Hello, This is my first post, so bear with me. I had some Home Warranty plumbing work done back in 11/01. I called the HW Company and they sent a plumber out to take care of the work. In this case, they did authorize the work. We had some roots in our sewer line that they had needed to clean out and they did.. It was covered under the the warranty I paid the deductible and the work was completed. Good so far. Now in 5/01 we had the same problem, I called in the problem to the HW Company. Explained the issue once again, and they approved the work They sent out a plumber to fix the problem, they fixed it and I paid the deductible. Several days later I received a letter from the Plumber, in this case it was a bill for $262.50 !!!! I called the HW Company and they said that Roots were no longer under the Warrranty. I explained that they approved the work otherwise, the plumber would have never completed the work. I then called the plumber and wrote a letter to the plumbing company explaining that they need to contact the HW Company to collect the bill. The work was AUTHORIZED. A Couple of days later, they called me back in response to my letter stating that the HW Company would not cover the work thus I need to pay them, the Plumbing company directly. THe funny thing is they said this happens a lot, so they were on my side........ I believe this bill is BS. Today, I received a final bill collection notice from the plumbing company saying this is a final attempt to collect, if it is not collected by 8-13 it will be sent to collection. how to fight this issue ? What collection agency will they send this to ? Will this be reported to the bureaus ? I want to some how respond back to this final collection letter as well Please advise
You need to do the following, in THIS ORDER: 1: Re-read your warranty to determine in, in fact, this is a covered repair, regardless of whether it was authorized or not. If no, pay the bill and stop here, you don't have a case. If it is, set up a file with a copy of the warranty and a copy of the work authorization. 2: YOU are the homeowner and this bill can quickly become a lien on your property. Pay it. The plumber worked in good faith and really should not be held captive in a battle between you and your insurance company. Also, you have an affirmative obligation to mitigate (minimize) damages, so you will not be able to claim damage to your credit rating in a suit against the insurance company. 3: File suit against the Insurance company for breach of contract in your local small claims court, The elements of your suit will be: A: You have contract of insurance that convers the repair in question. B: You followed all the insurance company's procedures required in the event of a claim. C: The Insurance company refused to honor its part of the contract - to pay its share of the covered repair even after it authorized the work to be done. D: You suffered damages of $XXX and you have the cancelled check to prove it.
Thank You ! I have decided to do the following based on the advice above. I will follow up with the plumbing company incorporating some the info in to my letter. Since I am extremely low on funds right now, I will pay what I can temporarily Since, like mentioned above, they performed the work in Good Faith. In the meantime, I will continue to research my original warranty and what it covers or covered since it was so long ago. Thanks Again
Be careful and don't let this go to collections. They can put a mechanic's lien on your home making it impossible to sell it.
