Review of Android Calendar apps

I've gotten my first smartphone, and I'm hoping to be able to find applications that will allow it to replace my Palm Tungsten E2, which I've had for at least 5 years now.  I'm a diehard Palm user since 2000 and 13 years of Palm habits have worn deeply into my brain, so any Android apps I use have to be as good or better than what I've been used to.

There are a lot of calendar applications out there and I've tried at least six now, including the Google Calendar app that comes with the phone, so I thought I'd share what I see as the advantages and disadvantages of each of them below.  Dashes indicate disadvantages, while + indicates an advantage.

I must mention first that I have a certain bias against any agenda view, since my brain doesn't seem to comprehend time very well in that setup.  (Agenda view is when all events are simply listed with their times under each day with no depiction of scale as to how much time occurs between them or how much time they take up.) So, take any ranting I do about agenda view with a grain of salt.

Google Calendar

+Agenda view's font makes events easy to distinguish from dates

-Month view tells you nothing. You only see there is an event represented by a dot.

-Week view shows the days in long narrow vertical strips that make the text awkward and unreadable

-Adding an event takes 3 touches as the option is in a sub-menu. (Inexcusable!)

-Day view requires you to scroll to see if you have anything

-Difficult to edit events once put in

Pimlical (Supposedly designed for Palm users)

+ Synchs with Google Calendar

+ Week view is good and readable, using an eight-square grid

- LOTS of gestures to learn and remember (location of gesture on the screen is just as important as what gesture is made)

- Events in month view are displayed too small and too limited text to read

- Includes a 4-day view with long narrow vertical strips that make text awkward and unreadable.  I consider this view to be pretty close to useless, yet I have to scroll through it constantly to get to day view from week view.

- 2 touches to edit events (once you figure it out)

- Inconvenient to put in done tasks (I track what I've done each day by making a floating event that holds todo list items I've completed)

AnCal (Emulator for Palm software)

+ Very simple interface

+ Navigation with screen buttons (similar to Palm)

+ Supports inclusion of tasks, appointments, and notes

+ Easy to enter task, appointments, and notes (unknown whether notes float between days or not)

+ Takes 1 touch on a time to enter an appointment in day view (This is the GOLD standard of efficiency!)

+ Takes 1 touch on an appointment to bring up an edit box in day view! (Excellent! Why aren't other apps like this?)

+ Tasks have settings for two priority levels, alarm, and due date.

+ Appointments have alarms, a floating event setting, and repeat settings

- DOES NOT synch with Google Calendar (Sooo disappointing!)

- Day view requires scrolling to see events

- Does not show text on week view, only shows a dash for events

- Does not show text on month view, only shows a dot for events

- Tasks for future days do not show due date and only two priority settings available, and no repeats available

- Notes can't be attached to a particular day

- I personally dislike the black background

aCalendar

+ Synchs with Google Calendar

+ Week view is good and readable, using an eight-square grid

+ Has a widget which is very large, also transparent, but configurable.

- Month view doesn’t show much useful text

- Hard to edit events put in (takes 2 touches to get to edit screen)

- Can't edit events put in with other calendar apps

- Difficult to get to a dayview of the day you want from weekview. It took me a while to figure out that I had to click the right day and THEN scroll left.

Jorte

+ Synchs with Google Calendar

+ Week view is fairly readable

+ Incorporates tasks and memos

+ Can create task templates and different task lists

- Uses only one calendar view (month/week) which is set by the user.  Makes it annoying to switch views.

- No day view, only agenda view, a sliver of which is shown below the main calendar. It can be expanded, but it still feels very cramped. (and did I mention that I hate agendaview?)

- Hard to get to day-specific agenda list (requires 2 touches)

- Difficult to edit events once they are input (3 touches required)

- Icons at bottom of the screen seem annoying (should have been in menu)

- Supposed to have a widget, but didn't find one in the widget list

- Tasks incorporate only 1 priority setting.

- Unable to set tasks to different task lists.

