Buyer Beware: Land America Home Warranty

Customer Service? HA!

It’s an upside-down world and no one seems to care about customer satisfaction or service. You absolutely won’t believe this story. It has me questioning my sanity!!

Our Dacor oven went on the fritz last Sunday (July 20). And since we have a home warranty on our appliances, I called the insurance company to report the problem. Of course, no one works there on Sunday, just the voice mail system. I left a message after the prompts assured me I would be contacted first thing Monday during regular business hours. By late Monday afternoon no one had called me back, so I called again and reported my problem.

A repairman named Michael (his company will remain anonymous) called me a short time later and told me the soonest he could come to look at the oven would be on Wednesday. So on Wednesday, he came at the appointed time and proceeded to determine what was wrong with the oven. He found the reset button had been tripped and said the relay board was not working. He then told me that part might take 3 to 4 weeks to get; Dacor, he said, was very bad about making parts available. I said that time frame was totally unacceptable. I told him that I was going to call Dacor to see why it will take that long.

I asked Michael for the part number of the relay board so I could get the necessary information from Dacor on how to get the part faster. He eventually and rather reluctantly, gave me the number. He said he needed to get an authorization for the part from the Home Warranty Company before he ordered it. And I told him I would see if Dacor would rush the part or tell us where it was available in this area.

Well, I spoke to the folks at Dacor, gave them the part number and they told me there are 7 of them sitting on shelves at 2 different appliance parts companies in the Phoenix/Mesa area. I called Michael and he said he already ordered the part from his supplier and cannot stop the order. According to him, it will take 10 days (maybe longer) to get the part because it is a special order. I said stop the order and get the part where they have it in stock. He said he can’t stop the order and has to pay for the part even if it is canceled. Why he didn’t wait to hear from me knowing I was contacting Dacor about that part, I’ll never know.

All I do know is that he made an error in judgment and special-ordered a part that is available in this area. I realize it is no inconvenience for him or Land America. I am the one who has to wait 10 days to 2 weeks for my oven to be fixed. Had Michael gone to a Dacor parts dealer, the oven could have been fixed last week.

The Land America Home Warranty Company is not going to do anything for me—they are standing by their man (even if he did make a foolish mistake). The Home Warranty contract says they “are not responsible for delays due to labor difficulties, weather, delivery problems, availability of parts..” But it adds: “beyond our control.” To my way of thinking, this is clearly within their control since 7 of these relay boards are available in this area. It is the repairman’s error and I am being penalized for it.

Seriously, I do not understand this whole chain of events. Why didn’t Michael call around to see if the part was available locally before he special ordered it? Clearly he was aware he could not return the part. After all, he should know about their policy; he told me he deals with this company for all his parts except when they don’t have them in stock–then he uses another company–the company that stocks Dacor products!

Update:
I decided to get a buy-out on the repair of this appliance. So this is what Land America is willing to do for me:

Land America Home Warranty will give me $185.00 plus the $35.00 service fee. This amount is minus the cost of part Michael ordered, for which he is billing the Home Warranty Company $294.93. The part actually costs $175.08. Not only am I being asked to pay for Michael’s error, but I am also supposed to pay his company’s mark-up $119.85 for that special ordered part. That seems totally wrong. Does any of this make sense???

Clearly, I do not want Michael’s company doing any repairs in my house. He could have had a great client. (We do have a kitchen full of major appliances and the home warranty thing doesn’t last forever.)

Land America has not heard the last from me. They have lost a customer for good and any recommendation I might have made regarding them has turned into a diatribe against their home warranty product. I want to warn everyone how miserable they are to deal with and how badly they treat their customers. This is not customer service but customer abuse. If you are a real estate agent, do not recommend them. If you are buying a house, or selling a house, find another company or put funds in an interest bearing account to cover any necessary unforeseen repairs. And if you are thinking of getting a home warranty policy be aware that they are not really looking out for your best interests–like any insurance company it is in their best interest (i.e. profit margin) not to pay you anything!

The bottom line is this: Land America is difficult to work with, they send 2nd rate companies (not authorized service companies) to fix your stuff, and then they want to make life as difficult for you as possible when things go wrong. I’ll think twice before I ever call Land America again. And I suppose that is exactly what they want–they make it so unpleasant to deal with them, that you’d rather not call them for repairs that are rightly yours to get.

