When we purchased our home, we decided to get the "home warranty" package our agent suggested. It was close to a thousand bucks, but since we were moving more than a thousand miles, we decided it would be worth it.
Our first "repair" job was for the "whole house ceiling fan" that was on the fritz. We had the contractor come up and "fix" the fan. To say he was unprofessional is a gross understatement. We requested IN WRITING an invoice with a detail of the work he was doing and the costs associated (in case we wanted to cancel the service in the future and pay for the work out of pocket). He said he would "get around to it." We didn't get so much as a business card with his name on it!
The "electrician" cut a three foot by four foot section out of our ceiling and refused to put the sheet rock and insulation back into place. He said, "I will screw the pieces back up but you will have to tape and texture/paint." He did NO SUCH thing! The fan still works intermittingly. He has since changed his number and refused our calls to please repair the hole.
The electrician is also being reported.
We requested in writing at least two dozen times over the last nine months to provide us with a copy of the work order and monies AHS paid on "our behalf." They have failed to do so. We have formally requested a full refund of the monies we paid to AHS to subscribe to the "service."
The monies are due to us for the following reasons:
1. The agent I spoke to on chat (the following day) stated/agreed in writing the huge hole in the ceiling constitutes a "serious health and safety risk to the structure of the home." The agent assured us that they would send out someone to fix the work, or pay us to have the work done. They delivered NONE of those things.
Instead, we were given a limited window of time to find OUR OWN CONTRACTOR, pay for the work OURSELVES, and they would consider sending us payment to cover the work IF the contractor that did the work jumped through the hoops (signing in and creating an account, calling in with the work estimate, and then doing the work) they required. It was an undo and unreasonable burden to put on the consumer for the work THEY PAID THE ELECTRICIAN TO DO.
2. I have spent over 40 hours trying to find someone to do the work. It was not possible to accomplish in the "window" of time we were given by AHS. We live in an isolated/small town and there are not a lot of contractors to pull from to do the work.
3. Both AHS and the electrician violated the terms we agreed to. We requested from the contractor copies of his invoice and it was refused. We requested from AHS copies of the work, again, it was refused. At this time, AHS is libel for the damage since they paid the electrician and NOT us.
I have had this company out to fix a fridge on 3 separate occasions, it is still not fixed. AND because the fridge (freezer) breaks approx 90 days after they have "fixed" it previuosly, I have to pay a service fee every single time. Also, evey time this fridge (freezer) breaks I am also losing over $100 worth of food every time. (There is no reimbursement for this)
When you contact customer service be prepared to wait over an hour on the phone and then talk to someone in a different country. Asking for a supervisor will also get you the exact same person you were speaking with before and all they do is repeat the exact same thing.
Funnily enough, they are suppsoe to be a "Home Warranty" company and warranty nothing. If something breaks after they have "fixed" it thats just too bad, you get to pay again.
If I purchased the warranty through the manufacturer, they would fix it, not charge me a fee and replace my food. As soon as my contract has expired I will not be renewing with this company.
I was told My septic pump was covered and they sent a technician out and the tech said it’s not then AHS said oh that’s only covered the first year Rip off I’m canceling my credit card transaction with them.
Failed to provide service and replacement of the failed product as they advertise I have been without hot water for 2 weeks now and the advertise repacement or repair within 2 days
After more than two months of going back and forth with American Home Shield - I can honestly say that my issues can not be an issolated case. Buyer beware with American Home Shield! In a last ditch effort today to speak with the illusive "supervisor" I called and waited 43 minutes before someone answered the initial call (that is fairly standard to wait that long to reach someone) and then of course that first customer service person had to put me on another long hold to transfer me (today only was 1 hour 8 mintues for a call with no resolution again.)
Additinoally this company does not provide communication to you. Do not plan on having any call backs, emails, etc. You will be the one pursuing them and waiting on hold while hoping someone will actually help you - and when they can not help you they will just tell you that they will get back to you and then they won't. I'm quite confident this is all to make the effort on the customer so high that you give up all claims.
So they will take $600+ per year for a warranty that isn't worth anything and then if you do make a claim for one of the 34 items listed on the website that are "covered" they charge $75 to send a repair person out to assess the situation - and then nothing happens after that except for a run around.
I'll spare you all the details of our microwave issue, but we are now faced with having to take legal action in order to force the company to do right by us. Luckily I documented every call and kept every report that shows that our issues are covered by this home warrenty. If you ever do have to make a claim - be sure to record everything, because they will just ignore you and you'll need all the information you can get when you take them to small claims court.
I purchased a home warranty from this company. As soon as I moved into my home, I detected an AC leak that was damaging the ceiling of my house. They didn't cover the leak or the subsequent damage. I paid 100% out of pocket to have a company diagnose and fix the problem and fixed the ceiling myself. That same company inspected my unit and found multiple leaks on the condenser and evaporator. The tech surmised that hail might have damaged the outside unit, and recommended expanding my return to reduce differential pressure and prevent further leaks. I called back AHS to see if any of this was covered, and they sent out a tech of their own to inspect (at a $75 charge to me). The tech spent well over 95% of the visit trying to convince me to buy a brand new unit out of pocket. Then he insisted that he was only there to look at one unit, and when I told him I'd have him come back when he could look at both he "remembered" he was there for both.
He spent less than five minutes looking at everything, then went right back to selling me a brand new unit. When I stood my ground and said that I wanted what my warrantee would cover, he ran off without saying anything. Two days later, I get a call saying the company won't cover anything wrong with my unit. Not one single thing. They claimed the condenser damage was from hail (suspiciously familiar to what the first tech said MIGHT have happened), and then said the evaporator leak was from differential pressure, which doesn't count as "normal wear and tear." Again, suspiciously similar to what the first tech had said.
They claimed their tech had made these conclusions himself, but he couldn't have possibly made any of those determinations in the time he actually looked at anything. And ignoring that, precisely what does this warranty actually cover? The answer: nothing. The unreasonably strict "normal wear and tear" is based on the astoundingly nonsensical expectation that equipment should fail without any cause whatsoever. The cherry on top is that I’ve since discovered another return that the first tech had missed, which means the original differential pressure concern wasn’t even valid (even after they lied and said their tech had come to the same conclusion). So even keeping with their ridiculous expectation that the unit fail for no discernible reason, they still cover nothing. This company is running a complete racket, and trying to push thousands of dollars of brand new installations on people to boot. Do not do business with these thieves.
THEY HAVE SENT OUT SEVERAL TECHS FROM GREENWAY TO REPLACE THE PART BUT MY ONER WILL WORK FOR A DAY OR TWO THEN IT WILL GO OUT AGAIN. THE LAST TECH THAT CAME OUT AND STOOD AND LOOKED AT MY OVEN ABOUT 25 TO 30 MINUTES AND HE NEVER OPENDED THE OVEN DOOR MIND YOU HE DID CALL BEFORE HE CAME AND ASK ME TO TURN ON MY OVEN BEFORE HE ARRIVED TO MY HOME.
BEFORE HE LEFT HE TOLD ME MY CLOCK ON TH OVEN NEED TO BE REPLACED AND LEFT AND I DID NOT HEAR BACK FROM AMERICAN HOME SHEILD UNTIL I CALLED THEM AND THEY TOLD ME THE TECH SD HE COULD NOT FIND ANYTHING WRONG EXCEPT FOR THE CLOCK NEEDING TO BE REPLACED. I MAYBE 69 YRS OLD BUT I AM NOT STUPID. MY OVEN IS A GAS OVEN SO HOW WOULD AN ELECTRIC CLOCK ON THE OVEN CAUSE IT NOT TO WORK.
I HAVE TAKEN PICTURES OF MY OVEN WHEN HE GOES COMPLETLY OUT AND I HAVE SENT A WRITTEN COMPLETE TO AMERICAN HOME SHEILD ADMINISTARTOR ROBERT E. SCHUERMAN AND AS OF TOADAY NO ONE FROM HIS OFFICE HAS CONTACTED ME. HOWEVER I STOPPED PAYMENT ON THE 75.00 SERVICE CALL BECAUSE THEY DID NOT FIX MY OVEN AND I NOTIFIED THEM THAT I DID.
THEY ARE SUPPOSE TO SEND SOMEONE FROM SEARS TO MY HOME APRIL 6 2018 TO LOOK AT MY OVEN. tHIS OVEN IS 20 YEARS OLD NOTHING LAST FOR EVER AND THERE POLICY IS IF THEY CAN NOT FIX IT THEY WILL REPLACE IT.
I would not recomend a h s they do not stand behind their customers
A.h.s. Sent out service contractors plumbing ,they agreed that it needed replacement. Said they had to get it approved by a.h.s. Which they approved. Then i got a call back ,was told i would have to pay over 400. For permits and upgrades. I called a.h.s. And told them ,they told me they would pay for the water heater ,but the rest was between me and the plumber..do not expect a.h.s. To stand behind you and do what they advertise. They send somebody out you pay your service fee then you are at the mercy of the contractor they can charge whatever they want
I signed up with AHS American Home Shield Warranty with what i thought was a good deal. I needed a leaky faucet fixed and for the vendor to check a pipe that was leaking outside of the house. I was told since there were two things that needed to be checked i would have to talk to AHS so that i dont get double charged on the service fee which is $100. When trying to contact AHS i found out you cant contact them in any way other than the service request form which i had already completed and needed to discuss with someone. I tried holding on phone line it was over 2 hours and 30 minutes the first time with no answer and then i got disconnected. 2nd time was over 1 hour and my batter died. 3rd time 2 hours and then the call dropped. There is a link to chat online with a representative that doesnt work. There is no email address to contact them. No support ticket request. NOTHING! These guys are a huge scam and are criminal and should be indighted for fraud. I finally got through by selecting a different dept when calling in and got somebody to submit a request to cancel my membership. Who knows if i can cancel this and what they are going to say. I was told i would be called within 48 hours which i highly doubt. Somebody needs to do something about these criminals. DO NOT USE AMERICAN HOME SHIELD!
The delays with the contractors coming out to check on the problem makes it inconvient for the customers. We paid for 1 year of home warranty and the contractors wanted to add additional charges. There is no way to complain to American Home Shield about the contractors they send out.
American Home Shield has been hit or miss after 18 years of contracting with them but I have had it. I canceled with them today an will find a different company. Six months ago I reported a problem with my oven and cook top. Its 18 years old and the issue the technician says was with the control board. Rather than replace the stove they had the technician put in a board that didnt fit. Replaced some burners and the thermostat for the oven. All quit working immediately. Technician come back a total of 6 times. 6 times that I waited in their 4 hour window.
My very old washing machine was leaking and they refused to cover it because they said a penny had gotten between the drum and outer wall in a supposedly closed system and it had rubbed a hole thus not covered.
I called and reported an issue with my furnace. 4 days later when the weather has been hovering around freezing the technician said that an animal had made a nest in the vent pipe and that it was not covered. I ask him to pull the nest out and he said he couldnt because he might mess something up. Then I was given an estimate of $375.00 to remove it and turn the gas back on. When I called American Home Shield to complain the " Customer Service agent" told me to do it myself and hung up on me.
We were customers for 10 years of American Home Shield. My wife took a job out of state, so we sold our home and moved. We ended up renting, so we cancelled our policy. American Home Shield continued to withdraw money from our account for 3 months.
When we contacted them about us they gave us the run around, promised to call us back, transferred us all over the place, etc.
I have read other reports on this companand can only confirm that they are a RIP OFF. I have carried a home warranty contract with them for over 12 years. Wait time have average 1-2 hours each time I call them. What a joke. They have a recorded message that states "Your call is important to us. The next representative will assist you". I have had to hang up several times after such long waits and no response. I own a duplex in which one of the units has never had the need for repair of anything that the warranty covers. Unfortunately that changed during November 2017. A furnace stop operating. A repair company about 90 plus miles away (not a local vendor) was given the work order to check out. When the finally came out they advised that it was an electrical problem and that I needed to get an electrician. An electrician (who was local) advised that the problem was in the furnace and not electrical. So once again had to go through all the crap to get someone at AHS to speak with. The Placer heating and a/c company came out again and still did not get the problem solved. I had to get the electrician to meet up with them to advise where the problem existed in the furnace. So finally after 3 attempts replaced some kind of capacitor and their was electricity going to the furnace. However, that did not solve the problem and once again the heatting and a/c company came out and said the blower had to be replaced. So the next day or two they replaced the blower and the unit worked...however, much to my regret the tennant advised nothing but cut cold air was coming out. Yes back to AHS today been on hold (telephone) the second time. Their representative put me on holld while check with the repair company and never returned to the phone. So another attempt to call them was made as I right this complaint still waiting after 1/2 hour to speak to someone. Hopefully not to go through the same thing. Now this is exactly 1 month since I requested AHS to have the furnace repaired. Unfortunately the temperatures have reached freezing conditions or close to it. Out of frustration the tenant said they will hire a local vendor to fix the problem and send me the bill. The tenant also wants an adjustment on the rent. Both of which are reasonable in lieu of the situation. I believe I have paid about $10,000 over the past 12+ years for home warranty repair when needed to AHS plus a service fee of $75 when service was requested. The stress created by AHS to my health over this matter makes things much worse. I will be 81 years old next month and can only say that buying warranty coverage from AHS can be a waste of your hard earned money when you can't get what you contracted for. You can't speak to a supervisor or executive of the company and the person who does answer your call is not allowed to give you her last name. One can't even e-mail this company. They have a web site but it doesn't allow for contact to a human being, only a request for service with no place to make any explanation. As you can see I am one very upset senior citizen. As a point of information, I am still on HOLD over 1 hour.
