American Home Shield (AHS)
Home Warranty Plan Details and Reviews for American Home Shield (AHS)
Premium: $360
Deductible: $60
Effective: Immediately after payment
Web: ahswarranty.com
Deductible: $60
Effective: Immediately after payment
Web: ahswarranty.com
Coverage Area: USA - All States
Offers plans to cover pre-existing conditions and lack of maintenance repairs, for an additional fee.
| 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. |
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Reviews
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Pages: « 75 … 15 14 13 12 11 [10] 9 8 7 6 5 … 1 » Show All
I work for a plumbing company that is contracted by AHS. Originally thought to be a great way of contracting new business, we soon found that NOT to be the case AT ALL. The first thing we were told as contractor’s was the importance of collecting the $55 co-payment, before you even step inside the door or do any work of any kind. It is required that we call for authorization from AHS before doing any work and the work is so rarely approved, it generally just results in unhappiness on the part of the home owner and frustration on our end for not being able to provide the customer service we pride ourselves on being able to give to our own customers. We were also asked to give AHS lower rates since they would be providing us with such a large volume of calls. Again, NOT THE CASE. Because of the difficulty we have had in getting ANY money out of this company, let alone the money we have actually earned, we no longer accept service calls from them. It is our opinion that this company’s main concern is making money and definitely NOT helping unsuspecting home owners who believe they are spending their hard earned dollars on protecting their investments.
Buyers beware!! AHS pays it’s contractors a flat rate that don’t cover cost of doing professional repairs. Since we value our work and customers, we no longer can provide AHS service. All AHS cares about is the bottom line, not quality contractors. Most of these so called contractors work out of station wagons.
Tucson, AZ
I had AHS on five of my rental properties. I made a claim three different times on three different properties. 1st: They said they would not repair my HVAC unit due to lack of maintenance, I have maintenance records that proved since I owned the property showing where I maintained/cleaned it once a year. 2nd issue: 2nd property Dryer issue, they denied the claim & said that b/c I didn’t maintain cleaning the dryer exhaust vent they would deny replacing the dryer. 3rd one HW went out took my over 9 days to get replaced and had to send out 3 different companies to hook up HW heater. So please beware and read the fine print. I would not recommend this company they are really difficult to deal with and they go up on the rates every year.
AHS WAS CALLED OUT TO FIX MY HOT WATER HEATER DUE TO DECREASED WATER PRESSURE AND LITTLE OR NO HOT WATER. THEY SENT A PLUMBER OUT FROM MCCLELAN PLUMBING AND I MUST HAVE BEEN HIS VERY FIRST PLUMBING JOB EVER BECAUSE HE HAD NO IDEA WHERE TO BEGIN. NEEDLESS TO SAY HE COULD NOT FIND THE PROBLEM SO HE TOLD ME THE PROBLEM WAS IN MY PIPE LINES AND AHS WOULD NOT COVER THAT. A $55 SERVICE CHARGE WAS STILL PAID. ABOUT A DAY LATER I CALLED ANOTHER PLUMBING COMPANY IN BIRMINGHAM, AL TO COME OUT FOR THE SAME PROBLEM. HE FOUND THE PROBLEM WITHIN AN HOUR AND TOLD ME I NEEDED A NEW HOT WATER HEATER. I PAID HIM $910 TO TELL ME THAT. I LATER CALLED AHS BACK TO HAVE A PLUMBER COME OUT SO I COULD TELL THEM WHAT THE PROBLEM WAS. THEY CAME OUT AND CHARGED ME ANOTHER $55 SERVICE CHARGE TO BE TOLD THAT THEY WOULD NOT COVER THE HOT WATER HEATER BECAUSE IT WAS CORROSION IN THE PIPE THAT CAUSED THE PROBLEM. DEEPLY SADDENED, I CALLED ANOTHER PLUMBER OUT TO SEE WHAT HE COULD DO TO FIX THE PROBLEM WITHOUT ME HAVING TO PURCHASE A HOT WATER HEATER. HE FLUSHED MY PIPE LINES AND CHARGED ME $150. HOWEVER THIS DID NOT WORK AND HE LATER CHARGED ME ANOTHER $750 FOR A HOT WATER HEATER AND INSTALLATION. IT IS TERRIBLE FOR AHS TO HAVE PUT ME THROUGH ALL OF THIS TROUBLE AND STILL HAVE TO SHELL OUT A TOTAL OF $1920 FOR A HOT WATER HEATER THEY SHOULD HAVE PAID FOR FROM THE BEGINNING.!!!!
