I reached out to my American Home Shield warranty company when I noticed my AC wasn't working properly. It started out simple with a service request via their website. Within a few days, the contractor they supplied reached out to me and we set up an appointment for them to diagnose the issue. When they arrived they determined that they were unable to provide service because they didn't have a ladder that was tall enough.
My condo is a 6 unit building and no taller than an average single family home. They told me that I would have to contact the warranty company in order for them to reassign another company. I contacted AHS within minutes of the the contractors leaving and was told that I would have to wait for an email from them once they were contacted by the contractor. They would not make any moves before talking with the contractor.
Four days passed and I never received an email or phone call from the warranty company with an update. I called them and was then told that the reason no one had contacted me was because they were having issues with finding someone that would have a ladder to access the roof. I asked to speak to a manager and was told that they had to put in a request for a manager to reach out to me and it could take up to 48 hours. I told them to go ahead with the manager request but it's been 2 weeks now and not one manager has called me. Anyway, after explaining to them the urgency, they gave me what they call "Outside Authorization" to find my own contractor. They gave me a list of companies that I couldn't use and sent me on my way.
I found one within minutes, scheduled an appointment, paid $149 service fee and determined that my compressor was blown and I would need a brand new unit. The repair costs would be over $6400. I asked them if they would bill the warranty company and they would not. They would bill me and I would need to be reimbursed by AHS. You can imagine my concern given their track record and if I had over $6000 laying around I wouldn't need a warranty company.
I reached back out to AHS to explain the issue and asked if they would be able to revisit one of their companies. The contractor I found did not have a tall ladder either but they used it on the back fire escape and was able to access the roof easily. They sent an email the next day with a new contractor however it stated that I need to pay yet another $100 service fee. Of course, I reached out to them and requested that it be waived because the only reason I used the outside authorization option was because I was told they were unable to find a contractor to service my request. Now within a day they had one and were asking for my money.
I battled with the representitive on why I should have the fee waived and after being put on hold for over 5 minutes he returned and said that I would be reimbursed the $149 fee that I paid to the outside contractor but only after the technician called them at a different number. I reached out to the contractor, gave them the contact information, and asked that they reach out immediately so that I could move forward. Of course, there's no urgency on their end because they have already received their money and have no interest in working with warranty companies.
During this time of waiting to get confirmation that my reimbursment is in place, I reached out to the new contractor that they assigned to me. I explained to him the issue and immediately after learning that the AC Unit was on the roof, he informed me that he would not be able to service it. Again, yet another contractor they supplied that was unable to do the work.
I have since reached out to cancel my warranty. I have resolved myself to the fact that I won't get reimbursed for the service fee I paid. Of course, the customer service number they supply on their website is not the number that I needed to cancel my contract. When the operator tried to transfer me, she came back to let me know that they were busy. I was given another number to call and assured that a form would be submitted to have them reach out to me. If it's anything like the manager call back form, I won't hold my breath. I'm fully prepared to have to spend my day hunting them down to cancel my contract. It has been nothing but a nightmare!! Oh and of course, I'm still without AC and it's approaching June!
Lastly, they only have one number to use. They only communicate to you via email. You can not submit any complaints or send any emails to them. They are not customer friendly and make no extra efforts to accomodate you regardless of the fact that you pay them monthly for a service. I'm hoping to break ties with them ASAP and get my last month's payment reimbursed seeing that I have not received any service at all.
This is a ripoff company , i bought home warranty coverage for my home, and when i call service for my water heater they sent contractor out but he not even touch the unit, he only advice me to call the whild pool because the water heater still under warranty with whirld pool. I am a 85 years old couple how can i get into the attic that is why i paid the AHS for the service.. after another 2 day by pass still no word from them, i call back but always have to stay on the line for atleast 30 minutes plus, end up i asked for cancel my contract they has transfer me to the cancelation department from there i had waits for an house plus .. still no one pick up the phone, then i have to call again and again to talk to customer service they said will put my request of cancelation and some one will call me in 24 to 48 hours. week passed by, no one has call, and today i call again and the autimated answer machine said that i own them $ 75.00 FOR THE SERVICE ( but nothing has done at all ).
I filted like this AHS do this to a lot off people . I can not even call or contact no one of their company to re quest my cancelation of my contract.
I just wanted to warn people about this company. Do not use them. I had a water heater break down. American Home Shield had someone come take a look and they said that it wasn't covered because it was not maintained and was all rusted out. Ok, fine I totally understand. I did have to pay the $100 service fee. Ok fine I understand that too. So I paid it via their website. The money came out of my account and I thought we were done. A week later American Home Shield took out another $100 without my authorization.
I called American home shield and was on hold for just about an hour before I got to speak to a rep. After I told them my story they apologized and said it was an error and gave me my money back. Then a few days later another $100 was taken out. Again without my authorization. I call again, on hold for over an hour this time. Finally got to talk to a rep. Again they apologized and I got my $100 back. Long story short this happened 4 times! 4 times they illegally took $100 out of my account without my authorization! $400 they tried to take from me! So I call to cancel my account. Another hour on hold. I talk to a rep and she told me that the cancellation department was very busy and she would have them call me back with in 24 hours. 4 days later I receive a voice mail message from American Home Shield and they told me that they were canceling my account and that they would be charging me an early cancellation fee.
So now they cancelled my account without my authorization. Then I had to call them again. ANOTHER HOUR ON HOLD! Finally got through, cancelled my account and they told me there was no cancellation fee. I told them about my voice message saying they were going to charge me. But they said that was also a mistake. Come on American Home Shield, get your self together! Bottom line this whole fiasco costed me about $60 in over withdraw fees from my bank because of the multiple unauthorized withdraws and I spent a good 6 HOURS on hold. American Home Shield is a sham. Be warned!
I telephoned American Home Shield to request service on my heat pump, when the Technician checked the system he informed me that the compressor was not working and stated that he would have to call his supervisor to confirm his finding. When the supervisor arrived he checked the heat pump and confirmed the Tech's findings, he then asked to see the furnace and removed the front cover ans took a picture of the components stating that the coil was pretty dirty and further stated that AHS would probably not cover the replacement of the compressor due to the furnace status. I explained that the unit had been serviced for the winter checkup and that the Tech did not see a problem with the inside unit or the heat pump at that time. I didn't discover a problem until after the recent ice storm last weekend. My system is nearly 20 years old as I bought my home when it was new in June of 1995, I have maintained the same indoor unit which I feel is great because most folks in my home development have replaced their units at least twice since buying their home around the same time.
I feel that AHS has disregarded the fact that I have had a contract with them for a long while and they have never replaced an appliance since my contract with them. The outside unit (heat pump) has been replaced once from the original carrier unit with the current brand (Trane) and I paid the full cost of replacement not AHS. Since they are unwilling to assist me with this service request I have no other recourse but to cancel my contract with them. I own two homes and just recently bought a service contract with AHS for the second home, after today I have cancelled both contracts and requested a full refund of my payment on the second home. No more Home Warranty Plans -- I will open an account at my credit union and place the monies in a separate account for home repair. What a waste of money to pay for a service contract for several years but not able to use it when needed.
Lastly, the Technicians they employ I feel are pretty much told which calls to approve or deny. Customer Service isn't any better, the Representative that called to let me know that my request was denied was very rude and discourteous further implying that I shouldn't expect AHS to repair my appliance if I failed to maintain the system as required and I stated how dare he disrepect me in such a way, I am 65 years old and have maintained the system just fine for 20 years.
We have been paying our monthly fee to AHS for many, many years and hardly use the service. Frankly it is cheaper and more reliable for us to just call a service man when we have problems and pay for it ourselves. That way we know the service is being done properly and not just in a band-aid fashion to save AHS money. What we felt we were going to use AHS for, was the big ticket items they advertise they will cover.
Our a/c is having a problem and the tech came out and blew some air in the condensation pipe and said it was plugged, and that was it. My brother is in the a/c business back east and they said, "nope", a band aid fix it again. The last time we tried to get them to repair a big ticket item, they blamed us for not properly servicing our item.
So, what is it exactly that AHS pays for and what is it we pay each month for years and years for? Once a person pays into their system for years and years, it is hard to justify cutting them off as that is exactly when one will have a problem that needs fixing. They probably count on people paying for years and then dropping out...after getting nothing for their/our money.
American Home Shield Home Warranty company now treats their clients so poorly. Avoid them like the plague. They used to do a good job. We've had a home warranty with them for 20 years. But in recent years, terrible. Especially their plumbing vendor, Rite-A-Way Services, Inc, which makes you wait 2-5 days for an appointment for a stopped up toilet or water leak, even emergency, charges $75 for the service fee then tells you a reason its not covered and will you pay them $600-800 to do it.
As a former high volume listing agent, I referred so many clients to them over the years. I am so sorry I did.
Here's the latest. My mother in law bought a home last month. I got her an AHS Home Warranty. Last week the shower valve broke and sprayed water. We had to turn the water off to the home. AHS sent Rite-A-Way Services, Inc. They did NOT come "Right a Way". They came 3 days later, even though her water was OFF to the home due to the leak. When they came, they said they can fix it, but it will then require $1,000 or more of tile work which they don't cover. Or, we can pay them $800 to do an "Upgraded fixture" which will cover the hole in the tile they must make. Or, we can have someone else fix it and AHS will credit us $150 or $160. So, we have someone else do it.
Then, I have a staffer call from my property management company call to ask for the credit. AHS won't talk to them. "Privacy" law. Yeah, like we have criminals calling AHS trying to covertly repair people's homes for them. So can I call? No, my 75 year old mother in law must call. So she calls. She comes off the phone so mad she can spit, and sends me this email, much of it in RED, which I didn't even know she knew how to do:
I can’t tell you how angry I am at home warranty people.
Called Fri… afternoon after being on hold over 20 minutes…. I told them a service man came out…. the one you talked to Ian, and said I would be reimbursed $150 or $160 and wanted them to process it immediately as I needed it to pay my plumber. They said it was Friday and too late to do that but to call Monday
Come Monday… I call again in AM wait for another 18 minutes,,and told they would put it on for the first thing and call me or e-mail me the information.
No call.
Tuesday… Call again…. put on hold… finally get through and talk to Zack.
TOLD: I OWE THEM $20.00!!!!!
As far as I understood… I owe home warranty $ 75.
I also owe the technician for a service call $65.00 for coming out.
Now… they are only giving me A CREDIT OF $120.00 not $150 or $160 as they promised.
THEN FROM THAT I OWE THE 75.00 DOLLARS AND THE 65 DOLLARS.
I have been a customer of American Home Shield for several years. For the last three years I have been calling in service calls to have my heating/ac unit fixed. They have replaced several parts that have went out causing all of my coolant to run out of the unit. Well, I am totally frustrated at this point because everytime this happen it costs me another $600/700 to fill back up the unit because AHS does not cover coolant. I understand the every year maintenace but what about fxing the problem. If the coolant is running out because of a val or something, isnt putting the coolant back in there also fixing it. The companies are putting a bandage on the problem as far as fixing and I have to suck up the biggest cost. Then I call back in to speak to a supervisor and the rep that I spoke to on the phone is completely rude and tells me that someone will call me.
Signed up for a Pick 10 policy for $611 to cover all major appliaces in April 2014.