Paid up customer who discovered that we not only paid monthly for supposed coverage, but were going to be charged a ridiculous some of money to get a replacement. Told the company to cancel our membership November 24th and on the 29th our bank was debited 100.00 (for the diagnosis). Now lets see,
a plumber shows up, tries to make a side deal, and then claims to have diagnosed the problem while standing watching me drain my hot water heater.
Not going to stand for that! i have remodeled 2 homes and replaced ther water heater myself for 750.00 (A O Smith 50 gallon with 9 year warranty)
for 750.00 with all related parts. Didn't have the time to it but I refuse to be raped by these unethical b*******.
I was trying to file a service request on Monday 11/20/17. I was on hold for one hour and 20 minutes. Unbelievable.
My furnace is not working. American Home Shield assigned a repair company (Air Max Heating and Cooling) who gave me an appointment for 11/22/17 from 12-4.
The repair person never showed up. I have called the repair company but gotten their answering machine. There is no other contact number. Since Thanksgiving is tomorro 11/23/17, this means I will have been without heat for at least 5 days. Ridiculous. Never use American Home Shield.
So after paying 16 years of premiums from when my house was brand new, my A/C compressor developed a leak and now AHS is refusiing to cover it saying the yard sprinklers caused damage to the unit. They sent 2 companies with incompetent technitians who I showed the sprinklers do not hit the unit but they said the units are outside and next to the yard and so they are using the sprinklers as an excuse. Well show me an outside A/C compressor that is not near a lawn and subject to environmental moisture. Total ripp off of my premiums.
They never answer the phone without a 30 to 55 min hold time and than a lot of disconnects so you have to start over. They send you to another line with another hold time all to make you just get made and hang up and start over so delay any chance of getting any work done!! Then the send someone who does not do or work in your area or ever never even gets back with you the Contractors have these companies just as much as the customers do too! All a gimic to make you pay and never let you get work done ! take the money and never get a claim taken care of.! SOOO SOOO frustrated with all of them, I have tried them all it is a Pattern of Practice for them!
American Home Shield does not have any way to contact them if there is an issue with requests. Their phone wait time is one to three hours and they force customers to have to contact ohter service companies to fix items timely. There is no email contact for the company, nor is there anyone to live chat with. In a case where heat might be needed for safety purposes, etc., there is little choice but to call other service providors.
I’m writing this because of the difficulty I’m having in contacting American Home Shield and S.A.P Home Repair Services in Houston. American Home Shield contracts with S.A.P to perform repairs on the appliances they are obligated to repair.
Last Sunday, 10/01/2017 our water heater went out and I filed a claim with American Home Shield online. They sent out a technician employed by S.A. P. on Tuesday, 10/03/2017 to assess the problem. The technician determined the water heater needed to be replaced, which he said would be paid for by American Home Shield. However, there would be additional charges of $487 that American Home Shield would not cover. This was for modifications necessary above the installation cost. He also stated American Home Shield would contact me as soon as they were notified of his report, which he led me to believe would be later that day.
When I did not here from American Home Shield, I called S.A. P and I was told American Home Shield had not yet been notified, but someone from S.A. P. would call me back letting me know when contact was made. No one returned the call.
I called S.A. P. again on Wednesday, 10/04/2017 and again was assured someone would call me back, but again none returned the call. I was finally able to reach someone at S.A.P. on Thursday, 10/05/2017 (Courtney) who stated they were on the phone with American Home Shield and American Home Shield was aware of hot water heater status, and American Home Shield would contact me regarding the heater.
American Home Shield did try to call me shortly thereafter, but I was unable to answer the phone at the time. They left a call back number which had no voicemail capability and an automated reply stating that call volume was extremely heavy and wait times were in excess of 30 minutes. I tried their website and there was no means to contact them there either with the exception of a phone number that took me to the same automated reply as the other number.
I tried S.A.P later in the afternoon asking for a better explanation of the modification charges. I went through the same drill of being promised a call back and calling again until finally reaching Courtney. Courtney provided an explanation I was not quite happy with, but she did offer to lower the price. She said she would have to call her boss for authorization, and she would call me back at the end of the day. She never returned the call.
At this point we have been close to a week without the hot water heater and I have no idea when anyone from either company will call me back or how to get in touch with them. Any assistance you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
Service in Sussex County is very poor. Mr. Plum is a joke. Even the simplest plumbing problem it takes him 2 to 7 days to come back and fix. Doesn't show up or call when he says he will. Also, one time when I needed to replace a water heater he told me that I needed an expansion tank and other parts not covered under the warranty plan. He wanted an extra $500. I hired a licensed plumber outside the plan and saved $500. Mr. Plum is the only plumber in Sussex County. Stay away from AHS and Mr. Plum.
After paying for a home warranty from American Home Shield for several years, I attempted to make my first service claim. I called to schedule HVAC service but the company that American Home Shield partnered with was not only unable to provide service in a timely manner but were also rude and uncooperative. Subsequently, I declined to have them provide service to me. Since my first attempt to use the warranty I pay for each month did not go well, I decided to cancel the service. Upon reaching American Home Shield's Customer Retention department, I was advised that I must pay a fee of $49.95 to cancel my warranty plan with them. My account is always paid in full and on time, re-billing to my credit card. The Customer Retention representative could not adequately explain what the charge was for and could only advise that if I did not pay it, the issue would be sent to collections. So, my choice was: to pay what seems to be a punishment charge for canceling their service, continuing service with a company that has not proven to be able to provide support -or- have my credit adversely affected over a $49.95 charge. I chose to pay the charge and sever all ties with this company.
Do not take a warranty out with this company unless you have hours to wait to talk with a customer service representative.
Called on Friday, August 25th my refriderator stop working all food and meat had to me throwen away. I still do not have a repair company here and today is August 30th. Of course you do not need a refriderator.
Had customer service representative transfer me to another department to cancel and again I had to wait 45 minutes to learn that I can not cancel until the repair is complete. In this day and age you can not tell the computer do not take out-stop- payment for SEPTEMBER customer is cancelling.
I have had to call AHS three times to asking when my refrigerator is going to be repaired. I have spend a
total of 6 1/2 hours on the phone waiting for a CR are you kidding me.
This is the 3 try to report this.Ahs won't pay me for the water tank I had to have replace , after the tank needed to have the gas and water turned off.It was flooding my finished basement. I called American home shield when my basement was flooding from the water tank.I never got to talk to a real person,a recorded person made up a # of confirmation and gave me a number to call a plumber.I called BNK plumbing got their recording and I left my number(they never bother to call me back 24 hours later)So if I waited for some one to come out to,my house it would have been flooded. I got some one else to come a fix my problem.i was trying to clean up stuff. I am a widow of a Vietnam Vet not that long ago ,so I am alone and I had my both knees replaced and it's hard to do any bending.I paid for the replacement of the tank and to have it hauled away. So the next day I called American home shield and they gave me a hard time and said they won't pay for the replacement.
I asked to talk to her supervisor ,first she said no that person would call me back.i said I was told that before and they never called.So I said I need to talk to her,but all I got was a recording.and she won't call back.This company has not been helpful with out a fight, I have been paying for 4 years and have had a fight with them for any thing that breaks down.I am tired of this all.They ripoff people .I need them to pay me back and be on top of getting me the service I need with out a fight. My house could have been flooded if I still waited for help from them.When my husband was very sick and my furnace went out they made us wait and wait and I had to fight for them to get some one out here.I Told them then he was very sick and couldn't be in the cold for he had Parkinson's disease from being sprayed with Agrnt a Orange in Vietnam. But I had to fight to make it happen. Please help me .And stop,them from ripping off people.This company is not reliable and has terrible company's they work with.If I talk to you I could tell you more stuff about them.. Thank you
Our refrigerator has been broken for weeks. AHS sends out a service provider who determines that our refrigerator is broken, but that it is under manufacturer's extended warranty.
After the service provider reports this information to AHS, AHS calls us to tell us that since the appliance is under extended warranty, they will not cover it. We call the manufacturer and discover that extended warranties only apply to the original owners. Since we are not the original owners of our home, none of our appliances are covered by extended warranties.
We call AHS to tell them that the extended warranty does not apply to second-hand owners. AHS sends out a different service provider. The service provider determines that the refrigerator is broken, but that it is under an extended warranty. After reporting this to AHS, AHS calls us to inform us that since the refrigerator is covered under extended warranty, they will not cover it.
We explain to AHS that the refrigerator is not covered by an extended warranty because we are not the original owners. Then AHS sends out a different service provider who determines that the refrigerator is broken, but that it is under an extended warranty. And the cycle repeats endlessly.
The summary (though not complete) of my story, so far: Have had multiple service visits for A/C not cooling starting in May 2017 – August 2017. A/C NOT fixed. With most service calls A/C never worked after repair guy left or only for a few hours. Alas, with ours after system left broken with an “All good to go” from repairman unit even froze up. And now we suddenly get a leak in the system.
A total of 3 Companies Sent:
1st Company – After multiple visits says we need new blower motor for HVAC and then becomes unresponsive. After several days he calls and sets an appointment for next morning. Next days no call/no show. That was a Wednesday. By Saturday, still, no call/no show and will not answer or return calls. Call American Home Shield and they couldn’t get him either; so American Home shield dispatches for another company and leaves him on it and says we will see who shows up first. Monday morning at 7:45 am I get a call and he is on his way. He installs the blower and it is not blowing worth a darn. Then, though he had checked on prior visits and all was good he says our coil has a leak and has to be replaced. He said he would call for authorization and call back. About an hour or two later he calls and says American Home Shield has taken him off the call and assigned someone else. Now, the nightmare really cranks up!
2nd Company – Before even inspecting unit starts asking if we have considered replacement. He checks unit and finds new blower miswired and this is why it was not blowing good and why it would not work when switched from AUTO to ON. They called back and said it would be 1270 to fix; like it was $12.70, of course, it was $1270. Over $500 in the coolant and the rest “Code Violations Not Covered”. As this is the second summer in the house and we had the inspector check that it was up to code as we were worried about repairs on an old unit and were told it was fine for repairs. They also attempted to collect $75 for Service fee though this was a recall. As of now they still are trying to collect this fee even mailing a bill.
3rd Company – Called American Home Shield as I knew this was too high and said that I thought this was wrong and they sent someone else out who came in almost $500 less but included a part for $150 that I have an invoice that shows was replaced May 2017 by the First Company sent.
NOBODY is helpful at American Home Shield including Corporate. They do not accept responsibility for repairs not being performed correctly (one repair even resulted in a wire in the attic burning up within hours after the repair). I am currently in process of preparing to file written complaints with Texas Real Estate Commission and Texas Attorney Generals Office.
We have had AHS warranty policies on all five of our homes. For the last several years, our A/C unit has had constant problems which AHS takes weeks to order parts and hires the worst contractors (most of them are very poorly rated with the BBB). The A/C system finally stopped cooling but was still running. AHS sent out the first company who said it was "physical damage" which it clearly was not. I have the photos showing it is age and rusting to the ground. They sent out a second company who went out and said they agreed it needed to be replaced. However, they reported to AHS (7 days later) that "the homoewner just wants a new A/C unit and it is working fine." The thermostat is set at 72 degrees and it was 86 degrees in the home. Would you consider that to be working? After two weeks of dealing with lying, rude contractors and spending hours on hold with AHS, I cancelled all of my policies, hired an accredited local contractor and had the A/C replaced within a few days. [continued below]....
After having my A/C go out for a second month in a row, American Home Shield was called for a second time. They hired American A/C out of San Antonio, Tx to come "fix" it. This company came out for a second time and replaced the same part that went out 1 month ago. I asked the technician what is causing this part to continuously go out and he informed me my unit was pulling twice as many amps as it should be. They recommended a replacement of my unit. I hired a second company to come out and give me a quote about what is wrong with my unit. They recommended A replacement of my unit among other things. I hired the second company. After they provided the work they showed me the breaker beside my house that was melting because of high amounts of electricity being pulled through it. I am now fighting with American Home Shield to get a buy out. They are only authorizing $233 because they say my unit was in good working condition even though I have invoices and pictures proving otherwise. They refuse to let me send in my invoices and pictures claiming they don't have an email address or fax number. I have called two days in a row and waisted 3 hours on hold.
These people are the worst home warranty people on the Planet.!!!! Had a refrigerator that began not to freez. They sent a ultra Maroon that spent less than 1 minute 3 screws and said good By. No tools no nothing. The unit could have been serviced and recharge freon but tno they just denied any claim.. In their adds give all the promisses. fix or orplace. Never honor any claim.. Call them and wait for 1 hour to speak to a total idiot. Never able to talk to a supervisor. My advice is small claims them for 10,000. They will send a check to avoid court. They need to go to jail. Refrige was a top of the line Frigidare 27 cu ft unit.