CalendarPad

+ Synchs with Google Calendar

+ Week view easy to read (8 grid boxes)

+ Month view shows events, though only first word fits

+ Day view can be customized to show 3 different ways, one of which shows the whole day without having to scroll at all

+ Day view displays open slots of time and beginning and ending event times

+ Entering events seems intuitive (touch anywhere on the day view)

+ Has a widget which has customizable size and customizable view of day, week, or month.

- Month view does not show event times, and only first few word(s) fit

- Entering a new appointment takes 4 touches instead of 1 to bring you to an edit box (ABSOLUTELY INEXCUSABLE!!)

- Editing an existing appointment takes 3 touches instead of 1 to bring up an edit box. Also inexcusable. 

- When trying to edit, program keeps asking what program I want to use to edit, even though I already chose what I want by default!  (Update. Okay. It seems to have stopped for some reason, so now I'm down to 3 and 2 touches to input and edit events respectively.  But that's still too much.)

- Menu contents change depending on what view you are in, which is kind of weird

So far I think CalendarPad has the best views and the best navigation.  I just wish it had 1-touch entering and editing of events like AnCal.  I think CalendarPad will probably be what I use, although if I get discontented, I will probably try out some more apps.

After trying out all these calendars it is enough to make me wish I could make one myself.  Here's what I would include:

• Synch with Google Calendar
• Month view with time and a few words of the event showing
• Week view in an 8-square grid layout
• Day view in which the whole day is visible without scrolling
• 1-touch entering or editing of appointments
• Floating appointments
• Memos for appointments
• Using the edit box to change appointments or tasks with 5 priority levels, due dates, and memos.
• A pane in day view showing tasks in priority order
• Completed tasks are tied to the day they are completed

 If you happen to know someone who has already made an application that does these things, please comment and tell me!

Cinnamon and Gunpowder by Eli Brown

It is 1819.  Owen Wedgewood is the household cook whose rich employer has just been shot point-blank by the red-headed pirate captain Mad Hannah Mabbot.  Mad Hannah happens to taste Owen’s food and decides to drag him captive back to her ship.  His culinary skills are tested to the limit when Mad Hannah tells him he must cook for his life, making her a fantastic meal every Sunday evening or… (finger across throat)

Just what is Owen up against?  He has to work with flour infested with weevils, horse meat, and hardly any spices to speak of.  How he collects more appropriate supplies and makes ingenious use of what he has is one part of the enjoyment of this book.  Another part, surprisingly enough, is the description of the cooking; somehow the author infuses it with a passion that is almost sensual.  A third part is how the relationship between this temperamental chef and his captor progresses.

The larger historical context of the story is depicted very well and we discover that Mad Hannah’s piracy amounts to economic sabotage aimed at the tea traders as protest for their policies of enslaving the orient in drug addiction to opium. 

The book is surprisingly clean, although it has brief mentions of prostitution, bestiality, homosexuality, and fornication.   Such is probably to be expected in a story featuring life on a pirate ship, and I am only grateful that it wasn’t worse, as much as I dislike such.

It seems as if once Owen and Mad Hannah reach a romantic understanding, the energy of the cooking descriptions and the narrative falls off, although it is probably because the character has Mad Hannah to care about in addition to cooking for her.   Still, as a reader it felt like the author’s main goal was to get them together and then didn’t know what to do afterward.   The story was there, but as a reader I just didn’t care as much.  I wish I did, though.

I was a bit disappointed by the ending.  It left me with a “What? That’s it?” feeling, although it was probably the best ending that could be expected with when Mad Hannah’s driving motives are met or removed.  Still, it left me what the impression that the romance was a fling, rather than love.  Mad Hannah deserved better, considering her deep concern for her lost family pushes her to such lengths in the story.

I will keep an eye out for more books by Eli Brown, though.

To do apps: Astrid for Android

I have to say that I am suffering from technological growing pains. Specifically, with my to-do lists. I have used a Palm Pilot for 10 years and I have honed my ability to use its tasks application to a fine point. So when I look at other task applications for iPad or iPod touch or Android, you can be sure that I want something that will be as functional as my Palm.

