Old Republic Home Protection Company, Inc Home Warranty Coverage Provides False Sense of Security; Most Failures Excluded from Coverage San Ramon Nationwide

I paid for a home warranty policy with Old Republic Home Protection Company per my realtor on the purchase of a home built in 1986 with the addition of a pool and spa rider since the property had a pool.  Not a single problem I experienced was covered with the Ultimate Protection plan with the additional Pool / Spa rider.  I will outline the issues below.  Each time I called, I gave adequate information to the dispatch center for them to be able to determine if the problem was covered or not.  The most common scenario is for the contractor to be dispatched to my home, they collect the $100 deductible, and then when the approval is sought for repairs, they are denied.  Here are my experiences:

Pool plumbing issue - when I turned on the pump for the first time, my water level went down 6 inches in four hours.  In this instance, I was told that underground leaks were not covered.  As a home buyer who had a home inspection performed, anything above ground would have been detected by the home inspector - I wasted my money on the pool/spa rider.

Laundry hookups (both hot and cold) were leaking when the valves were turned off but no hoses connected.  Old Republic dispatched a plumber who had to cut a hole in the drywall to view the connection method of the valves.  On seeking approval for the repair, we were told that hose bibs (I only knew them as fawcets) are not covered by the plan.  Additionally, the hole in the drywall was my issue and not covered by the plan.  I had to pay the $100 trade call fee for a non-covered item, and also owned a new 6" square hole in my wall.  When I complained, Old Republic refunded my $100 trade fee to help offset the wall repair since the call center should have known that a laundry fawcet is a hose bib, and should not have dispatched a plumber.

We had a contractor working on tile in our master shower who discovered that water had damaged the walls.  Contractor reported that the most likely cause was a leaky shower valve in the wall.  Dispatched a plumber at $100 trade fee who found that the valve was not leaking, but rather water damage was through the grout lines.  Extent of damages to home included the need to replacel all tiles, drywall, studs, shower pan, support beams and subflooring in area, and remediate mold.  None of these issues were visible to the home inspector, and repair of any damages was denied by Old Republic.

We had a roof leak, and the limitation to a roof leak repair is $100 (which happens to equal the trade fee that would be collected), so we basically had no coverage for this issue.

Our heat pump failed resulting in the loss of air conditioning.  Old Republic dispatched a HVAC technician.  Before the service technician arrived, I asked Old Republic if they could send a technician out from the company who had installed the system originally 18 months prior, since the parts warranty was still in effect.  They said no.  The service tech collected the $100 trade fee but the repair was denied because the heat pump was still under a parts warranty.  They also told me that the uncovered labor and materials were not covered by the plan sine the unit was still under the manufacturer's parts warranty. 

I complained because I had told them that the system was still under a parts warranty, and if the repair was not going to be covered, they should not have dispatched a contractor.  The most amazing part of this scenario is that the dispatched service tech reported that the control module needed to be replaced.  He also told me that the unit was significantly undersized for my home and wanted to sell me a whole new system for $5,995 and could have it installed that afternoon.  I decided to pay the contractor who had installed the system a service call to look at the system, and they found that the control panel was not bad, and that my system had leaked the refrigerant from a control valve.  Old Republic's contractor was attempting fraudulent activity with both of us.

Considering my personal experiences with Old Republic Home Protection Company, I would say that the $625 I paid was a total waste of money.  I would further state that most people purchasing one of their policies never see the verbiage of the coverage until after the fact.  The policy is not written in simple terms, and in my opinion excludes very common, yet expensive issues from coverage.  I would not recommend a policy from this company to a friend or enemy.