Yesterday the water heater tank breaks and floods my basement. The shut-off valve to the heater breaks and water keeps flowing. I shut the main to the house and cap the water inlet to the heater so that I can restore water to the rest of the house. After two more hours cleaning up the basement I go online to report the problem to AHS. A tech is scheduled for the next day. When the tech comes he says that he cannot report to AHS because the water input pipe has been capped. I call AHS and they say that they can't cover the damaged appliance because the imput pipe was capped. So, according to them I was not supposed to touch the system and was supposed to stay without water for two days until it was convenient for their tech to show up!
This is a total ripoff. It is clear AHS works with incompetent techs to dream up idiotic excuses not to honor claims and ripoff consumers.
We bought our house almost 2 years ago. The warranty was included so we renewed when the time came and made sure they had all of our appliances covered on the warranty. Our fridge broke Christmas night. I called AHS the very next morning. I have an infant who is on prescribed formula that once it is made it must be refrigerated. Not only could AHS not find a repair man to come out to my house they didn't even call me to let me know they couldn't find anyone till the following week. I had to call AHS constantly to get status updates. After 6 hours of them calling "7" companies they still couldn't find anyone to come. I made two calls and found someone who could come out the next day, Saturday morning.
The repair man was very nice and walked me through what could possibly be wrong. My fridge is no longer made so the part is unavailable. The repair man called it in to AHS and got the authorization number for the work. I was told that I would need a new fridge since there is no way to fix my fridge. Because I have an infant and the New Year coming up, I wanted to follow through with AHS after the repair man left to make sure that this was taken care of right away since my family is currently living out of a cooler. AHS said they basically didn't believe the repair man and needed me to get a second opinion. Now I have to wait till at least Monday (4 days after I made the initial call) to find out when a second repair man will be able to come out to look at my fridge. I asked the AHS rep Darrel (I believe is his name) if they would allow me to go buy a mini fridge to make sure that my daughters prescribed formula was the correct temperature and they said they would not do that. They would only allow me to possibly buy a cooler and told me I should buy dry ice. We pay almost $800 a year for this so called "warranty". I asked to talk to a supervisor and Darrel told me that he would have one call me right away. I have now been waiting for over 11 hours for that call.
If this "warranty" company that I have paid so much money too over the last two years isn't going to fix the problems then they need to give me my money back. I could have had a repair man out to my house the morning my fridge broke and had a new one delivered the next day. But no, I have a warranty and have to wait 4 days just to get a call as to when someone might be able to come out. The best part that Darrel told me on the phone today is that if I do need a new fridge, it will take 5-7 business days once approved to get the actual fridge. That would be 2-3 weeks after I made the initial call. So now I get to keep my food and my baby's prescribed formula in a cooler until then. What a wonderful experience this has NOT been.
Last year I had a problem with my furnace and contacted AHS for repairs. The contractor came out and said that he'd have to order the part. Unfortunately I wound up without heat during the record low temperatures in Atlanta last year. It was miserable. Despite using space heaters the temperature still got below freezing (the water in my dog's water bowl actually froze).
I was not at all pleased about the delay but AHS and the contractor assured me that they were doing everything possible to get that part ASAP. The problem according to the contractor is that I have a Trane furnace and that Trane requires that parts come directly from them.
After five days of miserable cold the furnace was fixed and I hoped that I would never deal with that again.
This year - remembering how miserable I was last year - I tested the furnace in October and once again the furnace would not start. On October 7th I sent a request to AHS to have the furnace repaired.
Since then I have had contractors come to my house three times (and the gas company once). I was once again told that part of the delay was waiting for a part that only Trane could provide, only to be told by the next contractor that the replaced part was "generic" and not from Trane.
I've spoken with AHS several times but nothing seems to make a difference.
Two days ago I was promised by AHS that my case has now been escalated and that a special team would now be in touch with me daily to ensure that this furnace is finally fixed. I've not heard back from AHS since.
Living like this has now affected my health. On Friday I had to go to the doctor for xrays and prescriptions for pneumonia. Still no heat.
If you read through the many complaints on here you will notice that my situation is not unusual. At this point I assume that I have no option but to hire a contractor directly and also assume that whatever is wrong with my furnace, it must be serious and that's why the contractors and AHS have been either unable or unwilling to fix it.
Does AHS do this deliberately? Or do they just have no idea what is going on? Or what?
In any event, you will not know if AHS will take care of your problem until you have a problem - and when that happens, if the repair is a necessary one (like having heat!) then you are out of luck.
We had previously had trouble with a septic tank and then called and we paid more on our policy to cover this if it ever happened again. Well we had another problem so we contacted America Home Shield. We were told they only do it for one year and then drop the coverage. We were never notified about this or told then when we paid the extra to have it covered. If you choose to use them look for every possible loop hold that they could possibly find. I believe this company is deceptive and not a reputable company. We tried to rectify it but we could never able to get to a supervisor. Beware!
If you have been ripped off by American Home Shield for a home waranty like I and thousands of others please help us collect you articles and personal experiences by not only posting here but on the Facebook page linked below. This company needs to make right on its claims or be stoped. Spar terry the BBB does not care about there real record or most state atorney Gennerals about the constituents that are ripped off. We need your stories and your articles. .https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=767647919974748&refsrc=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fpages%2FAmerican-Home-Shield-are-scammers%2F767647919974748&_rdr
Multiple trips to fix door opener and washer. Customer service is rude and non helpful. When you have a problem call Corporate headquaters at 901-537-8000. Ask for Rene Golwitzer. Then demand to talk to Mark Barry President. He can also be reached at901-525-7800.
American Home Shield (AMS) Home Warranty sent a repairman from A U.S. Air to fix my central air conditioner in May 2013. He failed to diagnose the problem and simply replaced the Freon in the unit. At this time my AHS warranty covered Freon replacement. Over the next year or so, A U.S. Air had to come out 5 or 6 more times to add Freon and the occasional stop leak but only actually diagnosed the problem after multiple follow-up and complaint calls. Meanwhile I renewed my AHS home warranty which changed Freon coverage rules in August 2013. AHS refuses to honor the contract that was in place when the initial call was made even though all the subsequent service requests were pursuant to the initial contract and service request. The employees and customer service reps cannot possibly be as stupid as they pretend therefore I can only conclude they are reading from a script from which they are not allowed to deviate. My research uncovered this to be a SOP for this company and a lawsuit is required to get them to do the right thing. Even though it is not cost effective, I’ll be filing a small claims lawsuit just the same.
I have a policy with American Home Shield for several years and must say that the company is TRASH! It comes down to this. Over the last several years I have called on them to file a claim on my a/c unit a few times. When called they send someone to fix it several days later. This is not customer service at all.
Recently they deied a claim again on my A/C unit that malfunctioned based on maintenance support or lack of. So the compressor burnt out. I filed a claim and several days later someone shows up. Today American Home Shield calls and says we are not covering because the lack on maintenance on the A/C unit. Now I'm in no way a HVAC person so this is why I filed a claim.
so I have contacted my attorney and will be filing a law suite again American Home Shield for breach of contract.
Word to the wise folks American home Shield is Trash, save your money and don't deal with these folks
American Home Shield company is a ripoff, I was a customer of AHS for over a year, I paid my monthly payments and all my deductables. I called AHS to service my central air it cost me $588.00 dollars and my unit is still not connect because I need to spend another $589.00 to have it connected. also my washer needed serving, the contractor came out I paid my deductable, and he reported that my home had a flood witch would not be covering the repairs. I explanned to AHS that my home did not flood, so they stated that it wasn't normal ware and tear. the contractor had taken loose my washer and that's how it was left. I asked to speak to the owner because that not customer satifaction
Do not use this service they are a rip off ,, second year in a row ,, i need to pay addtional $2,000 for my repair when i got the home warrenty to avoid the fees big rip all over $400.00 a year to subscribe then $75 service fees only too be told i need also pay hundreds more when the tech comes out because some repairs are not coverd on the iteam that need to be repaired,, cancelled there service today will be contacthing the better bussiness bureau what a scam please dont subscribe to AMERICAN HOMESHIELD it is a scam
Called AHS due to kitchen sink blockage. The tech informed me that AHS reuired them to get the $75.00 service fee and then he would call AHS to see if it was covered and to fix the problem it would require snaking the pipe through the roof. Afer I paid the $75.00 AHS informed them that it was not covered. I had to pay the plumber an additional $200.00 to get the blockage fixed for a total of $275.00. BIG RIPOFF!!!!!!
American Home Shield appears to running a scam. Each of three separate times I've tried to invoke the warrantly under they plan I purchased from them, they have refused to pay. It's amazing how inventive they can be when it comes to finding excuses not to pay for what should be covered under their plan.
My toliet "clogged". called AMERICAN HOME SHIELD who sent out ADVANCE DRAIN CLEANING. the young man worked for 3 hours and then told me that they would have to take the toliet off to undo the clog since they could not clear it. the "approval"" would take 3 or 4 hours, they would call and reschedule they told me ""we turned off the water"". and they left. i called for 2 days and got nothing but ""we will call you"". after FIVE days, i came downstairs to find my kitche light would not work, then i stepped into water. in came from the cieling. call AHS and the plumbing company. was told since i put somethig down there the contract was null and void.
WHAT did i put down ther? i have NO idea. i'm blind i saw NOTHING going in. they would not even bother to tell me they were not coming back. so i had to get another plumber who came and within 15 seconds got the piece of cleaning cloth out. he told me ""THE WATER WAS NOT NOT TURNED OFF"" which caused overflow leak into the cieling. i now have to pay for a new cieling, new floors in the kitchen since it huckled. new light fixture.
my insurance company is paying for part of it. but i am over 2000 dollars in the hole for them NOT turning off the water and NOT telling me they were not coming back. i posted on their wensite and their ""consumer affairs" person wrote and said they wanted to ""tal"" to me however they left no name nor phone number. i called and been waiting for 2 days for a recall. crappy service and crappy dealers. i've told everyone i turned on to this company to NOT use them and cancel the contract asap. i think AHS and ADCANCE should not only pay for damage but reemburst the insrance company AND ME for stress .....from what i can tell they are NOT a good company.
I have had 3 issues in 2 yeas! All took months to repair and a fight to try and get it covered! The people they send are clueless and unlicensed! The last guy lied and said someone unplugged or had worked on it so my insurance could use that as excuse not to pay! No one had touched it and if it had been unplugged it would not have worked the previous 2 years! Contractor not only lied but didn't return calls and this was enough good enough for them to refuse to pay!
Purchased the highest level of warranty coverage for our home from AHS. Had a ceiling fan quit running, called AHS and they sent a contractor out who stated the fan was incorrectly installed - it was installed in a light fixture ceiling box when it should have been installed in a ceiling fan box.
Even though the contract says improperly installed items are covered (as are ceiling fans and all components), they denied the claim saying installing the correct ceiling fan box is an UPGRADE and upgrades are not covered!
What a joke! They offered no remedies other than I could file a complaint with the PO Box of their corporate office. Stay clear of this company!
Every year for the past 5 years, my AC unit fails. I have a contract with American Home Shield since 2005. This contract covers appliances, heating & AC units, pipes and leaks. I pay $50 per month to maintain this service.
Calling and getting service is like pulling teeth. About 3 weeks ago the AC unit stopped cooling and after several phone calls and delays about 2 weeks later the AC was fixed. 3 days later the ceiling under the AC drain pipe came down in the playroom where my tenants 6 yr old plays. I called AHS and after several calls a supervisor assured me that the matter had been upgraded as an expedited emergency and someone would be out immediately. This was 3 days ago. I have made several calls and no one has bothered to return my call. I have cancelled my auto debit to this company and urge consumers to not do any business with them.
