Choice Home Warranty Company Victor Hakim listed as Co-Owner and Trae Sterling is listed as National Sales Manager. Refused to process covered claim for Ruptured Hot Water Heater covered under Warranty Claim New Jersey

This was the email I sent to the National Sales Manager and also Co-Owner for the Company......

Dear Mr. Trae Sterling and Victor Hakim,

I am a disabled veteran and my wife suffers from bone cancer and other serious health issues and a few days back our water heater ruptured pouring water out the back991  Account # 170444 of our garage as well as in the drain pan and into the garage.

Because the water heater manufactures warranty recently expired on 08/12/2022, I filed a claim through Choice Home Warranty Claim # 170105316.

I will allow you both to review all the notes to this claim but the fact is a simple one, your claims department has been gross negligent in the handling of this claim and because none of your Supervisors will contact me to get this claim resolved, I am being forced to hire someone myself to take care of this issue that is the responsibility of Choice Home Warranty Company.

I have arranged to have the replacement water tank picked up Monday morning at no cost to Choice Home Warranty Company and all you have to do is authorize J.D. Services who came out on Friday to diagnose the issues to pick up the water tank, install it and haul away the old one under the terms and conditions of the contract that covers this issue in my contract.

If Choice decides to continue to ignore this issue and doesn’t resolve it as demanded herein then I am hereby demanding that this be set for arbitration so a full refund of my initial $1,260.00 be refunded in full and the contract be terminated and an agreement that Choice Home Warranty never contact or solicit me to sell your services to me now and forever again.

My name is Denny Huston and I purchased a three year Paid in Full Home Warranty plan from your company which is good thru 2025.

My experience with your claim service is a minus 100!!!!

First, a couple of months ago we were hearing a very loud noise from our 2 to 3 year old Samsung Refrigerator and it kept us awake at night so we filed a claim  A service Technician came and acknowledged the noise and stated the compressor is going bad however until it actually quits working which will mean all of our food gets spoiled and ruined Choice WILL NOT cover the repair to the compressor which would then need to be replaced when it quits working.

The straw that broke the camels back is yesterday our Water Heater Ruptured flooding our back yard and pouring into our garage where the Water Heater is installed.

I was forced to file another new claim with Choice Warranty for the Water Heater however because you have up to 48 hours to schedule service, I called a plumber to at least come and shut off the water to the water heater so the water would quit running all over the place.

I got a diagnosis from that company confirming the water heater had ruptured and the manufacture warranty had already expired on 08/12/2022 so I filed a new claim # 170105316. Choice scheduled J.D. Service here in Schertz, TX to come and diagnose the problem so the claim could be processed and a new water heater scheduled for install ASAP.

Wrong……  Instead your claims department sent me an email stating that yes, the warranty from the manufacturer had expired but for me to still call them to see if they would still honor the now expired manufacture warranty.

This was all so Choice Warranty could in fact refuse to honor the warranty I had since the water heater is now covered under the Home Warranty contract.

To my complete surprise, A.O Smith after my begging for their assistance in the matter did state they would replace the tank at no charge since it was just out of warranty however the home warranty coverage would still need to cover install costs and disposal costs of the ruptured tank so I notified Choice of the current status which is I now provided a service to Choice because you avoided the cost of the tank and only need to pay the labor costs and disposal costs of the old water heater.

To my complete Shock, I instead received an email to my updated status that since the Water Heater was going to be so generously replaced by A.O. Smith that your “SLIMY” company now is taking the position that since it was under manufacture warranty that nothing is covered under my choice warranty contract.

First of all, the manufacture warranty expired on 08/12/2022 and was acknowledged by your own claim representative which sent me a statement that yes, it expired on 08/12/2022 but since it was so close for me to call them and see what I could get done.

Second, the only thing I was able to convince A.O. Smith to do was allow me to pick up a new replacement tank from the local distributor however its up to my Home Warranty Company to pay all labor related costs, disposal fees etc etc.

In closing, Choice Warranty Company is my Home Warranty Company thru 2025. And I hereby DEMAND that Choice authorize J.D. Service to complete this service claim on Monday 08/22/2022 as scheduled thru JD. Service and to pay then any and all related costs to complete this service claim.

I’ve already paid the $65 Service fee required under the policy myself.

Upon waiting for a response that took from Friday 08/19/2022 until Sunday 08/21/2022 all while going without Hot Water in our home and taking cod showers.  See their reply below:

CHW Posted a message on your claim:

The technician has been authorized to complete the repair. The required part(s) are under manufacture warranty and will need to be sourced through the manufacturer by the technician. There are non-covered charges due to the technician in the amount of $1079.00. These charges include warranty processing fees along with any required modifications and non-covered charges. Thank you for being a valued customer of Choice Home Warranty. 

In closing, the only requirement under the terms and conditions of a covered warranty item which includes Water Heaters and also broken water lines and pipes etc is that I pay a $65 service trip fee which was paid on 08/19/2022 to the technician they sent to report the diagnosis back to Choice Home Warranty for their approval.

I can hire a third party licensed and bonded plumber outside of the warranty for a flat $500 since I arranged for the water heater tank to be supplied at N/C to any party so how big of a scam is this now all of the sudden $1,079.00 charge for what is being claimed to be not covered???

My advise is to stay as far away as you can from this Home Warranty Company as they are deceptive in what they cover and if you check their B.B.B. file you will find thousands of unresolved claims and complaints and they have a "D" rating and are Not Accredited by the B.B.B.