Old Republic Home Warranty Consumer Reviews - Page 2

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA -- Every call for service has been denied, it is a part time job to get a contractor to come out and state that the item is not covered due to... always something different. Always incorrect. Always impossible to get them to cover the repair.

Example, my hot water heater is set at maximum temp. In all showers in the house except one the temp is so hot it will burn your skin off, but one shower is so cold I can not use it. Old Republic said not covered, it is warm enough. I measured the temperature, it is 30 degrees lower than the other hot showers in the house. I called the faucet Manufacturer and they said the valve is broken. The Manufacturer of the faucet, Kohler, even sent me a free valve to replace the broken one.

I called Old Republic, they sent out a contractor to investigate. The finding was that since Kohler sent the part to me, installation was not covered. I told them to supply the part themselves if they want, but they said the warranty coverage was lost when Kohler sent the part free of charge because it is a manufacturer warranty issue. I told them "the manufacturer warranty expires when the house is sold, Kohler was just being nice." They did not care. No coverage. Other claims were also denied for similar stupid reasons. Don't waste your time with this worthless home warranty from Old Republic.

STOCKTON, CALIFORNIA -- Old Republic called the issue a general maintenance problem. We have only owned this condo for three months. We called Old Republic twice and both times they refused to fix the problems. Save your money. Don't buy this warranty.

SAAN RAMON, CALIFORNIA -- We called old republic to come out and fix a broken ice maker. They reported that ice makers are not covered. We have a leaking sink in our bathroom, and two toilets that run intermittently. Fortunately, they said these are covered. They sent a nice plumber out, but the plumber said he had never seen this type of sink before and that he would have to call to see if he could get parts. He looked at the first toilet and reported that it was in good shape and did not need to be fixed. He went out to the truck to call about parts for the sink.

He came back in after an hour and said that old republic would not cover the sink because he felt the leak was in the sink and not in the pipes. He could not see the leak because of the position of the pipe coming into sink from the wall. He even asked if I had a small retractable mirror so he could angle the mirror up to see what the problem was.

I stated that I did not have a mirror like that. But he was able to make the diagnosis despite not being able to see the actual problem. He then proceeded to replace a seal on the toilet that he had just stated did not need to be fixed. I feel he did this because I was becoming agitated that nothing seemed to getting done. He then said I needed to pay a $55 dollar service fee which I refused to pay.

Good to know what $450 buys you from old republic… Absolutely nothing. In speaking to old republic they never offered to send someone else out to get a second opinion. All they kept saying is it is not covered. And that I owed $55 dollars which I told them I refused to pay. And the plumber left before looking at the second toilet. Old republic said I would have to pay another $55 dollars if they sent another plumber out to look at the second toilet. What a joke.

SHREVEPORT, LOUISIANA -- When I purchased my home in May 2007, I was given a home warranty from Old Republic Home Warranty. A few months later the air conditioner stopped cooling. I called for service. Old Republic sent a service person out who told me that someone stole all my freon. The tech put 13 pounds of freon in the unit and said I would not have any more trouble. A few days later the unit was still not working.

I called Old Republic again who sent the same tech out. He added more freon to the unit and said I would have no more trouble. The deductible was $50, which I paid. Approximately a week later the unit was still not working. This time the technician said he could not fix the unit and that I would have to call someone else. Old Republic sent a second company out, who found a leak in one of the coupling joints. He repaired the joint and added more freon to the unit. The tech also said if this did not fix the problem the unit would have to be replaced. About 4 months later in July 2008 the unit stopped working again.

Old Republic sent another service tech to my home. The only tool he brought was a flashlight. He said there was nothing wrong with the unit except the unit was not large enough for my house. He offered to sell me a new unit. The compressor never came on while he was there and he never looked at the unit. He was there less than 5 minutes and charged me the $75.00 deductible. I then called the same service tech that Old Republic sent out earlier, the one who repaired the coupling. He told me the compressor was gone. He called Old Republic who said they would not pay because I had called him instead of them calling him.