I would be interested in an attorney contacting me if they want to take this case on a contingency basis.
American Home Shield came out to our home for a simple plumbing leak. They did not fix it correctly after two calls and $110.00 in co payments. We then hired a real plumber, and he found mold growing under the sink where they never fixed the leak. We also got a class action law suit paperwork in the mail against them for not fixing claims filed by homeowner's. Beware they have unskilled companies working for them. They are about collecting the co-payments and pretending to fix it.
I had my first experience with AHS. They sent an HVAC company that clearly represented that there was a problem with the drip pan that needed to be replaced. Of course, it's not covered. I called my HVAC company that I have used for years and that I trust. The problem: the coils were so dirty it backed up the system to a point that the condensation was dripping over the drip pan. I'll try to get any unused portion of my premium returned to me. I don't know the point in using a company you can't trust and who, in my case, sent out an unqualified technician.
I WILL DUMP THESE SCAMMERS MONDAY. A/C WENT OUT 9PM 3RD OF JULY........THEY STARTED A WORK ORDER AND GAVE ME THE COMPANY NAME THAT WAS COMING OUT TOMORROW, I WAITER TILL 9 AM ON THE 4TH THEN CALL THEM AND WAS TOLD THEY DO NOT WORK HOLIDAYS!! ITS SUMMER HERE IN VEGAS MY HOUSE WAS 94 DEGREES AND NOBODY WOULD HAVE CALLED ME IF I DID NOT DO IT MYSELF. THEY TOLD ME REPAIR VENDORS DO NOT WORK HOLIDAYS AND I SAID THATS BULLSHIT. THEY SAID THEY CAN ONLY DISPATCH A EMERGENCY WORK ORDER IF THE TEMP IS OVER 105!!!!! LOL.......IT COST ME 247.00 AFTER I CALLED A COUPLE PLACES AND GOT ONE OUT AT 1:00 PM THE 4TH OF JULY
I called American Home Shield in December to have my water heater fixed. The first two contractors didn't know how to work on a tankless water heater. I finally got authorization to get a contractor who knew what he was doing, got the problem diagnosed, and had an estimate sent to AHS. AHS has refused to pay the contractor, saying that they need to speak with them. The contractor has attempted to call AHS several times, and the last time he was transferred five times without ever getting to someone who could authorize a payment to my contractor. So, AHS says the contractor must call, but they can't get through, and AHS won't transfer me to a person who can sort this out. What the heck am I supposed to do?
It's now almost June and I still have a water heater that functions intermittently. That's five (5) months from the initial service call. I'll be calling a lawyer if I can't get this sorted out tomorrow.
As a former loyal customer with American Home Shield, since 1988, I want to WARN anyone who is considering doing business with this company to STAY AWAY. What was once a professional home warranty company which offered good service, protection along with peace of mind is now a SCAM operation.
Yes, Rebbeca Wyatt (Manager, Customer Loyalty) will send you a form letter stating: "...We consider it a privlege to have you as a customer. We strive to make your life easier..." That is until you have a problem with a major home system and you are turned over to the Boiler Room of AHS Claims Dept. Then it becomes nothing but stress. Not worth it.
As previously stated, initially when my wife and I purchased our home in 1988, the AHS warranty was included and subsequently we renewed each year, in the event that we'd need repairs (or replacement) on big ticket items (plumbing, heating, etc) On occassion we would have a toilet back up or garbage disposal problem, we'd request service, it was repaired, we'd pay the small deductable fee and life would go on. Happy, satisfied customers.
In the summer of 1999, our evaporator cooler needed to be replaced. It had rusted out and leaked. Long story short, it was replaced without any hassle. It continued to operate fine until a few months ago, in April. After 15 years, it was time for a new unit and needed to be replaced.
That's when it all began...On April 27, I called to request service and an AHS service contracter was dispatched to our home to diagnose the problem. Unfortunately, he reported back to AHS that the problem was due to "a lack of proper maintenance" and our request for service was DENIED. I was notified first by a phone call, then by a letter from AHS citing the section of the contract which related to the denial. Naturally, I disagreed with the decision, as I had properly maintained the care of the unit over the course of 15 years. It had simply worn out. Rusted out and leaked water.
I won't go into more detail except to state, I believe AHS and service contractors who work on their behalf, are in business to deny claims (especially on big ticket items) whenever possible. Blame the customer. Create a system which is designed to frustrate and wear you down.
The top people at AHS like, Rebecca Wyatt (and Jack Torregrossa previously) are insulated from the very customers they claim to want to serve. Nothing could be farther from the truth, instead you get a Claims Dept/Boiler Room mentality existing at AHS where people seem to care less about you and your 26 years of being a loyal customer. Wear you down is the name of the game. Total disrespect. Highly unprofessional.
Needless to say, my wife and I did not renew our contract with AHS in June. After much back and forth between AHS and us, we opted for a buyout offer from AHS and we were on our own to get a new evaporator cooler (which happily we did).
Things are good now, however it's been a long road for my wife and I in achieving true peace of mind. We decided we are better off putting the 508.00 yearly service charge in a savings account, should we have any future problems with items breaking down in our home than giving it to AHS.
In closing, 1988 seems like another lifetime, things were different then. And in all fairness, there were a number of years when we got good service, which is one reason why we stayed with the company. But things have changed.
As I mentioned at the beginning of my letter, AHS at one time was a company you could believe in. No more. The AHS SCAMMERS of 2014 are alive and kicking. Waiting to take your hard earned money, built on empty sales pitches from Customer Loyalty Managers, such as Rebecca Wyatt, in exchange for stressful days and nights. No thanks. Consider this FAIR WARNING.
I have been a faithful customer for almost 10 years; however, this current experience with AHS has been absolutely HORRIBLE!! An AHS contractor came to my home almost 2 weeks ago (in 2 days). AHS did not like what the contractor told them was wrong, so AHS sent a 2nd contractor 3 days later who told them the same thing the 1st contractor said. In the meantime, we are SUFFERING because our upstairs AC in not working in our home. All of our bedrooms are upstairs! After talking to 6 different representatives, at AHS, and being given the run around, I called corporate office. We still do NOT have AC on the top level of our home and have no idea when the contractor is coming to fix it. As I type this message, it is almost 91 degrees upstairs where my son is sleeping. This is RIDICULOUS and UNACCEPTABLE!!! We will NOT be renewing our contract in June when it expires and we will be sharing our experience with all of our friends and family.
On Febuary 25, I sent an email to have my Home Shield service cancelled. The following month I was charged anyway. I called again but even though customer service was available the cancellation department was closed. I asked customer service again to email the "cancellation" department. I was still billed. I had to changed my credit card number because this was the behavior of a credit card hack. On May 20, I received a letter from a collection agency. I contacted the customer service department again and they confirmed receipt of the cancellation email but they said I needed to call them just incase I changed my mind....exact words!! I suggest anyone to look elsewhere before accepting any type of contract with AHS
I have been trying to have a bathroom leak fixed for over a week. the service company assigned to me has only returned 1 phone call in over 6 days. i'm still waiting for them to repair the leak.
tried calling ahs, waited over 30 minutes on one call, and over 45 mins for another. still waiting for the repair. now, they have re-assigned it to another repair company. here we go again.
Long story short: We moved into our 4500sq antique home April 2013. I called AHS for handful of plumbing issues, all of which could have been fixed in 2 visits tops. Jan 2014 and I'm still dealing with the fallout these issues. What it boils down to is that AHS does not have it's end client in mind, and their structure incentivizes their technicians to prolong the work and create more issues in your home so that they can come back and charge more, I've gone through 3 technicians, all 3 had the same M.O. AHS looses out on this structure as well, so it makes no sense to me.
Bottom line, I'm out $500, plus the cost of the plan, so over $1000. Not to mention countless hours on the phone with AHS, days where I was chained to the house because I had to wait for multiple and unnecessary technician visits, and aggravation. In the end, I would have been significantly better off without the plan, which on top of it all is limited and has all sorts of restrictions on it.
Frankly, it's the most useless thing you could do, and you might as well shoot yourself in the foot if you buy a plan with AHS.
4/3/14The heat pump/ac was not working in my condo rental unit in North Carolina. I contacted American Home Shield to fix it. First time they sent out a technician from Carolina Air and he said the problem was due to wiring. That technician didn't have a ladder (unit is on the roof) or the equipment to take care of iissue properly when he showed up. Eventually, with the assistance of my brother he was able to (supposedly) make the repair.
5/15/14 Six weeks later I had a family renting and they called to say the AC wasn't working. I called American Home Shield again.
5/22 They finally send out another technician from Carolina Air (7 days to get there). We specifically told them to bring a ladder this time. Same thing happened. The technician showed up with no ladder, and he ran out of gas, which my brother had to help with again. This time they diagnosed the problem as "no coolant". When I asked where the leak was he didn't know and said "sometimes it happens spontaneously". 9 pounds of coolant later (AHS only pays $10/pound), another service fee, and a bill totaling $435.00 I was told everything was in good working order.
I spent the next two weeks trying to get the service fee of $75.00 reimbursed. I spoke with numerous people including supervisors and not one person called me back. They even agreed that I should be reimbursed since it was within the 60 day period. But nobody authorized to approve the reimbursement ever returned my call.
6/9/14 Now 2 1/2 weeks later I have another renter arriving and the property manager calls to say the AC is not working. I call American Home Shield again. Now it happens to be 90 degrees out and no AC. Not a good situation. What I would call an emergency, American Home Shield tells me is NOT. Again they send out another technician, luckily this time he brings a ladder, and the problem is diagnosed as a small hole in the compressor. Now I'm told that American Home Shield has to order the part. I spend the whole day dealing with an Authorization Supervisor named Katrina Butler. Not only does she tell me they can't fix it until they get diagnosis from Carolina Air (who won't have the technician call in the diagnosis, and won't be back to the office until the morning with his paperwork) pricing from their various vendors, approvals of the pricing, and authorization of the repair cost, but she thinks it could take up to 3-5 days to get the part delivered.
At this point i'm so upset at the poor responses, customer service and obvious lack of concern for my situation, I teach out to another heating/air conditioning company, Southmoore Heating and Cooling. I spoke with the service department and gave them the model and serial number. They were able to locate a replacement compressor and have it installed by the next day. When I contacted Katrina Butler and explained that I could have this taken care of the next day she refused to approve it. She stated "she needs to be conscious of the company cost savings", "it's consisdered retail", and if I wanted to pay out of pocket she couldn't tell me what AHS would reimburse me until she had all her numbers from the vendors.
I have never gone out of my way to criticize a company before. This is the first time I've ever publicly posted a bad review or comment. But this is absolutely the worst service I have ever received. Not only is the customer servie bad, but they way I was spoken to and treated by the supervisor was awful. They are not a service oriented company. They only want to make money by paying the cheapest contractors, replacement parts and labor.
Save time and aggrevation, choose another company.
We have been loyal AHS customers since we purchased our very first home in 2002, and have been in our current home using AHS for 7 years. We have always sworn by them and given any of our friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, etc. who were homeowners crazy looks whenever they indicated they didn't have a home warranty! AHS was always our first recommendation. The service has always been impeccable - even when it wasn't a covered repair. But today they have really messed up!