This company refused to pay for pipes that were required to replace my water heater. The denial was based on what they termed to be a modification or upgrade. In light of the fact that there were no replacement tanks available, I would think that they would pick up the cost of installation. I also had to pay a $75 disposal fee. A total of $546 out of pocket for a water heater!!!
We had ahs service our ac.The service company had to come out twice to fully diagnose.The first visit a part was replaced and the tech did not fully test and it failed in 2 days.The pool pump and appliance service was better though.However we will look to another company as the contract price and deductible are higher this year and we think the service has gone down.
The company that I work for sold AHS to Banks for them to offer their program to Bank Customers. Unfortunately I bought an AHS program. We waited 10 days to get approval to get a new Refrigerator, waited for almost a week to get the Furnas replaced, and as of now, have been waiting for over a week to get an OK to replace our unrepairable Washer. This company SUCKS – RIPP OFF. Get Cross Country’s Home Warranty program – much better. We’re going to switch to it as soon as this last fiasco is over!!!!!
I decide to leave them because they keep increasing prices for the past 2 years, even we’ve been with them for over 3 years and didn’t file a single claim.
I have had them for 2 years and have called them about 3 times. Their service is somewhat slow and their repair contractors average at best. But it seems like all these companies have problems and there are not that much better options. FYI, today, I got a notice of class action law suit against AHS from San Diego County Court. Stay tuned…
We had just one complaint about someting not getting fixed at all under their warranty. We had the contract for 1 year when we bought the house. Our plumbing contractor was very good and responsed in timely manner. Aplliance contractor was horrbile!! They only had personnell with no knowledge at all, had to come out 4 times for our fridge. One time the same damage as before happened 1 week after the 3 month work order warranty was over and we had to pay the 50$ again!!50$ co pay is anyway redicioulous, we had 2 work orders that would have been less than 50$ but got it charged anyway! Cooling heating contractors were a nightnare too! Had them coming out 4 times for one issue with our Evap before they replaced the motor. Needless to say we did not renew our contract. Although I have to say that 90% of the time the customer service employees from AHS have been very friendly and helpful, but their contractors are bad and like with the Evap you sometimes have to make multiple service orders (everytime 50$) before thet replace something.
Have recieved a letter now about the class action lawsuit and was wondering who else got it?
There is a class action lawsuit in Ca against AHS in the works for denial of claims might be worth the research folks.
J
Do not use this company!! I was personally told by the tech that was sent out to my home to repair my furnace, that AHS declines almost all request for repairs I called AHS and pretended that I was interested in obtaining warranty services and how did it work..I was told that they automatically cover EVERY appliance and unit BUT they do not send anyone out to check out the applicances before they cover it, they just take your money. My furnace was over 20 yrs old..I have had the home 2 yrs, it was inspected when I bought it, so I paid for 2nd yr thinking it was a good deal. But, when the furnace was acting up, the tech told me that I had boughten someone elses problem cause the coil was completely clogged up and it takes yrs for that to happen and therefore both my furnace and A/C was shot. But, of course, AHS denied my claims…I had a 2nd opinion but NOT someone who is employed by AHS, and that is one reason my claim ws denied…so therefore we replaced the furnace due to the tech from AHS telling me that my unit was shot….I didn’t have the money for that expense so my son paid for it. Then AHS denies the replacement on a 20+ yr old furnace….I told the dispute person I talked to what the tech had told me..but he believed the tech over me, of course. I called the dispute person back and asked if he had talked to the tech regarding my statement and he said no, he wasn’t going to. So therefore, I take it that he called me a liar…and I am not. Needless to say, I will never do business with American Home Shield again.
I will NEVER renew my contract with this company.
