I just think it’s hilarious that I’m still on First American Home Warranty’s mailing list. This is about the third times they’ve sent me their junk mail since I canceled my warranty [cough cough]. I decided to post it just for the fun of it.

I wish I had recorded the fun I was having with the sales phones calls I was receiving for a while.

BTW, you know what I use that return envelope for? I send them a link to this website. Ahh, sweet revenge. lol

Hey, it looks like I can finally put this ordeal behind me now. The Better Business Bureau complaint has finally paid off. First American Home Buyers Protection finally, after several weeks, decided to pay the claim and fix my electrical problem. On Thursday, Oct. 16th an electrical contractor fixed the meter box and we now have electric throughout the entire house.

The total bill was somewhere around eight hundred dollars. I had to pay one hundred and fifty six dollars for two grounding cables. First American Home Warranty Rip Off wouldn’t cover that and to be fair that is in their terms. Too bad I didn’t have a Home Improvement Guide handy, I could have tackled the job myself. Can you see I still hold a little grudge? Damn right I do. Going on two years now, I have never been late on a single payment. I don’t think we should have to fight tooth and nail to get them to fix something.

Even though I can thank the Better Business Bureau for First American Home Buyers Protection’s change of heart, I am a little concerned about their procedure. I filed the complaint, they responded, I rebutted and you would think it would be up to me to close the whole thing, right? Wrong, First American Home Buyers Protection sent the final message to close the case and the Better Business Bureau accepted it. I received a message from the BBB stating that the issue was considered resolved and closed once they received the second notice from First American Home Buyers Protection. In other words, I get one rebuttal and after that it’s the reported company that decides if the issue was satisfactorily resolved. It worked out in the end but I didn’t expect that.

Our Better Business Bureau complaint has been answered. It hasn’t resolved anything yet but I remain hopeful. At least it re-opened the case. Here’s First American Home Buyers Protection’s response so far:

Company’s Initial Response – Posted 10/08/2008

First American Home Buyers Protection would like to apologize for any inconveniences and/or delays Mr Hawkin’s may have experienced during the handling of this matter. At this time First American has dispatched an independent contractor to investigate the problem further, once a complete diagnosis is reached, this independent contractor will submit it to First American and a final determination will be taken at that point.

Initial Response Summary

First American will wait for the diagnosis taken by the second contractor dispatched to Mr. Hawkin’s residence to make a final determination on this matter.

I was informed by the Better Business Bureau that I would need to respond within seven days or they would assume the complaint has been settled. Here is my response:

This issue has not been resolved.

Other than a phone call on October 3rd, I have not heard from First American Home Buyers Protection. The phone call was simply someone asking a couple of questions and he said we would receive a written determination in the mail in a couple of days. We have not received this notice yet.

October 8th we receive a call from contractor name removed. Contractor name removed is one of the two original contractors originally sent by First American Home Buyers Protection. Load Side Electric said they were being re-sent for another evaluation and estimate. I have no idea why First American Home Buyers Protection selected contractor name removed to come back again since they were almost twice as much money as the first contractor’s estimate. Contractor name removed will not do the work without first bringing everything up to code which is a large part of the cost. I have not been told if First American Home Buyers Protection plans to cover these costs but I do know it is in their terms not to. I certainly hope this is not another one of their games in order to cause expense on my end. Had they sent the original contractor we would probably have our electric back.

We are still waiting to see how this plays out and will keep you updated.

To continue my new hobby…

I gladly posted a Complaint on Complaints.com – First American Home Warranty Rip Off. I’m just getting started!

Next I posted a complaint on RipOffReport.com – still waiting for the link.

I can’t leave out ComplaintsBoard.com. Same title: First American Home Warranty Rip Off

I just filed a web complaint on the Better Business Bureau website. To honor their terms of use policy I won’t link to their site but it’s readily available with a simple online search.

The BBB reliability report for First American Home Buyers Protection shows a company rating of BBB and an accredited business since 05/30/2000. This is apparently a good rating but I find it fascinating that they have had 1164 complaints filed in the last 36 months. Here are the stats.