We have the extended plan which covers our HVAC unit - and we have 2 of them since we have a 2 story home which costs us approximately $600/year. We also have the HVAC preventative maintenance plan which is an additional $330/year. As a part of the preventative maintenance plan, AHS will send a HVAC technician out twice per year to inspect our HVAC system. We just had this done in October 2013 and the technician rated everything Satisfactory. Well this weekend my A/C went out. I submitted a service request to AHS and the technician came out today and advised that the evaporator coils were badly clogged and had been for quite some time and were beyond repair/cleaning and needed to be replaced. AHS is refusing to cover the repair to the tune of $4K because of poor maintenance of the evaporator coil --- but hello they did the maintenance check in October and advised that the evaporator coil was in satisfactory condition. How do you get to refuse to repair an item due to improper maintenance when you are the company performing the maintenance and indicated the system was satisfactory.
After being passed around several times between the AHS service department and the preventative maintenance department, I asked to speak to a supervisor and was told I could write a letter!!!!! After continuing to press for a supervisor I was told they would give someone a message to call me back and 4 hours later and I am still waiting. After this experience, even though it is my first bad experience with AHS, it's a doozy enough for me to completely end my relationship with them and never recommend them to anyone else, in addition to filing a complaint with the BBB and the Texas State Attorney General's office because this reeks of fraud to me!!
I had a problem with my central air unit in January of 2014. I called AHS to start a claim ti have it fixed. After paying the $75 fee, they finally sent a ""Technician"" to my house to look at it.
The first thing the ""Technician"" did was to hook up the R12 refrigerant gauges to check the levels...problem was that the valves on the gauges were not shut correctly, and he bled the R12 refrigerant out of my unit! When he finally closed the valves, my unit was 3 pounds low! He said that it was not his fault, and wanted me to pay $130.00 for each pound of refrigerant...because my AHS warranty only covers $10 of each pound.
Ok, so on to the REAL problem...My unit was not going into defrost mode, so the heater part was not working correctly. This problem was forcing the system to go into ""emergency heating"" mode, which jacked up my electricity bill from $250 to $600 for 1 month.
After an hour and a half, the technician found out that the defrost circuitboard was bad. He said that he didn't have one and that he would have to order it. Almost 2 weeks later, I got a call from the technician that he was already at my house, and he had the part to put on. He asked if he should put it on now, or come back later...but the earliest date he could come back was 2 weeks out. I didn't trust him alone, but told him to put the part on.
I rushed home, hoping to catch the technician before he left, but he was gone. I tested the system, and it seemed to work ok. The next day I turned the system off, as I did not need it due to the weather.
The next time I used my system was in spring, when I needed the air on. Well, long story short, it was 90 degrees outside, 86 degrees inside, thermostat set to 50 degrees, and my central air unit was totaly frozen.
Why was it frozen? because the unit was NOT going into defrost mode!
So, I called American Home Shield to complain...they told me that my policy expired earlier that morning, and I would have to renew my policy to start a ""NEW"" claim, being that it had been 60 days past the first claim, and they couldn't do anything for me.
American Home Shield Home Warranties are scammers, and the contractors they use are shady, too!
Here is the information I have, so that other people can stay away from these scammers:
American Home Shield, 889 Ridge Lake Blvd, Memphis, TN 38120, 1-888-257-5726
AND...the best part? I live in South Carolina! Why couldn't AHS use a contractor that was local to me? They had to use one from out of state? Makes no sense...and my AC unit is still broken!!
Two of my a/c's failed on 4/28/14. I called AHS the same day to schedule service. To date not one person has called or come by my home to assess the repairs needed for the a/c. On 5/2/14 I called AHS and terminated my contract. I hired a "real" and "reputable" a/c company who came out on 5/5/14 and replaced one of the two a/c's and repaired the other one. I spent $6596.00 to have this work done. ALL of this should have been covered by AHS under the terms of the warranty I purchased.
I am a recent victom of AHS. I cancelled my account few months ago and today I received a letter from their collection Agency Transword Systems Inc for a balance of $ 426. This is insane. A terrible company with misinformed staff. They confirmed during cancellation that they do not report to collection agency . All bunch of lie. I am goingto reach them again tomorrow. What a pain... I will not recommend anyone to signup ith them again.
Horrendous company. Recently called for a leak in our bathroom sink. We called first thing Saturday morning. They told us to call the plumber they assigned within 30 minutes if we didn't hear from them. We called. They were closed. Still had the leak so my husband removed a tube and turned off valves. Plumber shows up Monday afternoon and says the repair won't be covered because the tube was removed. Never mind the water damage that is clearly visible. Never mind that they told us they'd have a plumber Saturday and didn't. Previous call was for a burner on the stove. Fails 80% of the time. We were told it wouldn't be covered until it ""failed completely"". Never mind that it leaks gas 80% of the time instead of lighting. We tried elevating these issues to no avail. Only when I called to cancel today did they they backtrack...offered to refund service fees, etc. No thanks. I canceled the policy and plan on spreading the word far and wide to stay away from American Home Shield or you will be ripped off.
This review is lengthy and could be longer, but this is a true, honest experience we have had with AHS. We have had this service since we bought our home in 2002 with a brief 6 months back in 2005 when we didn't have them. We have called them out every summer for 12 years, sometimes twice and have called them out in the winter time as well. They send someone to do patch work on the ac units, we have two units in our home and both have had issue but the main unit is the one that has issues constantly. This past Tuesday, we came home to a hot house. We are in Texas and its already hot here! I called AHS and spoke to a very rude agent...I was rude too afterward. I pay this bill every month for 12 years and pay every time someone comes out. They sent a company out on Wednesday. The company that came out stated it was the coils and it would need replacing as well as leaks etc. but the coils were clean. He then gave us a sales pitch for a new unit that they could install. We have kept this service for all of this time because we knew and they knew that these units are going to need replacing, not just patching up. And by the way, our electric bills in the summer run between $400 and as high as $1000 before. Our units are 1997 units.
On Thursday, we received a call from AHS stating that our out of pocket will be $1500 and $600 of that is the freon, it uses R22. They stated that the company normally charges $60 per pound of freon but they saved me money by only charging $50 per pound!!! I asked them what are they paying for and how much they are paying but they claimed to not have that information. And to add salt to this, they said we could do a cash out and find our own repair person and they would pay us what they would have paid the company that gave us the estimate....that amount is $620 but you only get it when you submit the receipts showing the repairs have been done! I asked about canceling my service because I just bought all new appliance for the kitchen and laundry so I really don't need their service if they aren't going to pay for a new ac unit. They told me I would have to pay cancellation fees and penalties....my contract end June 26, 2014! We have wasted so much money with this company, the rates have gone up every year and the service fees have to. I also didn't mention that we had them to come out a few years ago to replace out garbage disposal, the guy comes out. uses a broom, it worked all of 3 days, I called AHS back and they said they would not send anyone else out nor fix it! We let that slide thinking our home was otherwise protected...NOT!
We have had American Home Shield (AHS) for several years for Home appliance Insurance. As much money as we paid and a Customer for several years, you would think they would service customers nicely. We called in for a repair Job and Customer Service has given us the wrong information about our warranty. We end up paying for someone to service our appliance instead. They gave us a Credit Card for the amount of $75 as a credit but the system would not allow us to activate it. This time, we made another call to Customer Service for a Dryer repair. The AHS told us that once the repairman arrives to give them a call so we can use the $75 Card for the Home Service fee from Sears. Instead, it was an Hour wait on the phone and they hung up on my wife and had to call back and wait another 40 minutes. When we finally got a hold of somebody, they told us they would not honor the card. We asked for the Supervisor and she was flat out rude and told us we can cancel our service if we want. Nice Customer Serice! You would think as a loyal customer for several years, they would want to help us. Instead, we got a run-around and the problem was never solved. I think its time to cancel them. What a Rip Off. Think twice before you invest your money on a Home Insurance. Definitely not worth the hassle from these guys.
I am renting a home that has AHS covered appliances. From the day we moved in, the Stove did not operate. We placed multiple calls with each one requiring a service person then later a part that was ordered to fix the problem. We are now going into our third month trying to convince AHS that the stove is not repairable and should be replaced with a new one. They continue to drag out the need for service evaluations to see WHY it is not working. We are very upset, have not had a working stove to provide our needs for cooked meals. Forced to go through the long, drawn out process of possible repair first, then they might consider replacing. A real nightmare. I do not recommend anyone paying a dime for this scam service that utilizes poor quality vendors to perform non-professional repair attempts. So far 3 different repair technicians, none of which knew the first thing about the simple, non descript cheap appliance or how to fix it.
Take heed...do NOT waste your money here! Put it in an escrow account for a day you really do need something fixed. They apparently have a license to steal! Read the other comments, there are many here and all over the net!
We strongly advise consumers away from American Home Shield when looking for a ""Home Warranty"" Company.
We also strongly advise anyone from using Star Services Inc in Mount Pleasant SC, an AHS service company.
Over the years we have had a few legitimate claims that have been denied by American Home Shield on ridiculous grounds.
Denied Claim #1: Dishwaster repair denial by AHS and their ""service provider: Star Services in Mount Pleasant SC. Our tenant asked us to have the dishwasher repaired, which had failed and was not draining water properly. We called AHS to make the repairs under our policy. The sent Start Service out to affect the repair. However, as we learned later, under the fine print of the pollicy, AHS says that ""missing parts is grounds to deny your claim"". So, when, as the Star Serviced technician suggestec, a dishwasher part broke-off in the dishwashwer during a cycle, and clogged the drain (the technician said that likely happened), they denied the claim! Star Serices collected their $75 service fee from us, but didn't even offer to fix it or even provide a solution or part number and didn't even open the drain up to recover the broken part that was clogging the drain! Upon follow-up with AHS on March 27, they angrily denied the claim ""due to the missing part"", and hung up the phone on me, refusing to listen to the explanation that the broken part had gone down the drain and was clogging it. When I called back on March 28 2014 to ask to speak to a supervisor, they said a supervisor would call me back in 24-48 hours. No call ever came. When I called Star Services in Mount Pleasant SC to ask why the techician didn't open up the drain and recover the part, they refused to allow me to speak to the technician, or provide me a part number or explain why they didn't open up the drain to recover the broken part that was clogging the drain.
Denied Claim #2. Emergency Propane Leak Repair Denial. This winter during the bitter cold on a Friday, we detected propane gas leaking into our home, evacuated the home immediately, and called the propane supplier. They informed us we must immediatel get a gas certified plumber into to find and fix the leak or we'd have to stay in a hotel until it was cleared. We called an emergency plumber who immediately found and fixed the problem for $525. AHS denied the claim because we didn't call them first -- even though it was an emergency. Every service firm -- including the one AHS uses -- stated the $525 was significantly cheaper than they would have done the work for. They denied it on a strict technicality.
Denied Claim #3. HVAC Repair Denial. AHS trains their service providers to find dirt in even relatively clean systems so they can deny the claim and try to sell you their ""annual maintenance agreement."" We had service man regularly clean our HVAC systems annually, and they STILL claimed dirt in the system as the basis do deny the claim.
American Home Shield leads you to believe you are purchasing an insurance plan to protect against unexpected appliance failures and home repairs. But they carefully train their technicians to find an excuse to deny the claim.
American Home Shield Reviews
I reached out to my American Home Shield warranty company when I noticed my AC wasn't working properly. It started out simple with a service request via their website. Within a few days, the contractor they supplied reached out to me and we set up an appointment for them to diagnose the issue. When they arrived they determined that they were unable to provide service because they didn't have a ladder that was tall enough.