I bought my house in 2007. My home inspectr advised me that the the central Air conditioning unit was about to fail. I thought a home warranty with American Home Shield (AHS) would be a good idea, so i started paying $41 eatch month through automatic bank withdrawal. The unit hung on for another 10 years. By then it was 25 years old and had to be replaced.
I was advised by AHS that they would pay me back for the cash value of the new parts, but when the time came to settle up, all they would pay for was the main coil, and a partial value on the freon - they paid about $300 while I had to replace the entire unit at a cost of over $4,000.
Do NOT do business with AHS!
I paid for the A/C unit TWICE. Once to install a new unit. and again simply to line AHS' pickets. I fought for almost an entire year, but they stonewalled and wormed their way out of every item, one by one, on my repair list. They had an excuse for everything.
NEVER get an extended warranty. Set up your own savings account instead of paying American Home Shield. I was left completely in the cold.
This company charges $75.00 per service call. Shouldn't that be covered by the $500.00 purchase charge? Then you have to use their technician who is rude, doesn't show up when he says he will, and doesn't return phone calls. He said he had to order a part. He had my money but I haven't seen or heard from him in 2 weeks. I called AHS to inquire. After an unreasonably length of time on "hold", I was told the part should have been received a week ago. I was placed on hold so the AHS a*s ociate could "track" the part. After 55 minutes on "hold" she hung up on me. They have my money and 3 weeks later I still have a broken refrigerator and no idea when it will be repaired. Realty buyers and sellers beware. This company is a ripoff. They hope you'll get frustrated and drop the claim. They have a poor reputation online. The technician they sent has a poor online reputation and a bad BBB rating, proving AHS uses inferior contractors.
American Home Shield Home Warranty Company hires the worst contractors possible , does not give you any choice in companies and does not answer of their phone lines promptly. I highly do NOT recommend them
I purchased a home December 9, 2016 and the real estate agent pushed an AHS home warrenty. I should have known better. In May our Air Conditioning stopped working. I called AHS and they stated thay only had one repair person in my area and they would send hime for a $75 fee. I agreed and this guy showed up and reviewed everything, stated that he would have to order the parts through AHS and he would get back to me. 30 days later and no update. I called AHS, was on hold 48 minutes and was told that the clain was denied for a pre existing condition. I told them I wanted to dispute the determination of a pre'existing condition since we have been in the house for over 6 months and it just stopped.
They said the warranty was in my wife's name and only she can dispute it. She called back a few days later, another 37 minute wait, and was told that I was on the policy too and they could speak with me. I told thel I wanted to dispute the determination of a pre-existing condition and was told I was time barred since I only had 14 days to dispute. SCAM, SCAM, SCAM. I immediately told her to cancel my worthless warranty policy. She told me it was a different department, they were closed and they would call me in 24 hours or lass. Now 5 days later, no return call, another payment taken and 3 calls made with an average 37 minute wait each time and tonight I get the same later from 5 days ago and she tells me the same 24 hour call back line. BEWARE OF THESE TERRIBLE PEOPLE.
Frankly I cannot say enough bad things about the American Home Shield (AHS) Warranty Company. And I hope I can save others from the nightmare experience I had to go through dealing with them.
The AHS warranty advertisement tells you that if you buy their warranty you will not have to worry about spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on repairs.
But want they do not tell you; is that AHS will do everything to deny your claim and if they do replace an item it will still cost you hundreds or thousands of dollars.
If anybody is aware of a class action lawsuit against this company, please count me in. Also I plan to write to the attorney general. If anybody is interested in going to the attorney let me know. I have never been so pissed off with a
company in my life.
Below is my experience with this compnay:
I have an AHS warranty and I called them regarding two repair items: 1) A shower faucet that was leaking and 2) a hot water heater that was not heating properly.
AHS authorized AZ Remodeling & Plumbing Inc., who is not even located in or near my city to make the repairs.
1st Repair
Shower Faucet Leaking
The repair company technician says the shower faucet was improperly installed, so AHS denies the claims. This shower faucet was the original shower faucet that came with the house 20 years ago. It has worked fine for 20 years. How could it possibly have been improperly installed?
And then the repair company offers to do the repair for 3 times what any other plumber would charge. Do you see the SCAM here? Most homeowners are not going to search around and get quotes to see what it actually cost to make the repair. Instead they will just be ripped off by this AHS contractor. The whole thing is a blatant SCAM! AHS pays the
contractor virtually nothing to make repairs and then the crocked contractor says the item is improperly installed so the claim is denied and then the repair company offers to do the repair for 3 times the normal cost.
I went to the Home Depot and bought a MOEN cartridge removal tool and removed and installed the new shower faucet cartridge myself in less than 10 minutes, which this repair man said he could not do.
2nd Repair
Hot Water Heater.
After the repair company came out 4 times and could not fix the hot water heater they finally agreed to replace it. So at this point I am weeks without hot water.
This company wanted to charge over $500 in non-covered expenses with the majority of that cost coming from: 1) modify the water line and 2) modify the temperature and pressure line.
I informed AHS that I had a local licensed plumber take a look at the hot water heater replacement and he stated none of the non-covered expenses were necessary. In addition he stated the price being charged for the non-covered work was 3-4 time the going rate.
I informed AHS that I would provide statements from several plumbers showing that the non-covered expenses being charged by AZ Remodeling & Plumbing Inc. where not required and I would provide AHS with evidence documenting the fees for the non-covered expenses being charged by AZ Remodeling & Plumbing Inc. was absorbingly high.
I would think any honest and respectable company would care that the contractor that they sent out is making false statements about additional work required and the fact that the contractor estimates are 3-4 times the going rate for that type of work. But not AHS! They just replied that this is the contractor they use; period.
In order to come to a reasonable compromise, I requested AHS to buy the Hot Water Tank and I would have my plumber install it. AHS refused. When I requested that AZ Remodeling & Plumbing Inc. only do the covered work, (of course there was no additional work needed); AHS refused. I then told AHS I believed the non-covered expenses were fraudulent estimate on the part of the contractor and asked AHS to get a second opinion. Again AHS refused to get a second opinion. The only other option AHS offered was their buy out option, whereby they pay you a small amount of money that does not even cover the cost of the water heater.
I called a local licensed plumber who came out promptly and informed me that NONE of the non-covered expenses that had been identified by the AHS contractor were necessary. This plumber got the hot water heater and installed it. The receipts are shown at the end of this document (hot water heater and installation fee). Here is the cost breakdown:
1) Hot Water Heater ------------------------ $316.91
2) Installation of Hot Water Heater ---- $175.50
Total Cost Too Buy and Install the Hot Water Heater - $492.41
As you can see it was going to cost me more to have AHS replace my hot water heater than if I hired a plumber to do the job. Yes, you are reading that correctly. It cost less for me to purchase and install the new hot water heater by a local licensed plumber than it would have cost to have it done under the Warranty. That speaks volumes about this company.
So why does AHS insist on using an out of the area company to do the repair when I live in a metropolitan area of over 1 Million People and tons of locally licensed plumbers. In fact from what I can tell this AHS contractor only does home warranty work and I can see why; no one would hire them!!
Here is my assessment on the AHS business practices and reimbursement models. Basically, in my humble opinion it appears that AHS and their contractors are committing widespread fraud on a consistent basis, with the home warranty client being the primary victim.
The hardest part of installing a new hot water heater is draining the old hot water heater, removing it and installing the new one. AHS pays these contractors way below the going rate to perform this task. No licensed, honest, and reputable plumber will do that work for the amount AHS offers. So this AHS contractor adds on what I believe to be fraudulent charges, which AHS categorizes as non-covered expenses and sticks them to their unsuspecting customers. There whole Business Model is done right shameful.
Bottom line - My advice would be to avoid this company like the plaque.
And I should add I found out as part of this experience, the Better Business Bureau is a Joke. The BBB has had thousands of complaints against this company, yet gives them a favorable rating and I found out why. No matter how much evidence you supply the BBB all the company has to do is respond and the BBB will file in their favor no matter how much evidence you supply.
On June 5, 2017, my air conditioner stopped working in my home. I called American Home Shield to report the problem. A contractor came to my home and after a brief inspection, he informed me that my compressor went out. I live in Las Vegas, NV and that week the temperatures reached well into the triple digits. I informed American Home Shield, that having air in my home is very critical due to that my daughter is special needs. I called American Home Shield several times during that week for an update on my compressor.
I also called the contractor for answers and all I got was the run around. On my fourth phone called to the contractor I was treated very rudely and unpleasant. As of June 11, 2017, I have not heard from American Home Shield or the contractor for an update. I called another contractor (on my own), who arrived at my home within five hours, and the next day my air conditioner was installed. My contract with American Home Shield is paid in full and not to received quality service is unacceptable. I will under no circumstances use or recommend American Home Shield again.
This company is a complete rip off. Everyone I pay a technician they don't diagnose the issue. Yet they charge $100. The most recent was an ongoing issue with my dishwasher in which I requested a technician 5 times. After no repair or diagnosis, and my emails to the tech company who had terrible customer reviews, the dishwasher ended up leaking and causing $15,000.00 in damages to my property and my neighbors. AMERICAN HOME SHIELD REFUSES TO EVEN REPLACE THE DISHWASHER OR WAIVE MONTHLY FEES TO COVER THE DEDUCTIBLE!!!! NO CUSTOMER SERVICE! They choose the worst vendors and don't take any accountability for wrongdoing and misdiagnosis! Steer clear! I plan on filing a lawsuit.
Out Dishwasher would wash the dishes but they would come out stinky. Could not even stand to drink out od a cup it was that bad.
So we followed the instructions. A service guy came to see if he could fix it. He was astounded at how clean our dishwasher was for how old it is. He could not find anything wrong and told us it could be in the shell and that is not a thing he can replace, so he would file his report.
When AHS called us they told us they would not be able to take care of us because it is not a mechanical problem. So we have a dishwasher we can not use, and out policy holder will not do anything about it.
We will no longer do business with this company, and I hope to spread they word.
Beware of American Home Shield: 5 weeks without a working refrigerator and counting. Their service is horrible. I have their ShieldPlus premium coverage and recently reported a damaged appliance for the first time. My refrigerator broke down and I reported the issue to AHS already 5 weeks ago. I had to pay $75 and they sent out a technician 3 times. Each time I had to take time off to wait from 9am to 1pm for them to show up (which is usually 30 minutes after the scheduled window).
Every time someone actually did show up (after two missed appointments where they had scheduled a visit, but simply failed to show up at all without notice) they failed to fix the issue, but instead claimed that parts have to be ordered first. This is a process that takes about 2 weeks each time and that I have already gone through three times. The parts arrive, someone attempts the repair, it fails and more parts or the same parts have to be reordered. I called the AHS support line several times. Usually, this means waiting about 30 minutes for anyone to pick up
. The result is explaining and discussing the issue with a call center agent for 15 minutes before he or she transfers you to someone else who didn't get any of the prior information and asks all the same questions for a second time. In the end they usually promise a call back the next day to discuss the available options. This call never happens and you have the choice of going through the cycle again or tearing your hair out. I still don't have a working refrigerator after waiting for 5 weeks. They just told me I will have to wait about 10 more days until someone will come out again for another repair attempt.
In any case, they will only attempt a partial repair, because creative terms & conditions wording allows them to exclude fixing the ice maker. I would have been better off saving the money for their "warranty" and just buying a new fridge myself. I would have paid slightly more for the fridge, but at least I would have an appliance that works, rather than having to continuously waste time and being kept waiting without a place to store perishable food. Don't wast your time and money and stay away from American Home Shield!
I have the insurance American home Shield that is supposed to either fix all of the appliance when they break if they can't fix it they replace it with comparable to what you have. However this is not happened I still am waiting for a call from a manager which is now been five days it has been three weeks since my washer and dryer have been out of commission . The washer is computerized with the dryer the washer could not be fixed and was dimmable unrepairable which is to be replaced so the dryer will not work with any new washer because of the computer in it so they have to replace the dryer as well so they will speak back-and-forth to each other comparable to what I had and I'm still waiting crickets and I'm very very disappointed and mad and I paid for this insurance which is holding up my life!! They are very negative and nasty and will not put you with a manager they said they will call you back and they don't do not buy this insurance it is a rip off !!!!!!
Do not waste your money on their home protection plan. My wife turned in a claim on our fridge and dishwasher, disposal, light switch, and ceiling vent. The electrician was the first to show and checked the appliances place a new wall switch, and checked the ceiling vent. He indicated the power was okay to the appliances and he had to order a part for the ceiling vent. So I paid a $75.00 fee to the electrician. He indicated that an appliance person would need to come out and further check the appliances that he had already checked. When I asked him about the disposal he was not sure if an appliance person or a plumber or possibly both would be required. So basically you keep getting different trades to look at the same items and you have to pay each of them a $75.00 fee for showing up. So keep a lot of $75.00 ready because you will need them if you purchase one of these plans. By the way these plans are capped at $2k. So once you purchase the original plan and pay your many multiple $75.00 fees you are not buying yourself much piece of mind or protection.
