Colonial Home Warranty
Home Warranty Plan Details and Reviews for Colonial Home Warranty
Premium: $345-431
Deductible: $60
Effective: 30 days after enrollment
Web: colonialhomewarranty.com
Deductible: $60
Effective: 30 days after enrollment
Web: colonialhomewarranty.com
| Home warranty is a complex insurance product. Unlike home insurance, it does not provide blanket coverage for all appliances. Pre-existing conditions and problems resulting from lack of maintenance of appliance are are generally not covered by home warranty companies. Home warranty sellers may not state these factors clearly, and this will create dissatisfaction among customers. Due to these factors, you will see many negative reviews here. Don't be intimidated by some negative reviews here. If you have maintained your appliances in good condition and go with a reputed home warranty provider, your coverage will be fine. |
We do not endorse any company in particular, however you should ignore the reviews that are overly negative or positive. Such reviews are not likely to offer a balanced view and some of them could be fake reviews posted to promote or demote a company. It is always a good idea to check BBB ratings and make sure the company is licensed to do business in your State by contacting State Insurance Commission. Try to avoid paying annual premium and keep your cancellation rights
Reviews
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Pages: [8] 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 » Show All
We had a problem with our furnace. A repairman came out and confirmed that we needed a new circuit board. He call Colonial, and after 7 days of not hearing anything back, I called them and was told that our request had been forwarded to a supervisor. 2 days later I called again and was told that it had been denied. When I asked why I was told that it was because we couldn’t provide them with maintenance records. Firstly, we had just purchased the home and secondly the malfunction had nothing to do with maintenance. I cancelled my policy immediately. Criminal! These people were nothing but trouble.
Where to begin? Our 5-year old dishwasher failed. Called Colonial on Dec 13th (I keep notes for obvious reasons). The repair contractor came out, diagnosed the problem, we paid $45. After not hearing from the contractor for over a week, I called him. He said Colonial would rather replace the dishwasher than repair it. Finally reached Colonial. Their offer? $168 (remember, we are already out $45). To replace a $550 dishwasher. So far, no letter from Colonial, which we have to fax back, then wait 30 days for our check. Their amount wouldn’t cover delivery and installation, much less a comparable dishwasher. I have several attorney friends – their recommendation, never sign a contract that includes a mandatory arbitration clause. For Colonial, the arbiter is AAA Mediation. You need to open a file, which costs $2600, in Delaware. I’m in Texas. This has to be done before you can even attempt to take them to small claims court. Second, a clause in the fine print, Paragraph 21, states that Colonial reserves the right to offer cash back in lieu of repair or replacement in the amount of Colonial’s actual cost (where they can find a dishwasher for $168, I don’t know and they wouldn’t say). I will file with the attorney general here in Texas. I have notified the real estate agent board and closing companies in my area. Never buy a “warranty” from these folks, as it is anything but a warranty. I have had these from 3 other companies to date, and all have replaced failed items with minor cost to me (water heater, cooling coil, A/C). NEVER buy Colonial.
An overall poor service… we have called them out three times… two of the three times the issue was not resolved and required more work that was never finished. If you call and have a claim they are quick to send a contractor out but once the contractor is there they diagnose the problem and either LEAVE and say they will come back OR put a “bandaid” on the problem and say it is fixed.
The two times we were not satisfied the customer service people said it was something that wasn’t covered even though it clearly states that it is covered on their webpage…
Stay far away… you will only be throwing your money down a dark smelly hole.
SINCE JAN.3RD. 2012 HAVE HAD 3 CONTRACTORS ASSIGNED TO REPAIR MY OVER THE RANGE MICROWAVE. NONE EVER CONTACTED US NOR RETURN OUR CALLS. TALKED TO MAURICE, CLAIM MGR. WHO TOLD ME TO GET OUR OWN REPAIRMAN, HAVE HIM DETECT PROBLEM AND CALL HIM. HEARD FROM MAURICE THAT MICROWAVE NEEDS TO BE REPLACED, THAT COLONIAL WOULD MAIL US A CHECK FOR $143.00 TOTAL. THEY WOULD PROVIDE THE APPLIANCE IN WHATEVER COLOR THEY HAVE ON HAND AND MANUFACTURER IF ORDERED FROM THEIR WAREHOUSE, TAKING SEVERAL WEEKS. LEAST EXPENSIVE WE COULD FIND ON THE INTERNET IS $190.00 PLUS TAX , PLUS INSTALLATION. I AM CANCELING THE POLICY AND EXPECT FULL REFUND FOR NOT FULFILLING THEIR CONTRACT. DO NOT USE THESE PEOPLE, THEY ARE CROCKS!!!