Old Republic did order a compressor, which had to be shipped to Shreveport and took several days to arrive. In July, with 100 degree temperature for nearly 2 weeks, I had no AC. I complained about the length of time to repair the unit. I said I no longer wanted to do business with this company. The compressor was installed and paid approximately $800, plus my out of pocket costs for lodging and meals. This company has the worst response time to complaints.

In February 2009 Old Republic did not draft a premium from my checking account but in March 2009, they drafted more than 2 months of policy premiums from my account causing my checking account to be in the negative. My bank has told me that I have no right to dispute the withdrawal on my checking account and that Old Republic could sue me for not paying the premiums. I am working very hard to have Old Republic forbidden from doing business in Louisiana. I hope this posting will keep someone else from falling prey to this business.

PALM HARBOR, FLORIDA -- It looks to me like Old Republic is a boiler room operation that sells policies with no intention of ever paying a claim. In the past 14 days, my A/C unit has failed and been filled with freon 3 times. I have had 4 contractors look at the unit. Two told me the unit is leaking severely and will not hold freon for more than a few days but the 2 sent by Old Republic just add freon and won't inspect the air handler because it's in the attic.

One outside contractor submitted a diagnosis that identified leaks in the evap coil in the air handler in the attic and the compressor outside. He also confirmed that the drip pan is rusted and about to fall through. The contractor I called the weekend before filled the unit and said that there were a number of leaks. Old Republic's two contractors, Air Doctor and Shades Heating and A/C would not look at the air handler and simply adjusted the freon.

I have attempted to resolve the problem with old Republic having called over 12 times and being give a polite response and assurances that it would be fixed but a fix is not in site because the contractors OR is dealing with have not bothered to inspect the unit. One of Old Republic's supervisory employees has promised to call me back with a status by 4:30 EST today. If he does he will be the first of their employees to place a promised call back. I am pursuing help from The State Office of Insurance Regulation.

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA -- We bought a new house and our realtor recommended Old Republic. We ended up having to call them for 3 things that went wrong with our house. All 3 times we had to call multiple times because they took so long getting people out. Then once the service provider came out they would just assess the situation and then we had to wait at least 3, usually more like 7 days for or to send their parts for the repair folks to use.

When your AC is out in the summer and it's over 100 and you have a pregnant wife, waiting 2 weeks to get your AC fixed because they want to save 50 cents on a part is pretty poor customer service. They also once sent a service guy who showed up with a hole in the crotch of his pants, who also tried to rip us off at the service call, then tried to double bill us months later. We had to prove to OR that we paid him, which we did.

Our reward: they sent us a letter saying that due to high costs or other circumstances we couldn't renew our policy. Translation: they would rather take your money and not have to do anything. Terrible service, terrible company. I WOULD AVOID OLD REPUBLIC HOME WARRANTY.

SAN RAMON, CALIFORNIA -- It is disappointing how Old Republic Home Warranty appears to look for any opportunity to not honor legitimate claims, contrary to the image that they try to convey on their website. In my case, we have paid premiums for about 15 years since I purchased my house in Los Angeles. Recently, the Springs broke on our garage doors and Old Republic rejected the claim - saying that the door were "commercial".

At no point in the past did Old Republic ever mention that our residential garage doors were “commercial” doors. This is even more astounding when they have provided service to the garage openers on at least 3 occasions, including changing one of the opener motors. But now, all of a sudden when the springs break, do they determine that these doors are not covered!

This appears to be disingenuous at best. When I asked them to provide a written response as to how they justify denying this claim – with the history of prior service noted above – they sent a form letter inviting me to complain to them by phone (which I had already done in detail through their website) or to the California Department of Insurance - which I did.

Old Republic never addressed my specific complaint in their form letter – regarding how they accepted premiums for years and serviced these same garage doors - without ever noting that they were “commercial”. Then Old Republic had the audacity to bill me for the “service” call in which they improperly determined that they would not cover the repair – and for which I had to pay the service person $550 directly. They just have no shame!