To the Editor:
The Villages CERTIFIED Pre-Owned Homes
05/02/2014
Late Nov. I purchased a “Certified Pre-Owned Home” thru The Villages Realty. The term “Certified” is used as they have a warranty on the home for one year. What I want to share is that the warranty is not worth the paper it’s written on and this is a big fraud as far as I am concerned on what I was lead to believe and what is actually covered.
My warranty is thru Old Republic – I’ve had several issues – 1) garage door openers 2) heating and a/c system among others and my home is only 7 yrs old. The terms of my warranty are a $ 100 co-pay – but don’t have an emergency a/c or heating system problem on a weekend because their service techs won’t service anyone using this warranty on a weekend or after hours, even if you have no air in sweltering hot weather. I have also found out that if you have a problem and it doesn’t re-surface for 31 days you owe another deductable – I find that outrageous! Some things take time and use to have the issue show up – it’s just an excuse to get another $100 from the customer. Additionally I am finding all their service people are located well outside the Villages area many over an hour away.
The Villages should stand behind their “Certified” homes – right now it’s just a marketing catch phrase they’ve borrowed from the auto dealerships. It’s meaningless.
Next time your Village’s Realtor tells you the home is “Certified”………hide your wallet becaue it’s going to cost you if anything goes wrong with the home, and over and over again. I feel the developer should be pressured to produce a warranty that is both cost effective and meaningful to the buyer.
Patricia Huff
Duval