I have suscribed to the American Home sheild Warranty company for years. On Monday December, 12th sinve ihad a plumbing problem, called the company was told that a plumber from All American Plumbing from Vallejo, Ca, will comeon wednesday, December, 14th,2016.Took time off from work and around 10.am a plumber came and said he will inform AHS and come in the afternoon. He collected, $ 125.00 and went. He did not do anything.Around 5 pm AHS called me and said the plumber said thre are roots and they can not do anything. I inform that the plumber did not do any diagnostic . AHS says they beleive the plumber and they can not help.I want my money back. & 125 = 22.99 for AHS. I paid $ 125 by check and $ 22.99 by credit card.
Home warentee! What a great idea! Don't do it! They promise things to be covered or replaced if needed, but it never happens. Luckily it only took me 2 months of paying the fee to figure this out. Our water heater went out. I did what I was supposed to do according to the contract and when the repair man came they said he didn't have the proper license. I guess he needed to be a plumber. I called to cancel my membership, and a nice lady said, before you cancel, let me see if I can help you get this covered. (I had coverage for water heater) I emaild her and left her messages and never heard back from her. In the meanwhile I paid another month of membership! Don't do it!
AHS is a warranty service covering household items. We had this service when our heating went out. They have what they call a state of the art online service where you can request service and follow up on claims. However, their system constantly stated that our warranty had not been activated even though we had be paying on it for many months. Calling them is a time consuming event. First you have to go through their maze of pushing numbers to get to the right department then you are on hold for a long time. I sat on hold for up to 45 minutes. Once the claim was filed I was told that the contracting company would call me and set up a time. They did not. An automatic text system told me when my appointment was scheduled for. I called the number AHS had given me for the contractor, which was a disconnect number. After doing an internet search to find the active number I got someone on the phone and scheduled an appointment that would work. I asked if they could call me when they are on their way (they gave me a 5 hour window) so that I could be there. She told me they automatically send out an email when they are on their way. The day of the appointment I did receive the automatic text, but it was sent when the contractor was sitting in front of my house. Instead of calling me he simply put his card in the door and left. My neighbor, which is my father, called me as he saw the guy leaving. I called their number which immediately went to a full mailbox. I called AHS and they could not reach the company either. I was told to give them 24 hours to call me and if not call AHS back. I then did an search on the contractor that AHS sent out. The company had been in business three years and had 83% negative reports through the BBB and 100% negative reports through Yelp. This definitely is not worth the money you pay!
First AExperience already horrible wish I had read this first
Sadly I am reading these posts after joining Home Shield and horribole service with first american. I have been on the phone for 1hour and ten minute waiting for service from the purchasing department I paid 100.00 for a repair service call and the guy said the microwave is too old and there are no replacements I need a new microwave.
You need to know the truth about their warranty company. Any one of you that ever had to deal with a water heater or furnace issue and thought the contractor was somehow robbing you because you had to come out of pocket for something the warranty company says is covered might be interested in this.
American home shield pays contractors a flat fee anywhere from 100-125. 00 per call. Period. That is all they pay. They do not pay for any parts whatsoever. So when a contractor comes to your house and you need a furnace that costs 1350.-1500. 00 and the contractor is getting 125.00 total for the job it doesnt take a rocket scientist to see that not only is he not making any money he is losing 1225.00. So how can a person hope to survive working for the ahs? They do what they are told to do by ahs. Ahs came up with the pass the buck routine. They sent out one contractor who said he fixed the unit via a new thermostat.
Then it broke again and instead of coming and replacing the unit he said the tenant was a witch so he refused to come back. Knowing that this woman really was a witch I was a little concerned so I checked it out and found my husband and maintance man were with her to make sure she didn't act like the wretch she can be. So with the lie from the contractor the ahs they sent out another contractor who was ont to the last contractors game. If you cant fix the issue for a few dollars and make a profit being in and out with the 125.00 payment from ahs then create a diversion and blame the next guy.
The 2nd contractor refused to come back and finish the job stating the prior contractor should come back and fix what he started. Neither would and this was taking over a week in freeszing weather. Now we all know that Withces don't fly well in the winter so this one landed and threatened to stick her broom right up my backside. At that point I hired a contractor due to them refusing to pay the 1600.00 rent that was due and making threats that they would see me in court and I had better put them up in some fancy hotel due to the stress on the head witch of the house. Needless to say. I hired, paid and had a new furnace installed for 1495.00 in 4 hours.
End of the story. Tenant evicted due to refusing to pay two months rent stating he had a 600.00 heat bill and had to go stay with family out of town so they could be comfortable. AHS ended up costing me over 7,000.00 by this tenant being so upset they refused to pay 3 months at 1600.00 then sued for pain and suffering and then left via an ecivtion crew. So I had to pay for all of this lost 3 months rent and had to pay for the 1495.00 furnace. AHS played stupid, just like some tenants that don't want to pay rent. They said that I ddin't own the house so they couldn't talk to me about it. I have 25 rental properties and had several contracts for years and they NEVER PAID ANYTHING OUT TO HONOR THE CONTRACT.
I found out a family member in Texas had the same issue. Heat or air goes out they send someone who replaces a few dollar thrermostat and then hides in the hills so they don't have to replace any big equipment.
Called for service 3 months ago for a refrigerator, for 3 weeks sent techs out replacing numerous parts. still noo frig, was given a number to call 800-326-6710, called 5 times waited each time for 2 hours on hold. Wrote letter to the Corporate office, and General Inquiries Office no reply. Email to address for service dept no reply. Only contaact number this company has is the one for new request. Complete Rip off. it has been 10 weeks and no Refrigerator. the conttract states if it can not be repaired it would be replaced. been paying for this for 5 years and never had to use till now. $706 yearly! + $75 for service calls. Plan to contact an attorney.
In June of 2016 my A/C was blowing warm air I contact AHS and they sent out a contractor, he said the unit needed coolent so he seviced it it worked better for about a month then it failed it again just to give you some info on the age of my unit its about 30+ years old. So I called them again they sent out another contractor he said a part was bad and he has to order, now this contract they sent was one of the worst I have delt with they never called me to tell me when they were coming out than when I called they they would answer there phone not as the business name but just hello and they could never give me an answer as the status of the work finally about a week or so later they came out with the part and it didn't fix it the tech said the unit was old and needed to be replaced I waited for them to file with AHS but nothing finaily I contacted AHS and they said that That contractor drpped the case I told AHS of the problems I had with this contractor and all the negtive reports about them but they didnt seam to care. So that was first contractor now AHS said they would be sending out another contractor, well the contractor was suppose to contact me within 24 hr they never did so I tried to contact them no answer, I called AHS about this and they said that I turned the appoitment with them, I told AHS I never recieved a call from them, and why would It was now going on the 2 weeks and the temps were over 100 deg. The company lied and I told AHS that but they didnt seem to care. So they sent out a 3rd contractor they were very good after I briefed them on the finding from the passed contractors they went and checked and confamered the findings and said they would contact AHS they did AHS agreed, but in the mean time I had contacted another 5 star contractor to get and ast for replacement I didn't want a cheap one, they came out in 2 days also confermed the the AC was no good and said the unit was at least 30 + years old.
I agreed to go with this company to replace my unit. As I was waiting, about 5 dats later the second contractor that AHS scheduled to come out showed up out of the blue I told them that they said you dropped the case and I told them that they had told a lie to AHS saying that I refused the appt anyway again this one showed up with no call, So I called AHS and said I had contrcted with another AC company and that I wanted to get the buyout so after about a week they said they were sending me a check for 1866.26, now I dont know were they were going to get just the AC unit for just that amount I also recieved in the mail a letter stating that they would not cover for the crain, my AC is on the roof the title 24 duct inspection and some other stuff. Anyway I had my ac replaced but my cost was 8500 I was not expecting to get all of that but maybe just half and that is only because I went with a better AC not the cheap one they would have installed. I had been with AHS for almost 30 yrs and this is how they treated me.
On another note I pay 43.99 a month and my Ref, washer and dryer are not covered I got on there web site to get a quote and what they sent me covered all of that be yet my contract now doesnt cover that.
In June 2 of thier contractors came out. We paid the service fee to first contractor. He could not find the parts nor could AHS. They sent a 2nd contractor who determined we need a new blower which would include many other things ($1130) above what AHS was going to pay ($762.19). We ask for the option to get the $762.19 and find a contractor. We told to get the unit fixed first and send the paid invoice. We did it cost $950. The invoice has been sent 3 times. Numerous calls made to be left on hold for hours at a time. I have instant messages from them explaining how to sent the invoice, everything was exactly as we were told. Now they are calling the contractor numberous times harrassing them wanting the invoice written up differently. The contractor will not talk to them any longer. We are out all of the $950. AHS refuses to pay us. The extra $1130 thier contractor wanted to charge was all unneccesary things. I have emails and IM messages if needed. Our biggest issue is we were without an A/C far almost a month in Texas.
My husband (Howard) and I have been loyal American Home Shield customers for over 30 years. We have made less than 5 claims in those years. We have been at our current home for over 6 years and have paid American Home Shield over $2500. I noticed that our gas hot water heater was leaking on Saturday, Aug 13. I wrapped a towel around the base and told Howard. We weren't worried about internal home damage as the gas hot water heater is located in the garage. Howard called American Home Shield that very day to report the issue. In turn, CNJ Services LLC (plumbers) called us that same day and said they could come out on Monday, Aug 15 but I worked out of town this week and my husband had a business appointment so they came out on Tuesday, Aug 16. Howard was told that we needed a new gas hot water heater and our service fee was $100. The gentleman was at our home less than 10 minutes. American Home Shield called Howard on Wednesday, Aug 17 and said that our portion would be over $620. We were not told what brand the gas hot water heater would be but we previously had a GE 12 year 50 gallon gas hot water heater. GE no long makes gas hot water heaters and we were told it would be replaced with "like or similar". American Home Shield told us that the $620 fee was to bring the gas hot water heater "up to code". We were given a list of installation hardware by CNJ Services that they would need to bring it "up to code" and they were charging us over $620. In actuality, the cost for those items, RETAIL, is less than $100 uninstalled. We feel we are being taken advantage of and a horrible "bait and switch" is being done by American Home Shield and CNJ Services LLC. So............we chose a "cash out" option so we can select our own reputable plumbers. American Home Shield said they would only reimburse us for what they would pay CNJ Services for the gas hot water heater.......and we all know is will be at a GREATLY reduced price!! Further, NO ONE knows what the amount of reimbursement to us will be except for the Claims Dept and they do not accept phone calls. They only work from e-mails and will "get back to you" within 3 - 5 business days. We do not want to make a decision until we know what we will be reimbursed as I just don't want to have to pay more that $620 for a gas hot water heater WHEN I HAVE BEEN PAYING INSURANCE!!!! Just spoke to the Supervisor, Ryland, at American Home Shield. He said he doesn't know what the reimbursement would be. He said the Claims Dept doesn't work on the weekends. He said he can't tell me when they will return our phone call. He said he can't help me. Today is the 6th day my family hasn't had hot water. IF American Home Shield calls us bask on Monday, Aug 22, it will be 9 days my family has been without hot water. IF American Home Shield calls back on Monday and we come to some sort of agreement, the soonest my family will have hot water will be Wednesday, Aug 24. My family will have been without hot water for 11 days............no hot showers, no hot laundry, no hot dish water. Yet, we have paid over $2500 in the last 6 years for "insurance" so this wouldn't happen. Sure doesn't seem like we are getting much of a return for our investment. Ouch, American Home Shield...............I wonder what they would do if this was their family? Would I recommend American Home Shield? Years ago, yes. Now, absolutely not!!!
American Home Shield is a home warranty company we decided to go with after doing an internet search on reviews, which appeared to be favorable. Little did we know what we were in for. The upfront promises are very encouraging. The problems arise when it's time to actually use the service. After over a year of paying monthly billing of $50/month, we contacted them about our oven. The heating element went out and this should have been a simple fix.
The contractor shows up bills us $75 up front (no problem. We agreed to this at the front end). It soon became apparent to us he didn't know what he was doing, promising to come back with a part he thought would fix it. Three house calls later (and 2 months), they kept showing and saying they brought the wrong part, etc, etc. Each time they attempted to bill through AHS. We ended up paying another 2 months of monthly fees to AHS and another $75 for this contractor.
Not only did AHS not fix the oven or back us, they kept disconnecting us when we called in to cancel. Customer service is $5/hr help and you won't get the same person that promised you the moon when you call back. No apologies, no attempts to resolve the situation..... Their business model is that they will always have people try this service and even if they cancel, they have several months x $50/month from you. You have been warned!!! If you lose your shirt with this company, it's on you!!
American Home Shield Reviews
When we purchased our home, we decided to get the "home warranty" package our agent suggested. It was close to a thousand bucks, but since we were moving more than a thousand miles, we decided it would be worth it.
