CHOICE Home Warranty TMI Solutions, LLC Falsely Denied Legitimate HVAC Claim Edison New Jersey

CHOICE HOME WARRANTY

***** BUYER BEWARE *****

I am a retired senior citizen that was fooled into purchasing a CHOICE Home Warranty program by a smooth talking sales representative named David Martin [(732) 379-5308 x8275]. He convinced me that my major home systems and appliances would be repaired/replaced, even though my residence and some covered items were 15+ years old, by going through each covered item and explaining the inclusions/exclusions. What he failed to review were the nineteen(19) “Limitations of Liability” that would be unfairly leveraged to deny the replacement of my malfunctioning HVAC system.

When my HVAC system failed, I submitted a claim and a service technician from A1 Services Company [(804) 912-3320] was dispatched to assess the issue. After spending approximately fifteen(15) minutes on-site, he advised that my freon level was low and asked if I wanted it charged. I requested that he get approval from CHOICE Home Warranty before taking any action, so he got in his truck, made a phone call and then left.  

I contacted the CHOICE Home Warranty claim service center repeatedly over the next four(4) hot summer days before receiving the claim denial response. In their technician’s opinion, my HVAC could not be repaired do to rust/corrosion that was an exclusion under the Limits of Liability as mentioned above. I engaged a HVAC service (at my expense) to perform an assessment and their conclusion was the failure was from normal wear, use and age. I submitted multiple appeals to CHOICE Home Warranty, which included the independent assessment, annual maintenance records and pictures to definitively show that there was no rust/corrosion on the components referenced in the claim denial, all of which were denied.

And now the real eye opener, another area that Mr. Martin failed to explain, my only recourse was to pay $200 and file for arbitration, that limited my potential recovery to $1,500 under the terms of the agreement. It was quite demoralizing when I realized that the “best case” scenario was to net $1,300 to offset my $7000 HVAC replacement cost required after being without air conditioning during the battle with CHOICE Home Warranty for twenty-one(21) hot summer days.

I have filed complaints with the Federal Trade Commission, Better Business Bureau and the state agency governing this type of service in Virginia and will wait to see what, if any, action is taken against CHOICE Home Warranty.

I admit that I was suckered into this situation. I read the agreement, but had to engage an attorney to fully realize the layers of limitations and how the exclusions could be generically leveraged by CHOICE Home Warranty, so I am posting this review to provide awareness about the program and hopefully spare everyone else this painful experience.

CHOICE Home Warranty markets a program that allows them to deny any claim, knowing that the consumer’s only option is to file arbitration which maximizes any potential recovery to $1,300, you draw your own conclusion.

That is there business model, so it must be legal, right, don’t find out, please avoid engaging CHOICE Home Warranty!!!!!