About nine years ago, I wrote about a car extended warranty scam from Vehicle Protection Center, and now we have basically the same thing, but this time for home warranties, appearing to be from the County Deeds Records office, with a check for $199.00 labeled “Registration Fee Voucher”.
I’m not a homeowner, so I did not personally receive this mailer, but I work for a property management company and became aware of these deceitful mailers from Home Warranty Direct, or Home Warranty Solutions, who also come up when Googling the number 1-8000-301-5412, and the BBB complaints are the exact same as Home Warranty Direct, so I assume these companies are linked.
Interestingly, Home Warranty Direct is shown as being located in Saint Peter’s, MO 63376 on the BBB page for the company, like Vehicle Protection Center, this cannot be a coincidence. However, the other company using the same tactics, Home Warranty Solutions is based out of Phoenix, AZ 85037 according to the BBB, and has been around for a lot longer, seven years, as opposed to the 3 – 4 months of Home Warranty Direct. Neither of these companies has the exact phone number listed on the notice I’ve seen.
The notice reads;
IMMEDIATE RESPONSE REQUESTED
ATTENTION: [redacted]
This letter is to inform you that the property’s home warranty at [redacted] secured by [redacted] may be expiring or may have already expired.
Our records indicate that you HAVE NOT CONTACTED us yet to get your Home Warranty up to date.
Please Call IMMEDIATELY as this will be our FINAL ATTEMPT TO NOTIFY YOU 1-800-301-5412.
Without a home warranty in place, you are at risk of being financially liable for any and all repairs. However, you still may have time left to activate a Warranty on your home before it’s too late. No inspection will be required and final acceptance is subject to your ability to meet eligibility requirements.
We reserve the right to revoke your eligibility for service coverage after 5 days.
Here is a scan of the check from the mailer, with personal details redacted;
A notice beneath the check reads “Not all consumers have previous coverage. We are not affiliated with your current mortgage holder. THIS IS NOT A CHECK” – to legally cover themselves from prosecution.
The purpose of these mailers is to make the recipient believe it’s an official mailer from the County Deeds Records office, hoping they will call the listed telephone number. When the recipient calls the company, their representative will try to sell you a home warranty, which, this is my assumption, is worthless. Legitimate companies don’t use such tactics to fool the recipient into buying their service.
I write this blog in the hope that people Googling the phone numbers 1-800-301-5412, 1-800-301-5411, or 1-800-298-8414, or company name will find it, and not be scammed by these companies.
They’re using another number now: 1-800-617-1761