Our first "repair" job was for the "whole house ceiling fan" that was on the fritz. We had the contractor come up and "fix" the fan. To say he was unprofessional is a gross understatement. We requested IN WRITING an invoice with a detail of the work he was doing and the costs associated (in case we wanted to cancel the service in the future and pay for the work out of pocket). He said he would "get around to it." We didn't get so much as a business card with his name on it!
The "electrician" cut a three foot by four foot section out of our ceiling and refused to put the sheet rock and insulation back into place. He said, "I will screw the pieces back up but you will have to tape and texture/paint." He did NO SUCH thing! The fan still works intermittingly. He has since changed his number and refused our calls to please repair the hole.
The electrician is also being reported.
We requested in writing at least two dozen times over the last nine months to provide us with a copy of the work order and monies AHS paid on "our behalf." They have failed to do so. We have formally requested a full refund of the monies we paid to AHS to subscribe to the "service."
The monies are due to us for the following reasons:
1. The agent I spoke to on chat (the following day) stated/agreed in writing the huge hole in the ceiling constitutes a "serious health and safety risk to the structure of the home." The agent assured us that they would send out someone to fix the work, or pay us to have the work done. They delivered NONE of those things.
Instead, we were given a limited window of time to find OUR OWN CONTRACTOR, pay for the work OURSELVES, and they would consider sending us payment to cover the work IF the contractor that did the work jumped through the hoops (signing in and creating an account, calling in with the work estimate, and then doing the work) they required. It was an undo and unreasonable burden to put on the consumer for the work THEY PAID THE ELECTRICIAN TO DO.
2. I have spent over 40 hours trying to find someone to do the work. It was not possible to accomplish in the "window" of time we were given by AHS. We live in an isolated/small town and there are not a lot of contractors to pull from to do the work.
3. Both AHS and the electrician violated the terms we agreed to. We requested from the contractor copies of his invoice and it was refused. We requested from AHS copies of the work, again, it was refused. At this time, AHS is libel for the damage since they paid the electrician and NOT us.
I have had this company out to fix a fridge on 3 separate occasions, it is still not fixed. AND because the fridge (freezer) breaks approx 90 days after they have "fixed" it previuosly, I have to pay a service fee every single time. Also, evey time this fridge (freezer) breaks I am also losing over $100 worth of food every time. (There is no reimbursement for this)
When you contact customer service be prepared to wait over an hour on the phone and then talk to someone in a different country. Asking for a supervisor will also get you the exact same person you were speaking with before and all they do is repeat the exact same thing.
Funnily enough, they are suppsoe to be a "Home Warranty" company and warranty nothing. If something breaks after they have "fixed" it thats just too bad, you get to pay again.
If I purchased the warranty through the manufacturer, they would fix it, not charge me a fee and replace my food. As soon as my contract has expired I will not be renewing with this company.
I was told My septic pump was covered and they sent a technician out and the tech said it’s not then AHS said oh that’s only covered the first year Rip off I’m canceling my credit card transaction with them.
Failed to provide service and replacement of the failed product as they advertise I have been without hot water for 2 weeks now and the advertise repacement or repair within 2 days
After more than two months of going back and forth with American Home Shield - I can honestly say that my issues can not be an issolated case. Buyer beware with American Home Shield! In a last ditch effort today to speak with the illusive "supervisor" I called and waited 43 minutes before someone answered the initial call (that is fairly standard to wait that long to reach someone) and then of course that first customer service person had to put me on another long hold to transfer me (today only was 1 hour 8 mintues for a call with no resolution again.)
Additinoally this company does not provide communication to you. Do not plan on having any call backs, emails, etc. You will be the one pursuing them and waiting on hold while hoping someone will actually help you - and when they can not help you they will just tell you that they will get back to you and then they won't. I'm quite confident this is all to make the effort on the customer so high that you give up all claims.
So they will take $600+ per year for a warranty that isn't worth anything and then if you do make a claim for one of the 34 items listed on the website that are "covered" they charge $75 to send a repair person out to assess the situation - and then nothing happens after that except for a run around.
I'll spare you all the details of our microwave issue, but we are now faced with having to take legal action in order to force the company to do right by us. Luckily I documented every call and kept every report that shows that our issues are covered by this home warrenty. If you ever do have to make a claim - be sure to record everything, because they will just ignore you and you'll need all the information you can get when you take them to small claims court.
I purchased a home warranty from this company. As soon as I moved into my home, I detected an AC leak that was damaging the ceiling of my house. They didn't cover the leak or the subsequent damage. I paid 100% out of pocket to have a company diagnose and fix the problem and fixed the ceiling myself. That same company inspected my unit and found multiple leaks on the condenser and evaporator. The tech surmised that hail might have damaged the outside unit, and recommended expanding my return to reduce differential pressure and prevent further leaks. I called back AHS to see if any of this was covered, and they sent out a tech of their own to inspect (at a $75 charge to me). The tech spent well over 95% of the visit trying to convince me to buy a brand new unit out of pocket. Then he insisted that he was only there to look at one unit, and when I told him I'd have him come back when he could look at both he "remembered" he was there for both.
He spent less than five minutes looking at everything, then went right back to selling me a brand new unit. When I stood my ground and said that I wanted what my warrantee would cover, he ran off without saying anything. Two days later, I get a call saying the company won't cover anything wrong with my unit. Not one single thing. They claimed the condenser damage was from hail (suspiciously familiar to what the first tech said MIGHT have happened), and then said the evaporator leak was from differential pressure, which doesn't count as "normal wear and tear." Again, suspiciously similar to what the first tech had said.
They claimed their tech had made these conclusions himself, but he couldn't have possibly made any of those determinations in the time he actually looked at anything. And ignoring that, precisely what does this warranty actually cover? The answer: nothing. The unreasonably strict "normal wear and tear" is based on the astoundingly nonsensical expectation that equipment should fail without any cause whatsoever. The cherry on top is that I’ve since discovered another return that the first tech had missed, which means the original differential pressure concern wasn’t even valid (even after they lied and said their tech had come to the same conclusion). So even keeping with their ridiculous expectation that the unit fail for no discernible reason, they still cover nothing. This company is running a complete racket, and trying to push thousands of dollars of brand new installations on people to boot. Do not do business with these thieves.
THEY HAVE SENT OUT SEVERAL TECHS FROM GREENWAY TO REPLACE THE PART BUT MY ONER WILL WORK FOR A DAY OR TWO THEN IT WILL GO OUT AGAIN. THE LAST TECH THAT CAME OUT AND STOOD AND LOOKED AT MY OVEN ABOUT 25 TO 30 MINUTES AND HE NEVER OPENDED THE OVEN DOOR MIND YOU HE DID CALL BEFORE HE CAME AND ASK ME TO TURN ON MY OVEN BEFORE HE ARRIVED TO MY HOME.
BEFORE HE LEFT HE TOLD ME MY CLOCK ON TH OVEN NEED TO BE REPLACED AND LEFT AND I DID NOT HEAR BACK FROM AMERICAN HOME SHEILD UNTIL I CALLED THEM AND THEY TOLD ME THE TECH SD HE COULD NOT FIND ANYTHING WRONG EXCEPT FOR THE CLOCK NEEDING TO BE REPLACED. I MAYBE 69 YRS OLD BUT I AM NOT STUPID. MY OVEN IS A GAS OVEN SO HOW WOULD AN ELECTRIC CLOCK ON THE OVEN CAUSE IT NOT TO WORK.
I HAVE TAKEN PICTURES OF MY OVEN WHEN HE GOES COMPLETLY OUT AND I HAVE SENT A WRITTEN COMPLETE TO AMERICAN HOME SHEILD ADMINISTARTOR ROBERT E. SCHUERMAN AND AS OF TOADAY NO ONE FROM HIS OFFICE HAS CONTACTED ME. HOWEVER I STOPPED PAYMENT ON THE 75.00 SERVICE CALL BECAUSE THEY DID NOT FIX MY OVEN AND I NOTIFIED THEM THAT I DID.
THEY ARE SUPPOSE TO SEND SOMEONE FROM SEARS TO MY HOME APRIL 6 2018 TO LOOK AT MY OVEN. tHIS OVEN IS 20 YEARS OLD NOTHING LAST FOR EVER AND THERE POLICY IS IF THEY CAN NOT FIX IT THEY WILL REPLACE IT.
I would not recomend a h s they do not stand behind their customers
A.h.s. Sent out service contractors plumbing ,they agreed that it needed replacement. Said they had to get it approved by a.h.s. Which they approved. Then i got a call back ,was told i would have to pay over 400. For permits and upgrades. I called a.h.s. And told them ,they told me they would pay for the water heater ,but the rest was between me and the plumber..do not expect a.h.s. To stand behind you and do what they advertise. They send somebody out you pay your service fee then you are at the mercy of the contractor they can charge whatever they want
I signed up with AHS American Home Shield Warranty with what i thought was a good deal. I needed a leaky faucet fixed and for the vendor to check a pipe that was leaking outside of the house. I was told since there were two things that needed to be checked i would have to talk to AHS so that i dont get double charged on the service fee which is $100. When trying to contact AHS i found out you cant contact them in any way other than the service request form which i had already completed and needed to discuss with someone. I tried holding on phone line it was over 2 hours and 30 minutes the first time with no answer and then i got disconnected. 2nd time was over 1 hour and my batter died. 3rd time 2 hours and then the call dropped. There is a link to chat online with a representative that doesnt work. There is no email address to contact them. No support ticket request. NOTHING! These guys are a huge scam and are criminal and should be indighted for fraud. I finally got through by selecting a different dept when calling in and got somebody to submit a request to cancel my membership. Who knows if i can cancel this and what they are going to say. I was told i would be called within 48 hours which i highly doubt. Somebody needs to do something about these criminals. DO NOT USE AMERICAN HOME SHIELD!
The delays with the contractors coming out to check on the problem makes it inconvient for the customers. We paid for 1 year of home warranty and the contractors wanted to add additional charges. There is no way to complain to American Home Shield about the contractors they send out.
American Home Shield has been hit or miss after 18 years of contracting with them but I have had it. I canceled with them today an will find a different company. Six months ago I reported a problem with my oven and cook top. Its 18 years old and the issue the technician says was with the control board. Rather than replace the stove they had the technician put in a board that didnt fit. Replaced some burners and the thermostat for the oven. All quit working immediately. Technician come back a total of 6 times. 6 times that I waited in their 4 hour window.
My very old washing machine was leaking and they refused to cover it because they said a penny had gotten between the drum and outer wall in a supposedly closed system and it had rubbed a hole thus not covered.
I called and reported an issue with my furnace. 4 days later when the weather has been hovering around freezing the technician said that an animal had made a nest in the vent pipe and that it was not covered. I ask him to pull the nest out and he said he couldnt because he might mess something up. Then I was given an estimate of $375.00 to remove it and turn the gas back on. When I called American Home Shield to complain the " Customer Service agent" told me to do it myself and hung up on me.
We were customers for 10 years of American Home Shield. My wife took a job out of state, so we sold our home and moved. We ended up renting, so we cancelled our policy. American Home Shield continued to withdraw money from our account for 3 months.
When we contacted them about us they gave us the run around, promised to call us back, transferred us all over the place, etc.
Terrible company
I have read other reports on this companand can only confirm that they are a RIP OFF. I have carried a home warranty contract with them for over 12 years. Wait time have average 1-2 hours each time I call them. What a joke. They have a recorded message that states "Your call is important to us. The next representative will assist you". I have had to hang up several times after such long waits and no response. I own a duplex in which one of the units has never had the need for repair of anything that the warranty covers. Unfortunately that changed during November 2017. A furnace stop operating. A repair company about 90 plus miles away (not a local vendor) was given the work order to check out. When the finally came out they advised that it was an electrical problem and that I needed to get an electrician. An electrician (who was local) advised that the problem was in the furnace and not electrical. So once again had to go through all the crap to get someone at AHS to speak with. The Placer heating and a/c company came out again and still did not get the problem solved. I had to get the electrician to meet up with them to advise where the problem existed in the furnace. So finally after 3 attempts replaced some kind of capacitor and their was electricity going to the furnace. However, that did not solve the problem and once again the heatting and a/c company came out and said the blower had to be replaced. So the next day or two they replaced the blower and the unit worked...however, much to my regret the tennant advised nothing but cut cold air was coming out. Yes back to AHS today been on hold (telephone) the second time. Their representative put me on holld while check with the repair company and never returned to the phone. So another attempt to call them was made as I right this complaint still waiting after 1/2 hour to speak to someone. Hopefully not to go through the same thing. Now this is exactly 1 month since I requested AHS to have the furnace repaired. Unfortunately the temperatures have reached freezing conditions or close to it. Out of frustration the tenant said they will hire a local vendor to fix the problem and send me the bill. The tenant also wants an adjustment on the rent. Both of which are reasonable in lieu of the situation. I believe I have paid about $10,000 over the past 12+ years for home warranty repair when needed to AHS plus a service fee of $75 when service was requested. The stress created by AHS to my health over this matter makes things much worse. I will be 81 years old next month and can only say that buying warranty coverage from AHS can be a waste of your hard earned money when you can't get what you contracted for. You can't speak to a supervisor or executive of the company and the person who does answer your call is not allowed to give you her last name. One can't even e-mail this company. They have a web site but it doesn't allow for contact to a human being, only a request for service with no place to make any explanation. As you can see I am one very upset senior citizen. As a point of information, I am still on HOLD over 1 hour.
