American Home Shield (AHS)
Home Warranty Plan Details and Reviews for American Home Shield (AHS)
Premium: $360
Deductible: $60
Effective: Immediately after...
Web: ahswarranty.com
Deductible: $60
Effective: Immediately after...
Web: ahswarranty.com
Customer Service 
Service Timeliness
Repair/Replacement Service
Overall Rating
Total Reviews: 625 Rate this Company!
Service Timeliness
Repair/Replacement Service
Overall Rating
Total Reviews: 625 Rate this Company!
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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My hot water heater was leaking from around the T&P valve. This was on a sunday. Knowing from previous calles to AHS that they will not send someone out on the weekend.(Backed up drain flooding in garage on Sunday was not considered an emergency by AHS). So I removed the valve applied teflon tap and reinstalled and tightened valve. Valve was still leaking so called AHS. Contracted company called on monday and said tuesday morning was as soon as they could get there. When they came out the tech asked for money up front (never pay upfront). I refused to pay the service fee upfront. Tech looked at hot water heater and then called AHS they said everything was covered. The tech removed the T & P valve applied teflon tape and thread sealant. Then using a 36 inch pipe wrench( Having removed this valve and being mechanically inclined I understand you have to use a pipe wrench) but he kept tightening the valve until he threaded it all the way throught the fitting on the tank. He then told me this was not possible and went to his truck and called AHS and told them I had stripped the threads.AHS then denied my claim. THe tech then told me that the valve was tight when he removed it from the tank. I called AHS and complianed. They said it had to go to customer service. I asked them how long this would take as I had no water to the house now do to all the connections the tech had removed. They said they would put it through as an emergency. After waiting most of the day they still had not called. I called them back and they told me they had 24 hours to respond to an emergency. During this same call they also told me that they did not know why I was still calling about this service as it had been denied. After the last call to them they sent the tech back out to turn on my water which I explained to him could not be done due to the fact that the hot water heater was still disconnected. He had diconnected both hot and cold sides while removing the T & P valve. I replaced the hot water heater on my own at my expense so I could have water in my house. AHS customer support finally called me back on thursday. The rep told me that since I had replaced the hot water heater myself that they would not cover any other repairs on it as I am not a licsensed plumber. I even volunteered to let the rep and tech come to my house where I would show them the valve and fitting from the old tank which i was actually able to thread back out once the tank was removed and I could get some leverage on the valve to get it to start back into the threaded fitting. She told me that would not be necessary and that basically they sent out a licensed plumber and that I was not one so whatever he said was right no matter what.I would not use this warranty company.
As of today, this company has a BBB rating of A+, though they send out plumbers rated F for failing to respond to complaints. (Dnb Plumbing in Houston, TX) I asked for a different company to come out, anyone that had a decent rating. They told me that this company was their top company for this area, and that they do an excellent job. Not very comforting to hear. I think that my trust will remain with the BBB. If I had a choice, I would not go with this company based on this alone, I think it is a window into how this company is really run.
My water heater went out after 9 years of use. It was originally replaced through AHS and I have been using the services of this company for the past 12 years. A technician from a campany located 200 miles away responded for the service call. It was explained that this company is the contracted service provider for the region. The technician arrived and stated that,”I’m not familiar with this type of process involving the service contract company”. He looked at the water heater and determined that it needed to be replaced. He then suggested that I should look into finding out if the water heater is still covered under the original manufacturer’s warranty and that I could find out this information by calling AHS before he would do any work. He then examined the pipes and stated that the plumbing did not meet up to current building code. It was communicated to him that a certified technician contracted by AHS conducted the work last time when the last water heated was replaced. He then completed an invoice and left a copy with me.
I followed his instructions and called AHS the following day when I learned that the manufacturer’s warranty had been exceeded by 3 years. I then called the contracted company back and forwarded the information. Four days later, I recieved a response. In the mean time, I had contacted AHS and inquired as to why the process of fixing this item was taking so long with only an answer that they were contacting the contracted company. I then received a phone call from a receptionist at the contracted company who advised that the technician who came out was a new employee and that he had not turned in any of his invoices along that he was not responding to any of their calls or request. In order to expedite things, I faxed a copy of my invoice. A day later, I receive a call from the same receptionist who advised that the water heater was covered but the upgraded plumbing was not. The plumbing required a ball valve ($10-$15) in order to be upgraded and that the additional work will be charged to me at a cost of $400. I recontacted AHS and explained the on-going incident to them along with the poor customer service being provided and requested another contracted company with negative results. I also expressed my concern over the possibility of this particular contracted company was engaging in fraudulent practices which fell on deaf ears. I then was offered the cash-out option which would only provide the cash value of the contracted service that the contracted company would of received. This amount came out to $260. The co-pay was not required due to no service being completed by the contracted but AHS deducted this fee from the total of the cash-out option.
