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I bought my current house in dec-2014 and during the buying process I got the home owner's warranty which was paid by the escrow account ($550.00). This warranty should be good for an year and renewed afterwards. Last week the garbage disposal unit under the kitchen sink started leaking and it's getting worse. I tried to reach out to the company and they said your plan was never active because of non-payment. So I checked with the escrow company and they sent me the copy of the front and back of the check which kind of proves that it was cleared and the problem is in the company side.

My next step is to fax the copy of that check's front and back and get their accounting department to investigate. At this point, I am thinking about requesting a refund from them as the replacement of the garbage disposal unit would cost me around $150.00 (part+labor).

My question here is very generic in terms of any insurance when you paid for an insurance policy and know that you are covered. But when you try to send a claim find out your policy is not in effect because of the insurance company's fault. What's the best approach?


Adding some policy info as per the comments:

Coverage: 
  Standard Seller/Buyer Plan         
  Sellers Coverage          included
  Washer/Dryer/Kitchen Refrig

Trade Call Fee (every time you call for service/replacement)    $60.00
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    Contact your state insurance commissioner. The insurance industry is highly regulated at the state level. Also if you are a bit handy, you can do the work yourself. 150 sounds about right if you do it yourself and get a high quality disposal. Around 350 if you have it done. There are plenty of uTube videos.
    – Pete B.
    Oct 27, 2015 at 19:22
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    Thanks Pete! I live in NV and just found their website address doi.nv.gov .
    – PCM
    Oct 27, 2015 at 19:33
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    Side issue, but what's the deductible on the policy?
    – mkennedy
    Oct 27, 2015 at 19:57
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    Homeowner's insurance wouldn't cover appliance breakdown, though you do need to get the insurance back in force ASAP because you need the fire and accident coverage. Unfortunately, banks screwing up insurance payments is not rare, which is one reason for starting with a high enough down payment to persuade the bank to let you manage insurance and taxes yourself.
    – keshlam
    Oct 27, 2015 at 20:03
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    @PeteBelford I thought the same, but would that be paid for via escrow? Oct 27, 2015 at 20:41

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As a former insurance agent, I can tell you that upon receipt of premium, your coverage began and was in full effect. As pointed out in the comments, the state insurance commissioner can help if the company tries to renege, though I highly doubt this would happen. Just send in the proof of payment and they should backdate your policy. The question remains though, a home owners policy would generally not cover a garbage disposal repair, unless you got some extra features built into your policy. If it is a home warranty policy, are you certain that it gets paid out of your escrow? That might be something you need to make an extra payment for. It's possible that your escrow pays for it, but I do not think this is typical.

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    Does the state commission get involved for extended warranty coverage? This is what I suspect the OP has. Oct 27, 2015 at 23:41
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    Extended warranty coverage is not an insurance and is therefore not something the state commission would be involved in.
    – Serj Sagan
    Oct 28, 2015 at 3:23
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    Agreed, when did you hear of an insurance company covering a broken garbage disposal? Oct 28, 2015 at 6:10

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