Paid up customer who discovered that we not only paid monthly for supposed coverage, but were going to be charged a ridiculous some of money to get a replacement. Told the company to cancel our membership November 24th and on the 29th our bank was debited 100.00 (for the diagnosis). Now lets see,
a plumber shows up, tries to make a side deal, and then claims to have diagnosed the problem while standing watching me drain my hot water heater.
Not going to stand for that! i have remodeled 2 homes and replaced ther water heater myself for 750.00 (A O Smith 50 gallon with 9 year warranty)
for 750.00 with all related parts. Didn't have the time to it but I refuse to be raped by these unethical b*******.
I was trying to file a service request on Monday 11/20/17. I was on hold for one hour and 20 minutes. Unbelievable.
My furnace is not working. American Home Shield assigned a repair company (Air Max Heating and Cooling) who gave me an appointment for 11/22/17 from 12-4.
The repair person never showed up. I have called the repair company but gotten their answering machine. There is no other contact number. Since Thanksgiving is tomorro 11/23/17, this means I will have been without heat for at least 5 days. Ridiculous. Never use American Home Shield.
So after paying 16 years of premiums from when my house was brand new, my A/C compressor developed a leak and now AHS is refusiing to cover it saying the yard sprinklers caused damage to the unit. They sent 2 companies with incompetent technitians who I showed the sprinklers do not hit the unit but they said the units are outside and next to the yard and so they are using the sprinklers as an excuse. Well show me an outside A/C compressor that is not near a lawn and subject to environmental moisture. Total ripp off of my premiums.
They never answer the phone without a 30 to 55 min hold time and than a lot of disconnects so you have to start over. They send you to another line with another hold time all to make you just get made and hang up and start over so delay any chance of getting any work done!! Then the send someone who does not do or work in your area or ever never even gets back with you the Contractors have these companies just as much as the customers do too! All a gimic to make you pay and never let you get work done ! take the money and never get a claim taken care of.! SOOO SOOO frustrated with all of them, I have tried them all it is a Pattern of Practice for them!
American Home Shield does not have any way to contact them if there is an issue with requests. Their phone wait time is one to three hours and they force customers to have to contact ohter service companies to fix items timely. There is no email contact for the company, nor is there anyone to live chat with. In a case where heat might be needed for safety purposes, etc., there is little choice but to call other service providors.
I’m writing this because of the difficulty I’m having in contacting American Home Shield and S.A.P Home Repair Services in Houston. American Home Shield contracts with S.A.P to perform repairs on the appliances they are obligated to repair.
Last Sunday, 10/01/2017 our water heater went out and I filed a claim with American Home Shield online. They sent out a technician employed by S.A. P. on Tuesday, 10/03/2017 to assess the problem. The technician determined the water heater needed to be replaced, which he said would be paid for by American Home Shield. However, there would be additional charges of $487 that American Home Shield would not cover. This was for modifications necessary above the installation cost. He also stated American Home Shield would contact me as soon as they were notified of his report, which he led me to believe would be later that day.
When I did not here from American Home Shield, I called S.A. P and I was told American Home Shield had not yet been notified, but someone from S.A. P. would call me back letting me know when contact was made. No one returned the call.
I called S.A. P. again on Wednesday, 10/04/2017 and again was assured someone would call me back, but again none returned the call. I was finally able to reach someone at S.A.P. on Thursday, 10/05/2017 (Courtney) who stated they were on the phone with American Home Shield and American Home Shield was aware of hot water heater status, and American Home Shield would contact me regarding the heater.
American Home Shield did try to call me shortly thereafter, but I was unable to answer the phone at the time. They left a call back number which had no voicemail capability and an automated reply stating that call volume was extremely heavy and wait times were in excess of 30 minutes. I tried their website and there was no means to contact them there either with the exception of a phone number that took me to the same automated reply as the other number.
I tried S.A.P later in the afternoon asking for a better explanation of the modification charges. I went through the same drill of being promised a call back and calling again until finally reaching Courtney. Courtney provided an explanation I was not quite happy with, but she did offer to lower the price. She said she would have to call her boss for authorization, and she would call me back at the end of the day. She never returned the call.
At this point we have been close to a week without the hot water heater and I have no idea when anyone from either company will call me back or how to get in touch with them. Any assistance you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
Service in Sussex County is very poor. Mr. Plum is a joke. Even the simplest plumbing problem it takes him 2 to 7 days to come back and fix. Doesn't show up or call when he says he will. Also, one time when I needed to replace a water heater he told me that I needed an expansion tank and other parts not covered under the warranty plan. He wanted an extra $500. I hired a licensed plumber outside the plan and saved $500. Mr. Plum is the only plumber in Sussex County. Stay away from AHS and Mr. Plum.
After paying for a home warranty from American Home Shield for several years, I attempted to make my first service claim. I called to schedule HVAC service but the company that American Home Shield partnered with was not only unable to provide service in a timely manner but were also rude and uncooperative. Subsequently, I declined to have them provide service to me. Since my first attempt to use the warranty I pay for each month did not go well, I decided to cancel the service. Upon reaching American Home Shield's Customer Retention department, I was advised that I must pay a fee of $49.95 to cancel my warranty plan with them. My account is always paid in full and on time, re-billing to my credit card. The Customer Retention representative could not adequately explain what the charge was for and could only advise that if I did not pay it, the issue would be sent to collections. So, my choice was: to pay what seems to be a punishment charge for canceling their service, continuing service with a company that has not proven to be able to provide support -or- have my credit adversely affected over a $49.95 charge. I chose to pay the charge and sever all ties with this company.
Do not take a warranty out with this company unless you have hours to wait to talk with a customer service representative.
Called on Friday, August 25th my refriderator stop working all food and meat had to me throwen away. I still do not have a repair company here and today is August 30th. Of course you do not need a refriderator.
Had customer service representative transfer me to another department to cancel and again I had to wait 45 minutes to learn that I can not cancel until the repair is complete. In this day and age you can not tell the computer do not take out-stop- payment for SEPTEMBER customer is cancelling.
I have had to call AHS three times to asking when my refrigerator is going to be repaired. I have spend a
total of 6 1/2 hours on the phone waiting for a CR are you kidding me.
This is the 3 try to report this.Ahs won't pay me for the water tank I had to have replace , after the tank needed to have the gas and water turned off.It was flooding my finished basement. I called American home shield when my basement was flooding from the water tank.I never got to talk to a real person,a recorded person made up a # of confirmation and gave me a number to call a plumber.I called BNK plumbing got their recording and I left my number(they never bother to call me back 24 hours later)So if I waited for some one to come out to,my house it would have been flooded. I got some one else to come a fix my problem.i was trying to clean up stuff. I am a widow of a Vietnam Vet not that long ago ,so I am alone and I had my both knees replaced and it's hard to do any bending.I paid for the replacement of the tank and to have it hauled away. So the next day I called American home shield and they gave me a hard time and said they won't pay for the replacement.
I asked to talk to her supervisor ,first she said no that person would call me back.i said I was told that before and they never called.So I said I need to talk to her,but all I got was a recording.and she won't call back.This company has not been helpful with out a fight, I have been paying for 4 years and have had a fight with them for any thing that breaks down.I am tired of this all.They ripoff people .I need them to pay me back and be on top of getting me the service I need with out a fight. My house could have been flooded if I still waited for help from them.When my husband was very sick and my furnace went out they made us wait and wait and I had to fight for them to get some one out here.I Told them then he was very sick and couldn't be in the cold for he had Parkinson's disease from being sprayed with Agrnt a Orange in Vietnam. But I had to fight to make it happen. Please help me .And stop,them from ripping off people.This company is not reliable and has terrible company's they work with.If I talk to you I could tell you more stuff about them.. Thank you
Our refrigerator has been broken for weeks. AHS sends out a service provider who determines that our refrigerator is broken, but that it is under manufacturer's extended warranty.
After the service provider reports this information to AHS, AHS calls us to tell us that since the appliance is under extended warranty, they will not cover it. We call the manufacturer and discover that extended warranties only apply to the original owners. Since we are not the original owners of our home, none of our appliances are covered by extended warranties.
We call AHS to tell them that the extended warranty does not apply to second-hand owners. AHS sends out a different service provider. The service provider determines that the refrigerator is broken, but that it is under an extended warranty. After reporting this to AHS, AHS calls us to inform us that since the refrigerator is covered under extended warranty, they will not cover it.
We explain to AHS that the refrigerator is not covered by an extended warranty because we are not the original owners. Then AHS sends out a different service provider who determines that the refrigerator is broken, but that it is under an extended warranty. And the cycle repeats endlessly.
The summary (though not complete) of my story, so far: Have had multiple service visits for A/C not cooling starting in May 2017 – August 2017. A/C NOT fixed. With most service calls A/C never worked after repair guy left or only for a few hours. Alas, with ours after system left broken with an “All good to go” from repairman unit even froze up. And now we suddenly get a leak in the system.
A total of 3 Companies Sent:
1st Company – After multiple visits says we need new blower motor for HVAC and then becomes unresponsive. After several days he calls and sets an appointment for next morning. Next days no call/no show. That was a Wednesday. By Saturday, still, no call/no show and will not answer or return calls. Call American Home Shield and they couldn’t get him either; so American Home shield dispatches for another company and leaves him on it and says we will see who shows up first. Monday morning at 7:45 am I get a call and he is on his way. He installs the blower and it is not blowing worth a darn. Then, though he had checked on prior visits and all was good he says our coil has a leak and has to be replaced. He said he would call for authorization and call back. About an hour or two later he calls and says American Home Shield has taken him off the call and assigned someone else. Now, the nightmare really cranks up!
2nd Company – Before even inspecting unit starts asking if we have considered replacement. He checks unit and finds new blower miswired and this is why it was not blowing good and why it would not work when switched from AUTO to ON. They called back and said it would be 1270 to fix; like it was $12.70, of course, it was $1270. Over $500 in the coolant and the rest “Code Violations Not Covered”. As this is the second summer in the house and we had the inspector check that it was up to code as we were worried about repairs on an old unit and were told it was fine for repairs. They also attempted to collect $75 for Service fee though this was a recall. As of now they still are trying to collect this fee even mailing a bill.
3rd Company – Called American Home Shield as I knew this was too high and said that I thought this was wrong and they sent someone else out who came in almost $500 less but included a part for $150 that I have an invoice that shows was replaced May 2017 by the First Company sent.
NOBODY is helpful at American Home Shield including Corporate. They do not accept responsibility for repairs not being performed correctly (one repair even resulted in a wire in the attic burning up within hours after the repair). I am currently in process of preparing to file written complaints with Texas Real Estate Commission and Texas Attorney Generals Office.
Check out sueamericanhomeshield.com
We have had AHS warranty policies on all five of our homes. For the last several years, our A/C unit has had constant problems which AHS takes weeks to order parts and hires the worst contractors (most of them are very poorly rated with the BBB). The A/C system finally stopped cooling but was still running. AHS sent out the first company who said it was "physical damage" which it clearly was not. I have the photos showing it is age and rusting to the ground. They sent out a second company who went out and said they agreed it needed to be replaced. However, they reported to AHS (7 days later) that "the homoewner just wants a new A/C unit and it is working fine." The thermostat is set at 72 degrees and it was 86 degrees in the home. Would you consider that to be working? After two weeks of dealing with lying, rude contractors and spending hours on hold with AHS, I cancelled all of my policies, hired an accredited local contractor and had the A/C replaced within a few days. [continued below]....
After having my A/C go out for a second month in a row, American Home Shield was called for a second time. They hired American A/C out of San Antonio, Tx to come "fix" it. This company came out for a second time and replaced the same part that went out 1 month ago. I asked the technician what is causing this part to continuously go out and he informed me my unit was pulling twice as many amps as it should be. They recommended a replacement of my unit. I hired a second company to come out and give me a quote about what is wrong with my unit. They recommended A replacement of my unit among other things. I hired the second company. After they provided the work they showed me the breaker beside my house that was melting because of high amounts of electricity being pulled through it. I am now fighting with American Home Shield to get a buy out. They are only authorizing $233 because they say my unit was in good working condition even though I have invoices and pictures proving otherwise. They refuse to let me send in my invoices and pictures claiming they don't have an email address or fax number. I have called two days in a row and waisted 3 hours on hold.
These people are the worst home warranty people on the Planet.!!!! Had a refrigerator that began not to freez. They sent a ultra Maroon that spent less than 1 minute 3 screws and said good By. No tools no nothing. The unit could have been serviced and recharge freon but tno they just denied any claim.. In their adds give all the promisses. fix or orplace. Never honor any claim.. Call them and wait for 1 hour to speak to a total idiot. Never able to talk to a supervisor. My advice is small claims them for 10,000. They will send a check to avoid court. They need to go to jail. Refrige was a top of the line Frigidare 27 cu ft unit.
