Complaint Review: Old Republic Home Protection - San Ramon California

I have the highest level home warranty policy (Platinum) offered by Old Republic Home Protection (ORHP)  on my home. On October 13, 2022 my 75 gallon water heating tank blew out and flooded my garage. I proceeded to make a claim on my ORHP policy. During the claim reporting and approval process I was explicitly told on two separate occasions that it would be okay to replace the tank with a tankless water heater. This was not an upgrade since the tankless unit cost the same or less than the failed tank. I used an approved independent out of network plumber to do the removal and replacement work in order to save ORHP on the labor costs. She submitted a detailed estimate of the costs, including all the parts and labor unique to the installation of the tankless unit. There was a 9 day delay in getting this estimate approved due to ORHP's failure to accept her calls or respond to her messages. The work was finally completed after 3 weeks of no hot water in my house. I had paid for the tankless unit out of pocket and submitted my full claim for the labor and parts. After 2 weeks they sent me a check covering about 80% of the labor and nothing for the purchase of the tankless unit ($2416). Upon calling I was told that they would not reimburse me anything for the cost of the tankless unit because it was an upgrade. This was despite their having TWICE told me during the claim approval process that they would cover the cost of replacing the failed unit with a tankless unit of equivalent capacity. This is further confirmed by the fact that they also approved all the labor that was estimated specifically for the tankless unit installation. On two occasions I requested to speak with a manager and was told that one would call me back within 24 hours. No one ever called. I have also never received any response to my emailed demand for full reimbursement. I cannot even deposit the check for the labor they sent that covers about 28% of the total claim because it says on it that endorsement of the check constitutes a waiver of all further claims for the repair. So I have effectively received no reimbursement at all.

ORHP is failing to conform to even minimal standards for ethical business conduct in its response to my claim which had been approved in accordance with their procedures at every step of the way. I had been warned about them, but the warranty came with the purchase of my house so I had the opportunity to give them a free trial. It has turned out to be anything but free since they are seeking to cheat me out of my proper reimbursement. I am in the process of filing a lawsuit against them and filing a complaint with the Insurance Commissioner of my state requesting that ORHP's license to operate in this state be revoked.

Update, 12/12/2022:

ORHP contacted me after I made the above report to Trustpilot and said they would review the decision not to reimburse me for 72% of my costs in replacing the failed water heating tank. After a 10 day review during which they repeatedly offered the hope of revising their decision, they reported today that they would not change the insultingly low reimbursement they had offered me. They would not even reimburse me up to the cost of the current equivalent of the Rheem tank that had failed. This is the worst company I have ever dealt with in the insurance industry in my 76 years of life. I would strongly advise anyone seeking a home warranty to run as fast as they can away from any policy offered by Old Republic Home Protection.