I had American Home Shield for several years, during that time I had a leak coming from the floor. American Home Shield had a contractor who came out and stated that I needed a new hot water heater. After I paid the additional cost for the hot water heater to be installed. I still had the leak coming from the floor. American Home Shield sent the same guy out who stated that the leak was coming from a pipe in the wall. After the third or fourth time American Home Shield sent another company who stated that the leak was coming from a pipe connected to the hot water heater. In other words, he didn’t know where the water was coming from. Then I had a “slab” specialist who came out for a half an hour and charge $495.00 to state that the leak was not coming from the ground underneath the slab. At the end of my journey and five months later “I” paid for my own plumber to locate the leak and “we” found out that my neighbors hot water heater had been leaking. My house was not damaged when I first called American Home Shield, but after five months of water leaking into my house, I had to have the firewall replaced, three cabinets, walls and floors in three rooms. As well as I had mole and a restoration company to come out to ensure that the mole was controlled. American Home Shield sent a company out several times with no results, I had to call several times to get them to send someone out, I had to ask repeatedly for the money back for the hot water heater that did NOT need to be replaced, and because they took so long to not fix anything, I ended up replacing more items in my house and eating out because of the constant water that remained on the floor. American Home Shield would always answer the phone to take your compliant, but their follow-up was not desirable. I would not recommend this company to anyone. I had a terrible experience that lasted for eight months of stress in my life!
too expensive, too many exceptions
Recently I requested service from AHS for an unstable toilet. I was contacted by the plumbing contractor they assigned immediately and an appointment was set up for the next day and I was told the serviceman would call 30 minutes ahead of arrival. The servicemen (2) called ahead as promised and did arrive on time. One serviceman came in and I explained the problem. He removed the toilet and inspected the ring and stated it was deteriorated. He then went outside and discussed the problem with the other serviceman. Both servicemen came back into the house and looked at the problem. The second serviceman that had been outside stated that I had overtightened the bolts on the toilet and that had broken the ring and that he did not think AHS would repair, but that he could do the job for me anyway and I could pay his company. I stated I had not tightened the bolts and that the ring was obviously rust rotted and just would nolonger hold the bolts and that the house is 28 years old and this was the original toilet. He then said he would call AHS and advise them of the situation. While these servicemen were outside talking with AHS, I received a call from an AHS agent, that she had some questions about my claim and that the servieman that called said I told him that I had tightened the bolts and broke the ring. The AHS agent howeverer, said it did not jive with the information I had given them at the time of claim. I told the agent that the young man was lying to them and had made the offer to repair the toilet and I could pay them as AHS would not fix the problem. I was told by the agent that she would handle the situation. I immediately went outside and confronted the serviceman that spoke with the agent at AHS. He insisted that I told him I broke the toilet ring and that I was mistaken in what I remembered telling him. I was livid and told him to leave as I was calling AHS again regarding this mess. I did call AHS and was told that they had approved the repair based on the investigating agent’s report and the plumbing company would call me to schedule the repair and that it would be an involved repair with possible concrete work. I was contacted by the plumbing company early the next day and an appoinment was made for the repair. I also explained my dissatisfaction with the servicemen to the woman that called. She stated they were aware of the problem, that AHS had made it perfectly clear. The same servicemen came out, hat in hand, and were exceptionally polite and did an excellent job of repair. AHS called the next day to see if the job was to my satisfaction. They also stated that they would list the plumbing company that came out as a “DO Not Send” on my file so they would not be sent to my home again. I found the AHS customer service to be excellent and was amazed at the follow throught they gave the claim. I had made a couple of claims with AHS before and they too were handled professionally and with courtesy. I have no complaints about AHS, the problem was with the contractor they used and I beleive they took care of that problem! I will renew and recommend AHS.
I have called several times to use this policy. It seems that every time they come to fix something it is not covered by the policy and we have to pay out of pocket for the repair. Or if it is covered (water heater) then there are things that are not covered and we wind up paying out of pocket.