I bought my house in 2007. My home inspectr advised me that the the central Air conditioning unit was about to fail. I thought a home warranty with American Home Shield (AHS) would be a good idea, so i started paying $41 eatch month through automatic bank withdrawal. The unit hung on for another 10 years. By then it was 25 years old and had to be replaced.
I was advised by AHS that they would pay me back for the cash value of the new parts, but when the time came to settle up, all they would pay for was the main coil, and a partial value on the freon - they paid about $300 while I had to replace the entire unit at a cost of over $4,000.
Do NOT do business with AHS!
I paid for the A/C unit TWICE. Once to install a new unit. and again simply to line AHS' pickets. I fought for almost an entire year, but they stonewalled and wormed their way out of every item, one by one, on my repair list. They had an excuse for everything.
NEVER get an extended warranty. Set up your own savings account instead of paying American Home Shield. I was left completely in the cold.
This company charges $75.00 per service call. Shouldn't that be covered by the $500.00 purchase charge? Then you have to use their technician who is rude, doesn't show up when he says he will, and doesn't return phone calls. He said he had to order a part. He had my money but I haven't seen or heard from him in 2 weeks. I called AHS to inquire. After an unreasonably length of time on "hold", I was told the part should have been received a week ago. I was placed on hold so the AHS a*s ociate could "track" the part. After 55 minutes on "hold" she hung up on me. They have my money and 3 weeks later I still have a broken refrigerator and no idea when it will be repaired. Realty buyers and sellers beware. This company is a ripoff. They hope you'll get frustrated and drop the claim. They have a poor reputation online. The technician they sent has a poor online reputation and a bad BBB rating, proving AHS uses inferior contractors.
American Home Shield Home Warranty Company hires the worst contractors possible , does not give you any choice in companies and does not answer of their phone lines promptly. I highly do NOT recommend them
I purchased a home December 9, 2016 and the real estate agent pushed an AHS home warrenty. I should have known better. In May our Air Conditioning stopped working. I called AHS and they stated thay only had one repair person in my area and they would send hime for a $75 fee. I agreed and this guy showed up and reviewed everything, stated that he would have to order the parts through AHS and he would get back to me. 30 days later and no update. I called AHS, was on hold 48 minutes and was told that the clain was denied for a pre existing condition. I told them I wanted to dispute the determination of a pre'existing condition since we have been in the house for over 6 months and it just stopped.
They said the warranty was in my wife's name and only she can dispute it. She called back a few days later, another 37 minute wait, and was told that I was on the policy too and they could speak with me. I told thel I wanted to dispute the determination of a pre-existing condition and was told I was time barred since I only had 14 days to dispute. SCAM, SCAM, SCAM. I immediately told her to cancel my worthless warranty policy. She told me it was a different department, they were closed and they would call me in 24 hours or lass. Now 5 days later, no return call, another payment taken and 3 calls made with an average 37 minute wait each time and tonight I get the same later from 5 days ago and she tells me the same 24 hour call back line. BEWARE OF THESE TERRIBLE PEOPLE.
Frankly I cannot say enough bad things about the American Home Shield (AHS) Warranty Company. And I hope I can save others from the nightmare experience I had to go through dealing with them.
The AHS warranty advertisement tells you that if you buy their warranty you will not have to worry about spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on repairs.
But want they do not tell you; is that AHS will do everything to deny your claim and if they do replace an item it will still cost you hundreds or thousands of dollars.
If anybody is aware of a class action lawsuit against this company, please count me in. Also I plan to write to the attorney general. If anybody is interested in going to the attorney let me know. I have never been so pissed off with a
company in my life.
Below is my experience with this compnay:
I have an AHS warranty and I called them regarding two repair items: 1) A shower faucet that was leaking and 2) a hot water heater that was not heating properly.
AHS authorized AZ Remodeling & Plumbing Inc., who is not even located in or near my city to make the repairs.
1st Repair
Shower Faucet Leaking
The repair company technician says the shower faucet was improperly installed, so AHS denies the claims. This shower faucet was the original shower faucet that came with the house 20 years ago. It has worked fine for 20 years. How could it possibly have been improperly installed?
And then the repair company offers to do the repair for 3 times what any other plumber would charge. Do you see the SCAM here? Most homeowners are not going to search around and get quotes to see what it actually cost to make the repair. Instead they will just be ripped off by this AHS contractor. The whole thing is a blatant SCAM! AHS pays the
contractor virtually nothing to make repairs and then the crocked contractor says the item is improperly installed so the claim is denied and then the repair company offers to do the repair for 3 times the normal cost.
I went to the Home Depot and bought a MOEN cartridge removal tool and removed and installed the new shower faucet cartridge myself in less than 10 minutes, which this repair man said he could not do.
2nd Repair
Hot Water Heater.
After the repair company came out 4 times and could not fix the hot water heater they finally agreed to replace it. So at this point I am weeks without hot water.
This company wanted to charge over $500 in non-covered expenses with the majority of that cost coming from: 1) modify the water line and 2) modify the temperature and pressure line.
I informed AHS that I had a local licensed plumber take a look at the hot water heater replacement and he stated none of the non-covered expenses were necessary. In addition he stated the price being charged for the non-covered work was 3-4 time the going rate.
I informed AHS that I would provide statements from several plumbers showing that the non-covered expenses being charged by AZ Remodeling & Plumbing Inc. where not required and I would provide AHS with evidence documenting the fees for the non-covered expenses being charged by AZ Remodeling & Plumbing Inc. was absorbingly high.
I would think any honest and respectable company would care that the contractor that they sent out is making false statements about additional work required and the fact that the contractor estimates are 3-4 times the going rate for that type of work. But not AHS! They just replied that this is the contractor they use; period.
In order to come to a reasonable compromise, I requested AHS to buy the Hot Water Tank and I would have my plumber install it. AHS refused. When I requested that AZ Remodeling & Plumbing Inc. only do the covered work, (of course there was no additional work needed); AHS refused. I then told AHS I believed the non-covered expenses were fraudulent estimate on the part of the contractor and asked AHS to get a second opinion. Again AHS refused to get a second opinion. The only other option AHS offered was their buy out option, whereby they pay you a small amount of money that does not even cover the cost of the water heater.
I called a local licensed plumber who came out promptly and informed me that NONE of the non-covered expenses that had been identified by the AHS contractor were necessary. This plumber got the hot water heater and installed it. The receipts are shown at the end of this document (hot water heater and installation fee). Here is the cost breakdown:
1) Hot Water Heater ------------------------ $316.91
2) Installation of Hot Water Heater ---- $175.50
Total Cost Too Buy and Install the Hot Water Heater - $492.41
As you can see it was going to cost me more to have AHS replace my hot water heater than if I hired a plumber to do the job. Yes, you are reading that correctly. It cost less for me to purchase and install the new hot water heater by a local licensed plumber than it would have cost to have it done under the Warranty. That speaks volumes about this company.
So why does AHS insist on using an out of the area company to do the repair when I live in a metropolitan area of over 1 Million People and tons of locally licensed plumbers. In fact from what I can tell this AHS contractor only does home warranty work and I can see why; no one would hire them!!
Here is my assessment on the AHS business practices and reimbursement models. Basically, in my humble opinion it appears that AHS and their contractors are committing widespread fraud on a consistent basis, with the home warranty client being the primary victim.
The hardest part of installing a new hot water heater is draining the old hot water heater, removing it and installing the new one. AHS pays these contractors way below the going rate to perform this task. No licensed, honest, and reputable plumber will do that work for the amount AHS offers. So this AHS contractor adds on what I believe to be fraudulent charges, which AHS categorizes as non-covered expenses and sticks them to their unsuspecting customers. There whole Business Model is done right shameful.
Bottom line - My advice would be to avoid this company like the plaque.
And I should add I found out as part of this experience, the Better Business Bureau is a Joke. The BBB has had thousands of complaints against this company, yet gives them a favorable rating and I found out why. No matter how much evidence you supply the BBB all the company has to do is respond and the BBB will file in their favor no matter how much evidence you supply.
On June 5, 2017, my air conditioner stopped working in my home. I called American Home Shield to report the problem. A contractor came to my home and after a brief inspection, he informed me that my compressor went out. I live in Las Vegas, NV and that week the temperatures reached well into the triple digits. I informed American Home Shield, that having air in my home is very critical due to that my daughter is special needs. I called American Home Shield several times during that week for an update on my compressor.
I also called the contractor for answers and all I got was the run around. On my fourth phone called to the contractor I was treated very rudely and unpleasant. As of June 11, 2017, I have not heard from American Home Shield or the contractor for an update. I called another contractor (on my own), who arrived at my home within five hours, and the next day my air conditioner was installed. My contract with American Home Shield is paid in full and not to received quality service is unacceptable. I will under no circumstances use or recommend American Home Shield again.
This company is a complete rip off. Everyone I pay a technician they don't diagnose the issue. Yet they charge $100. The most recent was an ongoing issue with my dishwasher in which I requested a technician 5 times. After no repair or diagnosis, and my emails to the tech company who had terrible customer reviews, the dishwasher ended up leaking and causing $15,000.00 in damages to my property and my neighbors. AMERICAN HOME SHIELD REFUSES TO EVEN REPLACE THE DISHWASHER OR WAIVE MONTHLY FEES TO COVER THE DEDUCTIBLE!!!! NO CUSTOMER SERVICE! They choose the worst vendors and don't take any accountability for wrongdoing and misdiagnosis! Steer clear! I plan on filing a lawsuit.
Out Dishwasher would wash the dishes but they would come out stinky. Could not even stand to drink out od a cup it was that bad.
So we followed the instructions. A service guy came to see if he could fix it. He was astounded at how clean our dishwasher was for how old it is. He could not find anything wrong and told us it could be in the shell and that is not a thing he can replace, so he would file his report.
When AHS called us they told us they would not be able to take care of us because it is not a mechanical problem. So we have a dishwasher we can not use, and out policy holder will not do anything about it.
We will no longer do business with this company, and I hope to spread they word.
Beware of American Home Shield: 5 weeks without a working refrigerator and counting. Their service is horrible. I have their ShieldPlus premium coverage and recently reported a damaged appliance for the first time. My refrigerator broke down and I reported the issue to AHS already 5 weeks ago. I had to pay $75 and they sent out a technician 3 times. Each time I had to take time off to wait from 9am to 1pm for them to show up (which is usually 30 minutes after the scheduled window).
Every time someone actually did show up (after two missed appointments where they had scheduled a visit, but simply failed to show up at all without notice) they failed to fix the issue, but instead claimed that parts have to be ordered first. This is a process that takes about 2 weeks each time and that I have already gone through three times. The parts arrive, someone attempts the repair, it fails and more parts or the same parts have to be reordered. I called the AHS support line several times. Usually, this means waiting about 30 minutes for anyone to pick up
. The result is explaining and discussing the issue with a call center agent for 15 minutes before he or she transfers you to someone else who didn't get any of the prior information and asks all the same questions for a second time. In the end they usually promise a call back the next day to discuss the available options. This call never happens and you have the choice of going through the cycle again or tearing your hair out. I still don't have a working refrigerator after waiting for 5 weeks. They just told me I will have to wait about 10 more days until someone will come out again for another repair attempt.
In any case, they will only attempt a partial repair, because creative terms & conditions wording allows them to exclude fixing the ice maker. I would have been better off saving the money for their "warranty" and just buying a new fridge myself. I would have paid slightly more for the fridge, but at least I would have an appliance that works, rather than having to continuously waste time and being kept waiting without a place to store perishable food. Don't wast your time and money and stay away from American Home Shield!
I have the insurance American home Shield that is supposed to either fix all of the appliance when they break if they can't fix it they replace it with comparable to what you have. However this is not happened I still am waiting for a call from a manager which is now been five days it has been three weeks since my washer and dryer have been out of commission . The washer is computerized with the dryer the washer could not be fixed and was dimmable unrepairable which is to be replaced so the dryer will not work with any new washer because of the computer in it so they have to replace the dryer as well so they will speak back-and-forth to each other comparable to what I had and I'm still waiting crickets and I'm very very disappointed and mad and I paid for this insurance which is holding up my life!! They are very negative and nasty and will not put you with a manager they said they will call you back and they don't do not buy this insurance it is a rip off !!!!!!
Do not waste your money on their home protection plan. My wife turned in a claim on our fridge and dishwasher, disposal, light switch, and ceiling vent. The electrician was the first to show and checked the appliances place a new wall switch, and checked the ceiling vent. He indicated the power was okay to the appliances and he had to order a part for the ceiling vent. So I paid a $75.00 fee to the electrician. He indicated that an appliance person would need to come out and further check the appliances that he had already checked. When I asked him about the disposal he was not sure if an appliance person or a plumber or possibly both would be required. So basically you keep getting different trades to look at the same items and you have to pay each of them a $75.00 fee for showing up. So keep a lot of $75.00 ready because you will need them if you purchase one of these plans. By the way these plans are capped at $2k. So once you purchase the original plan and pay your many multiple $75.00 fees you are not buying yourself much piece of mind or protection.