So far I am very frustrated. While Palm seemed extremely concerned with using screen real estate as carefully as possible, it seems like iPad, iPod Touch, and Android applications drop the ball by being more concerned about style and beauty rather than efficient use of space. I’m forced to scroll with my finger to find the information that should be immediately visible in the most important screen space.

Right now I am testing the Android ap Astrid.

What Astrid does wrong

Astrid puts user-created lists at the bottom of the main lists screen. User-created lists should be at the top of the screen where users can get to them easily. Why should a list called “Recently Modified” or “I’ve Assigned” get more attention than a list that I am more interested in myself? I want those OUT of there and I can’t find anyway to do that!

Astrid uses the “active tasks” label. The label should be “all” instead. This makes much more sense.

Astrid has a button for “Sorting and Hidden Tasks,” but unfortunately I have no idea what I do to create hidden tasks. I have some, but I don’t know how they got that way in the first place. It wasn’t like I selected “hide” anywhere.

Astrid provides an “Astrid smart sort” option, but gives me no information as to what “smart sort” actually does. Astrid’s help site is silent on the matter.

Astrid only has 4 priority levels. After having 5, 4 seems like a step down. I may sound picky, but if I could, I would have 6 or 7 priority levels.

Astrid has the capability of adding additional filters for lists, but in testing out this capability, I discovered that the filter I created was added to the main lists screen and it uses up more of the valuable screen real estate space! And there is no way that I can see to delete it. (Later: Never mind. I discovered I could press and hold on that filter and then a dialog came up that gave me the option of deleting it. (phew!)

What Astrid does right

Astrid allows users to customize the layout of their task creation screen so that most needed items are easiest to get to. If it weren’t for this option, I probably would have given up on this ap in the first 10 minutes of trying it out. For me, the most important things to enter for a task are:

• Description
• Priority
• Due date
• Category
• Notes

Astrid allows me to find out exactly how much time it takes me to complete a task by incorporating a little timer into each task you create. You can start it when you begin the task and stop it when you take a break. This makes it possible to really gather data about how long it takes to accomplish something and make your estimates more accurate for how long it will take to complete a task.

Astrid makes it possible for me to put a task on my Android calendar without having to go to the trouble of entering it manually. Unfortunately, it seems to put the wrong tasks in. Obviously there is a bug there. I messed around with the task I had tried to put in and finally got it to work.

For me, a good to-do list program should have

• Priorities. Use numbers for priorities, preferable as many numbers as possible. 1-5 is good, 1-10 would be better.
• Categories. Allow user to make as many categories as they want.
• Due dates. Allow user to give due dates.
• Due date ranges. Allow user to see task for next seven days, today, and last seven days.
• This way, user can easily see what is coming up to prepare for it, and can easily see what they missed.
• Recurring tasks. Allow the user to make tasks repeating tasks. Palm’s repeat is the best I’ve seen for customizing repeats. You can actually set something to repeat until a specific day, which is very nice for tasks you know will only last so long.

An unconventional view of buying cars and body styling

Many people get snookered into buying a fancy-looking car without realizing one important thing. You only get to enjoy the snazzy body styling during one particular time—finding and getting into your car. All the rest of the time, you are in the car, or leaving the car. Can you enjoy the snazzy EXTERIOR styling from the INSIDE of it? No. Can you enjoy the snazzy exterior styling while walking away, back to the car? No—(unless you give yourself an uncomfortable crick in the neck and are willing to run the risk of colliding with hard objects and complete strangers while not watching where you are walking). Because of this, for me it is far more worthwhile to appreciate OTHER PEOPLE’S cars. Thus, when I see a new car model coming out with exceptionally attractive styling, I look forward to seeing it populating the roads because then I’ll get to see it often, and each sighting will give me a little thrill of surprise and delight.