I was with AHS for 2 years. The customer service is absolutely horrible and they are not very friendly or helpful. I placed a service call in March 2008 for my dishwasher and after over 50 calls with basically no satisfactory results and the run-around, we finally had to pay to have another company come out and fix the dishwasher. I never received a call from AHS despite the numerous calls I made about my dishwasher being repaired. I placed a service call for my microwave. They determined they had to replace the unit because it was a built in. The tech came to my home and I was not there, but visiting relatives were, who had no idea of the repair. I never received a call from AHS or the tech. He replaced my microwave/oven but the unit was too short and too wide, so he cut a jagged, gapping whole down one side of my maple built in to accomodate the unit. He left dust and splintered wood all over my kitchen floor and counters. His assitant then stripped my old unit of its knobs, doors, hinges etc…I called AHS about this and they basically told me there was nothing they could do but go to small claims court and sue the company they sent to my home. The unit they sent to be installed was not the one I ordered and they told me that was now my problem because it had already been installed. I asked to speak with a manager on countless calls to AHS and never got to speak to a manager until I called to cancel my policy. And that is only time any one was nice or friendly or even acted like I wasn’t bothering them. In the two years I was with AHS I placed 3 service calls and 2 out of 3 was a disaster. I would never ever recommend anyone trust their home to this company.
Had a problem with a high-end Kohler toilet. Parts for this model are not in stores, but can be order from Kohler. Instead, during the third (!) contractor visit to the house, the contractor decided to replace my $700 toilet with a basic $33 generic white version, the cheapest thing on the market. The AHS rep informed me it was the “maximum” replacement limit for a toilet. The company will replace items it cannot repair, but with the absolute cheapest versions on the market. In the end, I determined the problem was a $2.40 seal that required replacement. In defense of AHS, I was able to put the contractor off-limits for future repairs. If you own a cheap rental with cheap contractor-grade equipment, this company may work for you.
This week, one of the nation’s largest home warranty companies, American Home Shield, settled a class action lawsuit in federal court. The case involved a California woman who said AHS misled customers about the meaning of federal regulations on newly manufactured air-conditioning systems.
The purpose, the lawsuit alleged, was to sell upgrades to existing customers. The company denied wrongdoing.
Philadelphia lawyer Jamie L. Sheller has researched American Home Shield on behalf of several clients. She said she learned that AHS creates incentives for contractors who perform repairs to keep costs down. The better they are at that, the more business they get in referrals from the company.
AHS assigns grades to contractors based on how many claims they deny, the average cost of repairs and the ratio of repairs versus replacements, she said.
That creates incentives for contractors to deny claims or to do minimal work.
Full article: http://www.star-telegram.com/northeast/story/1146855.html
They refuse to make necessary and valid claims. They put exlcusions in the contract for items you believed would be covered. For example, my application stated the plan included plumbing,but when I got the contract AHS, in the fine print, excluded facets.
Horrible referrals. Refers address less guys who doesn’t show up and not bothered to let us know atleast the reason for not showing up.
Please don’t go with these guys unless you don’t care loosing time, money and patience.
My heat pump needed repair and American Home Shield found a way not to fix it. They sent out a repairman who spent two hours working on the unit and said they would return. AHS called and said the repair was not covered, even though they had told me it was when I made my first call to them. The Unit is now totally unusable since the repairmen did not come back. Save your $550/yr and have a local handyman do the work, and you will be money ahead.
My Furnace died in December. It took 2 weeks to get the subpar furnace delivered. Had to move out of my house. AHS offered one space heater. Heating subcontractor indicated they could have had furnace next day, but had to wait for delivery from AHS which took waaaaay too long. Then I had to incur additional expenses to fit new furnace into existing ducts.
Renewal rates went up and service fees went from $55 to $95 per call. No remorse by cust service, that is just the way it is.
I had a few things I called to ask them about, but they weren’t covered (dryer vent duct was clogged). But I had to use the termite add-on I thankfully got and it saved me a lot of money. This was my first year with them and I was considering adding my washer/dryer/fridge when I renewed. But I got the renewal notice and they jacked up the price. So, not only will they not be getting the add-ons they always want to sell you, they won’t even be getting my renewal. For as much as I’d end up paying, if one of those appliances breaks I can just buy a new one and be able to choose my own vendor.