American Home Shield

Back in April one of AHS’s vendors caused damage to my unit and refused to cover the charges. I wrote an unhappy review and they contacted me. I was impressed by the response. They reimbursed me for the cost to fix the damage. All was good. Until I had another plumbing issue and they tried to send back the same vendor (let’s call him Freedom Plumbing… oh wait… that’s their real name). I refused Freedom Plumbing (called AHS directly to tell them NO) and it turns out no one else was available to come repair the issue in a timely manner. I had to contact a non-​AHS plumber to fix the issue, paying full price. (it was for a rental unit… i ‘can’t have my tenants waiting weeks) To top it off, Freedom told AHS they had showed up to my place to correct the issue and no one was home so AHS was charging me $ 75. I was livid and told them to cancel my warranty. A retention expert contacted me, and after sometime, she was able to reimburse me for part of the cost to fix my plumbing issue and remove the service charge from Freedom. Ok. I’ll stick around (paint me a sucker at this point). A few months down the line, I have another leak. I call AHS. They assign me FREEDOM PLUMBING again! Freedom calls me, I inform him I will not be using him. I contact AHS, let them know that once again I was assigned to a vendor that had previously damaged my unit, someone that I will not have back. They apologized, said they would add him to the DO NOT CALL list for me, and assigned another vendor. Today I get a 75 service fee from AHS for Freedom Plumbing again!!! I call AHS. They tell me their vendor (Freedom) told them that they called me en route (we never scheduled any appointment as the minute he called me I told him no) when I said I had someone else take care of the work. So they charged me. I explained everything. Asked them to look up call records. They’ve told me they are standing by this vendor’s word. Cute. This vendor has ONE STAR on Unilocal.They are untruthful and sneaky and BAD at plumbing, yet AHS keeps using them. I can’t deal with these people…
If you use AHS, you better hope they have a strong vendor network in your area, cause mine sucks…

My review is consistent with the previous ones here — SAVE YOUR MONEY, SAVE YOURSELF HEADACHES AND FRUSTRATION. Service is slow, the contractors used are not the best, and it is a constant battle to get things covered. Ultimately they usually are covered… but it is simply not worth the prolonged and time-​consuming battles. In terms of some specifics:
–Basic repairs can take days or weeks waiting for parts, as contractors often have to order from AHS. Three weeks without an oven is loads of fun.
–Frequent «no show» contractors, and repeat visits due to errors made.
–Long hold times to speak with customer service at AHS.
–Shoddy repairs that held just long enough to require another deductible payment for the second repair.
–Having to escalate matters to OEM Customer Service when AHS claims «Design Flaw» exclusions
–AHS taking no role to resolve damage caused by their contractor during the course of repairs
I could go on. Again, unless you have major cash flow issues, save yourself the pain of dealing with AHS.

AMERICAN HOME SHIELD IS A SCAM! IF (and that’s a big IF!) it is covered, the time it takes them to repair it is not worth the savings. And, many of the contractors they have sent to my house have been so shady I didn’t even want to have to deal with them. Don’t waste your money! Run the other way!!!

Past dealings with AHS were mostly OK. But this time urgency was essential, and they failed miserably. We reported our water heater had failed on Monday. On Tuesday, AHS assigned Rite-​A-​Way Plumbing in southern California (we are in northern California) to the job. Thursday, a plumber showed up, and he agreed the water heater needed replacing. The plumber gave me assurances that he would report his findings to AHS immediately. By the following Tuesday (7 days without hot water) this plumber had not made his report.
When we were first assigned Rite-​A-​Plumbing, I looked up their reviews on Unilocal,and they were all pretty much horrible, very similar to the reviews for AHS on these pages. So on that first Tuesday, I pleaded with AHS to please assign another plumber, since this firm had a bad reputation, and was located more than 400 miles away. They flatly refused. So when Rite-​A-​Way crapped out on me, I was not surprised. AHS should not have been surprised either, as the bad reviews were certainly easy to access. During those first 7 days, I was on the phone with AHS every day, sometimes on multiple calls. I could not reach anyone who expressed any genuine concern about my predicament, other than paying lip service by reciting their scripted responses.
Ultimately, I demanded they assign another plumber, which they did. In all, we went 10 days without hot water. I doubt that anyone at AHS would put up with that kind of service.
For the amount you pay AHS in monthly charges, you’re better off putting that money in a savings account, and using it when something fails.

Found them to be prompt with the service and fair. While they did not replace the whole A/​C unit, they did pay for a lot of it. Will keep the coverage.