I have suscribed to the American Home sheild Warranty company for years. On Monday December, 12th sinve ihad a plumbing problem, called the company was told that a plumber from All American Plumbing from Vallejo, Ca, will comeon wednesday, December, 14th,2016.Took time off from work and around 10.am a plumber came and said he will inform AHS and come in the afternoon. He collected, $ 125.00 and went. He did not do anything.Around 5 pm AHS called me and said the plumber said thre are roots and they can not do anything. I inform that the plumber did not do any diagnostic . AHS says they beleive the plumber and they can not help.I want my money back. & 125 = 22.99 for AHS. I paid $ 125 by check and $ 22.99 by credit card.
Home warentee! What a great idea! Don't do it! They promise things to be covered or replaced if needed, but it never happens. Luckily it only took me 2 months of paying the fee to figure this out. Our water heater went out. I did what I was supposed to do according to the contract and when the repair man came they said he didn't have the proper license. I guess he needed to be a plumber. I called to cancel my membership, and a nice lady said, before you cancel, let me see if I can help you get this covered. (I had coverage for water heater) I emaild her and left her messages and never heard back from her. In the meanwhile I paid another month of membership! Don't do it!
AHS is a warranty service covering household items. We had this service when our heating went out. They have what they call a state of the art online service where you can request service and follow up on claims. However, their system constantly stated that our warranty had not been activated even though we had be paying on it for many months. Calling them is a time consuming event. First you have to go through their maze of pushing numbers to get to the right department then you are on hold for a long time. I sat on hold for up to 45 minutes. Once the claim was filed I was told that the contracting company would call me and set up a time. They did not. An automatic text system told me when my appointment was scheduled for. I called the number AHS had given me for the contractor, which was a disconnect number. After doing an internet search to find the active number I got someone on the phone and scheduled an appointment that would work. I asked if they could call me when they are on their way (they gave me a 5 hour window) so that I could be there. She told me they automatically send out an email when they are on their way. The day of the appointment I did receive the automatic text, but it was sent when the contractor was sitting in front of my house. Instead of calling me he simply put his card in the door and left. My neighbor, which is my father, called me as he saw the guy leaving. I called their number which immediately went to a full mailbox. I called AHS and they could not reach the company either. I was told to give them 24 hours to call me and if not call AHS back. I then did an search on the contractor that AHS sent out. The company had been in business three years and had 83% negative reports through the BBB and 100% negative reports through Yelp. This definitely is not worth the money you pay!
First AExperience already horrible wish I had read this first
Sadly I am reading these posts after joining Home Shield and horribole service with first american. I have been on the phone for 1hour and ten minute waiting for service from the purchasing department I paid 100.00 for a repair service call and the guy said the microwave is too old and there are no replacements I need a new microwave.
You need to know the truth about their warranty company. Any one of you that ever had to deal with a water heater or furnace issue and thought the contractor was somehow robbing you because you had to come out of pocket for something the warranty company says is covered might be interested in this.
American home shield pays contractors a flat fee anywhere from 100-125. 00 per call. Period. That is all they pay. They do not pay for any parts whatsoever. So when a contractor comes to your house and you need a furnace that costs 1350.-1500. 00 and the contractor is getting 125.00 total for the job it doesnt take a rocket scientist to see that not only is he not making any money he is losing 1225.00. So how can a person hope to survive working for the ahs? They do what they are told to do by ahs. Ahs came up with the pass the buck routine. They sent out one contractor who said he fixed the unit via a new thermostat.
Then it broke again and instead of coming and replacing the unit he said the tenant was a witch so he refused to come back. Knowing that this woman really was a witch I was a little concerned so I checked it out and found my husband and maintance man were with her to make sure she didn't act like the wretch she can be. So with the lie from the contractor the ahs they sent out another contractor who was ont to the last contractors game. If you cant fix the issue for a few dollars and make a profit being in and out with the 125.00 payment from ahs then create a diversion and blame the next guy.
The 2nd contractor refused to come back and finish the job stating the prior contractor should come back and fix what he started. Neither would and this was taking over a week in freeszing weather. Now we all know that Withces don't fly well in the winter so this one landed and threatened to stick her broom right up my backside. At that point I hired a contractor due to them refusing to pay the 1600.00 rent that was due and making threats that they would see me in court and I had better put them up in some fancy hotel due to the stress on the head witch of the house. Needless to say. I hired, paid and had a new furnace installed for 1495.00 in 4 hours.
End of the story. Tenant evicted due to refusing to pay two months rent stating he had a 600.00 heat bill and had to go stay with family out of town so they could be comfortable. AHS ended up costing me over 7,000.00 by this tenant being so upset they refused to pay 3 months at 1600.00 then sued for pain and suffering and then left via an ecivtion crew. So I had to pay for all of this lost 3 months rent and had to pay for the 1495.00 furnace. AHS played stupid, just like some tenants that don't want to pay rent. They said that I ddin't own the house so they couldn't talk to me about it. I have 25 rental properties and had several contracts for years and they NEVER PAID ANYTHING OUT TO HONOR THE CONTRACT.
I found out a family member in Texas had the same issue. Heat or air goes out they send someone who replaces a few dollar thrermostat and then hides in the hills so they don't have to replace any big equipment.
Called for service 3 months ago for a refrigerator, for 3 weeks sent techs out replacing numerous parts. still noo frig, was given a number to call 800-326-6710, called 5 times waited each time for 2 hours on hold. Wrote letter to the Corporate office, and General Inquiries Office no reply. Email to address for service dept no reply. Only contaact number this company has is the one for new request. Complete Rip off. it has been 10 weeks and no Refrigerator. the conttract states if it can not be repaired it would be replaced. been paying for this for 5 years and never had to use till now. $706 yearly! + $75 for service calls. Plan to contact an attorney.
Mark W
Pflugerville, Texas
My air conditioning was not working. their repair man was not able to fix it. We live in Fl. where it i very hot and humid
I called another repaiman who fixed the problem. AHS would not pay for any of it.
In June of 2016 my A/C was blowing warm air I contact AHS and they sent out a contractor, he said the unit needed coolent so he seviced it it worked better for about a month then it failed it again just to give you some info on the age of my unit its about 30+ years old. So I called them again they sent out another contractor he said a part was bad and he has to order, now this contract they sent was one of the worst I have delt with they never called me to tell me when they were coming out than when I called they they would answer there phone not as the business name but just hello and they could never give me an answer as the status of the work finally about a week or so later they came out with the part and it didn't fix it the tech said the unit was old and needed to be replaced I waited for them to file with AHS but nothing finaily I contacted AHS and they said that That contractor drpped the case I told AHS of the problems I had with this contractor and all the negtive reports about them but they didnt seam to care. So that was first contractor now AHS said they would be sending out another contractor, well the contractor was suppose to contact me within 24 hr they never did so I tried to contact them no answer, I called AHS about this and they said that I turned the appoitment with them, I told AHS I never recieved a call from them, and why would It was now going on the 2 weeks and the temps were over 100 deg. The company lied and I told AHS that but they didnt seem to care. So they sent out a 3rd contractor they were very good after I briefed them on the finding from the passed contractors they went and checked and confamered the findings and said they would contact AHS they did AHS agreed, but in the mean time I had contacted another 5 star contractor to get and ast for replacement I didn't want a cheap one, they came out in 2 days also confermed the the AC was no good and said the unit was at least 30 + years old.
I agreed to go with this company to replace my unit. As I was waiting, about 5 dats later the second contractor that AHS scheduled to come out showed up out of the blue I told them that they said you dropped the case and I told them that they had told a lie to AHS saying that I refused the appt anyway again this one showed up with no call, So I called AHS and said I had contrcted with another AC company and that I wanted to get the buyout so after about a week they said they were sending me a check for 1866.26, now I dont know were they were going to get just the AC unit for just that amount I also recieved in the mail a letter stating that they would not cover for the crain, my AC is on the roof the title 24 duct inspection and some other stuff. Anyway I had my ac replaced but my cost was 8500 I was not expecting to get all of that but maybe just half and that is only because I went with a better AC not the cheap one they would have installed. I had been with AHS for almost 30 yrs and this is how they treated me.
On another note I pay 43.99 a month and my Ref, washer and dryer are not covered I got on there web site to get a quote and what they sent me covered all of that be yet my contract now doesnt cover that.
In June 2 of thier contractors came out. We paid the service fee to first contractor. He could not find the parts nor could AHS. They sent a 2nd contractor who determined we need a new blower which would include many other things ($1130) above what AHS was going to pay ($762.19). We ask for the option to get the $762.19 and find a contractor. We told to get the unit fixed first and send the paid invoice. We did it cost $950. The invoice has been sent 3 times. Numerous calls made to be left on hold for hours at a time. I have instant messages from them explaining how to sent the invoice, everything was exactly as we were told. Now they are calling the contractor numberous times harrassing them wanting the invoice written up differently. The contractor will not talk to them any longer. We are out all of the $950. AHS refuses to pay us. The extra $1130 thier contractor wanted to charge was all unneccesary things. I have emails and IM messages if needed. Our biggest issue is we were without an A/C far almost a month in Texas.
My husband (Howard) and I have been loyal American Home Shield customers for over 30 years. We have made less than 5 claims in those years. We have been at our current home for over 6 years and have paid American Home Shield over $2500. I noticed that our gas hot water heater was leaking on Saturday, Aug 13. I wrapped a towel around the base and told Howard. We weren't worried about internal home damage as the gas hot water heater is located in the garage. Howard called American Home Shield that very day to report the issue. In turn, CNJ Services LLC (plumbers) called us that same day and said they could come out on Monday, Aug 15 but I worked out of town this week and my husband had a business appointment so they came out on Tuesday, Aug 16. Howard was told that we needed a new gas hot water heater and our service fee was $100. The gentleman was at our home less than 10 minutes. American Home Shield called Howard on Wednesday, Aug 17 and said that our portion would be over $620. We were not told what brand the gas hot water heater would be but we previously had a GE 12 year 50 gallon gas hot water heater. GE no long makes gas hot water heaters and we were told it would be replaced with "like or similar". American Home Shield told us that the $620 fee was to bring the gas hot water heater "up to code". We were given a list of installation hardware by CNJ Services that they would need to bring it "up to code" and they were charging us over $620. In actuality, the cost for those items, RETAIL, is less than $100 uninstalled. We feel we are being taken advantage of and a horrible "bait and switch" is being done by American Home Shield and CNJ Services LLC. So............we chose a "cash out" option so we can select our own reputable plumbers. American Home Shield said they would only reimburse us for what they would pay CNJ Services for the gas hot water heater.......and we all know is will be at a GREATLY reduced price!! Further, NO ONE knows what the amount of reimbursement to us will be except for the Claims Dept and they do not accept phone calls. They only work from e-mails and will "get back to you" within 3 - 5 business days. We do not want to make a decision until we know what we will be reimbursed as I just don't want to have to pay more that $620 for a gas hot water heater WHEN I HAVE BEEN PAYING INSURANCE!!!! Just spoke to the Supervisor, Ryland, at American Home Shield. He said he doesn't know what the reimbursement would be. He said the Claims Dept doesn't work on the weekends. He said he can't tell me when they will return our phone call. He said he can't help me. Today is the 6th day my family hasn't had hot water. IF American Home Shield calls us bask on Monday, Aug 22, it will be 9 days my family has been without hot water. IF American Home Shield calls back on Monday and we come to some sort of agreement, the soonest my family will have hot water will be Wednesday, Aug 24. My family will have been without hot water for 11 days............no hot showers, no hot laundry, no hot dish water. Yet, we have paid over $2500 in the last 6 years for "insurance" so this wouldn't happen. Sure doesn't seem like we are getting much of a return for our investment. Ouch, American Home Shield...............I wonder what they would do if this was their family? Would I recommend American Home Shield? Years ago, yes. Now, absolutely not!!!
American Home Shield is a home warranty company we decided to go with after doing an internet search on reviews, which appeared to be favorable. Little did we know what we were in for. The upfront promises are very encouraging. The problems arise when it's time to actually use the service. After over a year of paying monthly billing of $50/month, we contacted them about our oven. The heating element went out and this should have been a simple fix.
The contractor shows up bills us $75 up front (no problem. We agreed to this at the front end). It soon became apparent to us he didn't know what he was doing, promising to come back with a part he thought would fix it. Three house calls later (and 2 months), they kept showing and saying they brought the wrong part, etc, etc. Each time they attempted to bill through AHS. We ended up paying another 2 months of monthly fees to AHS and another $75 for this contractor.
Not only did AHS not fix the oven or back us, they kept disconnecting us when we called in to cancel. Customer service is $5/hr help and you won't get the same person that promised you the moon when you call back. No apologies, no attempts to resolve the situation..... Their business model is that they will always have people try this service and even if they cancel, they have several months x $50/month from you. You have been warned!!! If you lose your shirt with this company, it's on you!!