Staff writer
The mailing from Service Line Warranties of America caused some confusion around town last month after being printed on city letter head, but city administrator Roger Holter said other utility line companies are also sending information to residents without the city’s endorsement.
Service Line Warranties is a company with an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau and is the only utility line insurance company endorsed by the city.
Homeserve has also bought a copy of the city’s public mailing list, the same one bought by Service Line Warranties. They are distributing literature for water line coverage. The letter sent to residents says the company is from Kansas, but its ZIP code is from the east coast, Holter said.
“I tried to pull the company up on the Better Business Bureau website, but it didn’t even come up,” Holter said.
Holter warns residents to be wary of any mailer for utility insurance that isn’t from Service Line Warranties, because they are not endorsed by the city and have not been researched by the city or the Kansas League of Municipalities.
After a quick search of http://www.homeserveusa.com/, a link to a rating on the Better Business Bureau said the company had 304 complaints in the last three years and an A- rating.
The highest amounts of complaints were with products or service with the next highest being with advertising for several mailers that looked like bills.