Avoid these guys!!! They are terrible! Three years in a row they have sent people to fix our air conditioner. All have said it should be replaced; but, the warranty company keeps putting parts and each year I have to pay for new freon. The cost is $ 100/​lb; but, the warranty company ONLY pays $ 10/​lb. they sent a substandard contractor to replace our hot water di spencer and it leaked all over our hardwood floor and caused over $ 20,000 damage. My insurance company ended up suing the contractor; but, my rate went up. All because the contractor didn’t know what he was doing! Am. Home shield has a myriad of these guys because they are cheap!!! And we, the customers suffer! I have cancelled this and other contracts I had with them! .
THEY ARE HORRIBLE AND I ADVISE TO AVOID THIS TERRIBLE COMPANY!

BAD BUSINESS! I waited 5 days for a technician to come to my home to diagnose and repair a leak happening with my AC unit. I informed, Sue, the office mgr, at the time I made the appt that the tech would need at least a 7ft ladder to access the roof. The tech didn’t come with the correct equipment and tells me I need to reschedule, then asks me for a $ 75 svc fee. ABSOLUTELY NOT! I called Sue and instead of offering an apology for poor svc she has an «oh well» attitude and states she doesn’t remember if I told her about the ladder and proceeds to ask me to self-​diagnose the issue with my AC unit. I told her these are questions to ask her «certified tech». She said she would and would get back to me then hung up the phone.
This service was contracted through American Home Shield, in which they called Reynolds for their version of the story after I complained. AHS then calls me back to say Reynolds could return the following Monday, another 5 days! I told AHS that I did not want Reynolds back in my home, and that I’m cancelling my service with them as well.

Don’t walk away from American Home Shield, RUN! This is more of a racketeering outfit than a business. You would be better served paying protection money to organized crime than doing business with American Home Shield. They collect your cash but are nowhere to be found when you call for service. They set you up with incompetent contractors like Sears who are more likely to no show the job than actually get anything done. They blame the contractor and the contractor blames them and your left wasting your time. It’s time regulators took a look at American Home Shield or perhaps Class Action Lawyers might want to sniff around the company. They would have a field day.

Unfortunately this is the warranty that came with the house. Made one service call and will probably never use it again. It’s just a waste of time and money to call for a repair.
Needed furnace service and they sent Core Heating and Cooling. Repair tech did not fix the problem and I can tell that any further interactions will result in more frustration, additional service visit charges, and poor work.
I’m going to act like I do not have this warranty and go elsewhere for repairs. You should to!!!

WISH I COULD PUT ZERO STARS!!! At one time this was a very good service. I was a Realtor between 1987 and 2011 and used to recommend them. However, a customer of American Home Shield myself for over 24 years, I have witnessed their professionalism disappear. They don’t replace like with like, the DO deduct depreciation, their standards are very low. For example, if colors of replaced parts don’t match your existing items, or even other just replaced parts, they will not make good. Rosemary B in «customer service» said, «…The appearance of the repair does not matter. If the system works, that’s all we promise… There’s nothing else I can do…» I had several problems with Pete from POLITZKI ELECTRIC, Cary, Illnois. AHS (should be called GAR or Great American Rip-​off) recommended him and will not stand behind his shoddy work. Going to post a photo of a bank of four (4) dimmer switches from my bedroom. This is just one example why no one should trust either this technician or AHS. The two switches on the outside are the 24 year old ones; two in the middle are replacements. It’s understandable that the style would have changed. It’s understandable that the color might be different. What is NOT understandable nor acceptable is that the replacement switches DO NOT EVEN MATCH EACH OTHER.

I do not know from where to start but seeing the previous reviews I see that people already said enough. Please save your money and do not be fooled by the marketing of this company.
They work with the worst contractors ever, and of course you do not know that. Each time I had a problem I scheduled a service then I was able to see the name of the assigned company/​contractor. they all had 1 star ratings on Unilocal and very bad reviews.
Here is a recent issue, supposedly all the service providers should have reached to you when you request service from AHS. It has been 10 days now that I requested service for my furnace, which stopped working, in the cold weather and I never got a call:) I always called them myself and this time I decided to wait, and here it is, no call.
I know that eventually the word will spread and people will realize that this company is b-​s. My policy will expire in few months, and I can not wait for them call me and beg for renewal. I will enjoy it.

Don’t waste your money or your time. They do not do what is promised and don’t care if your appliance doesn’t get fixed. I am still waiting almost 3 weeks to fix my microwave. Ridiculous.

