When we moved to Arizona and bought a new house, we thought the next sensible decision would be to invest in a Home Warranty contract. After a while we decided to add our pool to the coverage. Well, I don’t know if this was the best decision we could have made.
As we’ve traveled this odyssey that is life, I had been satisfied with the home warranty for plumbing issues. They seem to send capable plumbers who are willing to do their job except for the one time I had a BIG problem. Then the plumber who came out was a nasty know-It-All. In fact, the last time I called and had a plumber come out he was able to work on 5 little problems in one visit. I had leaking and dripping faucets and running toilets. I was satisfied with the job and paid my deductible with a smile. I do not mind paying for what I receive.
Fast forward a week and now my pool is acting up again. I seem to have a reoccurring problem with my filter and pump. I have had pool people out 7 times for the same “problem” that supposedly doesn’t exist. When the problem does occur, I can’t get the pool people here immediately, so unless they can “witness” the problem they can’t fix it. My regular pool service is the one who has brought the problem to my attention, but the Home Warranty people send their pool companies. My man is smart enough to want nothing to do with Home Warranties and doesn’t work through them.
Today we were smart enough to have them meet up at my pool and discuss said problem instead of having it heard third party from me. It did not help. Of course the pool worked fine for him, or so he said. When questioned about the problem he agreed there is a problem with air staying in the filter and causing the pump to have trouble starting immediately when on automatic. But, since he was here and worked on it and then it worked wonderfully, he can’t say what the problem is. Or as he says, there is “no problem”.
If he had to work on it and it didn’t work correctly until he bled the air out, isn’t that a problem? You can go around and around with them, as they are the ones with the power and the know-how. He says he checked it and didn’t see a problem. What? You just said there was an issue with having to bleed the air, so isn’t that a problem? I am just so frustrated, I don’t know what else to do.
I re-called the Home Warranty and discussed it with the nice woman on the phone, she took notes and said she’d have someone get back to me to discuss this. As stated, I don’t mind paying my deductible when it makes sense. This issue just happens to happen after the 30 day recall, so I pay a fee every time. Even that I wouldn’t mind if we got to the bottom of the problem, but we can’t seem to agree that there is a problem, so what do we do?
Our only choice at this time is to let the pump and filter automatically run when there is no water in it, thus burning out the motor. I guess then they will admit there is a problem. I would have thought preventative maintenance would make more sense. I guess when there is a reoccurring problem that can’t be witnessed, that is the only choice. So, we’ll let nature run it’s course and see what happens.
It seems, for some reason, Home Warranties are not in favor of replacing anything on a pool. When we had a problem with our air-conditioner about 2-3 years ago they cheerfully replaced a $10,000 unit without blinking.
Why is there a problem with replacing pool equipment? I don’t know. My pool guy says this is a common issue. I wonder why?
What do you think? Have you had “fun” with your issues with your Home Warranty Company?
Written by Evelyn Garone 11/14/11
The Oracle Of Ahwatukee . . . 