I have a problem.
On December 5, 2006, I purchased a home warranty protection plan from National Home Protection at 42 West 38th Street, New York, NY 10018 for $373.91. On February 8, 2007 I submitted a claim for the repair of a double wall oven. The repairs were not completed until May, 2007. Both ovens became disabled at the same time, but the company insisted that the bottom oven was an existing problem before I purchased the contract. How they could even make this assumption was a mystery to me. I called daily after about a month of waiting to have the repair completed. They finally authorized the repair. By this time I was put in contact with the third appliance repair company. The first two refused to work with NHP due to the fact that the company was so difficult to deal with and each removed itself refusing to deal with said company.
In June of 2007 I submitted a claim for my air handler. The claim was denied due to the fact that I could not produce documentation for yearly checkups. My fault, but everyone I spoke to was very rude and it took about 4 weeks for me to get a response that the claim was denied.
On December 9, 2007 I submitted a claim for the same ovens (same problem). The company had been stalling to authorize the repair because it is the same problem. I was told that they were contacting the manufacturer to see if the part was warranted. They told the appliance repair company the same story. On January 14th, they contacted the appliance repair after hours and left a message. The repair company called back on January 15th and they were told that they would have authorization within 24 hours.
It is now January 17, 2007 and my ovens have not yet been repaired. I am now told that my contract has expired and it is under review by a supervisor (even though I submitted the claim one month before). I have been keeping a log and in the past week, I have phoned the company 20 times and left 13 messages and have not gotten a call back. Since I submitted the claim and prior to this week, I have called every couple of days to get the status of my claim. When calling, I am placed on hold (sometimes as long as 45 min.) before I talk with someone (who is usually rude and abrupt) and when asked to talk with a supervisor, I get voice mail, I leave a message, I get no response. My calls are usually directed to a supervisor. I have yet to speak with any of their people. I leave a voice mail, but I never hear back from them. I sent a letter to the president of the company (name unknown), I have sent emails to Victor H. and sent a fax to Rick Sanders, but have never gotten a response. When transferred to the Authorizations Department, I have spoken to a couple of people who then put me through to a supervisor and it is always the same scenario, voice mail, leave a message, no call back.
The contractor I am now working with is just as frustrated. They have never dealt with a company such as this. The previous contractor who repaired the ovens last May is no longer associated with said company (surprise!).
I have reported them to the BBB. They are based in New York.
I received a call from one of their representatives relating to renewing my contract and when I started to explain my dissatisfaction with the service I had received, he hung up on me.
In addition to all of this, I paid the $373.91 with a credit card on December 5, 2006. On January 5, 2007 I was charged an additional $186.96. I contacted the company at that time and they agreed to refund me. Since it usually takes approximately 2 billing cycles for a credit to appear, I was not too concerned. I then became so consumed with dealing with them to make the repair to my ovens, that this issue of the overcharge was overlooked. This has been going on for over a year now and I have yet to get a refund. They say that I received a refund the same day, but my card statement proves otherwise. I have faxed this information to the Supervisor of billing but have not gotten a response. When the contractor made a diagnosis of my air handler, he did not charge me the co-pay of $45.00. National Home Protection paid it and then suspended my contract. They were quick to ask me for their $45.00 (which I immediately paid) but refuse to refund me the overcharge.
I am quite aware that this is a very minor problem, but I am a consumer and I should be heard. I can’t believe that I am the only consumer that has been treated this way by this company. I would not recommend this company to anyone.
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