My condo is a 6 unit building and no taller than an average single family home. They told me that I would have to contact the warranty company in order for them to reassign another company. I contacted AHS within minutes of the the contractors leaving and was told that I would have to wait for an email from them once they were contacted by the contractor. They would not make any moves before talking with the contractor.
Four days passed and I never received an email or phone call from the warranty company with an update. I called them and was then told that the reason no one had contacted me was because they were having issues with finding someone that would have a ladder to access the roof. I asked to speak to a manager and was told that they had to put in a request for a manager to reach out to me and it could take up to 48 hours. I told them to go ahead with the manager request but it's been 2 weeks now and not one manager has called me. Anyway, after explaining to them the urgency, they gave me what they call "Outside Authorization" to find my own contractor. They gave me a list of companies that I couldn't use and sent me on my way.
I found one within minutes, scheduled an appointment, paid $149 service fee and determined that my compressor was blown and I would need a brand new unit. The repair costs would be over $6400. I asked them if they would bill the warranty company and they would not. They would bill me and I would need to be reimbursed by AHS. You can imagine my concern given their track record and if I had over $6000 laying around I wouldn't need a warranty company.
I reached back out to AHS to explain the issue and asked if they would be able to revisit one of their companies. The contractor I found did not have a tall ladder either but they used it on the back fire escape and was able to access the roof easily. They sent an email the next day with a new contractor however it stated that I need to pay yet another $100 service fee. Of course, I reached out to them and requested that it be waived because the only reason I used the outside authorization option was because I was told they were unable to find a contractor to service my request. Now within a day they had one and were asking for my money.
I battled with the representitive on why I should have the fee waived and after being put on hold for over 5 minutes he returned and said that I would be reimbursed the $149 fee that I paid to the outside contractor but only after the technician called them at a different number. I reached out to the contractor, gave them the contact information, and asked that they reach out immediately so that I could move forward. Of course, there's no urgency on their end because they have already received their money and have no interest in working with warranty companies.
During this time of waiting to get confirmation that my reimbursment is in place, I reached out to the new contractor that they assigned to me. I explained to him the issue and immediately after learning that the AC Unit was on the roof, he informed me that he would not be able to service it. Again, yet another contractor they supplied that was unable to do the work.
I have since reached out to cancel my warranty. I have resolved myself to the fact that I won't get reimbursed for the service fee I paid. Of course, the customer service number they supply on their website is not the number that I needed to cancel my contract. When the operator tried to transfer me, she came back to let me know that they were busy. I was given another number to call and assured that a form would be submitted to have them reach out to me. If it's anything like the manager call back form, I won't hold my breath. I'm fully prepared to have to spend my day hunting them down to cancel my contract. It has been nothing but a nightmare!! Oh and of course, I'm still without AC and it's approaching June!
Lastly, they only have one number to use. They only communicate to you via email. You can not submit any complaints or send any emails to them. They are not customer friendly and make no extra efforts to accomodate you regardless of the fact that you pay them monthly for a service. I'm hoping to break ties with them ASAP and get my last month's payment reimbursed seeing that I have not received any service at all.
This is a ripoff company , i bought home warranty coverage for my home, and when i call service for my water heater they sent contractor out but he not even touch the unit, he only advice me to call the whild pool because the water heater still under warranty with whirld pool. I am a 85 years old couple how can i get into the attic that is why i paid the AHS for the service.. after another 2 day by pass still no word from them, i call back but always have to stay on the line for atleast 30 minutes plus, end up i asked for cancel my contract they has transfer me to the cancelation department from there i had waits for an house plus .. still no one pick up the phone, then i have to call again and again to talk to customer service they said will put my request of cancelation and some one will call me in 24 to 48 hours. week passed by, no one has call, and today i call again and the autimated answer machine said that i own them $ 75.00 FOR THE SERVICE ( but nothing has done at all ).
I filted like this AHS do this to a lot off people . I can not even call or contact no one of their company to re quest my cancelation of my contract.
I just wanted to warn people about this company. Do not use them. I had a water heater break down. American Home Shield had someone come take a look and they said that it wasn't covered because it was not maintained and was all rusted out. Ok, fine I totally understand. I did have to pay the $100 service fee. Ok fine I understand that too. So I paid it via their website. The money came out of my account and I thought we were done. A week later American Home Shield took out another $100 without my authorization.
I called American home shield and was on hold for just about an hour before I got to speak to a rep. After I told them my story they apologized and said it was an error and gave me my money back. Then a few days later another $100 was taken out. Again without my authorization. I call again, on hold for over an hour this time. Finally got to talk to a rep. Again they apologized and I got my $100 back. Long story short this happened 4 times! 4 times they illegally took $100 out of my account without my authorization! $400 they tried to take from me! So I call to cancel my account. Another hour on hold. I talk to a rep and she told me that the cancellation department was very busy and she would have them call me back with in 24 hours. 4 days later I receive a voice mail message from American Home Shield and they told me that they were canceling my account and that they would be charging me an early cancellation fee.
So now they cancelled my account without my authorization. Then I had to call them again. ANOTHER HOUR ON HOLD! Finally got through, cancelled my account and they told me there was no cancellation fee. I told them about my voice message saying they were going to charge me. But they said that was also a mistake. Come on American Home Shield, get your self together! Bottom line this whole fiasco costed me about $60 in over withdraw fees from my bank because of the multiple unauthorized withdraws and I spent a good 6 HOURS on hold. American Home Shield is a sham. Be warned!
Unethical company; they lied to us and made false reports to support denial of a claim for garage door opener.
They denied us a second opinion, even though it is stated we are entitled to it in the contract.
They refused to transfer call to a supervisor, saying this is not an option.
I telephoned American Home Shield to request service on my heat pump, when the Technician checked the system he informed me that the compressor was not working and stated that he would have to call his supervisor to confirm his finding. When the supervisor arrived he checked the heat pump and confirmed the Tech's findings, he then asked to see the furnace and removed the front cover ans took a picture of the components stating that the coil was pretty dirty and further stated that AHS would probably not cover the replacement of the compressor due to the furnace status. I explained that the unit had been serviced for the winter checkup and that the Tech did not see a problem with the inside unit or the heat pump at that time. I didn't discover a problem until after the recent ice storm last weekend. My system is nearly 20 years old as I bought my home when it was new in June of 1995, I have maintained the same indoor unit which I feel is great because most folks in my home development have replaced their units at least twice since buying their home around the same time.
I feel that AHS has disregarded the fact that I have had a contract with them for a long while and they have never replaced an appliance since my contract with them. The outside unit (heat pump) has been replaced once from the original carrier unit with the current brand (Trane) and I paid the full cost of replacement not AHS. Since they are unwilling to assist me with this service request I have no other recourse but to cancel my contract with them. I own two homes and just recently bought a service contract with AHS for the second home, after today I have cancelled both contracts and requested a full refund of my payment on the second home. No more Home Warranty Plans -- I will open an account at my credit union and place the monies in a separate account for home repair. What a waste of money to pay for a service contract for several years but not able to use it when needed.
Lastly, the Technicians they employ I feel are pretty much told which calls to approve or deny. Customer Service isn't any better, the Representative that called to let me know that my request was denied was very rude and discourteous further implying that I shouldn't expect AHS to repair my appliance if I failed to maintain the system as required and I stated how dare he disrepect me in such a way, I am 65 years old and have maintained the system just fine for 20 years.
We have been paying our monthly fee to AHS for many, many years and hardly use the service. Frankly it is cheaper and more reliable for us to just call a service man when we have problems and pay for it ourselves. That way we know the service is being done properly and not just in a band-aid fashion to save AHS money. What we felt we were going to use AHS for, was the big ticket items they advertise they will cover.
Our a/c is having a problem and the tech came out and blew some air in the condensation pipe and said it was plugged, and that was it. My brother is in the a/c business back east and they said, "nope", a band aid fix it again. The last time we tried to get them to repair a big ticket item, they blamed us for not properly servicing our item.
So, what is it exactly that AHS pays for and what is it we pay each month for years and years for? Once a person pays into their system for years and years, it is hard to justify cutting them off as that is exactly when one will have a problem that needs fixing. They probably count on people paying for years and then dropping out...after getting nothing for their/our money.
Class Action anybody?
American Home Shield Home Warranty company now treats their clients so poorly. Avoid them like the plague. They used to do a good job. We've had a home warranty with them for 20 years. But in recent years, terrible. Especially their plumbing vendor, Rite-A-Way Services, Inc, which makes you wait 2-5 days for an appointment for a stopped up toilet or water leak, even emergency, charges $75 for the service fee then tells you a reason its not covered and will you pay them $600-800 to do it.
As a former high volume listing agent, I referred so many clients to them over the years. I am so sorry I did.
Here's the latest. My mother in law bought a home last month. I got her an AHS Home Warranty. Last week the shower valve broke and sprayed water. We had to turn the water off to the home. AHS sent Rite-A-Way Services, Inc. They did NOT come "Right a Way". They came 3 days later, even though her water was OFF to the home due to the leak. When they came, they said they can fix it, but it will then require $1,000 or more of tile work which they don't cover. Or, we can pay them $800 to do an "Upgraded fixture" which will cover the hole in the tile they must make. Or, we can have someone else fix it and AHS will credit us $150 or $160. So, we have someone else do it.
Then, I have a staffer call from my property management company call to ask for the credit. AHS won't talk to them. "Privacy" law. Yeah, like we have criminals calling AHS trying to covertly repair people's homes for them. So can I call? No, my 75 year old mother in law must call. So she calls. She comes off the phone so mad she can spit, and sends me this email, much of it in RED, which I didn't even know she knew how to do:
I can’t tell you how angry I am at home warranty people.
Called Fri… afternoon after being on hold over 20 minutes…. I told them a service man came out…. the one you talked to Ian, and said I would be reimbursed $150 or $160 and wanted them to process it immediately as I needed it to pay my plumber. They said it was Friday and too late to do that but to call Monday
Come Monday… I call again in AM wait for another 18 minutes,,and told they would put it on for the first thing and call me or e-mail me the information.
No call.
Tuesday… Call again…. put on hold… finally get through and talk to Zack.
TOLD: I OWE THEM $20.00!!!!!
As far as I understood… I owe home warranty $ 75.
I also owe the technician for a service call $65.00 for coming out.
Now… they are only giving me A CREDIT OF $120.00 not $150 or $160 as they promised.
THEN FROM THAT I OWE THE 75.00 DOLLARS AND THE 65 DOLLARS.
so I am supposed to pay them $20.00
HELP… I NEED BIG GUNS….. WHAT CAN YOU DO?????
I have been a customer of American Home Shield for several years. For the last three years I have been calling in service calls to have my heating/ac unit fixed. They have replaced several parts that have went out causing all of my coolant to run out of the unit. Well, I am totally frustrated at this point because everytime this happen it costs me another $600/700 to fill back up the unit because AHS does not cover coolant. I understand the every year maintenace but what about fxing the problem. If the coolant is running out because of a val or something, isnt putting the coolant back in there also fixing it. The companies are putting a bandage on the problem as far as fixing and I have to suck up the biggest cost. Then I call back in to speak to a supervisor and the rep that I spoke to on the phone is completely rude and tells me that someone will call me.
Signed up for a Pick 10 policy for $611 to cover all major appliaces in April 2014.
