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Sewer line insurance scam targeting Palmdale residents

by The AV Times Staff • September 27, 2016

PALMDALE – The city of Palmdale’s crime prevention office is warning residents about a new scam targeting residents of Palmdale that involves the victim receiving a phone call from a person or computerized voice stating they are from the city of Palmdale with an offer to purchase sewer line insurance.

“Approximately two years ago, the city sent out letters to homeowners supporting Service Line Warranties of America, Inc. that explained the potential benefits to some residents in purchasing sewer line insurance through the company,” stated Crime Prevention Specialist Ruth Oschmann.  “However, there are no city staff members making calls about this program or trying to sell this insurance.”

“No one from the city of Palmdale will contact a resident by phone to sell them sewer line insurance,” noted Oschmann.  “This is a scam and we are getting the word out to prevent anyone from becoming a victim.”

In order to purchase sewer line insurance, residents would need to contact Service Line Warranties of America, Inc. directly at www.slwofa.com, according to Oschmann added.

For more information, call 661-267-5170.

[Information via news release from the city of Palmdale.]

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Filed Under: Crime/ Safety, Palmdale

11 comments for "Sewer line insurance scam targeting Palmdale residents"

  1. Bill F says

    October 28, 2016 at 7:49 pm

    In 40+ years of home ownership in San Diego, Diamond Bar and Palmdale I have never had a waterline or sewer line problem from house to street.

    The SCAM is that City of Palmdale sent out letters to homeowners supporting Service Line Warranties of America, Inc. basically giving official credibility to Service Line Warranties of America to pursue their attempt to sell a worthless product.

    Seriously, how many of you have had a sewer line pop on you? Ever? Even If it did mess up, a one-time rotor rooter service could be used to clear the problem.

    Sign up if you want to pay the premiums for insurance you’ll probably never use.

    • Tim Scott says

      October 29, 2016 at 9:24 am

      When I was a handyman in Bakersfield I replaced a lot of sewer mains. Older houses (1940s, 1950s) there were built before the sewer system, and when the sewer went in they just attached to the existing septic tank line that was made of materials that would never meet current building codes. Tree roots crushing them was not uncommon.

      I’ve also replaced a few water mains in Palmdale. Large sections of the city were built in the county and then annexed. The county inspectors were…ummmmmm, let’s say…not very diligent, and the big developers knew it. So a lot of corners got cut in the ‘out of sight, out of mind,’ areas like underground and inside the walls.

      That said, I still agree with you that buying this insurance is probably wasted money. If you look at the premium and compare it to the cost of the job you will very likely find that unless your main breaks within the first dozen years you will wind up paying more for the insurance than the job will cost. But some people like the ‘peace of mind.’

      • Shane Falco says

        December 2, 2016 at 7:01 am

        Tim Scott, tell us about being a handyman in Bakersfield…

        • Tim Scott says

          December 2, 2016 at 3:15 pm

          Actually, I ran a pool service. But, since I was somebody my clients were comfortable with and trusted I was frequently the first person called when they had some sort of home repair crisis, like a sewer line failure.

          Since I am not like you, I treated people well no matter where they lived so I had a fair number of clients in the older parts of town. That put me on the firing line for a lot of those sewer main failures because like I said, a lot of those sewer mains were made of really poor materials.

          As I said elsewhere Foolco, anything you want to know about me all you gotta do is ask.

          • Shane Falco says

            December 2, 2016 at 3:24 pm

            You claimed you never said you were a handyman in Bakersfield, then you claimed I had somehow used law enforcement contacts to “investigate” you…both lies.

          • Tim Scott says

            December 2, 2016 at 4:23 pm

            Actually, I said I wasn’t a handyman in Bakersfield, because technically i was a pool man. It seemed like you were running some sort of background search through your corrupt cop family, but it turns out you’ve just been hanging on every word I say. Seems like some sort of compulsive behavior. You might want to get that checked out.

      • Shane Falco says

        December 2, 2016 at 9:24 am

        Tim Scott, were you a handyman in Bakersfield?

  2. Sophie Ryan says

    October 8, 2016 at 3:28 am

    Phone scamming is so widespread these days. Aside from keeping the number and reporting it to the authorities, you can also do a reserve number search in this website: http://callercenter.com/ to check if a phone number has already been reported as a scam.

  3. Tim Scott says

    September 28, 2016 at 9:26 am

    I don’t completely follow here.

    Is the “scam” that this Service Line Warranties of America is doing direct marketing and misrepresenting themselves as the city? Or is there some competitor to the city recommended insurance provider misrepresenting themselves as city recommended to sell real insurance? Or is there someone else involved selling outright fake sewer line insurance?

    • Tim Scott says

      September 28, 2016 at 9:31 am

      Well, that was easy. The city staff clarified that what this is is the ultimate scam, in that there is no insurance company involved at all and the scammers just want to be paid for “‘insurance’ so they can disappear into the night with the cash.

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