Advantage Home Warranty
Deductible: $40
Effective: 30 days from enrollment
Web: advantagehomewarranty.com
| Home warranty is a complex insurance product. Unlike home insurance, it does not provide blanket coverage for all appliances. Pre-existing conditions and problems resulting from lack of maintenance of appliance are are generally not covered by home warranty companies. Home warranty sellers may not state these factors clearly, and this will create dissatisfaction among customers. Due to these factors, you will see many negative reviews here. Don't be intimidated by some negative reviews here. If you have maintained your appliances in good condition and go with a reputed home warranty provider, your coverage will be fine. |
We do not endorse any company in particular, however you should ignore the reviews that are overly negative or positive. Such reviews are not likely to offer a balanced view and some of them could be fake reviews posted to promote or demote a company. It is always a good idea to check BBB ratings and make sure the company is licensed to do business in your State by contacting State Insurance Commission. Try to avoid paying annual premium and keep your cancellation rights
Advantage is a South Carolina based Corporation which has been in business for over a decade. During that time, Advantage created and launched Advantage Inspection. Today, it has become one of the largest, independent home inspection companies in the Southeast. During the course of doing tens of thousands of home inspections, it became apparent that there was a better way to provide more complete Home Warranty coverage to the client. Thus, the Advantage Home Warranty was launched in 1998. It is the first Home Warranty based on a structural, mechanical and electrical home inspection. By completing a home inspection prior to issuing warranty coverage, a more complete and extensive policy can be issued on your home transaction.
Limitations of Liability: Aggregate limitations per contract term for access, diagnosis, repair or replacement of: • Roof leak repair is limited to $500. • Combined concrete-encased plumbing, ductwork and wiring is limited to $500. • Water Heater(s) are limited to $500 per contract. • Framing repairs due to wood decay is limited to $1,500 per contract. • Glycol, hot water or steam circulating heating systems are limited to $1,500. • Combined Heating, Air Conditioning and Ductwork are limited to $3,000.
A great company with a committment to a ‘No Denied Claims’ policy.
This is the only company that requires a home inspection to document pre-existing conditions, which is a good thing for the homeowner, since this is what is needed to eliminate the loopholes tht many home warranty companies rely upon.
Great people, great product. Unique in the industry !
my neighbor has them and she complained about how rude they acted over the phone and how she got hung up on a few times!!!
I believe this is a false complaint as metioned above to bring down the the rating for Advantage Home Warranty. Our company has 0 complaints in our industry. Our company has superior service and will always identify any problems that may exist and always will settle with a client in any disagreement that may arise to insure proper customer service is provided. As you can tell our company and representatives are always on alert and can address situations like these at any time. If this was to be a valid complaint which I know is not…”Rose Watkins”, her nieghbor, and/or her mother may call me at anytime to resolve the issue.
William Johnson
Warranty Administrator
Advantage Home Warranty
877-577-4742
Yes, because giving all 5 as an employee is fair as well right?
I have had bad experience with this company. Claims were denied, customer service was poor. Also, watching these reviews, apparently this company is posting fake reviews to improve rating. I have reported the abuse to the site administrator. Be aware!
I am going to try to post here without using the rating system, to address negative comments. I am not sure that one can post here without actually giving a rating. These ‘customers’ who have complained about AHW posting false ratings to bring AHW’s ratings down.
The administration of this site should require that people who post should only post for themselves, not their ‘mother’or their ‘neighbor’.
Also the administration should allow any negative comments to be addressed, and to investigate if they are legit.
This is in response to Terri Koli who wrote
” I have had bad experience with this company. Claims were denied, customer service was poor. Also, watching these reviews, apparently this company is posting fake reviews to improve rating. I have reported the abuse to the site administrator. Be aware!”
If you are a legitimate customer you should contact William at AHW. We have a ‘No Denied Claims’ policy. I’m sure that either there is a misunderstanding or else you are not a legit. customer.
And regarding the ‘fake reviews’ by employees, as you know, when one goes to post here it is not immediatly clear if one must rate the company in order for your post to show up. I just tried posting without rating in order to respond to your complaints and found out it will post even if I did not rate AHW.
Anyway, I would like to contact the administration about what I feel are false negative claims, but the Contact Us link would not work for me.
I agree, non-customers should not post here, such as ‘Rose Watkins’ and even employees.
By the way, I am not an employee, I am an independent home inspector, but I do contract work for Advantage Inspection in Greensboro, NC.