AHS stipulated that a receipt of the new item and the upgraded pluming is to be faxed as proof of purchase and this was done. A few weeks later, they then requested proof that the item was installed by a licensed contractor or professional and they would not provide the remaining cash-out fee until this is done. In the mean time, I being a handy man installed the new water heater and upgraded the plumbing which did not require a licensed contractor to complete the work.
I am tired of jumping through “hoops” for the money that is righfully owed for the home warranty contract that I purchased for the last 12 years. Repeated written communications have gone unanswered and the quality of cutomer service is very poor. Its obvious that I will not be recommending this company to anybody else and I offer a strong warning to those who currently deal with or of those who are planning on purchasing a home warranty contract with this company.
I had AHS for five years and I filed my first claim in November 2009 to get my dryer repaired it would not heat up. AHS sent out a technician to repair the dryer he said that it was the heating element and we paid the tech $60.00 and they ordered the part. The tech came back with the new heating element and installed it, the dryer still did not work. The tech said that we had a bad timer and it needed to be replaced. They ordered a new timer and after waiting over a week for it, the tech came back and installed the new timer. My dryer still does not work, now the tech claims that he checked my power prior to doing any repairs and it was good. Now he says that my dryer is good but I have electrical problems and I need an electrician to repair my problem and then my dryer will work. AHS wants me to pay another $60.00 to the electrician. This is absolutely ludicrous. Please don’t waste your money or your time with this company.
I had to use my AHS warranty for the first time last week and was very pleased with the service. My water well was not working at all at 6:30 PM…which means no water to the home…The service rep was polite and caring….They had a service company call me first thing in the morning…He set the appointment and came out on time & fixed the pump and all I paid was the $60.00!! I am VERY PLEASED with American Home Shield.
Part 2 to my review of December 3, 2009, on this web site
The contractor that AHS, American Home Shield, sent to my house initially told me that he would have to “lengthen the plenum” to install the new evaporator coil and was charging a hefty fee to do so. What I have finally determined is that if they know that the plenum they will install is an inch or two longer than the one in your attic they feel comfortable gouging you for a “modification.” The plenum is the hard duct board box in the attic that all of the ducts come out of. They used an Allstyle evaporator coil AND the plenum comes with it, so all they were doing is taking it out of a box and charging me a hefty sum because it happens to be longer than the one that I currently had in my attic. If they tell you that they have to lengthen the plenum, follow them like a hawk on the day they make the repair. If all they do is open a cardboard box and pull it out, head straight to the AG and/or their licensing office for making false promises and lying to you as though they were having to build a plenum from “scratch” (making repairs that weren’t needed under a Texas DTPA laundry list item). Small claims court might work as well if you show the judge that they misled you into thinking that they had to actually build the box from “scratch.” If they do have to totally build it from duct board, then you owe them for the “modification”.
In my case there was a hefty charge for putting mastic BACK on the seams when they reattached the ducts to the plenum. They referenced a code that I could never locate. Here is a simplistic example of what they were doing based on another type of repair. My disposal went out. When the appliance repair guy replaced it, he had to take two wire nuts off in order to put the new disposal in. This is an apples to apples comparison of what they tried to charge me based on some unexplained code. They were charging me to put the mastic (wire nuts) back around the ductwork seams. The appliance repair technician didn’t try to charge me a hefty non covered charges fee to get the wires BACK to code, so why does the HVAC guy think he can charge non covered charges fee to get the duct work back to code by putting mastic on the seams. I was up to code before he took the ducts loose and the contractor was trying to charge me to get the a/c system BACK to code. Their logic was ludicrous. We were up to code when they came in our door. When they disconnected the ducts we were now out of code so they were trying to charge me to get the unit BACK to code…just like putting the wire nuts back on our disposal got it back to code. I’m repeating myself but it is so ridiculous that I had to!! The TX State HVAC License investigator persuaded them that they probably wanted to remove that charge as well as the one for a hanger kit that they didn’t change out like their noncovered charges sheet said they would do. By the way, a “hanger kit” is simply 2 inch or so steel strapping on a roll that in Texas they use to suspend the units from the rafters.