On another matter, I believe that car designers need to understand the most important places for a car to have its best styling touches is the sides and back. I was looking at a picture of a new model car today and it struck me that all the appeal was concentrated on the front end, with the sporty shark-like shape of the hood and headlights. It was all in the nose. But the sides were lackluster, and I couldn’t see the back. I supposed that it was a PR photo that was playing up the best angle to drive sales, if you'll pardon the pun. But I realized that in the real world, drivers and passengers don’t spend much time looking at the front end. Drivers see the front ends of cars usually only in the rear-view mirror, and even then, not for very long, since they have to go back to watching the road in front. However, passengers get plenty of time to see the sides of a car and the back end of a car. And the driver sees the TAIL end of the cars in front of him/her for a good long time. It follows then, that if the styling of the back and the sides is excellent, the car will be a great advertisement for itself on the streets where it is driven every day.

8 necklaces I just can’t help drooling over

I don’t know about you, but I get tired of looking over the necklaces for sale at Walmart and Target. Yes, that jewelry is inexpensive, but it usually doesn’t strike me as very creative or unique.

Now Etsy, on the other hand, has some talented jewelry designers selling some delightful wares, some spendy, others not so much.


This lemon jade flower choker can be found at HandHeadHeart at Etsy and comes from Thailand. I love the elaborate ribbon wrapping used to make the stems look like wood. Be sure to check out the other products in this shop; HandHeadHeart is a prolific and skilled beader!





This is a polymer clay rose necklace by Simply Chic Lily at Etsy. So feminine, it’s perfect for weddings, Valentine’s day, or just one of those days when you feel extra girly.




This linen and pearl necklace is made by Cynamonn at Etsy. There’s something about this necklace that just grabs me. I think it is the startling contrast of visual textures. Shiny versus matte, round versus long strings. The rhythm of those pearls, along with their asymmetrical placement paired with the rhythm of the linen threads twisting into a knot. This isn’t just jewelry, it’s also art. This necklace makes me think of a barefoot walk on the beach in the morning. It's dramatic, yet somehow informal.





This eye-catching necklace of bronze, copper, and silver grape leaves is made by Connie Colton and can be found at her Etsy shop “inspired by nature.” It’s rather spendy, so it may be a good birthday or Christmas gift. I think it would be perfect for those times that you’re channeling your inner elf. Someone’s Lord of the Rings costume would get a major lift from this.





Here is a “Larimar” necklace from kiwawa on Etsy made by Vlasim in the Czech Republic. It's also a bit spendy, but the workmanship is amazing. I find it fascinating that the stone was set without glue. When I look at all those rich brown textures, I just want to go eat some chocolate or weed my garden like an Earth Mother.





Twirled Treasures sells necklaces made of an unexpected material—paper. This is her “Glistening Honey” necklace and here’s what she writes:

“This exquisite pendant is reminiscent of sparkling drops of honey dripping from a comb. Shimmering loops cascade gracefully, encased in a blanket of tiny gold crimps which perfectly blend with the antique gold chain that houses it. Made entirely of paper, this lovely quilled piece measures 3/4 x 1-1/2 inches, hangs from an 18-inch antique gold-finished chain, has been meticulously hand varnished to make it water resistant, and comes in a gift box. What a unique treasure!”





Here is a necklace called “Moonlight of Saturn” by Lisa Zamcho, who runs BrightFireBeads at Etsy. Right now she is making fabulous “steampunk” necklaces with a lovely mix of gears and crystal sparkle. (You can't see the red crystal very well in this picture, so you'll have to go to the necklace page.)




This raspberry leather necklace is made by Jess Amity at Etsy, as part of her Modern Pocahontas Collection. She writes, “The Modern Pocahontas Collection is my interpretation of the question "If Pocahontas was transported through time to today (and had a killer sense of style), what would she wear?" The answer is jewelry, bags and accessories in leather with both traditional and modern adornments. So, Pocahontas would totally rock!”

Make sure you check out Jess Amity’s other jewelry as well. She does things with old drawer pulls that you never thought were possible.





I know this isn’t a necklace, but it is so “wow” that I just had to include it at the end. These is the "Le Printemps Pearl and Filigree Art Nouveau Head Piece Headdress" offered for sale by the Raven Eve Etsy shop. This would definitely be a neat piece to wear for high school formal dances, for weddings (both bride and bridesmaids), and for high class shindigs. I’m trying to decide what clothes era it would belong better with. These diadems certainly have an art deco element to them, but there’s also a distinct “barbarian princess” look to it too. It could nicely set off renaissance garb, if you don’t mind being a little bit anachronistic. Are they gothic like Raven Eve says? You decide.