Yesterday the water heater tank breaks and floods my basement. The shut-off valve to the heater breaks and water keeps flowing. I shut the main to the house and cap the water inlet to the heater so that I can restore water to the rest of the house. After two more hours cleaning up the basement I go online to report the problem to AHS. A tech is scheduled for the next day. When the tech comes he says that he cannot report to AHS because the water input pipe has been capped. I call AHS and they say that they can't cover the damaged appliance because the imput pipe was capped. So, according to them I was not supposed to touch the system and was supposed to stay without water for two days until it was convenient for their tech to show up!
This is a total ripoff. It is clear AHS works with incompetent techs to dream up idiotic excuses not to honor claims and ripoff consumers.
We bought our house almost 2 years ago. The warranty was included so we renewed when the time came and made sure they had all of our appliances covered on the warranty. Our fridge broke Christmas night. I called AHS the very next morning. I have an infant who is on prescribed formula that once it is made it must be refrigerated. Not only could AHS not find a repair man to come out to my house they didn't even call me to let me know they couldn't find anyone till the following week. I had to call AHS constantly to get status updates. After 6 hours of them calling "7" companies they still couldn't find anyone to come. I made two calls and found someone who could come out the next day, Saturday morning.
The repair man was very nice and walked me through what could possibly be wrong. My fridge is no longer made so the part is unavailable. The repair man called it in to AHS and got the authorization number for the work. I was told that I would need a new fridge since there is no way to fix my fridge. Because I have an infant and the New Year coming up, I wanted to follow through with AHS after the repair man left to make sure that this was taken care of right away since my family is currently living out of a cooler. AHS said they basically didn't believe the repair man and needed me to get a second opinion. Now I have to wait till at least Monday (4 days after I made the initial call) to find out when a second repair man will be able to come out to look at my fridge. I asked the AHS rep Darrel (I believe is his name) if they would allow me to go buy a mini fridge to make sure that my daughters prescribed formula was the correct temperature and they said they would not do that. They would only allow me to possibly buy a cooler and told me I should buy dry ice. We pay almost $800 a year for this so called "warranty". I asked to talk to a supervisor and Darrel told me that he would have one call me right away. I have now been waiting for over 11 hours for that call.
If this "warranty" company that I have paid so much money too over the last two years isn't going to fix the problems then they need to give me my money back. I could have had a repair man out to my house the morning my fridge broke and had a new one delivered the next day. But no, I have a warranty and have to wait 4 days just to get a call as to when someone might be able to come out. The best part that Darrel told me on the phone today is that if I do need a new fridge, it will take 5-7 business days once approved to get the actual fridge. That would be 2-3 weeks after I made the initial call. So now I get to keep my food and my baby's prescribed formula in a cooler until then. What a wonderful experience this has NOT been.
Last year I had a problem with my furnace and contacted AHS for repairs. The contractor came out and said that he'd have to order the part. Unfortunately I wound up without heat during the record low temperatures in Atlanta last year. It was miserable. Despite using space heaters the temperature still got below freezing (the water in my dog's water bowl actually froze).
I was not at all pleased about the delay but AHS and the contractor assured me that they were doing everything possible to get that part ASAP. The problem according to the contractor is that I have a Trane furnace and that Trane requires that parts come directly from them.
After five days of miserable cold the furnace was fixed and I hoped that I would never deal with that again.
This year - remembering how miserable I was last year - I tested the furnace in October and once again the furnace would not start. On October 7th I sent a request to AHS to have the furnace repaired.
Since then I have had contractors come to my house three times (and the gas company once). I was once again told that part of the delay was waiting for a part that only Trane could provide, only to be told by the next contractor that the replaced part was "generic" and not from Trane.
I've spoken with AHS several times but nothing seems to make a difference.
Two days ago I was promised by AHS that my case has now been escalated and that a special team would now be in touch with me daily to ensure that this furnace is finally fixed. I've not heard back from AHS since.
Living like this has now affected my health. On Friday I had to go to the doctor for xrays and prescriptions for pneumonia. Still no heat.
If you read through the many complaints on here you will notice that my situation is not unusual. At this point I assume that I have no option but to hire a contractor directly and also assume that whatever is wrong with my furnace, it must be serious and that's why the contractors and AHS have been either unable or unwilling to fix it.
Does AHS do this deliberately? Or do they just have no idea what is going on? Or what?
In any event, you will not know if AHS will take care of your problem until you have a problem - and when that happens, if the repair is a necessary one (like having heat!) then you are out of luck.
We had previously had trouble with a septic tank and then called and we paid more on our policy to cover this if it ever happened again. Well we had another problem so we contacted America Home Shield. We were told they only do it for one year and then drop the coverage. We were never notified about this or told then when we paid the extra to have it covered. If you choose to use them look for every possible loop hold that they could possibly find. I believe this company is deceptive and not a reputable company. We tried to rectify it but we could never able to get to a supervisor. Beware!
If you have been ripped off by American Home Shield for a home waranty like I and thousands of others please help us collect you articles and personal experiences by not only posting here but on the Facebook page linked below. This company needs to make right on its claims or be stoped. Spar terry the BBB does not care about there real record or most state atorney Gennerals about the constituents that are ripped off. We need your stories and your articles. .https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=767647919974748&refsrc=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fpages%2FAmerican-Home-Shield-are-scammers%2F767647919974748&_rdr
Multiple trips to fix door opener and washer. Customer service is rude and non helpful. When you have a problem call Corporate headquaters at 901-537-8000. Ask for Rene Golwitzer. Then demand to talk to Mark Barry President. He can also be reached at901-525-7800.
American Home Shield (AMS) Home Warranty sent a repairman from A U.S. Air to fix my central air conditioner in May 2013. He failed to diagnose the problem and simply replaced the Freon in the unit. At this time my AHS warranty covered Freon replacement. Over the next year or so, A U.S. Air had to come out 5 or 6 more times to add Freon and the occasional stop leak but only actually diagnosed the problem after multiple follow-up and complaint calls. Meanwhile I renewed my AHS home warranty which changed Freon coverage rules in August 2013. AHS refuses to honor the contract that was in place when the initial call was made even though all the subsequent service requests were pursuant to the initial contract and service request. The employees and customer service reps cannot possibly be as stupid as they pretend therefore I can only conclude they are reading from a script from which they are not allowed to deviate. My research uncovered this to be a SOP for this company and a lawsuit is required to get them to do the right thing. Even though it is not cost effective, I’ll be filing a small claims lawsuit just the same.
I have a policy with American Home Shield for several years and must say that the company is TRASH! It comes down to this. Over the last several years I have called on them to file a claim on my a/c unit a few times. When called they send someone to fix it several days later. This is not customer service at all.
Recently they deied a claim again on my A/C unit that malfunctioned based on maintenance support or lack of. So the compressor burnt out. I filed a claim and several days later someone shows up. Today American Home Shield calls and says we are not covering because the lack on maintenance on the A/C unit. Now I'm in no way a HVAC person so this is why I filed a claim.
so I have contacted my attorney and will be filing a law suite again American Home Shield for breach of contract.
Word to the wise folks American home Shield is Trash, save your money and don't deal with these folks
American Home Shield company is a ripoff, I was a customer of AHS for over a year, I paid my monthly payments and all my deductables. I called AHS to service my central air it cost me $588.00 dollars and my unit is still not connect because I need to spend another $589.00 to have it connected. also my washer needed serving, the contractor came out I paid my deductable, and he reported that my home had a flood witch would not be covering the repairs. I explanned to AHS that my home did not flood, so they stated that it wasn't normal ware and tear. the contractor had taken loose my washer and that's how it was left. I asked to speak to the owner because that not customer satifaction
Do not use this service they are a rip off ,, second year in a row ,, i need to pay addtional $2,000 for my repair when i got the home warrenty to avoid the fees big rip all over $400.00 a year to subscribe then $75 service fees only too be told i need also pay hundreds more when the tech comes out because some repairs are not coverd on the iteam that need to be repaired,, cancelled there service today will be contacthing the better bussiness bureau what a scam please dont subscribe to AMERICAN HOMESHIELD it is a scam
Called AHS due to kitchen sink blockage. The tech informed me that AHS reuired them to get the $75.00 service fee and then he would call AHS to see if it was covered and to fix the problem it would require snaking the pipe through the roof. Afer I paid the $75.00 AHS informed them that it was not covered. I had to pay the plumber an additional $200.00 to get the blockage fixed for a total of $275.00. BIG RIPOFF!!!!!!
American Home Shield appears to running a scam. Each of three separate times I've tried to invoke the warrantly under they plan I purchased from them, they have refused to pay. It's amazing how inventive they can be when it comes to finding excuses not to pay for what should be covered under their plan.
My toliet "clogged". called AMERICAN HOME SHIELD who sent out ADVANCE DRAIN CLEANING. the young man worked for 3 hours and then told me that they would have to take the toliet off to undo the clog since they could not clear it. the "approval"" would take 3 or 4 hours, they would call and reschedule they told me ""we turned off the water"". and they left. i called for 2 days and got nothing but ""we will call you"". after FIVE days, i came downstairs to find my kitche light would not work, then i stepped into water. in came from the cieling. call AHS and the plumbing company. was told since i put somethig down there the contract was null and void.
WHAT did i put down ther? i have NO idea. i'm blind i saw NOTHING going in. they would not even bother to tell me they were not coming back. so i had to get another plumber who came and within 15 seconds got the piece of cleaning cloth out. he told me ""THE WATER WAS NOT NOT TURNED OFF"" which caused overflow leak into the cieling. i now have to pay for a new cieling, new floors in the kitchen since it huckled. new light fixture.
my insurance company is paying for part of it. but i am over 2000 dollars in the hole for them NOT turning off the water and NOT telling me they were not coming back. i posted on their wensite and their ""consumer affairs" person wrote and said they wanted to ""tal"" to me however they left no name nor phone number. i called and been waiting for 2 days for a recall. crappy service and crappy dealers. i've told everyone i turned on to this company to NOT use them and cancel the contract asap. i think AHS and ADCANCE should not only pay for damage but reemburst the insrance company AND ME for stress .....from what i can tell they are NOT a good company.
I have had 3 issues in 2 yeas! All took months to repair and a fight to try and get it covered! The people they send are clueless and unlicensed! The last guy lied and said someone unplugged or had worked on it so my insurance could use that as excuse not to pay! No one had touched it and if it had been unplugged it would not have worked the previous 2 years! Contractor not only lied but didn't return calls and this was enough good enough for them to refuse to pay!
Purchased the highest level of warranty coverage for our home from AHS. Had a ceiling fan quit running, called AHS and they sent a contractor out who stated the fan was incorrectly installed - it was installed in a light fixture ceiling box when it should have been installed in a ceiling fan box.
Even though the contract says improperly installed items are covered (as are ceiling fans and all components), they denied the claim saying installing the correct ceiling fan box is an UPGRADE and upgrades are not covered!
What a joke! They offered no remedies other than I could file a complaint with the PO Box of their corporate office. Stay clear of this company!
Every year for the past 5 years, my AC unit fails. I have a contract with American Home Shield since 2005. This contract covers appliances, heating & AC units, pipes and leaks. I pay $50 per month to maintain this service.
Calling and getting service is like pulling teeth. About 3 weeks ago the AC unit stopped cooling and after several phone calls and delays about 2 weeks later the AC was fixed. 3 days later the ceiling under the AC drain pipe came down in the playroom where my tenants 6 yr old plays. I called AHS and after several calls a supervisor assured me that the matter had been upgraded as an expedited emergency and someone would be out immediately. This was 3 days ago. I have made several calls and no one has bothered to return my call. I have cancelled my auto debit to this company and urge consumers to not do any business with them.