My AHS contract says that they “may” charge for disposal of old units. I read that to mean that if I don’t have the capability to discard of it myself and ask them to do so that they MAY charge me. I told the tech that I wanted to dispose of the coil myself and he started mumbling about needing to follow codes, freon, insurance liability blah, blah blah blah. I called my local solid waste office and they said that with the contractors’ ticket that they left with me I could dispose of it with them because the ticket indicates that they removed the freon properly under their license. Since it contained copper I knew that it wasn’t going to the dump anyway. They took it without my permission and I threatened to file criminal charges for copper theft. Don’t let them blah, blah, blah you into thinking that you MUST pay them to haul it off. If you ask them to take it off then pay them to do so, but if you want to dispose of it fight them tooth and toenail. I asked them to email me the code REQUIRING them to take it and charge me astronomically for doing so. They didn’t answer the email. The state licensing office is currently asking them the same question. I would like to know how they answer.
Every repair is different, I don’t have a pat system on how to protect myself on the next big item, but here is what I plan to do if my furnace goes out. FIRST I’ll study my contract carefully again. I will follow the tech into the attic and first ask if he has a state license. Hopefully he does because my next question is to ask if sees any evidence that I haven’t maintained the unit properly. This is another problem for another post but my theory is that if they can’t find enough “non covered” charges to make it worth their while they tell AHS that you didn’t maintain the unit properly. Since by AHS’s own admission to me that they don’t dispute their contractors and in the TX contract you can’t get a second opinion, you are out of luck. AHS will not change their mind or send another contractor to look at it and you can’t get a second opinion to force them to send another one out. If he says you have no maintenance issues and the AHS authorization rep turns you down on maintenance issues, SUE them especially if you got the contractor’s signature that there were no maintenance issues when they inspected the item. Study the Texas DTPA, You will like it. It is actually quite easy to read and understand.
Now back on track. Get them to tell you on the spot if they see any code violations or modifications or upgrades they need to do for your repair. If so, write them down and ask them to send you copies of the codes you are in violation of, modifications, etc. and get their signature to prove that you discussed it. You might even go ahead and ask them what their assessment is of additional charges. They will go back to their office and call AHS for “authorization”. Let him know that you expect the AHS authorization department to match his list of non covered charges—if there are any. What you are hoping is that he says that there are not any. It is easy to go back to an office and come up with non covered when you are not in the room, where it might be difficult for him if he has to give them to in person prior to calling them in to AHS. In my case the contractor told me that the charges were made by AHS and the AHS representative told me that the charges originated with the Contactor. So….whose charges are they? If they are the contractor’s charges then they should match EXACTLY what he told you in your home. My personal thoughts are that they are the contractor’s but they hide behind AHS to deliver them to you and be the “bad guy.” If they are AHS charges then the Texas Residential Services act says that all schedule of charges by a home warranty provider must be approved by the Commission. Find out whose charges they are by asking AHS that question. IF AHS calls you and says that the repair is authorized BUT here is a list of “non covered” charges and some of them are items that the tech didn’t tell you about–thus they must be AHS charges-fight them the best you can via the Texas Real Estate Commission. Tell them that the tech left you a list and that the list they are reading you should agree with what the tech told you upon his inspection. Call the tech and ask him what is going on. Your arguments will differ based on your repair situation. The problem is that AHS contracts don’t allow the contractor to charge labor and these non coverd charges that may or may not be legitimate under your contact are the contractor’s attempt to charge labor under another guise. In realty the contractor might be risking his license to get additional money from you under false pretenses. If you think or get a second opinion indicating that the AHS contractor is “risking his license”, turn him in to his licensing agency at the State level and ask them to look into it for you. Maybe we can clean up the “noncovered charge” problem one contractor at a time if AHS is too big for the Attorney General to win a class action suit against them in our best interest under DTPA. If contractors wise up and quit risking their licenses for AHS then AHS might have to start paying them what they expect to receive for their work. My guess is that if a contractor gets in trouble with their State License board over “false” noncovered charges AHS will disown them in a heartbeat by telling them that they didn’t tell them to violate their licenses with their “non covered charges”. Contractors….quit putting your licenses at risk just to make an extra buck if your non covered charges are questionable under you license. AHS cares not about you all they care about is that you keep your charges to them under a certain average for the year. Is it $150? I’ve heard that it is.
Remember that the feds got Al Capone on income tax invasion rather than racketeering.
Be sure to know your contract because there are items that it says you must pay. Remember that both you and the contractor must abide by your contract. If you think they are not doing so and you are, take them to Small Claims Court.