I can’t rate this company because I can’t get a policy with them. We cancelled a policy with AHS and it seems unless we’re buying or selling, we don’t qualify
This is in response to Lisa’s comment dated June 11, 2008. In order to obtain a home warranty from Advantage Home Warranty, your home must be inspected by an Advantage Inspection inspector. You DO NOT have to sell your home or purchase a home. AHW has written countless warranties for homeowners who simply knew the ONLY “no denied claims” home warranty was an exceptional value.
Please contact Advantage Home Warranty at 1-877-577-4742 and anyone in their office will be more than happy to assist you. Thank you.
To Trever Koli, I will gladly send you a $100. bill if you will provide us with your Warranty Confimation Number. We can’t find you any where in our system over the last ten years. If you’re ligit you should have this number.
Charlie Shipman
Advantage Home Warranty
Box 3917
Greenville SC 29607
(864) 241-2000
What I find amusing is that the only reviews I am reading are from the company employees. I am trying to find a good,honest,reliable home warranty company. What I am reading on this review sounds like kids in a school yard. This is NOT very professional to me. ARE they ANY GOOD,HONEST,RELIABLE companies out there?
We need to list our preference for a home warranty company prior to closing on our home purchase – After reading these reviews, we are inclined to choose Advantage Home Warranty. Can you please reply briefly as to why we should choose you?
Well I have not used these guys yet ,but I am going to give them a try , they seem to have the most logical bussiness model . a warreny after the inspection just seems like it is being fair to everyone , the company can know what they are dealing with and the customer has a soild foundation on what is working and not working to base their claim , a whole lot of unknown is removed with this plan . I will post here to follow up. I could not help to notice that all of the detractors to this company backed off when asked for there contact number ect. this is the only company that defends it self on this board
Not very pleased with this company. Poor Customer Service, did not fix my problem.
It definitely sound like there are no credible reports here. Just different companies playing kids games. Perhaps the website should take some initiative and follow up on posts or require a policy number or something. Without that, we just get worthless BS and fake posts.
Aaron and Spitzer
have you tried to talk to
Charlie Shipman
Advantage Home Warranty
Box 3917
Greenville SC 29607
(864) 241-2000
I called him and he seems like a resonable guy but this company does not do bussiness in my Area yet ( Virginia )
what are your compalints ? be specific I think he can help
I was looking for a new home warrenty when I looked over the comments from both sides. I understand wanting to let people know that some of these comments are not true but there is no perfect co. and you can not please everybody but maybe you do not realize that it comes across as being not so nice. Some of the wording comes acrossed as being nasty. People will say and think as they will but if your co. is a Top Rate then you don’t have to worry about some of these things because God knows and see if and who is lieing. For me this sorta turned me off. Blessings
Our AC unit broke Sunday night (7/5/09) and I called the Home Warranty Company Monday morning. Tuesday they sent out a contractor they work with often and have a history with; the verdict was we needed a new AC unit. Our 15-year-old unit was supposed to be replaced. We could not get in contact or return calls from our home warranty company or the contactor they used. After a dispute between the two companies they decided not to use that company’s quote, which leaves us without AC for a longer period of time. I have called repeatedly and been brushed off and been told rude things like, ” You can’t expect a new AC unit in one day” and “everyone wants to come first when their air is broke”. Well duh! I appreciate the concern and if their own AC was broken in the heart of July I believe they would not drag their feet getting a new one. To top it off we have an elderly family member living with us who cannot take the heat and we have had to make arrangements to stay elsewhere until the home warranty company gets a price they like. I just hope they are not risking QUALITY to get the cheapest price! When my situation is settled I will respond with a complete review for this company.
Thanks,
A real customer
Well it is Friday and conveniently the only two workers at Advantage Home Warranty Company can never come to the phone or they’re always in meetings. I finally spoke to William today who was nasty to me once again. He told me to ask my husband what was going on, then he hung up on me. He needs some serious training in customer service skills.
A second contractor came out to our house yesterday (Thursday)and basically said he has had instruction from the owner, Brent to “fix” our problem and not replace our broken unit. Both companies told them it would be in our (the home owners) best interest to replace the 15-year-old unit, because a compressor will only prolong the problem until our 1 year warranty is expired and it breaks on us! Advantage Home Warranty disagrees, they could care less what is in our best interest!
No work will be done over the weekend, no work is ever done after 4:59 pm on week days even though their web site says they answer calls from 9a.m.- 9p.m.
