That is where having someone familiar with the nuances of each state can be helpful, since many states handle the buying and selling of property differently, or have obscure laws/practices that would be good to be aware of.Andrew

Regrettably, their business practices have left much to be desired.

However, I consider it best practice to issue them.

That is accepted practice in my area and is in the lease.For my multi's, I provide a community icemelt bucket and 4 shovels, including a flatheat dirt shovel and sidewalk scraper for ice scraping. 

Disclaimer: While I’m an attorney licensed to practice in PA, I’m not your attorney.

Practice.

I know that buyer should always beware, but I expect a retail home improvement store to exercise a bit more of an ethical practice than this, or am I wrong?

Maybe they are overwhelmed by the tsunami of coverage and business surge or don't really care.Since I"m in the Santa Fe NM area, it might be a little hard to put together a BP meet up @Jose Matuk  but we could practice over the phone the other techniques!!

(standard business practices are usually an exception to hearsay rules if you have to go to court) I also can take PayPal, but that's a rare situation.  

I say 99.9% because I don't represent 100% of the insurance carriers in the US, so there may be one out there that has unique language in thier policy, but this is the standard practice.