AHS might be ok for small appliances like my disposal but for the big ticket items my theory is that that are nothing more than a “sales lead” generator for the big ticket items or maintenance contracts for their contractors. In my case the contractor came through the front door trying to persuade me to buy a whole new upgraded system through him. Knowing what I know about the AHS/contractor, I wouldn’t have used him for the upgrade even if I decided to go that route.
Read my other review on this site dated 12/03/09 for more advice on Texas Small claims and articles on the web that might help you concerning DTPA.
We have had so many problems with this company, I would never recommend them and would say STAY FAR AWAY! We were a customer with them for 12 years in the Chicago area, not to many problems, but they would always just fill the air conditioner with more freon no matter what the problem, always a bandage never a fix! Now we have been with them for 5 years in Florida never called them except for our air conditioning, again always filling it with freon. never a fix, now we had some one else to take a look at it and they said we have a leak in the coil. American home shield refuses to fix it! Also they have been calling and arguing with me daily. Their service providers are HORRIBLE!!!!! It seems that we should have been experts in air conditioning ,who knew?? we paid to get it cleaned many times but it was not good enough for American home shield…it seems we are always at fault and nothing is really covered , they charge us 55 dollars a month and 60 dollars each time some one comes out….to tell us it is not covered…or tells us they will come back and fix it then calls the company and tells them some other story then American Home shield calls to tell us we are not covered! Turns out we wasted $660 a year also thousands on calls….we could have save money, by not using them!They are Rude and mean and , I would love to get all these people that have complaints all over this country and sue them!Now that I am doing the research I should have NEVER wasted all this time and money with this company. AMERICAN HOME SHIELD SHOULD BE EXPOSED for the fraud that they are!!!! I am calling the local TV station, lets see what others have to say, not just me!
We have had so many problems with this company, I would never recommend them and would say STAY FAR AWAY! We were a customer with them for 12 years in the Chicago area, not to many problems, but they would always just fill the air conditioner with more freon no mater what the problem, always a bandage never a fix! Now we have been with them for 5 years in Florida never called them except for our air conditioning, again always filling it with freon. never a fix, now we had some one else to take a look at it and they said we have a leak in the coil. American home shield refuses to fix it! Also they have been calling and arguing with me daily. Their service providers are HORRIBLE!!!!! It seems that we should have been experts in air conditioning ,who knew?? we paid to get it cleaned many times but it was not good enough for American home shield…it seems we are always at fault and nothing is really covered , they charge us 55 dollars a month and 60 dollars each time some one comes out….to tell us it is not covered…or tells us they will come back and fix it then calls the company and tells them some other story then American Home shield calls to tell us we are not covered! Turns out we wasted $660 a year also thousands on calls….we could have save money, by not using them!
I called 2 days before Thanksgiving to get my appliance repaired. They gave the work order to a company that doesn’t service the area my house is located in. I had to tell them the company did not service my area and I had to ask them to get another company. Fri/Sat/Sunday still no repair. I explained to them in my original call I had to leave town Tuesday. It is now 3 weeks later…I am scheduled to get service in 3 weeks.
We recently called AHS for the second time due to a plumbing issue in our home. Each time we have used AHS, we inquired prior to having a service technician come out about whether our specific problem would be covered and each time we were given a resounding “yes”. Each time, we paid the $60 fee for the service visit and were subsequently told that coverage would be excluded based on a pre-existing condition – which sounds reasonable until they start using anything and everything to get out of coverage.
In our most recent request, everything seemed fine while the plumbing company was here. We were told that our problem was due to worn out bolts. However, after they left, AHS called and said it would not be covered because the plumbing company said that the flange (part needing to be replaced) was not installed correctly, even though thee plumbers had verbally told me it was WORN OUT. After spending hours of time on the phone to try and get to the bottom of the issue and dealing with defensive customer service reps who would talk over me rather than listen as I tried to calmly state our issues, our problem is still not fixed and we will be out $275 plus the $60 service visit fee to fix our toilet for something that was supposedly covered.
Furthermore, when we called, we gave them our new phone number to the new property we had bought and moved to (really?, that’s why we got a warranty to begin with – because we moved – of course our phone number changed) and they gave the plumbing company our old number so the plumbing company never called us initially. We had to call AHS back to get the plumbing company to even come out. Then we had issues with AHS returning our calls while we were disputing the issue we wanted fixed. If you have a problem with their service, don’t expect them to call back or do what they say they will.
When buying a house, I would suggest passing up the the home warranty and saving the cash in a savings account for future issues. You’ll spend less money and actually get your problems fixed that way. If the seller is buying the policy for you, ask for cash instead. It’s a poor deal and ends up costing you more in the long run when you pay the $60 visit and still have to foot the rest of bill yourself.