I would be interested in an attorney contacting me if they want to take this case on a contingency basis.
American Home Shield came out to our home for a simple plumbing leak. They did not fix it correctly after two calls and $110.00 in co payments. We then hired a real plumber, and he found mold growing under the sink where they never fixed the leak. We also got a class action law suit paperwork in the mail against them for not fixing claims filed by homeowner's. Beware they have unskilled companies working for them. They are about collecting the co-payments and pretending to fix it.
I had my first experience with AHS. They sent an HVAC company that clearly represented that there was a problem with the drip pan that needed to be replaced. Of course, it's not covered. I called my HVAC company that I have used for years and that I trust. The problem: the coils were so dirty it backed up the system to a point that the condensation was dripping over the drip pan. I'll try to get any unused portion of my premium returned to me. I don't know the point in using a company you can't trust and who, in my case, sent out an unqualified technician.
I WILL DUMP THESE SCAMMERS MONDAY. A/C WENT OUT 9PM 3RD OF JULY........THEY STARTED A WORK ORDER AND GAVE ME THE COMPANY NAME THAT WAS COMING OUT TOMORROW, I WAITER TILL 9 AM ON THE 4TH THEN CALL THEM AND WAS TOLD THEY DO NOT WORK HOLIDAYS!! ITS SUMMER HERE IN VEGAS MY HOUSE WAS 94 DEGREES AND NOBODY WOULD HAVE CALLED ME IF I DID NOT DO IT MYSELF. THEY TOLD ME REPAIR VENDORS DO NOT WORK HOLIDAYS AND I SAID THATS BULLSHIT. THEY SAID THEY CAN ONLY DISPATCH A EMERGENCY WORK ORDER IF THE TEMP IS OVER 105!!!!! LOL.......IT COST ME 247.00 AFTER I CALLED A COUPLE PLACES AND GOT ONE OUT AT 1:00 PM THE 4TH OF JULY
I called American Home Shield in December to have my water heater fixed. The first two contractors didn't know how to work on a tankless water heater. I finally got authorization to get a contractor who knew what he was doing, got the problem diagnosed, and had an estimate sent to AHS. AHS has refused to pay the contractor, saying that they need to speak with them. The contractor has attempted to call AHS several times, and the last time he was transferred five times without ever getting to someone who could authorize a payment to my contractor. So, AHS says the contractor must call, but they can't get through, and AHS won't transfer me to a person who can sort this out. What the heck am I supposed to do?
It's now almost June and I still have a water heater that functions intermittently. That's five (5) months from the initial service call. I'll be calling a lawyer if I can't get this sorted out tomorrow.
As a former loyal customer with American Home Shield, since 1988, I want to WARN anyone who is considering doing business with this company to STAY AWAY. What was once a professional home warranty company which offered good service, protection along with peace of mind is now a SCAM operation.
Yes, Rebbeca Wyatt (Manager, Customer Loyalty) will send you a form letter stating: "...We consider it a privlege to have you as a customer. We strive to make your life easier..." That is until you have a problem with a major home system and you are turned over to the Boiler Room of AHS Claims Dept. Then it becomes nothing but stress. Not worth it.
As previously stated, initially when my wife and I purchased our home in 1988, the AHS warranty was included and subsequently we renewed each year, in the event that we'd need repairs (or replacement) on big ticket items (plumbing, heating, etc) On occassion we would have a toilet back up or garbage disposal problem, we'd request service, it was repaired, we'd pay the small deductable fee and life would go on. Happy, satisfied customers.
In the summer of 1999, our evaporator cooler needed to be replaced. It had rusted out and leaked. Long story short, it was replaced without any hassle. It continued to operate fine until a few months ago, in April. After 15 years, it was time for a new unit and needed to be replaced.
That's when it all began...On April 27, I called to request service and an AHS service contracter was dispatched to our home to diagnose the problem. Unfortunately, he reported back to AHS that the problem was due to "a lack of proper maintenance" and our request for service was DENIED. I was notified first by a phone call, then by a letter from AHS citing the section of the contract which related to the denial. Naturally, I disagreed with the decision, as I had properly maintained the care of the unit over the course of 15 years. It had simply worn out. Rusted out and leaked water.
I won't go into more detail except to state, I believe AHS and service contractors who work on their behalf, are in business to deny claims (especially on big ticket items) whenever possible. Blame the customer. Create a system which is designed to frustrate and wear you down.
The top people at AHS like, Rebecca Wyatt (and Jack Torregrossa previously) are insulated from the very customers they claim to want to serve. Nothing could be farther from the truth, instead you get a Claims Dept/Boiler Room mentality existing at AHS where people seem to care less about you and your 26 years of being a loyal customer. Wear you down is the name of the game. Total disrespect. Highly unprofessional.
Needless to say, my wife and I did not renew our contract with AHS in June. After much back and forth between AHS and us, we opted for a buyout offer from AHS and we were on our own to get a new evaporator cooler (which happily we did).
Things are good now, however it's been a long road for my wife and I in achieving true peace of mind. We decided we are better off putting the 508.00 yearly service charge in a savings account, should we have any future problems with items breaking down in our home than giving it to AHS.
In closing, 1988 seems like another lifetime, things were different then. And in all fairness, there were a number of years when we got good service, which is one reason why we stayed with the company. But things have changed.
As I mentioned at the beginning of my letter, AHS at one time was a company you could believe in. No more. The AHS SCAMMERS of 2014 are alive and kicking. Waiting to take your hard earned money, built on empty sales pitches from Customer Loyalty Managers, such as Rebecca Wyatt, in exchange for stressful days and nights. No thanks. Consider this FAIR WARNING.
I have been a faithful customer for almost 10 years; however, this current experience with AHS has been absolutely HORRIBLE!! An AHS contractor came to my home almost 2 weeks ago (in 2 days). AHS did not like what the contractor told them was wrong, so AHS sent a 2nd contractor 3 days later who told them the same thing the 1st contractor said. In the meantime, we are SUFFERING because our upstairs AC in not working in our home. All of our bedrooms are upstairs! After talking to 6 different representatives, at AHS, and being given the run around, I called corporate office. We still do NOT have AC on the top level of our home and have no idea when the contractor is coming to fix it. As I type this message, it is almost 91 degrees upstairs where my son is sleeping. This is RIDICULOUS and UNACCEPTABLE!!! We will NOT be renewing our contract in June when it expires and we will be sharing our experience with all of our friends and family.
On Febuary 25, I sent an email to have my Home Shield service cancelled. The following month I was charged anyway. I called again but even though customer service was available the cancellation department was closed. I asked customer service again to email the "cancellation" department. I was still billed. I had to changed my credit card number because this was the behavior of a credit card hack. On May 20, I received a letter from a collection agency. I contacted the customer service department again and they confirmed receipt of the cancellation email but they said I needed to call them just incase I changed my mind....exact words!! I suggest anyone to look elsewhere before accepting any type of contract with AHS
I have been trying to have a bathroom leak fixed for over a week. the service company assigned to me has only returned 1 phone call in over 6 days. i'm still waiting for them to repair the leak.
tried calling ahs, waited over 30 minutes on one call, and over 45 mins for another. still waiting for the repair. now, they have re-assigned it to another repair company. here we go again.
Long story short: We moved into our 4500sq antique home April 2013. I called AHS for handful of plumbing issues, all of which could have been fixed in 2 visits tops. Jan 2014 and I'm still dealing with the fallout these issues. What it boils down to is that AHS does not have it's end client in mind, and their structure incentivizes their technicians to prolong the work and create more issues in your home so that they can come back and charge more, I've gone through 3 technicians, all 3 had the same M.O. AHS looses out on this structure as well, so it makes no sense to me.
Bottom line, I'm out $500, plus the cost of the plan, so over $1000. Not to mention countless hours on the phone with AHS, days where I was chained to the house because I had to wait for multiple and unnecessary technician visits, and aggravation. In the end, I would have been significantly better off without the plan, which on top of it all is limited and has all sorts of restrictions on it.
Frankly, it's the most useless thing you could do, and you might as well shoot yourself in the foot if you buy a plan with AHS.
4/3/14The heat pump/ac was not working in my condo rental unit in North Carolina. I contacted American Home Shield to fix it. First time they sent out a technician from Carolina Air and he said the problem was due to wiring. That technician didn't have a ladder (unit is on the roof) or the equipment to take care of iissue properly when he showed up. Eventually, with the assistance of my brother he was able to (supposedly) make the repair.
5/15/14 Six weeks later I had a family renting and they called to say the AC wasn't working. I called American Home Shield again.
5/22 They finally send out another technician from Carolina Air (7 days to get there). We specifically told them to bring a ladder this time. Same thing happened. The technician showed up with no ladder, and he ran out of gas, which my brother had to help with again. This time they diagnosed the problem as "no coolant". When I asked where the leak was he didn't know and said "sometimes it happens spontaneously". 9 pounds of coolant later (AHS only pays $10/pound), another service fee, and a bill totaling $435.00 I was told everything was in good working order.
I spent the next two weeks trying to get the service fee of $75.00 reimbursed. I spoke with numerous people including supervisors and not one person called me back. They even agreed that I should be reimbursed since it was within the 60 day period. But nobody authorized to approve the reimbursement ever returned my call.
6/9/14 Now 2 1/2 weeks later I have another renter arriving and the property manager calls to say the AC is not working. I call American Home Shield again. Now it happens to be 90 degrees out and no AC. Not a good situation. What I would call an emergency, American Home Shield tells me is NOT. Again they send out another technician, luckily this time he brings a ladder, and the problem is diagnosed as a small hole in the compressor. Now I'm told that American Home Shield has to order the part. I spend the whole day dealing with an Authorization Supervisor named Katrina Butler. Not only does she tell me they can't fix it until they get diagnosis from Carolina Air (who won't have the technician call in the diagnosis, and won't be back to the office until the morning with his paperwork) pricing from their various vendors, approvals of the pricing, and authorization of the repair cost, but she thinks it could take up to 3-5 days to get the part delivered.
At this point i'm so upset at the poor responses, customer service and obvious lack of concern for my situation, I teach out to another heating/air conditioning company, Southmoore Heating and Cooling. I spoke with the service department and gave them the model and serial number. They were able to locate a replacement compressor and have it installed by the next day. When I contacted Katrina Butler and explained that I could have this taken care of the next day she refused to approve it. She stated "she needs to be conscious of the company cost savings", "it's consisdered retail", and if I wanted to pay out of pocket she couldn't tell me what AHS would reimburse me until she had all her numbers from the vendors.
I have never gone out of my way to criticize a company before. This is the first time I've ever publicly posted a bad review or comment. But this is absolutely the worst service I have ever received. Not only is the customer servie bad, but they way I was spoken to and treated by the supervisor was awful. They are not a service oriented company. They only want to make money by paying the cheapest contractors, replacement parts and labor.
Save time and aggrevation, choose another company.
Sad and disappointed former customer
Jill
We have been loyal AHS customers since we purchased our very first home in 2002, and have been in our current home using AHS for 7 years. We have always sworn by them and given any of our friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, etc. who were homeowners crazy looks whenever they indicated they didn't have a home warranty! AHS was always our first recommendation. The service has always been impeccable - even when it wasn't a covered repair. But today they have really messed up!
