Weichert Financial Services W Ridgewood Ave, Ridgewood

If you are buying a home from a seller working with Weichert in Ridgewood, please read. If they are offering a Weichert Home Warranty through their partner Cinch Home Warranty - it is a sham with zero value. We were under contract for a home in Bergen County which we currently own. During this process, the Weichert realty team led by Carolyn Strittmatter repeatedly emphasized the Weichert Home Warranty that came with the property for the first year. I understand that home warranties are not as useful as they claim to be, but we figured it would be a resource for smaller appliance repairs as we were moving into an older home that had been vacant. While we were under contract, I had asked for more information regarding the warranty several times and the only material I was given came in the form of a basic Weichert pamphlet. Looking back it appeared the Weichert team delayed and gave me as little information as possible despite several requests. At one point I called their corporate office, and it was communicated that I could not be given specifics until I had the warranty account in place. Shortly after we closed on the house I received a pamphlet package from Cinch Home Warranty. When it came time to request a repair to one of our appliances (stove vent) it became clear that this was a scam. After a few attempts at contacting a representative and requesting a service for a broken appliance, I was informed that I needed to pay the $100 deductible before even knowing who the technician worked for and seeing a schedule to come to the home. I moved forward since I was finally able to get a Cinch rep on the phone who claimed "If the technician does not show up to your address, then you will be refunded." After paying the $100 I was given a phone number to call for scheduling, and after leaving 2 voicemails and calling 6 times I decided to cancel and get my money back (refund still pending). It appears that "no shows" are a common occurrence. I decided to look into Cinch Home Services and was pleasantly surprised to see that they've earned themselves an average 1.6 out of 5 stars based on over 350 Google Reviews. These aren't one-off complaints - it is consistent feedback that they are incapable of providing services to meet a home warranty and provide absolutely 0 value. This review is based on Weichert’s dishonest approach to providing us information regarding their warranty package while we were under contract, and not disclosing that the warranty was attributed to Cinch Home Warranty until after we closed on the home.