choice home warranty My heat pump repaired was denied on the bases of company's technician who didn't even come to see the problem, just by looking the photos Edison NJ

On Nov 4th 2019 I filed the report for my heat pump not working by Choice Home Warranty. They assigned the HVAC Solutions (919-986-2570) to come and diagnose the problem. They came and took some pictures and sent those pictures to Warranty company. I got an email saying the following: 

Your claim was submitted on 11/04/19 and was assigned to HVAC SOLUTIONS on 11/04/19. After the appointment date on 11/04/19 the technician submitted details pertaining to your system failure.

It has been determined that the inducer motor and the burners have suffered water damage and have failed, and are now in need of replacement.

Please refer to your terms and conditions section F number 8; we are not liable for conditions caused by fire, freezing, electrical failure or surge, water damage, lightening, mud, earthquake, soil movement, soil settlement, settling of home, storms, accidents, pest damage, acts of god.

Appeal Right

I appealed their decision and they assigned the Ynette from the claim department to handle this case. I talked to her couple of times and nothing happened. She was pretty much arguing that this damage was due to the flood. My house is not in flood zone and my unit is sitting on the big cement slap to prevent from any flood and water related issues. 

I finally called my HVAC guys (The HVAC GUYS, 984-484-1270), who maintained my unit on regular bases and fix the problem.  His comments were following:

Checked Unit & Found a Bad Draft Inducer, This was not a Flood issue. The draft inducer is half way up the unit, Went out due to normal wear & tear, We maintain these systems yearly.

I send the invoice with above comments to the assigned officer and got the following email back from her. I am attaching my correspondents with her which clearly saying that they denied my repaire by just looking the photos submitted by the company they assigned initially. 

On Mon, Nov 18, 2019 at 12:41 PM Uttam Deedwania <deedwania@gmail.com> wrote:

Yvette, I finally got my unit fixed by the people who maintained these units on yearly bases. From day one I was pretty sure that unit is not working because of some regular wear and tear of some part and not by flood damage or not having regular maintenance.  

I am attaching an invoice for the repair. I am entitle for the full reimbursement for this repair.  Also I am requesting to add a free service call to my account for all the trouble I have to go through to get this fixed.  I am copying to John and Paul (these are the people from (The HVAC Guys company who fix the problem) for any further question you have regarding this repair.  

Thanks, 

Uttam Deedwania

919-601-9023  

From: Uttam Deedwania <deedwania@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2019 7:31:47 AM
To: Yvette Ortiz
Subject: Re: Claim 78313369 

Yvette, Good Morning! I didn't hear back from you, please respond to my email and let me know how this repair is going to be handled.  Can Choice Warranty directly mail the check to "HVAC GUYS" , who provided the service. 

If you have any questions, please let me know. 

Thanks you, 

On Wed, Nov 20, 2019 at 8:42 AM Yvette Ortiz <yortiz@choicehomewarranty.com> wrote:

Thank you for your email. The invoice was reviewed. The determination has been made based on the photos the denial will stand. The photos confirm water damge.

Kind Regards 

Yvette, This leave me with no choice but report this case to local BBB and talk to my lawyer to take the next step. I have all the reasons to get this repair done by my warranty.   It is really disappointing that you guys are making the decision based on the picture then actual diagnosis done by two different technician.  It proves for sure that this company is not there to take care of the problems which are regular wear and tear but do their best to deny as many repair as possible. 

Yvette Ortiz

Nov 20, 2019, 11:38 AM (19 hours ago)

to me

Thank you for your email. Your claim has been notated.

Kind Regards