Land America also goes by these names:
RPM Residential Property Management
Buyers Home Warranty Company
Best Home Warranty Company

P.S. I called an authorized Dacor service company today and they are coming to my home tomorrow morning to repair the oven. I actually don’t care what it costs. They are getting the oven fixed in a timely manner with great customer service…and that is priceless. I won’t deal with a company like Land American again–it is not worth the stress and aggravation. But I will be sending a letter to the president of the company.

Update–July 29th: The oven is fixed. I can cook. The excellent service company I called fixed it in less than a half hour. What a total run-around I got from Land America and the repairman they sent. Had I called a reputable (and authorized) repair service initially, I could have had my oven up and running in no time and without the headaches and hassles.

Update–September 16th: I have been waiting for the check on the buy-out from Land America and haven’t heard a thing from them. No check. No communication in spite of the fact that I have made repeated calls and left messages that were never returned. What a horrible company! They take customer service to a new level of incompetence.  My next move is to contact the Better Business Bureau.

Content and photos copyright by Janet Towbin, 2008

BOOKS, SUEDE AND PHOENIX

I am completely overwhelmed and don’t know where to begin. It is very unusual for me not to have a single clue about how to proceed with any given project. However, today I must admit I am stalled, unsure and weighted down with the number of decisions I have to make.

Last week Rich and I decided we are moving to Phoenix. We have lived in Philadelphia for just about 8 years and we are ready to begin a new adventure. I’m very excited about it all…but now I am beginning to realize how much needs to be done in the next few months. OMG!! I am having a meltdown!

Rich starts his new position soon (late October) and I will move in December after the semester is over. I have all of October, November and December (except for the holidays) to do the following: travel to Phoenix to look for and buy a new house (we will also look at homes in Scottsdale and other communities in the area) ; clean up, de-clutter and sell our current house; sort through tons of books, art supplies, clothes, and other assorted household paraphernalia so we aren’t moving a lot of crap stuff we’ll never use again, and then pack up everything else we simply cannot live without.

Change is good for the soul. I know I will feel much better once I lighten my load by paring down my belongings. It is cathartic. After all, those are just material possessions…they are not important in the greater scheme of things. With that in mind, Rich and I spent the weekend cleaning out our closets…we tossed out a lot of outdated and ill-fitting clothes. It left me wondering why we had waited so long! Why did we keep all those things we hardly ever wore? I suppose there was a sentimental attachment, but why did I really keep the dress I wore to Alex’s Bar Mitzvah all these years (his Bar Mitzvah was in 1989 for G-d’s sake–that was last century!!)? I am at a loss to explain it…I haven’t worn that dress in 20 years.

After tossing away half the clothes (and shoes) in my closet I am now faced with a new dilemna: I have nothing to wear and I need to go shopping. I wonder if Clinton and Stacey can help me?

I have sorted through most of my books and magazines. The magazines I will eventually bring to school for my Collage Class students to cut up and enjoy. It will be a glorious day for them! Many of the fashion and textile majors will certainly enjoy all the Neiman’s (by the way, here is the famous Neiman Marcus cookie recipe), Bergdorf’s and Saks’s catalogues I have horded for close to 6 years. They were too beautiful to throw away so I kept them all.

Last week, I tried to donate most of my wonderful art books to an art college (the college will remain nameless, but I work there). I was informed by the library staff that I would need to present them with a complete inventory of the books (titles and authors). Can you imagine? I wanted to donate over 175 expensive and hard-to-find art books! The college library could have benefited from a donation worth around $3,500.00 (!) had they been willing to accept those books without an inventory! I realize it is quite a task for the staff to inventory books to accession them, but hey! It is a DONATION! (And a work-study student’s time would have been a good investment on their part.)

So now, the major beneficiary will be Friends of the Free Library of Philadelphia, Inc. They support programs at the Free Library of Philadelphia through sales of books donated to the Book Corner on 20th St. just north of Ben Franklin Parkway.

All the gorgeous art books I donated should be out on their shelves this week. Next week, I will have about 150 (or more) books to donate—this time fiction, non-fiction and poetry. There are some real treasures waiting to be dropped off. Like New Rules by Bill Maher! (Sorry, Bill; even though I am a devoted fan, and even though I loved your book, it’s not going to travel to Phoenix with me. Someone else in Philly will get to enjoy it at a discount. I hope you won’t mind.)

