I purchased a house recently and decided to pay for a home warranty. The company my wife signed us up with is National Home Protection. We paid them $400.00 for this tears coverage.

Me being the contractor and all; I told her to ask a lot of questions, particularlly about appliances that can not be fixed.

She asked them, with me present, if they replace appliances if they are deamed unreparairable, they said yes. She asked what was involved in filing a claim. There response was "If the appliance is deemed by our technicians to be unrepairable; than it will be replaced at no charge to you."

Well; two months later our AC unit goes up in flames. Literally! There was a fire. Thank God it did'nt catch the house on fire. Anyway, we called the home warranty company, they sent a tchnitian out. He said that we had an acid leak that caused the fire. He also stated on his own appraisal of the damage that the unit was well mainatained and that the compressor malfunctioned and started the fire.

Also, when we bought the plan, we never saw their contract. They send it to you in the mail after you have made the purchase. The contract says that we must provide two years of maintanance records in order to get a unit replaced. This was never told to us.

To make a long story short, we have only owned this house for one year. We have no way of retreiving any records from the previos owner; nor is it any of our business to do so.

I have met with minor legal counsel about this. Their contract is rock solid according to him. He did say that we may be able to prove fraud because National Home Protection specifically asked us when we purchased our home and made us send proof of it. He said that because they knew we had only owned the house for one year and had no way of coming up with two years worth of documentation on the appliances, that it is fraudgulent.

He said basically; "they knew from the start that they would'nt have to pay a claim for at least a year." yet they signed us up on their plan without telling us any of this.

One person has already filed against them in small claims court and lost.

I have already filed a complaint with the BBB; which they are in terrible standing with, contacted the Federal Trade Commission, the Texas and New York attorney general, and the U.S, Attorney Generals offices.

What else can I do. The repalcment cost of this unit is $2600.00. I paid out of pocket for it, but now I want reimbursment.

It has been more than two months now and I hav'nt heard anything from anyone I contacted.

I would like to go after them, but their contract is pretty solid.

PLEASE HELP

You can find this company on the BBB or if you Google them. You will find that one of the first links that pops up on Google is "National Home Protection Scam". There are many more like me who have gotten screwed by this company. I just need to know how to beat them.

Hello pj:

There are two things you can do: go after them full on, or stop sniveling. The fact of the matter is, if you're screwed, you screwed YOURSELF.

In the world, there are victims, and there are victimizers. You're a victim. There are bad guys everywhere. If you allow yourself to be victimized, you will be - constantly. You have the ability to STOP being a victim simply by changing the way you do business. One of those ways would be to read every contract you sign.

Which brings me to the crux of my advice. You say that you never saw a contract before you agreed to it, and that it was sent to you saying different things than what was promised... Contracts require TWO signatures in order to be valid.

How did this "solid contract" get signed?

excon

Ex,

We never signed a contract. We did ask for an online price quote. You see, by hitting the summit for quote button on their web page, we apparently agreed to their contract. We did'nt read the small print that said agree to terms of use.

Its just shady business practices. We are'nt getting anywhere with this.

Hello again, pj:

If it went down exactly that way, I wouldn't think they have a "solid" contract at all. I mean, far be it for me to argue with a lawyer, but I think he's full of sht. I'd visit another lawyer.

Hmmmm... I re-read your post... You didn't see a lawyer at all did you? You went everywhere BUT a lawyer. Pj, my man, that would have been my FIRST stop.

excon

What the heck is "minor legal counsel"??

However, the amount here is within the Small Claims limits so it won't cost you much to take them to court. I would go to the WEB site and print out all the screens. However, if one of those screens says you need two years of maintenance records , then don't bother. You allowed yourself to be victimized by not doing due diligence, one you didn't research the company, two you didn't read carefully what you were agreeing to.

I would look at it this way. If you hadn't purchased the warranty, you would still be out the $2600. So all you have actually lost is the $400 you paid in premiums.

Scott; EX

"minor legal counsel" is an attorney in my office. I did'nt hire him, he is just a co-worker who looked over their contract for me during a lunch meeting. He never researched anything. I have been trying not to hire an attorney and I have been told already that I don't have a good chance if I represent myself in small claims court.

Scott, you mentioned due diligence, WHAT ABOUT THEIR GOOD FAITH?

Do you guys think I would be able to prove fraud of any kind?

Are there any other government agencies that I could contact about this company? Im kind of in the dark on how to proceed outside of hiring an attorney, which I don't think I can afford.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pjg023

Im kind of in the dark on how to proceed outside of hiring an attorney, which I don't think I can afford.

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Hello again, pj:

I'm in the dark too when I'm looking for SOMETHING THAT'S NOT Going to HAPPEN!

I deal in the REAL world. You deal in the hope for world. The courts have TEETH. Bureaucrats have LUNCH. If you haven't been picking up what I've been laying down, you're in bigger trouble than just your AC.

You say you don't THINK you can afford a lawyer... But, you don't know, do you? You haven't shopped at all. Dude, you're OUTTHINKING yourself.

excon

What about "their good faith"? excon is right about you living in a fantasy world, if you expect companies to act in any way but their own self interest. Most small claims courts don't allow legal counsel.

I doubt however, that you can prove fraud.

Please send an email to {e-mail deleted-<>} and {email deleted-<>}. We will join hands to sue NHP.