This home warranty company saved me from a freezing new years weekend. Thank you Colonial Home Warranty. Customer for life!
COLONIAL HOME WARRANTY ROCKS!!
I had an emergency; my Air Conditioner broke down just before some guests were to arrive from out of town. COLONIAL HOME WARRANTY could not provide any service and had very poor customer service- they referred me to a Service Contractor that said they could not even get someone to LOOK at the air condition for THREE DAYS!!! Of course I cancelled immediately and found a local air conditioner repair shop that advised me by phone and came over the next day and fixed it. Now I am getting a run around over trying to get a REFUND from Colonial Home Warranty, they don’t answer email or mail I send to them, Finally got thru by phone and was told a check was sent, but I never received it and they wont tell me if another check was mailed or where they mailed it to. Dealing with Colonial Home Warranty is a nightmare.
I think Colonial is in the business of denying claims and not covering them. There are far TOO many restrictions in order for a claim to be approved. Stay away from this company. Big waste of time and money.
I am very happy with colonial home warranty. My two houses are under their coverage and I even renewed them and they are very helpful with my claims and my old mother lives in one of the houses and the peoples they send really good and fix everything for my old mother. I am so pleased with everything they do and appreciate help from they give me for my problems in my house to be handled much better with colonial.
This is a BS company. You call the company for a service, they would not send a contractor but would want you to get your own contractor and when you get one they would refuse to pay the bill by claiming that service is not covered. Their customer service is very very bad. Don’t use this company. They are bad.
I own a house in a different state and the hot water heater started leaking. The technician explained that we needed to upgrade to earthquake straps a drip pan and a gas line filter to bring it up to code. We paid for that and the deductable and thought it was over. A couple of days later I was informed that it was not coverd and the technician did not get approval. The contractor threated legal action if he was not paid in full that same day. I had to pay the full price to the contractor. Never thought this type of thing would heppen to me so I will not renew my policy!
I called customer service because the tenant of the new condo complain that there is not A/C,only heating, an even it was middle of December the temp.inside the apartment was over 76 F.They gave me one claim number and the name of the repair service. After 2 days with no call from the service I call them and the answer was”I don’t work anymore for Colonial because they don’t pay.”When I call colonial for second time they gave me other service number. He came after 2 days as promised,and found the defect.The following day I was asked by Colony to fax the reports of maintenance of the A/C/heather.I explained to the representative that this condo was purchased in October 2011 from the people who owned it since construction in 2007 as an investment and never used,how can I have any report.The answer was” without the report there is not service “
Called in November when cold wave barely started. Colonial was unable to dispatch anyone. I called 3 days in a row while temperatures started to drop. I was ready to move to hotel room. They suggested that I find a contractor myself and submit the invoice as a claim. I called and called to find a contractor that finally came the next day, fixed the system and got the heat to work. I submitted the invoice but never got anything from Colonial. Every call I made was: “we have tried to contact the contractor to ask questions on the work done… bla bla bla.” they even challenged me to do all the follow up phone calls. In essence, service is a big zero, work done: nothing, helpfulness:terrible. DO not waste your time and money. All this after they told me at the signing that they had a strong presence in CT. what a rip off. thanks for reading.