And the Charlie Shipman contact that has been posted above is a joke, he is no “saving grace”. I left him a very detailed message on Tuesday, asking him to return my call- NO word yet! That is Brent’s father-in-law and they seem to have the same business tactics.
We are now looking to get air condition at our house by “maybe Tuesday or Wednesday” – at least temporarily until the unit breaks again because they were told by 2 different contractors to replace the whole unit not just the compressor on a 15-year-old AC unit!
IS IT THE NORM FOR CUSTOMERS OF HOME WARRANTY’S TO BE WITHOUT AIR CONDITION FOR 10 TO 11 DAYS IN JULY????
PS- They are not accredited with the Better Business Bureau, of course!
Thanks,
A real unhappy customer
• I will start by clarifying, I do not work for another warranty company, nor do I have any affliation with them. Customer service, no matter whether something is covered or not, should be a company’s easiest issue to work with. The advantage home warranty rep. “William” has been rude and short both when myself or my wife has contacted them.
The first issue arose when water and rust was observed around the bottom of my water heater in the attic. AHW apparently uses ‘Service Live’ to conduct their business contacts through. ‘Service Live’ sent out a gentleman, (keep in mind – knowing it was a gas water heater), who was extremely polite to our house. However, the gentleman observed the issue and agreed the water heater must have an internal issue and needed to be replaced. When he stated “This shouldn’t be a problem, I have one of these in my house” I asked him if he was a licensed plumbing contractor w/the state of NC. He said “no, I mostly do siding work” I paid the service fee of $40 and contacted AHW about the discrepancy in personnel performing the work. “William” was rude during the contact, I then had to speak with the owner Brent Skidmore. They followed up by sending out a licensed plumbing contractor. The water was gone, however, the rust was still present. The contractor was polite and advised he did not see an issue w/the water heater, therefore, did not recommend replacement. I appreciate AHW’s follow up in this matter.
On a second occasion, we noticed a leak coming into our garage opposite the Master Bedroom area. I had my wife call advantage, unfortunately, she mis(explained) the problem and they ordered a plumbing contractor to come out. She advised to me that “William” was short and rude with her. I followed up with a couple of calls leaving voice messages. “William” returned the call the next business day (in an appropriately timely manner) and began speaking on the matter, I interrupted briefly, but politely, and the return was “HOLD ON LET ME FINISH!” I allowed him to finish and then followed back up with the fact that I am confident it is the shower pan and not a plumbing issue and that I did not want a plumber to come out on this one to only have to pay a service fee. “William” informed me the shower pan is not covered in the warranty, which I verified after the conversation.
This is a learning issue for us all. “William” definitely needs to take some initial or remedial courses in handling customers as also observed in above listed remarks. Remember, homes are all some people have these days and it is understood that it can be a touchy issue with folks. Secondly, whether a customer interrupts or not, it is probably best business practice to allow momentum to continue unless of course it is detrimental to a party or both parties.
All in all, AHW’s warranty is sound. I do not work for the firm or other firms in the business. But customer service goes a long way.
Sincerely,
Rick
My husband and I bought our house 5 yrs ago with an existing warranty with Advantage which we maintained for the next 4 yrs. When 2010 started and we had not received a renewal I contacted the company and was told we had been dropped as clients. Even though we had never missed a payment or used our warranty more than a few times we were dropped without explanation or even notice. Upon asking for a reason I was told that due to the age of our house and appliances we were “statistically a loss” meaning “your stuff is old and we don’t want to pay for new stuff even though you’re good customers in a down economy”.One month later, in February, our heat pump died and we had to pay for a new one out of pocket. The company we used told me they had terminated their contracts with Advantage due to unprofessional behavior and failure to pay for work that had been pre-approved. We also had a problem when our sump pump died and our basement began filling with water. I called to report it on a Saturday and was told it wasnt an emergency so I would have to wait til Monday, but on Monday no-one called or came out and the water continued to rise. I called every day that week with no results until Friday when I asked to speak with someone in charge. Suddenly a plumber was calling to come fix the problem. Although he did a terrific job and was courteous and thorough we suffered water damage to the wooden structures that hold up the house and have had mildew and mold as well as wall/ceiling cracks due to shifting. We counted on our warranty to protect us against expensive repairs and sudden problems but were let down. They took our money and gave very little in return. I would never recommend this or any company who cares so little for the people who make their jobs possible and who count on them for peace of mind.
