Ridiculous Warranty – Yes. Ignore it? Never!

So, one of your Homeowners just submitted a Warranty Request for work to be done at her house.

“Karen” (yes – I’m using that name purposefully (apologies to the Karens in my life – none of whom represents the “Karen” stereotype)) reports that her beloved bulldog peed on the carpet and she is not able to get the stain out.

Cue the crickets chirping on your end as you process what you’ve just read.

You think to yourself (and, honestly, probably turn to your co-worker and think out loud):  “Does she really think that we’re responsible for her dog peeing on the carpet?!?”

You may even find yourself laughing out loud at this ridiculous request.  But what you do next matters!

I’ve asked Home Builders all across North America what they would do with this type of request, and they often answer the same way:

“I throw that request away!”

Did you think the same thing? If so, I’m going to challenge you to think differently – and – take action for ALL Warranty Requests (crazy or not).

Read on!

If you are responsible for handling Warranty Requests, you really should take action and record EVERY SINGLE REQUEST that is submitted to you – even the crazy ones.

And this is why. The Homeowner who consistently submits ridiculous Warranty Requests is the same Homeowner who has her lawyer on speed-dial. And she is quick to tell you that.

You may think that you’ve heard that before – and, if you are new to the industry, you WILL hear this enough that you’ll go numb to the threat. But the extreme “Karen’s” in the world WILL make the call to their attorney.

And when she does, the first thing she’s going to tell her attorney is: “I’ve been submitting Warranty Requests to my Home Builder and they are just ignoring them.”

If you HAVE in fact been ignoring her crazy Requests, your Company is “”guilty as charged.” Good luck trying to explain that you didn’t respond to “Crazy Karen” when the attorney calls you up. If you have nothing to back up your claims, your Company is in for an uncomfortable series of calls, emails, and (maybe) court dates.

Even if your Company “wins” (and the legal proceedings are dropped), a huge outlay of cash and time has occurred.

So What Should I Do?

I thought you’d never ask! Here are the “best practices” steps that you should take for ALL Warranty Requests:

1. Warranty Request is Received from the Homeowner (email, website form, telephone call, or in-person).
2. Send an email to the Homeowner immediately – acknowledging receipt of the Warranty Request and thanking her for contacting your Warranty Department with her Request.
   • The email should explain that all Warranty Requests submitted will be reviewed in accordance with your Company’s Warranty Policy.
   • The email should also let the Homeowner know that a follow-up email will be sent within 1 day to outline the next steps with regard to the Warranty Request submitted (AND – if you put a timeline in that email, make sure you are following up when you say you will).
   • This email (and any other emails that follow) should be scripted so that ALL Homeowners receive the exact same response. You don’t want someone to see that they received a response that is different from a response her neighbors received when they submitted a Warranty Request.
     • Auto-Responders for emails and/or website forms can be set up with this to make it quick and painless for you.
     • If you are manually typing any of these emails, save the “script” somewhere where you can easily copy/paste (OR many email programs allow you to save email templates to use as needed).
3. Log the Warranty Request from the Homeowner in some type of file, database, or computer software at your Company. Yes, even the crazy ones.
4. Review the Warranty Request for “justification” against your Company’s Warranty Policy (which should be written down and delivered to the Homeowner when they move in to their new home (a subject of an entirely different post)). This Warranty Policy is usually delivered in some type of “Homeowner Warranty Manual” (either hard copy – or – digital version).
5. If the Request is a legitimate item (something needs repair that is covered in your Warranty Policy):
   • Send an email to the Homeowner acknowledging that the item is covered under her Homeowner Warranty.
     • Refer to the section or page of the Homeowner Warranty Manual to which her Request applies.
     • Indicate how/when the Warranty Request will be handled (per your Company’s processes).
     • Ensure you have language to reinforce your Company’s commitment to all Homeowners, and how your Team stands ready to quickly assist for any warrantable items that they receive in a timely manner.
     • Provide your contact details – email address and phone number – and ensure the Homeowner that you are there for them to see the resolution of this Warranty Request.
   • Complete the Warranty as needed – and – do all you can to have the Homeowner sign off that the Warranty Request has been completed to her satisfaction.
   • Once the Warranty is complete, send another email to the Homeowner:
     • Thank the Homeowner, again, for contacting your Warranty Department with their recent Warranty Request.
     • Let the Homeowner know that you have recorded this Warranty Request as complete – per their signature (bonus if you can provide a copy of that signed Warranty Request).
     • You should ask the Homeowner to reply to this email if the information you are reporting is incorrect.
     • Include a nice concluding paragraph that “We are here for the remainder of your Warranty Period for any other warrantable items that come up.” (NOTE: “warrantable” doesn’t need to be underlined. I just did it here to make sure you saw a key word that I think you should include).
     • Log the Warranty Request as complete in your Company’s files – with copies of any correspondence that relate to that Warranty Request.
6. If the request is not legitimate – but – your Company has decided to handle it anyway (typically known as a “Courtesy” Warranty Item), the process is identical to the above – with a few exceptions:
   • The first email to the Homeowner should let them know that the Warranty Request submitted is NOT typically covered by her Warranty Policy, BUT your Company has decided that it WILL handle the Request for her as a courtesy.
     • I want to caution you here – as this can be a slippery slope. If you get the right (or wrong) “Karen,” opening this door once makes it harder to close if you do get a crazy request later.
     • This “open door” doesn’t just stop with Karen. Anyone who has built with your Company who hears you did Warranty work for an uncovered item can likely expect to have non-warranty items covered for them, too.
   • The final “completion warranty” email should include language – reminding the Homeowner that this Request was handled as a “Courtesy” for this one time. Then, include the nice concluding paragraph that “We are here for the remainder of your Warranty Period for any other warrantable items that come up.”
7. If the request is not legitimate (aka “crazy), you still want to follow a scripted email sequence. It should go something like this:
   • Thank the Homeowner for submitting a Warranty Request.
     • You can say: “While we gladly review all Warranty Requests that are submitted, some Requests are not covered under our Homeowner Warranty. Unfortunately, this item is one of those.”
     • Refer to the section or page of the Homeowner Warranty Manual to which her Request applies (but it’s important to phrase the reference in a way that is matter-of-fact (instead of saying “See – crazy lady!” which is easy to want to do).
     • Clearly indicate that you are logging the Warranty Request as submitted – and – that you are closing the Request in your files.
     • Empathize with your Homeowner by letting them know that you understand this news may not be what they were hoping for. If possible, provide some suggestions for ways they can handle their issue themselves (though I acknowledge this is a bit tougher to do).
     • Ensure you have language to reinforce your Company’s commitment to all Homeowners, and how your Team stands ready to quickly assist for any warrantable items that they receive in a timely manner.
     • Provide your contact details – email address and phone number – and ensure the Homeowner that you are there for any future Warranty Requests that she may have.
   • Log the Warranty Request as closed in your Company’s files – saving any/all email correspondence for future.

Now, if Karen’s lawyer comes calling, you’ll have a log of every single crazy request she ever made (and, to be fair, the legitimate requests, too). When the attorney says that she says “all my Warranty Requests are ignored,” you’ll be able to send a nice tidy package of information – with all email correspondence (referencing your Homeowner Warranty Manual) – over to that attorney to review.

Chances are that this will stop the typical expensive legal back-and-forth more quickly!