Okay, so now that we're all excited and calculating what our Christmas presents are going to be, I'll just leave you with this little thought to remember when you're enjoying new jewelry: it doesn't matter how good you look on the outside if you're not as beautiful on the inside. Let's be beautifully good as well as beautifully accessorized.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Reflections on "Content is the only advertising left"

Here’s a thought I ran across recently on the internet—“Content is the only advertising left.” What is this talking about? This is referring to the social media revolution and the explosion of blogging as a way to market a business.

I can see this explosion as I see the Craigslist ads that ask for highly skilled writers to write articles about ______ industry in 500 words for $20 or less per article. Businesses are hearing about how blogs can bring in business and they want that, but they may underestimate the time it takes a writer unfamiliar with the industry to gather all the needed information to make an article! They think it should be easy! Well, it would be easy, if the writer had all the expert knowledge of the industry. However, an industry insider is going to want to do their industry work business and may not have quite enough time to put together a witty blog post. (But if they were to take the time to start brainstorming some articles that represent their particular expertise, then they could probably improve over time.)

It’s pretty obvious when businesses don’t really want to put the resources into a quality blog. Firstly, the topics they choose are dumb. Secondly, the content is lifeless. Thirdly, the writing is bad.

What does it really take to have a quality blog for a business? The best blogs I’ve seen are ones that:

• Give answers to common problems
• Give away some trade secrets that help the customer help themselves, either with diagnosis or easy fixes.
• Tell the customer how to spot unscrupulous businesses in the industry and explain exactly why the offending practice is wrong
• Share a slice of life in a way that is both engaging and non-offensive (This is good for attracting people to the industry.)
• Divulge useful details of that slice of life without compromising sensitive personal information

What do the worst business blogs do? They:

• Make it seem like everything is a mystery--job security by obscurity
• Make it seem that the customer is not smart enough or not careful enough to do anything and only an expert is qualified enough (Seriously? If the customer thought that, why would they be reading blogs? They are reading because they consider themselves smart enough to educate themselves about their problem as much as possible!)
• Give the reader no real information that can help them help themselves
• Only contain text that markets the business (too self-satisfied) as a badly disguised forum for disseminating press releases (You think readers can’t tell? What, are you stupid?) or trumpeting corporate goals (Why should the reader care?)
• Burst with corporate rhetoric, jargon, and legalese disclaimers (permeated with covering-our-butt fear)
• Make all their employees comment on the blog, whether they have anything good to say or not
• Do not respond to real commenter questions and problems
• Do not look outside their own business at what the competitors do (self-absorbed)
• Bash their competitors (insulting)
• Bash their customers (insulting)

Have I seen good business blogs complain and yet be successful? Yes. When I see these complaints, they usually come in a situation when the expert is having to redo correctly some job that a previous idiot has made a blazing mess of out of ignorance and incompetence. These kinds of posts succeed and build trust with the reader when they show pictures/diagrams of the badly done job before and explain exactly what is wrong with it and then tell what is needed to do it done right. The right amount of moral indignation is needed. Just enough to communicate the bad previous job, but not too much to turn off the reader and make them think the writer has a bad attitude. The writer must preserve a good attitude about their own work and pleasure (but not arrogance) about doing their best to fix things. (Good example: The Floor Elf website. After reading everything I could find on this guy's website, I trust him.)

Can a business blog complain about customers? No, not in the strict sense of complaining. It has to be done in an extremely sensitive and professional way. So perhaps “complain” is not the right word. How to share stories of difficult customers:

1. Withhold their name.
2. Explain what the customer wanted.
3. Explain what company policy is so that the reader understands what the rules are and why the writer resisted unreasonable customer demands. Readers may not know what is reasonable or unreasonable behavior.
4. Explain how customer reacted to refusal.
5. Explain how writer felt (keeping it clean and professional) and then how the writer responded.
6. Explain how the interaction continued, how the problem was resolved, how the situation ended.
7. Describe any doubts and questions the writer had about their own part, or any questions they had about the customer’s attitude/behavior.

