Local Home Warranty Companies and What is Covered Are Important to Consider

BrokerIPTV: Today, we are talking with Katheryn D'Amico from Colorado Home Warranty and Katheryn welcome to the show.

Katheryn D'Amico: Thanks for having me.

Interviewer: I want to talk about home warranties. Recently, there was some information in the news that home warranties are good, but you might have to watch out for some of the fine print; tell us what happened or what happens in these scenarios?

Katheryn D'Amico: Yes there was an article in the Denver Post. Apparently, this company that provided the home warranty was offered through Wachovia Bank.

Interviewer: Okay.

Katheryn D'Amico: It's kind of like an after market type of home warranty and we actually looked up this company on the Internet, couldn't even find them on the Internet; so, not really sure where they are from, what they are all about. So, you know you are going to have some problems there. Colorado Home Warranty is a locally owned and operated company, very personal with our clients. So, there is a big difference there. You know there is a face with the home warranty; when you call our office you get a live person to talk to, it's not a call center that you are calling into, so very personal.

Interviewer: Well, the other difference is you are talking about some companies that aren't in the business of home warranty, they are kind of jumping on the band wagon, seeing if they can get a little after market revenue and they have got fine print rules and regs that if you are not aware of, you could get caught in.

Katheryn D'Amico: Exactly, yeah. You know there is no fine print in Colorado Home Warranty's policy.

Interviewer: Yeah.

Katheryn D'Amico: It's all in black and white right there.

Interviewer: It's upfront.

Katheryn D'Amico: Exactly, in our brochure, on our website, you are going to know what you are covered for, what you are not covered for. There is always going to be exclusions, there are limits of liability for any home warranty company, but it's all in black and white right there upfront with Colorado Home Warranty.

Interviewer: All right. So, maybe the take home message here is beware about who you are doing business with...

Katheryn D'Amico: Exactly.

Interviewer: When it comes to warranties; is the company local, do they even specialize in this and watch out for their fine print.

Katheryn D'Amico: Exactly.

Interviewer: All right. One of the questions that comes up on warranty is that decision to either repair or replace and I have had it being it[Phonetic] myself you know the refrigerator is x amount old, I don't know if I should just... you know it's broken, should I repair it or should I replace it; how do you come to that decision?

Katheryn D'Amico: That is up to the home warranty company. It's up to us whether we repair or replace, but it's definitely for the benefit of the buyer or the owner.

Interviewer: Right.

Katheryn D'Amico: So, if it's going to cost you know $380 to replace a 25-year-old refrigerator or to repair it, it is better to put that money towards replacing.

Interviewer: Okay.

Katheryn D'Amico: So...

Interviewer: And of course there are some exclusions on... on that decision to replace or not, for instance if the homeowner hasn't done what?

Katheryn D'Amico: If you don't do the regular, regular scheduled maintenance that the manufacturer recommends, very simply like changing the filter in the furnace or the air-conditioner, you know just things that anybody should do, you need to do those things in order to keep it in good working order so that when it comes time, if something goes wrong, we will... we will repair it [music].

Interviewer: And the technicians you send out are reporting that information back to you?

Katheryn D'Amico: Exactly.

Interviewer: And that's how you arrive at the decision?

Katheryn D'Amico: Yes.

Interviewer: All right. Real quick benefit of working with a local company in the warranty business like Colorado Home Warranty?

Katheryn D'Amico: Well, that's huge because like we said before there is a face and there is a local... local office, you know where we are located. There is me, everyone has my cellphone number; if they need to reach me, I am you know... I am available any time of the day, weekends you know, what not. So, we are definitely out there to please our customer. So, it's very personal. A nationally owned company, a lot of them you call into a call center and it's very black and white, this is what's covered, this is not what's not covered; with us, it's kind of gray you know. Well, you know you have given us so much business, you know we want to... we want to please you. So, we can kind of you know work with people in that way.

Interviewer: Thanks so much.

Katheryn D'Amico: That's a lot different.

Interviewer: Great information.

Katheryn D'Amico: Thank you for having me.

Interviewer: Thanks for being here.