It's Getting Hot in Here...

This post is about our personal interaction and opinion when having to replace our water heater with a home warranty program. I will not name the company we used, as well all views are our personal experiences, I understand not everyone experiences things the same way. 

When we first came to inspect this house we noticed something very quickly, the water heater. It was OLD, for an appliance, it was very old. Twenty-eight years old to be exact. That is quite an age for a water heater, it is older than the house is actually. But of course since it was still in working order, the owner did not want to replace it when we requested it. We were anticipating it going out pretty quickly. Instead, the previous owner agree to buy a home warranty for us that would last the first year and cover the cost if it was to go out. We were happy with that agreement and thought it would be easy enough.

The beloved dinosaur of a water heater...

Right around the second week of August, suddenly the hot water was gone. Now, if it was just us two adults we really wouldn't be too bothered. With two kids, this is a whole different story. As well it happened to be our birthday weeks too, so birthday plans went out the window so we could figure out what plan of action we wanted to take.

We looked up our home warranty contract again to make sure it would cover the replacement cost of the water heater, as it said it did. So we went online and made the service call and paid the $75 fee, this was all on a Sunday evening. We really thought that we would get a call the next day and maybe someone would be out to confirm it was broken and just switch them out. Everything works out in your head the way it should, right?

Yep, not so much. We got a call on the Tuesday that week, that someone would be out between 1pm-5pm. When you have two little kids and a dog it can get difficult waiting around for someone to show up. That same day it also started raining, so I really thought the whole thing was down the drain for the day. Especially since the water heater is under the house. Finally 5 PM rolled around, still no one had showed; at around 5:10 hubs messaged me that someone was on their way. By 5:30 PM they were at the house and quickly went to inspect the water heater.

As suspected it was busted and leaking, and yes, it would need to be replaced. But here is the kick us while we are down part, it would cost us and extra $525 to have it installed. The home warranty only covers the labor cost and price to install the new one. We were now at the mercy of the plumbers who decided we also needed all new plumbing and to add a reserve tank on the side. The state put a law into place for any homes built after the year 2001 for all water heaters to have an extra tank on them. Our home was built far before this and it is an optional item. But, the plumbing company is allowed to say they cannot install it without the tank and any other parts or pieces they see fit.

This was all very frustrating for us and we felt really upset that what we expected to happen was not at all. Hubs called the warranty company and for a second opinion we would have to pay for it ourselves or just fork out the extra $525 to have this company do it. And even if we decided to go with them, they said the might have it to us by the weekend or early the next week. I do not enjoy having to boil water for any dishes or baths for the kids to have a warm bath, or taking ice cold showers. Although we had a small emergency fund started, it wasn't enough to cover all of that in good conscious. We both knew that a new water heater is only around $300 and a little extra plumbing work. So we decided to cut our losses on our $75 and just do it ourselves. So on Friday morning of that week and my birthday, hubs went to Home Depot and picked up a water heater and some plumbing fixtures after checking out what he needed. It cost us about $340 to do everything ourselves.

All in all, this experience left a sour taste in our mouths to do with home warranties for now. Not to say they don't help many people. I could see it working if you have an appliance inside the home that needs to be replaced or repaired, and no extra work needs to happen to do that. But for now, I cannot recommend they are quite worth the time or money. If you have a choice, do your research and find others reviews on the company also. Even call and ask the company their policies on item replacements. I wish we could have had a little more say, but sometimes that is just the way things do. Have you ever had a warranty company replace an item? Was it an easy process for you? Do you often DIY the project instead? Leave any comments below, I would love to know others experiences. - Alisha