When I worked as a writing tutor, sometimes I had difficult sessions with certain students that I needed to gain perspective about. So I would talk to my boss about the session afterward in a way that very closely followed the above steps. I did not use names, I explained what happened on both sides, and then we had very fascinating, productive discussions about what I could do better to professionally handle that in the future. When I became a more skilled tutor, the conversations helped me see that I did all I could do within policy. This kind of model works well for business blogging.

What "problem customer" posts are useful for:

• adjusting future customer's expectations
• educating other customer readers about permissible behavior,
• educating customer readers about company policies and the reasons behind them (best when policies are rational and not merely company-serving)
• educating customers about extra services the company can provide in the context of an interesting story
• training future employees
  

Additional thought:
An internal business blog might be a good way for a business to create a corporate culture and spotlight various employees for the good they do. It might also be a good way for employees to communicate methods that worked or them. This ensures that valuable company knowledge base isn’t automatically lost when an employee leaves.

Is a home warranty right for you?

It seems that out on the web you get opinions on two sides of the spectrum. Either home warranties are harbingers of peace of mind, or they neatly chew spam with big teeth. (“neatly chew spam” is my way of saying “they suck” but, I have always hated the expression “they suck”, so I take the liberty of coining an expression for greater comfort and humorous possibilities.)

I am here to bring some clarity to this decision, speaking as a thoughtful customer.

The fact is that home warranties have limits. They have advantages and disadvantages just like any other product or service. They are the red-headed stepchild of the insurance industry. And they are misunderstood by those who purchase them. The more you are aware of where misunderstandings are likely to occur and where the warranty limitations are, the better you will be prepared to decide whether a home warranty is right for you, and the less your frustrations will be if you buy it and then have to use it.

Misunderstanding #1 The home warranty will cover everything in my home.

No, it won’t. You are mistaking a home warranty for home insurance. This is when you have to look carefully at terms and conditions and pay very close attention to limitations. Take note of whether pre-existing conditions are covered or not.

Misunderstanding #2 The home warranty will cover all costs of repairing/replacing covered items.

No, it won’t. Unfortunately, this is one of the things that home warranty companies could be a little more up-front about. The fact is, home warranties (H.W.) have dollar coverage limits, just like other insurance companies do, and if the costs of repairing/replacing go over those limits, then you will have to foot the rest of the bill. It would be very nice if customers knew this before they need the warranty rather than during the stressful process of requesting service to fix/replace a failed appliance or system.

Here’s a recent example. I have a H.W. with a company that will remain nameless (I’m using them as a typical example, neither bad nor good). My air conditioning unit broke down and the H.W.-sent service person declared it needed replacement. When I spoke with someone from the H.W. authorization department, she told me that replacing the 25-year old AC unit would require making a lot of modifications to our home, depending on how codes for AC had changed over 25 years and that although the H.W. would pay for the replacement of the unit, there would be additional costs that might be over the warranty coverage limits, and we should be prepared for out-of-pocket expenses. This information about coverage limits was news to me. Being the realistic person that I am, I realized that it would be best for me to know what those limits were and what typical costs were so that I would not expect more from the home warranty than it was obligated to deliver. (I’m trying to save myself aggravation, you see.) I also wanted to know how high those out-of-pocket expenses could get so that I would not be surprised or resentful when it came time to pay them. If those expenses turned out less, then I could count myself fortunate. She shared those expenses with me, and I was very appreciative.

I would like to expect amazing things from every person, service, or product, but I know that is not realistic. People, service, and products can only do so much, so I have to learn to manage my expectations. In the case of home warranties, if the companies that offered them would communicate clearly the dollar amounts of coverage limits, that would go a long way towards managing customer expectations. People are happy when they know exactly what to expect and they get it. Trouble happens when they expect home warranties to cover everything and then they have to be disappointed. People will understandably feel gypped.

Misunderstanding #3 The home warranty company should, can, and will repair/replace my __________ today or tomorrow.

