When the Job Gets Personal

A couple weeks after moving into our new-to-us home, a floor drain in our laundry room backed up, emptying some nasty brown water all over the floor. Working with our home warranty company (ugh), a plumber was sent to snake the line – and proceeded to pull out a lot of baby wipes. {Warning: wipes aren’t flushable!} That snaking attempt resulted in a small amount of sewage coming out onto the basement floor. {Thank goodness for an industry friend who hooked us up with a good disinfectant!}

After the failed snaking attempt, the plumber said we needed to be hydrojetted and gave us and the warranty company a quote. When the warranty company offered to pay just 10% of the quote, the plumber stormed out of our home in a rage.

The next week, after a lot of phone calls to the warranty company, they approved a new amount for the job (although I have no idea what it is, and it’s my firm belief it was still well below the quote), and they redispatched the original plumbing company to our home.

When that company arrived for the second appointment, they had no hydrojetting equipment and had no idea why they were even back at our house. They were here and gone within three minutes, never to be heard from again.

After dozens of calls with the home warranty company (and having to re-explain the situation to someone new in the call center every single time), they decided to put the responsibility on me to choose a plumber. Okay, that’s great, right? Until I’m asking for their liability carrier and policy number, worker’s comp carrier and policy number, and license verification to give to the warranty company. It took me several days to convince the local plumbing company we wanted to work with (thanks to recommendations and stellar online reviews) to give me, Madame Homeowner, that information.

Once that was received, it was three more calls to get approval, including calling when the new company was on site to say, again, that yes, our line needs to be jetted. The hydrojetting has been done, and we are waiting for a reimbursement check from the home warranty company. We are hoping it all ends well. And hoping we have no more claims with said company.

I cannot blame the initial plumbing company for not wanting to do the work when they’re being offered so little. I get that, and I’m sure many of you do too. But what a disappointment to get treated so poorly by them twice when I had nothing to do with what the warranty company was going to pay, nor did I even have a choice in having them in my home. I was at the mercy of the warranty company if I wanted the claim to be covered. Had they been kinder, and cared even a little about our problem, I would have gone with them via private pay.

Please don’t forget when things get frustrating with carriers or networks, that customers are often unknowingly caught in the middle.