They were receptive when I first called about the furnace not working. They sent out a repair man right away. But, he did not even attempt to turn on the unit, was here 15 minutes, was confident it would be covered under warranty and then asked for payment. Colonial denied the claim. I then asked Colonial to send out another company to check things out while the unit was on. We have not had heat for 45 days. Today, I hired an independent company who determined it was just a short in the thermous stat. Today I also looked up that company on yelp and see everyone has had the same negative experience. I’m upset Colonial would contract with such a business. I’m very upset they have ignored my request to send another business out, the furnace issue could have been resolved weeks ago.
If there was a rating lower than “poor” I would have selected it. When I called to submit a claim, I was given a number of a local plumber to call only to find out that the plumber works M-F only (it is Friday and it was at 4:30 the call was placed). Called Colonial back and they started “reading” the script that my option is to get my own plumber, pay them and then submit the claim to Colonial for “possible” reimbursement. Thieves, aren’t they? Von, a degenerate representative refused to cancel the claim. Why? No idea. He refused to explain anything and went on and on about the fact that I can raise my issue with the Colonial executives (which means I have to live with plugged sink throughout the weekend). He stated that it is not within his authority to cancel the claim! Why, I asked and his answer was: “I don’t have to answer this question.” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing and asked to speak to a supervisor. He refused and said there were no supervisors or managers on duty. I asked how he could work in this position without any management or leadership and again he said: “I don’t have to answer the question.”
Colonial is a rip-off Mafia-type of company. DO NOT SIGN UP WITH THESE people: no wonder they are cheaper… you get what you pay for… in this case, headache, lousy service and frustration. I am even calling my old warranty company and switching because this degenerate of a company is worthless…
This is not over. I will publish a blog about Colonial so that the whole world will be aware of this despicable service. I will escalate the issue to the highest executive level and all these degenerates in customer disservice taking the calls, should be immediately replaced.
Merry Xmas!
My furnace broke over a month ago, the technician came the next day, but the warrenty company denied most of the claim, approved a reduced amount for a second part, and has yet to pay. Check the fine print,there are a bunch of exclusions, that are very genaric.They wouldn’t approve the gas exchange valve,which is a main component of the hvac, because the eclusions said it didn’t cover valves.
Re: F Austin
We are certainly willing to work with you to resolve your problems. Given the generic information we can not determine your specific issue being experienced. Feel free to call our customer service department at 877-313-0001 or email claims@colonialhomewarranty.com and we will do our best to resolve your problem.
Regards,
Colonial Home Warranty
Complaints Department
Re: Ken, Jacksonville, Nc
We are certainly willing to work with you to resolve your problems. Given the generic information we can not determine your specific issue being experienced. Feel free to call our customer service department at 877-313-0001 or email claims@colonialhomewarranty.com and we will do our best to resolve your problem.
Regards,
Colonial Home Warranty
Complaints Department
Re: Lynette Setzkorn, Tulsa, Oklahoma
First, this contract went into effect on 11/19/2011.
The customer filed a claim on 11/22/2011, three days after it went active.
The contractor reported the unit is filthy. The condenser had vines growing on it. The unit is packed with dirt. The unit needs to be cleaned. The burners have rust and dust build up. The maintenance condition of the unit is poor.
This unit was found to have a lack of maintenance and as well the issues present did not happen in three days. Due to the lack of maintenance the claim was not covered. The only issue at this point was a burnt out control board which if the customer had repaired in addition to the service would have been able to have future issues covered by Colonial.
The customer informed Colonial that it was serviced last fall. We requested a copy of the records for review. The customer decided to cancel instead of sending in the records for review.
The customer failed to mention that all these issues were found 3 days after the coverage went into effect. At this time per our terms and without a copy of the prior records this claim remains non-covered.
Regards,
Colonial Home Warranty
Complaints Department
Do your home work and shop around. I wish I had done so. I have had nothing but problems, excuses and multiple phone calls trying to get my refund. I finally talked to a supervisor who did not care how he treated a customer. We had a very nice conversation. Please, Please do your home work and shop around for a warranty company that is backed by the better business bureau. They usually have the better business bureau seal on their main web page.
