Home Warranty Woes

Tallie asks,

I bought my first house a little over 2 months ago. During the home inspection the heat pump was old but operational. We had the seller purchase a Home Warranty. Our heat pump ran for a half a month as an air conditioner and worked for about a month and a half as a heater but just recently conked out. We had the Home Warranty people send out a repair man and he said the unit is completely dead, however that the Home Warranty company might try to say that it was a preexisting condition. What should I do, we just covered a down payment and do not have the cash to pay for a whole new heating unit.

Our Answer

I have had much experience with these so-called home warranty companies and I can tell you that their first inclination is generally to try and find a way to weasel out of the coverage they sold you. Fortunately in this case you have absolute proof the unit was not defective in the form of your home inspection report. Unless the warranty excludes heat pumps over a certain age, the fact that yours was old is not relevant. If the home inspection report indicated it was functional at the time of inspection – then they have to cover it. I’d file the claim for a new heat pump and if they refuse, don’t take no for an answer and use your inspection report for leverage.