So here I sit, thinking about (Bill Maher and) all I need to do to get organized and what am I doing? Nothing. Absolutely nothing, but spouting off about my books and ridiculous library policies and how much clutter I still must wade through. I had better stop writing for my blog and do something constructive! Like, deciding if I will really need to take a winter coat to Phoenix. And finding the answer to this burning question: Does anyone wear suede in Phoenix?

Content and photos (except photo of Bill Maher) copyright 2007 by Janet Towbin

CINDI’S PRINT STUDIO

Today was more than just a great day. It was terrific! I accomplished so much and it feels great to be that productive. Creatively productive.

I spent the whole day at C.R. Ettinger’s studio in Old City. I managed to work on 4 different etchings and they all came out better than I had hoped. I have been struggling with one of the prints for almost 2 years now, and I think I finally resolved it by making the aquatint a good bit darker. There is one more color trial proof Cindi has to print for me so we can nail the right color. No photo of that one yet–but soon.

Kaleidoscope I and Kaleidoscope II have been through many incarnations and stages, but today’s additional lines etched in KII have added depth and strength to the print. No photo of KII but Kaleidoscope I has 3 new bands of aquatint and the print is completely changed. The whole pattern is stronger and the color-range has been extended. Even though it is a 2-color etching it looks like there are 4 or 5 colors in it. Amazing what a little bit of aquatint can do…

Here is Kaleidoscope I before and after the additional aquatint:

KI–2nd state

KI–3rd state

There is another little print I worked on with tons of cross-hatched lines that is loosely based on some work I saw (amazing stuff) by Gego (Gertrude Goldschmidt) currently on exhibit at The Drawing Center in NYC.
Gego’s art is truly inspired stuff…her hanging sculptures are made of delicate wires that cast intricate shadows on gallery walls. And her drawings make me salivate. No kidding…I really want one of them! Almost as much as I want a print or drawing by Agnes Martin.

Well, I guess my wish list will have to keep growing for now–there’s little chance that a work by Agnes Martin is in my future–or a Gego, for that matter. Thank God there are museums and galleries where I can go to see work by these marvelous artists.

There are wonderful books available about both artists. Check out these titles at Amazon.com for Gego and Agnes Martin.

Content and photos copyright 2007 by Janet Towbin.

BEGIN SIMPLE

The first step is always the hardest. Whether it is making the first stroke of a brush on an empty canvas or writing the first sentence in a brand new journal. Beginnings are downright difficult. But it is always just a matter of beginning. 

An important part of being creative is the ability to edit things down first. There are so many wonderful resources in our world (real and virtual) from which to gain knowledge and inspiration–and hundreds of thousands of creative people to use as role models.  This wealth of visual bounty can be overwhelming and daunting to the artist.  But it is also cause for celebration.

So how does one begin to make art when there is so much out there that has already been done? With so many choices, where does one start?  Clean a space and then go for it.  In other words, edit out whatever is extraneous, start simple and build it up as you go. Keep at it.  As long as it takes. Or as artist Mary Judge said in a recent lecture (and I am paraphrasing her), “You really only need one idea; you just need to go deep with it.”

For additional insights into how to begin any creative work, I recommend Anne Lamott’s book “Bird by Bird” or Natalie Goldberg’s “Writing Down the Bones.” Both books deal with creativity in a joyful and common-sense manner.

To see some incredible artwork utilizing simple materials and ideas that have been built upon ad infinitum, you might check out Leonardo Drew (love his massive expanses of rust within a wooden grid), Jean Shin (look at the umbrella series and the cut-off pant legs), Tara Donovan (straws and papercup clouds) and Vic Muniz, (especially “pictures from junk” series and the portrait collages made from magazine hole punch dots). Their work always inspires me and sends me over the moon. I love the way they accumulate and build-up simple objects into massively large and complex topographical universes. Begin simple, then move into complexity by adding, building and accumulating. One thing leads to another, and another, and another—and then you have it.

Less may be more, but MORE is certainly a lot more interesting!

Content and photos copyright 2007 by Janet Towbin.