that is using this HSA warranty as a marketing strategy. My guess is that realtors/companies are getting kick-backs from endorsing/selling these policies through HSA. I will follow-up on this one, stay tuned.
A complaint was filed with the Indiana Attorney General today about HSA’s shady business practices. Read details here:
http://diana-vice.blogspot.com/2010/12/indiana-attorney-general-asked-to.html
We purchased our 1st home almost 1 year ago. Between March and July we had HSA techs out 6 times-3 times for a fridge coil and 3 times for igniters on the stove. Both appliances are now fixed and running well, and we only had to pay the deductible once per appliance. I received an invoice for an unpaid deductible but a quick call alleviated the problem. I have received good service from the CSR’s and the repair techs were friendly and prompt, usually arriving within 24 hours of my call. It is coming up on time to renew my policy and that brings me to the flip side of my positive experiences. In August our roof started leaking into our living room and garage. I contacted HSA and they sent their contracted roofer out the same day. He informed me that my 5 year old roof was improperly installed and would need to be completely torn off. He drew up a quote for $13,000.00 and told me that HSA would likely reject the claim because of improper installation. He was correct. Meanwhile, it is November and we have had a great deal of rain (soon to be snow). Our leak is getting worse. HSA informed us that we would need to provide a copy of the permit that was pulled 5 years ago along with our city inspector’s approval in order for them to reconsider. We provided both documents within 24 hours of the request and were rejected a second time. As new homeowners we do not have enough equity to take out a loan, cannot claim this on our insurance since it is not a tragedy or unexpected event, and do not have $13,000.00 lying around to pay cash. Additionally, I researched the roofer contracted through HSA and although he claims to have been in business locally for 40 years I cannot find anyone who has ever heard of him and his few online reviews are very poor. I will not be renewing my policy because although my experience with the minor problems was positive, this roofing experience has cost us a great deal out of pocket in repairs leaving me without the funds to renew the policy. I thank you for responding so quickly and professionally to the appliance repairs, but I will not be recommending this company to others.
Our water heater went out this morning, a Friday. This afternoon (takes time to find the paperwork when you’ve just moved, plus I have other things I have to do)I call HSA, and they can’t send anyone until Monday, between 10 and 2!!! Good thing I homeschool the kids, because who can take off work for four hours? And now we’re facing a whole weekend without any hot water. The cover sheet of their information packet is misleading, makes it sound like you can get service 24/7. All you really get is someone answering the phone. (And not even that right away — we left a message and they called back.)
To the CEO of HSA — I’m going to tell our Realtor to steer people away from your company. You really should go undercover and see how life is for those who buy your policies.
Choice is indeed a SCAM, not only to homeowners but to the service contractors they send to do the repairs. They flat-out refuse to pay for pre-authorized, requested and agreed upon work. Their responses vary from “We cut the checks on the 30th” to “Well it was submitted but corporate canceled the payment” and “I’ll look into that and call you back”. (they NEVER call back) They are straight-up thieves, period, no question about it.
HSA was provided to us when we purchased our home. Although they have been quick to repair what we need, they only want to repair and send low quality repairmen to do so. Our AC compressor died. It was sparking, smoking, and popping and the AC was not putting out cold air so we called HSA who sent out a tech who told us that we need to replace the whole unit since it was so old. We call to check on the claim status and they tell us they will only replace the compressor but we have to wait for them or the tech to find the part (if they can). Meanwhile we are in a heat emergency and I have 2 small children. I don’t know if they will find a part that is not used for the ac that is so old. But all they do is patchwork. If you get it you will only get duct tape and band aid fixes. Buyer beware.
Well, I guess I’m the minority here. We’re in Illinois and I’ve had 3 claims with HSA on our newly purchased home. I am not employed by them nor do I have anything to do with them. I have the 5-Star plan with them….you have to have that plan to get many things covered, to begin with. Ok, we’ve had a fridge repair (noisy motor), garage door spring repair, and something else….can’t recall right now. All three were repaired just fine. In fact, when I called I remarked to my wife how easy they were to work with. Not sure what happened to others here..but our repairs have been just fine and we connected with the company with little or no hold.