Complaint Closing Statistics:

No. of Cmpl    Type of Response
140    Making a full refund, as the consumer requested
50    Making a partial refund
818    Agreeing to perform according to their contract
14    Refusing to make an adjustment
138    Refuse to adjust, relying on terms of agreement
0    Unanswered
4    Unassigned
1164     Total

The complaint I just filed with the Better Business Bureau should add one more to the stats. I can’t wait to hear the response and I’ll post it right here as soon as I receive it.

I thought it would be nice to add a few links for our site visitors to aide in their research about First American Home Warranty. I did add many and you can find them on the left column of this site.

I must admit I was very surprised and overwhelming at the number of search results when it comes to First American Home Warranty complaints. They have 110 complaints on Complaints.com, 9 on ComplaintsBoard.com, 21 complaints on RipOffReport.com. I added others but, wow, it would be a full time job to compile the complaint links caused by the bad business tactics of First American Home Warranty.

In fact, I found very few positive links about First American Home Warranty that weren’t by Real Estate agents using these warranties to sell houses.

First American Home Warranty gets featured on KCRA Channel 3 Problem Solvers. Once again their lack of integrity gets noticed:

Ok, no surprise here. After two weeks with no electricity First American Home Buyers Protection Corporation’s lack of integrity and complete disregard for their loyal customers reigns through again. First American Home Warranty let my family sit in a dark and potentially dangerous house for nearly two weeks while they sat on their hands doing nothing but making up excuses.

Two weeks ago we lost power to half our house. The other half was blinking off and on like a disco strobe light. No problem, we have a home warranty right? Wrong! We had a worthless verbal contract with a lying sales rep at First American Home Warranty and a monthly bill of $47! Near the end of our second year with this disgraceful company and I wouldn’t recommend them to plunge your toilet!

When we called First American Home Warranty to inform them of our problem they said they would contact a technician to setup an appointment. They did and after several days we finally had an electrician looking over the problem. I was glad we had a home warranty and this service call was only going to cost me $55. The electrician said the riser (metal pipe) had broke free from our meter box and allowed rain in. The rain shorted the line out and a new meter box was necessary. The electrical technician said the cost would be $348 and when he submitted it to First American Home Buyers Protection Corporation they told him it wasn’t covered. I had to pay him the $55 without the repair.

I called First American customer service right away and was told not to worry. The customer service rep said he didn’t see why it would not be covered and that it had been scheduled for a second opinion. He said they probably told the tech it was not covered rather than admit they wanted a second opinion. “Ok“, I said, “But please hurry because we’re in the dark here and I’m worried my house is going to burn down“.

It took a week to get their second opinion. The second electrician verified the problem and wanted twice as much money to fix it. Denied! Here we go again…

Now First American Warranty says they can’t pay the claim because it’s not normal wear and tear. So two weeks of jerking us around they leave us holding the bag while they re-define the English language. Normal wear and tear? Why wouldn’t it be normal wear and tear? It’s a thin box of pot metal that’s been exposed to the elements for years. That box is certainly over twenty years old. What’s normal? Should it last a thirty years? Fifty? Perhaps a century? I guess the greedy Gods at First American Home Warranty get to decide, of coarse, in their favor.

The amount isn’t enough to file a law suit but it is enough to piss me the hell off. First American Home Warranty is now my new hobby. I dedicate this site to warn others before they become First American Home Warranty’s next cash cow just to be discarded in their time of need. Don’t Do Business With First American Home Buyers Protection Corporation!

Welcome to the future site of FirstAmericanRipOff.com We haven’t quite decided to run with this new hobby yet but if we do it’s going to be a blast.

 

I’ll make it my daily priority to expose First American Home Warranty for the cheating blood sucking disgrace of American business they are. I’ll work my SEO magic to insure that every time someone runs an online search for First American Home Warranty or First American Buyer Protection Plan this site is staring them in the face.

 

At this point I hope First American Home Buyers Protection Corporation screws me one more time so I can get to work on this new fun project.