We have the extended plan which covers our HVAC unit - and we have 2 of them since we have a 2 story home which costs us approximately $600/year. We also have the HVAC preventative maintenance plan which is an additional $330/year. As a part of the preventative maintenance plan, AHS will send a HVAC technician out twice per year to inspect our HVAC system. We just had this done in October 2013 and the technician rated everything Satisfactory. Well this weekend my A/C went out. I submitted a service request to AHS and the technician came out today and advised that the evaporator coils were badly clogged and had been for quite some time and were beyond repair/cleaning and needed to be replaced. AHS is refusing to cover the repair to the tune of $4K because of poor maintenance of the evaporator coil --- but hello they did the maintenance check in October and advised that the evaporator coil was in satisfactory condition. How do you get to refuse to repair an item due to improper maintenance when you are the company performing the maintenance and indicated the system was satisfactory.
After being passed around several times between the AHS service department and the preventative maintenance department, I asked to speak to a supervisor and was told I could write a letter!!!!! After continuing to press for a supervisor I was told they would give someone a message to call me back and 4 hours later and I am still waiting. After this experience, even though it is my first bad experience with AHS, it's a doozy enough for me to completely end my relationship with them and never recommend them to anyone else, in addition to filing a complaint with the BBB and the Texas State Attorney General's office because this reeks of fraud to me!!
I had a problem with my central air unit in January of 2014. I called AHS to start a claim ti have it fixed. After paying the $75 fee, they finally sent a ""Technician"" to my house to look at it.
The first thing the ""Technician"" did was to hook up the R12 refrigerant gauges to check the levels...problem was that the valves on the gauges were not shut correctly, and he bled the R12 refrigerant out of my unit! When he finally closed the valves, my unit was 3 pounds low! He said that it was not his fault, and wanted me to pay $130.00 for each pound of refrigerant...because my AHS warranty only covers $10 of each pound.
Ok, so on to the REAL problem...My unit was not going into defrost mode, so the heater part was not working correctly. This problem was forcing the system to go into ""emergency heating"" mode, which jacked up my electricity bill from $250 to $600 for 1 month.
After an hour and a half, the technician found out that the defrost circuitboard was bad. He said that he didn't have one and that he would have to order it. Almost 2 weeks later, I got a call from the technician that he was already at my house, and he had the part to put on. He asked if he should put it on now, or come back later...but the earliest date he could come back was 2 weeks out. I didn't trust him alone, but told him to put the part on.
I rushed home, hoping to catch the technician before he left, but he was gone. I tested the system, and it seemed to work ok. The next day I turned the system off, as I did not need it due to the weather.
The next time I used my system was in spring, when I needed the air on. Well, long story short, it was 90 degrees outside, 86 degrees inside, thermostat set to 50 degrees, and my central air unit was totaly frozen.
Why was it frozen? because the unit was NOT going into defrost mode!
So, I called American Home Shield to complain...they told me that my policy expired earlier that morning, and I would have to renew my policy to start a ""NEW"" claim, being that it had been 60 days past the first claim, and they couldn't do anything for me.
American Home Shield Home Warranties are scammers, and the contractors they use are shady, too!
Here is the information I have, so that other people can stay away from these scammers:
American Home Shield, 889 Ridge Lake Blvd, Memphis, TN 38120, 1-888-257-5726
and the contractor they used:
Carolina Air. INC Heating & Cooling, 3700 Hwy. 15-501, Carthage, NC, 28327, License #23549 1-910-947-7707
AND...the best part? I live in South Carolina! Why couldn't AHS use a contractor that was local to me? They had to use one from out of state? Makes no sense...and my AC unit is still broken!!
Two of my a/c's failed on 4/28/14. I called AHS the same day to schedule service. To date not one person has called or come by my home to assess the repairs needed for the a/c. On 5/2/14 I called AHS and terminated my contract. I hired a "real" and "reputable" a/c company who came out on 5/5/14 and replaced one of the two a/c's and repaired the other one. I spent $6596.00 to have this work done. ALL of this should have been covered by AHS under the terms of the warranty I purchased.
I am a recent victom of AHS. I cancelled my account few months ago and today I received a letter from their collection Agency Transword Systems Inc for a balance of $ 426. This is insane. A terrible company with misinformed staff. They confirmed during cancellation that they do not report to collection agency . All bunch of lie. I am goingto reach them again tomorrow. What a pain... I will not recommend anyone to signup ith them again.
Horrendous company. Recently called for a leak in our bathroom sink. We called first thing Saturday morning. They told us to call the plumber they assigned within 30 minutes if we didn't hear from them. We called. They were closed. Still had the leak so my husband removed a tube and turned off valves. Plumber shows up Monday afternoon and says the repair won't be covered because the tube was removed. Never mind the water damage that is clearly visible. Never mind that they told us they'd have a plumber Saturday and didn't. Previous call was for a burner on the stove. Fails 80% of the time. We were told it wouldn't be covered until it ""failed completely"". Never mind that it leaks gas 80% of the time instead of lighting. We tried elevating these issues to no avail. Only when I called to cancel today did they they backtrack...offered to refund service fees, etc. No thanks. I canceled the policy and plan on spreading the word far and wide to stay away from American Home Shield or you will be ripped off.
This review is lengthy and could be longer, but this is a true, honest experience we have had with AHS. We have had this service since we bought our home in 2002 with a brief 6 months back in 2005 when we didn't have them. We have called them out every summer for 12 years, sometimes twice and have called them out in the winter time as well. They send someone to do patch work on the ac units, we have two units in our home and both have had issue but the main unit is the one that has issues constantly. This past Tuesday, we came home to a hot house. We are in Texas and its already hot here! I called AHS and spoke to a very rude agent...I was rude too afterward. I pay this bill every month for 12 years and pay every time someone comes out. They sent a company out on Wednesday. The company that came out stated it was the coils and it would need replacing as well as leaks etc. but the coils were clean. He then gave us a sales pitch for a new unit that they could install. We have kept this service for all of this time because we knew and they knew that these units are going to need replacing, not just patching up. And by the way, our electric bills in the summer run between $400 and as high as $1000 before. Our units are 1997 units.
On Thursday, we received a call from AHS stating that our out of pocket will be $1500 and $600 of that is the freon, it uses R22. They stated that the company normally charges $60 per pound of freon but they saved me money by only charging $50 per pound!!! I asked them what are they paying for and how much they are paying but they claimed to not have that information. And to add salt to this, they said we could do a cash out and find our own repair person and they would pay us what they would have paid the company that gave us the estimate....that amount is $620 but you only get it when you submit the receipts showing the repairs have been done! I asked about canceling my service because I just bought all new appliance for the kitchen and laundry so I really don't need their service if they aren't going to pay for a new ac unit. They told me I would have to pay cancellation fees and penalties....my contract end June 26, 2014! We have wasted so much money with this company, the rates have gone up every year and the service fees have to. I also didn't mention that we had them to come out a few years ago to replace out garbage disposal, the guy comes out. uses a broom, it worked all of 3 days, I called AHS back and they said they would not send anyone else out nor fix it! We let that slide thinking our home was otherwise protected...NOT!
We have had American Home Shield (AHS) for several years for Home appliance Insurance. As much money as we paid and a Customer for several years, you would think they would service customers nicely. We called in for a repair Job and Customer Service has given us the wrong information about our warranty. We end up paying for someone to service our appliance instead. They gave us a Credit Card for the amount of $75 as a credit but the system would not allow us to activate it. This time, we made another call to Customer Service for a Dryer repair. The AHS told us that once the repairman arrives to give them a call so we can use the $75 Card for the Home Service fee from Sears. Instead, it was an Hour wait on the phone and they hung up on my wife and had to call back and wait another 40 minutes. When we finally got a hold of somebody, they told us they would not honor the card. We asked for the Supervisor and she was flat out rude and told us we can cancel our service if we want. Nice Customer Serice! You would think as a loyal customer for several years, they would want to help us. Instead, we got a run-around and the problem was never solved. I think its time to cancel them. What a Rip Off. Think twice before you invest your money on a Home Insurance. Definitely not worth the hassle from these guys.
I am renting a home that has AHS covered appliances. From the day we moved in, the Stove did not operate. We placed multiple calls with each one requiring a service person then later a part that was ordered to fix the problem. We are now going into our third month trying to convince AHS that the stove is not repairable and should be replaced with a new one. They continue to drag out the need for service evaluations to see WHY it is not working. We are very upset, have not had a working stove to provide our needs for cooked meals. Forced to go through the long, drawn out process of possible repair first, then they might consider replacing. A real nightmare. I do not recommend anyone paying a dime for this scam service that utilizes poor quality vendors to perform non-professional repair attempts. So far 3 different repair technicians, none of which knew the first thing about the simple, non descript cheap appliance or how to fix it.
Take heed...do NOT waste your money here! Put it in an escrow account for a day you really do need something fixed. They apparently have a license to steal! Read the other comments, there are many here and all over the net!
Shame on this theivery!
We strongly advise consumers away from American Home Shield when looking for a ""Home Warranty"" Company.
We also strongly advise anyone from using Star Services Inc in Mount Pleasant SC, an AHS service company.
Over the years we have had a few legitimate claims that have been denied by American Home Shield on ridiculous grounds.
Denied Claim #1: Dishwaster repair denial by AHS and their ""service provider: Star Services in Mount Pleasant SC. Our tenant asked us to have the dishwasher repaired, which had failed and was not draining water properly. We called AHS to make the repairs under our policy. The sent Start Service out to affect the repair. However, as we learned later, under the fine print of the pollicy, AHS says that ""missing parts is grounds to deny your claim"". So, when, as the Star Serviced technician suggestec, a dishwasher part broke-off in the dishwashwer during a cycle, and clogged the drain (the technician said that likely happened), they denied the claim! Star Serices collected their $75 service fee from us, but didn't even offer to fix it or even provide a solution or part number and didn't even open the drain up to recover the broken part that was clogging the drain! Upon follow-up with AHS on March 27, they angrily denied the claim ""due to the missing part"", and hung up the phone on me, refusing to listen to the explanation that the broken part had gone down the drain and was clogging it. When I called back on March 28 2014 to ask to speak to a supervisor, they said a supervisor would call me back in 24-48 hours. No call ever came. When I called Star Services in Mount Pleasant SC to ask why the techician didn't open up the drain and recover the part, they refused to allow me to speak to the technician, or provide me a part number or explain why they didn't open up the drain to recover the broken part that was clogging the drain.
Denied Claim #2. Emergency Propane Leak Repair Denial. This winter during the bitter cold on a Friday, we detected propane gas leaking into our home, evacuated the home immediately, and called the propane supplier. They informed us we must immediatel get a gas certified plumber into to find and fix the leak or we'd have to stay in a hotel until it was cleared. We called an emergency plumber who immediately found and fixed the problem for $525. AHS denied the claim because we didn't call them first -- even though it was an emergency. Every service firm -- including the one AHS uses -- stated the $525 was significantly cheaper than they would have done the work for. They denied it on a strict technicality.
Denied Claim #3. HVAC Repair Denial. AHS trains their service providers to find dirt in even relatively clean systems so they can deny the claim and try to sell you their ""annual maintenance agreement."" We had service man regularly clean our HVAC systems annually, and they STILL claimed dirt in the system as the basis do deny the claim.
American Home Shield leads you to believe you are purchasing an insurance plan to protect against unexpected appliance failures and home repairs. But they carefully train their technicians to find an excuse to deny the claim.