We recently bought an older house in Maryland and we purchased a 1 year insurance from American Home Shield. We would have been better off not getting it, their covered items are not really covered due to their ridiculous terms and conditions, e.g., water was leaking from the ceiling. AHS will «fix» the plumbing problem, but will only return the condition of the ceiling to a rough finish. And every time a contractor comes out to diagnose a problem, we have to pay $ 75. This is a rip-​off. Customer service at AHS are not very helpful, the lady I spoke to seems like she’s in a rush to finish our conversation. I will never ever get home insurance from AHS again.

If I could give this company 0 stars I would. Similar to all of the other complaints, I submitted a claim and after paying $ 75 the said they didn’t cover the appliance. So I called customer service and was on hold 20 minutes before a CSR came on the line. He completely denied having coverage for the wine refrigerator because he said it wasn’t identified as such in the claim. Told him that was a line of crap because it was clearly stated in the claim. AND confirmed by the technician that was sent to repair it. So he put me on hold to talk to his supervisor. I WAS ON HOLD FOR 20 MINUTES. (have pictures to prove it also). At this point it was apparent he WAS NOT coming back on the line so I hung up. I’ve emailed and have not heard back. I’ve filled out their survey and have not heard back. REALLY???
As Mary Rose V. said in August DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT PURCHASE A HOME CONTRACT FROM American Home Shield.

DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT purchase a home contract from AHS. This company is really a joke. Cannot even give 1 star. Wash machine has been out since 7÷24÷14. First contractor they sent, Sears, said we needed over $ 1100 in repairs new machine would be approx $ 1400 & we would still have ¹²⁄₁₃ yr olf machine. Then all of sudden list of repairs repairman gave us w/​detailed info & repairs could not be located by Sears or AHA. We didn’t make this up. Scanned & emailed paperwork to AHS. They said Sears does not know why repairman gave us this. Have already taken two days off work to accommodate their schedule. Another day tomorrow for supposed repair to be done. Wish I could have posted w/​o awarding any stars.

STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY! We’ve had them for one year and I’ve NEVER been more frustrated trying to get them to cover what their policy says it covers. There first instruction to all employees must be to DENY service (but you can’t find that out until you pay the $ 75 service fee for someone to come out and figure out the problem). We’ve had four service requests and only two of them were ‘covered’ after way too much arguing with customer service. Their customer service reps have NO ‘conflict resolution’ skills and won’t give out any information to talk with a supervisor or manager. UNBELIEVABLE! Miscommunication must be in their training program too, but they won’t even listen to reason when you point out the error in their policy (believe me, I read the 10 pitch font/​fine print). I can’t believe they’re still in business based on what I’ve seen in a year of ‘service.’

It seems like the standard operating for this company is to DENY first. Then we go to get it fixed ourselves and find it may have been covered but since we used our own contractor it cannot be reimbursed.. My Ejector pump burned up in my finished basement. The reason it was bad though was because the check valve in the line was broken and clogging the pipe. Also 2 parts of the toilet were damaged and needed to be replaced.
The report from the AHS PLUMBER was just that it was a bad ejector pump and we Don’t cover that. So we ended up paying someone to come out and they found the rest of the issues.
I am disappointed in AHS standard of service. Also THE AHS contractor who I am forced to use wanted to charge me $ 850 for repairs (after AHS wouldn’t cover it) — thank god I said no and called a local plumber for another quote because the local contractor I called only wanted $ 650 for the ejector pump.
What a RIP OFF!

We are very happy with the service. Wish AHS kept the deductible of $ 25 for existing customers.

American Home Shield needs to pay their sub-​contractors more because I’ve just spent about a month trying to get our pressure tank toilet fixed through Aaron Plumbing and my washer/​dryer fixed with Sears Home Services. I’ve never experienced worse service and customer service than I have from each of these 3 companies. Too bad I can’t talk my huz out of using AHS.

Horrible service.. .heat went out last Saturday so I put in a service request. Didn’t get a call until Tuesday. Said they would come out Thursday, didn’t show. Said Friday, finally showed up an hour AFTER the 4 hour window they gave us. Said the system wasn’t broken, but needed to be cleaned for $ 375! It was just cleaned last year for $ 100 by the same people.
Call AHS to complain, had to wait 25 minutes to get a live person. Told they couldn’t do anything and someone would call me on Monday.. .now going into the second week of no heat in our family room during the coldest time of the year.
I’ve been an AHS customer for 15 years.. . they used to have good service.. .I have noticed a continual deterioration (and increasing prices) over the past few years. I’m cancelling the service tomorrow and switching. So disappointing.