CommentI filed two claims within the past year. The water dispenser on our refrigerator failed to work. Contacted HMS who gave me a contractor. The contractor never called back. At that point, my wife and I just said forget it.
The most recent claim is what really got me going. This was filed in May 2008. Our air conditioning unit was making strange noices where the fan blades would stop and attempt to restart, over and over. Keep in mind our unit is only two years old and in our area we were having a heatwave of near 100 degree temperatures daily. Contacted HMS who gave us the name of a contractor, Alvico. Left two messages and they never returned. Finally, HMS gave us another company name, Viking Mechanical who showed promptly. Had to pay them a $100 deductible and the problem diagnosed by Viking was:
"Found unit running high head pressure - unit does not match Euap coil. Recommend replacing Euap coil and cleaning line set".
Rec'd a call from HMS informing me that our claim was denied because of improper installation. Please note that we have only lived in our house for one year and had nothing to do with any installation. HMS informed me that according to Section V, #2 of the warranty that this is the reason the claim was not covered. I argued that we would like to have a second opinion. Told that if a second contractor came out and concluded the same diagnosis, we would be fully responsible for the fees of that contractor. Also told that it wouldn't matter if another contractor came out because our a/c unit model number does not match the euap coil model number so this pinpoints the denial.
I asked why does HMS hold current customers responsible for details they had no influence on? In addition, how can we tell if these contractors and HMS are in it together to diagnose things which they know aren't covered. To highlight that point, I had another company, independent of HMS, come out who diagnosed something totally different than the coil. I explained this and was told it doesn't matter b/c they were not a HMS recognized provider.
I hope people take this and other posts on this site seriously. I will not only post this on other consumer reporting sites, but sending a complaint to the BBB. It is my duty to report companies such as HMS in order that they provide quality service to its customers. We will be cancelling our warranty with them and going with a competitor at a cost of $25 cancellation fee. Enough is enough with companies like this and the service they provide.
 Comments (2) |  |
| 1. Written by Ted, on 08-10-2008 21:21 Connie, the more I read the more it is consistent that HMS seems to have developed a "deny" policy for claims. I am sorry you got caught up in that, but you are not alone. I have my own variation of what you experienced. This concept, borrowed from medical insurance, of excluding a pre-existing condition is bogus when applied to this situation. Some technician comes along and says well heck thoes not coils have been going bad for a while. THAT is NOT a preexisting condition. Good lord! With that logic, any house that is not brand new on day one has a preexisting condition! A decade ago, HMS was good. Today, all I see is greed, and employees trained to lie and deceive, and it saddens me we think this is the current way to do business. |
| 2. Written by home warranty, on 31-07-2008 03:06 home warranty review |
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