No, it shouldn’t, can’t, and won’t. This can be the most disappointing thing for people to discover, so understanding this ahead of time is very important. The trouble is, when people find out home warranty companies shouldn’t, can’t, and won’t fix their appliances/systems the same day or the next day, they jump to the conclusion that the home warranty company is deliberately cheating them and putting them through misery. This is not true.

They shouldn’t repair or replace your _____ today or tomorrow because it takes time to figure out what is wrong and what to do about it. Since they don’t live in your home, they require the service person to act as their agent and determine what is wrong and pass that information along. It is just as foolish for a company to act without the facts as it would be for you to act without the facts.

They can’t repair or replace your ________ today because they have many customers to help. You aren’t the only one. If you were the only one calling for service, they could devote all their time to you. They are taking calls all the time.

They won’t repair or replace your _______ today because their decisions have to go through channels and be rubberstamped by the proper people.

Here are the hard facts of the matter. With the purchase of a H.W., the task of choosing a service company, diagnosing the problem, determining what should be done, and how much to pay has been outsourced from you to the H.W. company. Essentially you have paid a fee to relinquish speed of resolution and control of the process to the H.W. company in the hopes that it will cost less to do so. Homeowners must realize that instead of being able to call a repair service immediately, they will have to call the H.W. company to request service (takes at least one day). Instead of being able to call the repair company of their choice, they will have to accept whoever is sent by the H.W. company to diagnose the problem. Instead of being able to make the decision themselves to fix or replace the appliance or system, the H.W. company will make it. Instead of being able to ask for the repair to proceed immediately while the repair person is there, the homeowners will have to wait for the repair person to communicate with the H.W. company and for the H.W. company to make the decision. (This can take several days.)

As you can see, there is a real tradeoff of freedom and speed involved in obtaining a H.W.

It is true that the homeowners can still do an end-run around the H.W. company and call the service person themselves and pay for it themselves, but they should not expect the H.W. company to automatically reimburse them. The H.W. company is very cost-conscious and are inclined to look with disfavor upon service companies who are not in their preferred network.

The issue of this tradeoff should be very carefully weighed. In theory, it sounds great to pass the risk of substantial repair/replacement costs on to a H.W. company. However, in practicality, the slow speed of resolution can cause real human suffering in proportion to the importance of the system that fails.

For example, it would be great if our air conditioning system failures could be detected in the wintertime when we aren’t depending on it, but such is not the case. Instead, failure of air conditioning systems occurs or is discovered at the times when it is most needed and during the time when a slow resolution of multiple days is the most uncomfortable and inconvenient. Not only this, but it may happen that a freak accident causes widespread failure in a locale and then the H.W. company is inundated with service requests, which delays resolution even further. As I type, the air conditioning in my home has been out for six days as I wait for my H.W. company to authorize my A.C. unit’s replacement. It took me five days to learn that an exploding transformer in the Mesa area led to a fire, which led to a number of other people losing their A.C. units. This is during the monsoon season with temperatures above 100 degrees. My H.W. company has been absolutely swamped with service calls. I am not miffed about this. This is just part of having a H.W. To expect the H.W. company to service ME immediately when so many others are in the same position of need would be rank selfishness.

In short, before you buy a home warranty, you need to think carefully about how you will cope for multiple days if:
• your air conditioner fails during a heat wave
• your heater fails during a cold snap
• your water pipes burst
• your roof leaks
• your toilets overflow
• your refrigerator fails
• your dishwasher fails
• your clothes washer or dryer fails

A home warranty is not for you if you can’t cope with the loss of functionality of these items and systems for more than a day. This applies to families with very small children (Small children may not understand why they are so uncomfortable and protest loudly and at length.) It may apply to families caring for elderly parents in their homes. It may also apply to landlords who have to meet tight deadlines.

Who might a home warranty help? A home warranty might be for you if you recently bought a house and are short on cash to pay for expensive repairs. That time just after purchase and before you can save a tidy sum for emergencies leaves you particularly vulnerable to discovering problems that didn’t show up during home inspection. A home warranty can bear a good portion of that risk for you. Just remember the tradeoff you are making and be prepared to cope for multiple days in the event of sudden loss.