By Elliott Brack, editor and publisher | Every now and then, something comes along that really gets under my skin. One recent letter did it. It was from a company called “HomeServe,” and listed a local post office number in Marietta to reply to. We found the firm was out of Norwalk, Conn. See if this letter gets you going:
It came saying it was “Information regarding your water service line.”
Here’s the genesis:
“….regarding your water service line responsibility. Many homeowners aren’t aware that they are responsible for the full cost of repairing the water line on their property.
“You can protect your water line service at (my address) with Exterior Water Service Line Coverage from HomeServe…..
“Your water service line is buried underground on your property. Conditions such as aging, ground shifting and corrosion could cause a break in the line. Because repairs can be expensive—costing thousands of dollars—it makes sense for you to have coverage to pay for this covered repairs.”
Then they cite that for only $5.49 a month, I can “take action to protect the water service line on your property.” They wanted me to send back their enclosed form or call them at a 1-800 number to get this optional (their italics, not mine) coverage.” They wanted me to respond within a month.
There are two things that got to me.
First, Of course if something goes wrong on my property, I am responsible. But what are the probabilities that I’m going to have water service line problems? For the record, we’ve been in our present house for 37 years, and yes, we once had a water line problem.
But this unsolicited offer wants to charge me $5.49 a MONTH for that coverage. That’s $65.88 a year, or $658.80 over 10 years. If I have taken that service the day I moved it, I would have sent them $2,305.80 for them to put in their pockets. That’s money going to this company for an infinite possibility that something will happen to this water line. Sounds like a rat hole to me!
Now the second reason this got to me: HomeServe sent the letter through my membership in the American Association of Retired People—AARP. Now the respected AARP (which helps many people) is associating with a questionable service. They offer this service “as an authorized representative not of AARP, but of a third company, AMI Warranty Corp. of New York City. And not only that, but the letter says that HomeServe “pays royalty fees to AARP for the use of its intellectual property,” which says to me that AARP gets a kickback for giving HomeServe my address.
It should embarrass AARP to offer such a service of questionable value. AARP seems more intent on making a buck out of this than any real service to members.
The fine print in what was mailed to us says that such coverage will be “automatically renewed annually” at the “then-current renewal price.” No telling how much the useless coverage of the renewal could be!
What really galls me is that many people in Gwinnett and throughout the nation will fall for this malarkey. Yes, water service lines from the street to your house can fail. But the possibilities of that are small. These people are operating on a thin ice. If you get such a letter, head it for the trash quickly!
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