STAY AWAY! They are currently under investigation. I still have no refund. This company is a scam. I have contacted the attorney general and they have located the corporate offices in NJ, PA and NY Let bring this company down together and stop them from scamming innocent people. Fake names are also used by all the reps!!! They are sending me a list of the real names who run this SCAM and I will be exposing them to help others not to fall for this trap! I will gladly talk to your legal team if you wish just me the information so I can sue you!!
JUST NEED TO ADD: … the quote that Colonial refused to pay was nearly $1,000 for repair. I just had a real heat & air company out here and the heater’s running full blast for $308. My Colonial Warranty + $60 for the service call + $308 doesn’t come to $1,000. SKIP THE HOME WARRANTY. This one, at least.
READ THE REVIEWS FIRST! I didn’t. Big mistake. My heater has been maintained annually since it was first installed. Not according to Colonial, so nothing payable under the policy. I knew KNEW that would be the answer after I read these reviews online. Wish I’d done so before I signed up. PAY ATTENTION TO THE REVIEWS!!! Go with another company. Colonial’s a scam. I cancelled the policy, but that should not negate this review. I was fortunate enough to find out how worthless this policy could be in the first months of “service.”
READ THE REVIEWS FIRST! I didn’t. Big mistake. My heater has been maintained annually since it was first installed. Not according to Colonial, so nothing payable under the policy. I knew KNEW that would be the answer after I read these reviews online. Wish I’d done so before I signed up. PAY ATTENTION TO THE REVIEWS!!! Go with another company. Colonial’s a scam.
This is the worst company I have ever dealt with. My diverter valve for my shower/tub was not working. The policy clearly states it covers shower valve and diverters. I called in to file a claim stating the diverter was not working. The rep immediately stated diverters were not covered. It told him to read the policy and he stated it was not. I asked to speak with a supervisor and was placed on hold for over 30 minutes. Never was able to speak with a supervisor. I tried again later and was placed on hold again and was not able to speak to a supervisor. I called back and another rep stated they did cover the diverter and scheduled an appointment. Plumber came out and stated he need to call for an authorization. Never heard back so I called Colonial and they told me my repair was not covered because the diverter is connected to the faucet. I told them all the valves in a shower/tub are connected to a faucet and there policy clearly states they cover valves. They did not care. I again asked to speak to a supervisor and was placed on hold for over a half an hour. The rep came back on and told me they only have two supervisors and they are tough to get connected to. I believe their call center is overseas and the workers are told to say repairs are not covered. They are unaware what is and what is not covered. Run away from this company!!!!
DO NOT USE COLONIAL WARRANTY!!! RUN!!! SAVE YOURSELF!!!
I feel Colonial home warranty is perpetrating fraudulent business practices on their customers.
Colonial refuses to offer 9-5 PST authorization business hours for pacific coast customers. They only offer after hours service calls but not authorizations. So they will send you a vendor for the repair after 3pm east coast time, they just won’t authorize the repair after 3pm east coast time. Then you’re stuck paying for it yourself. Good luck getting your money from Colonial.
I feel if you’re going to sell product to West coast customers you should be required to offer normal West coast authorization hours. 9-5 west coast time. My new company American Fidelity offers 24 hour authorization.
Colonial did not disclose to me during the initial sales conversation the fact that their authorization department is only open until 3pm PST for West coast customers.
Colonial has repeated system wide outages that make it impossible to get authorization for needed repairs in a timely manner.
The trick is if Colonial doesn’t authorize the repair by not answering their authorization department phone # customer can get taken advantage of and over charged by the vendor Colonial sends out to do the repair.
Colonial offered me $72 out of $315 their vendor charged me. Colonial pointed the finger at the vendor and said they overcharged me. This is the vendor Colonial sent to my house.
Colonial sends vendors to our homes that take advantage and overcharge customers according to the colonial home warranty authorization department who refuse to pay for overcharges. Colonial says their not responsible for actions of the vendors they send to our homes.
Colonial drags their feet on settling claims. To this date I have not received payment for an air conditioner repair that I was overcharged by a Colonial vendor.
Colonial is the worst home warranty company I’ve ever dealt with. I hope my postings on the internet complaint forms and BBB complaint form protect other unsuspecting consumers against what I feel are fraudulent business practices.