I paid an Advantage inspector when we purchased our house in 2005 because I thought this was a good warranty (you have to pay their inspector to approve you for the warranty) and a local company. It was to start with.I have renewed evey year since and paid in good faith. They used to send me numerous renewal notices when I did not have many claims against the warranty.I re-newed every year….but wait…2010 happened to be a year in which I had several problems and had to actually use the warranty. (everytime I called they were rude)…. So, I never got a renewal notice and after leaving several messages I had to call back….well guess what,they cancelled me because my claims were 3 times what I paid for the warranty. WOW, I thought that was what I bought the warranty for( to be protected from these unexpected expenses) and they sdvertise that is the reason I should buy a warranty from Advanyage Home Warranty!! They did not even send me a letter explaining why! I might not be so negative if they had told me why! It is a shame to actually use a service you pay for and Advantage Home Warranty cancelling you because you actually have to use what they claim they protect you against!which is “have a peace of mind” in case something happens…unexpected expense bla bla bla. The brochure says how much it costs to numerous items such as air conditioners etc. and how you are protected against these huge bills if something goes wrong. Beware if something does break they will cancel your policy and not even tell you!!! BUYER BEWARE and I strongly suggest to consider other warranties rather than giving them your money for a “peace of Mind” and when you actually use it, they jerk the rug from under you and laugh all the way to the bank!
This company is horrible, don’t waste your money or your time. They send out unprofessional people and when the work is not done correctly, they will only send the same person out again unless you are willing to wait 30 days to have a repair done or pay another service fee. Horrible, is all I can say, what a nightmare.
I had one ‘repair person’ show up in a beaten down car, didn’t fix a dryer issue I was having and 12 days later it is still not fixed.
I called AHS and was on the phone for over an hour, spoke with a Customer Service Representative, a Specialist, and a Supervisor. All they would tell me is that they are waiting for a call back from the technician and my only option is to wait the 30 days for the repair to be completed or pay for another service call even though the Service Tech did not show for the follow-up Appointment to install the part he supposedly ordered and did not call to reschedule. Unreal is all I can say!
I finally got this resolved after escalating the call up 4 levels to a Manager (Customer Service Rep, Specialist, Supervisor, Manager). Just for reference, the next step up is a Center Manager.
We had problems with our ac/heating unit several times & it took 2 weeks to have it repaired in the heat of the summer.
In the winter it also took 4-5 days to be fixed. In Nov the contractor told us the unit was going to have to be replaced soon. Our contract is renewed each Dec, so the company decided not to renew us this year….hmmm???? Why after 4 years? I think the contractor told them the unit was going to have to be replaced & shit canned us!! Just beware before you decide to use this company. They can decide to not renew your contract with them as they choose.
i do work for many of these crooks they all are the same ! they don’t pay the contractor nor do they want to cover the repairs . this home warranty is the same as the rest ! a scam to take your money and run ! they want joe smoe the hvac tech that does nt care for quality and loves getting peanuts for pay ! this company is just as bad as 210 , fidelity , orhp , even worse hwa ! there needs to be oversight of these rip offs ! BEWARE THIS IS A FLY BY NIGHT COMPANY !
We have an electrcal problem caused by faulty wiring of main source to home that is damaging appliances, lighting and everything electric. We have been shunted from one person to another leaving voice mails etc. and nothing has takent place. This needs to be addressed as it is a dangerous problem that could cause a fire. It takes seconds for these homes to be completely consumed by fire. Let’s fix the problem. Advantage is hoping to have better relations with Rancho Vallecitos and this is not a good way to begin. Your contractor did the work, you hired him, it is your responsibility to fix the problem. Now we can’t even get through on your phones as they aren’t working. That’s not all that isn’t working.
This company is not good in paying the contractors it hires. I had approval for a job which was completed in May of 2011 and it is Dec 2011 and it is still outstanding. I cannot get ahold of anyone at any of the numbers listed and believe our company is now out $2000.00 for a service we provided to the homeowner as per approval. We submitted all necessary documents, signitures, and approval codes several times. They get a statement every month. IF YOU ARE A CONTRACTOR DO NOT PROVIDE SERVICE! This company is a scam.
i have tried repeately to get in touch with the warranty co and as it stands they seem to be out of business for u can no longer reach them on the phone and the bbb does not have them as a client if they are out of business they should have enough honesty to say i had good service with them for about the last few years but i guess the expentures was to much
used to be a good company. can’t get paid for the last two jobs we preformed. i believe they are out of business
Looks like from the reviews below, their questionable business practices are catching up with them!
As I said in 9/2010…..beware!