Can anyone tell me if there is another warranty company, i am sick and tired of this AHS(ASS HOLE Services).
Have not and will not purchase because I called 3 different sales people, got 3 different prices. Went on line to check prices,they were less expensive. They do not cover many appliances, ceiling fans, microwaves vent fans that other companies cover. Thank all of who wrote reviews because this helped me make up my mind for sure. RUN,RUN,RUN all you new potential customers. Please check home warranties review.
We had a flood in our basement and when the tech came out to repair teh sump pump (normal fees applied) we explained an issue we were having with our water heater only a couple of feet away from the sump pump…the tech explained that they were very backed up due to a large amount of flooding in our area and we would need to put in a second claim (extortion 1). We did this and when he returned a week later to look at the water heater, he told us it was not installed to code and therefore he refused to work on it. We were charged a fee for the call (which was not nor will it ever be paid) and still 3 years later have issues with the heater (it must be reset nightly even after replacing the thermostats & heating elements. This idiot service provider should have told us that there was nothing he could do at the time we asked the question about the heater rather than drumming up extra charges for services he had alreayd determined were covered. When we told AHS about the situation, they said he came, therefore the charges stand. They have not only lost us as a customer, but we have reported this behavior to realtors we know who now will not recommend them.
Service providers hard to find and always complain about being payed fairly by AHS. Need work over the weekend, forget it. Looking to replace existing contract
If you are in Texas and the contractor uses the “pay us non covered charges or cash out” extortion method against you, take heed. Most of the time you are in a really bad situation and all that you can do is pay their “non-covered charges”. If you feel trapped, pay it and then study the Texas Deceptive Trade practices act–especially relative to the “unconscionability” provision in the DTPA. If you think that the contractor quoted codes you did not violate as a way to get labor that they cannot charge you through most warranty contracts then gather up your documents proving that you had no violations and at least go to Texas Small Claims court. American Home Shield (and others) and their contractors don’t want any law suits on the books exposing their “non covered charges” scam. They are complicit in that AHS actually told me that they WILL NOT dispute ANYTHING that the contractor charges.
The contractor then says–backed up by AHS–”pay up or cash out”. In the Texas contract, AHS doesn’t allow the customer to get a second opinion to dispute the charges because…YOU GUESSED IT…..they train their contractors on how to get more money out of you based on contrived “non covered charges” and then they won’t dispute them or allow you to do so with a second opinion. That is the only way they can get contractors to sign a contract with them and usually the contractors are unscrupulous. If you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you had no code violations—take them to court. If you read this before you have a problem with a home warranty company, be sure to take photos of the repair before and then after in as much detail as you possibly can.
To me, not contesting their contractors or allowing me to do so is a breach of warranty under TDPA because of their internal policy that says that they never dispute contractors’ charges AND they don’t give you that information in the Texas TREC approved contract. When I pushed the issue, their customer service representative on November 25, 2009, told me that I could not expect them to inform customers of all their internal policies. This is a BIG internal policy and, yes, I think that I should have been informed of it prior to purchasing the warranty. Read the Texas DTPA Breach of Warranty/Contract Section—especially Richard Alderman’s (see below) explanation of it. Here is how the Customer Service Representative’s statement relates but he explains it better: If the sales people OR the contract had stated that they have a policy that they never contradict their contractors, I would have never bought the policy. In other words they have a secret internal policy that they use against you but they don’t tell the unsuspecting home warranty purchaser about it.
The Texas Young Lawyers Association web site has a good articles on the TEXAS DTPA and Texas Small Claims Court as does Richard Alderman a professor at the Uof Houston known in the Houston area as the peoples’ lawyer. Just search his name/and or Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act. Small Claims in Texas doesn’t require an attorney but in the metropolitan areas AHS will send an attorney so either be well prepared or take an attorney with you. In Texas, DTPA violations are the best way to attack them. Read it, you’ll like it. Search your county Justice of the Peace civil small claims or county courts records to see what attorney they use and possibly even find cases that might help you. If AHS didn’t show for the court appearance, the plaintiff might have gotten a default judgment that you can find in your county records to study.
If there is a moderator on this site, Mr. Alderman is not in private practice so this is not an advertisement for him. He is a full-time professor in the Dwight Olds Chair at UofH.
Good luck!
Oh, I forgot, if you really feel aggrieved by the contractor turn them in to their HVAC Texas State Licensing Board especially if you think they quoted code violations you didn’t have OR they would give you no help in researching whether you had violations. Search the Texas State web site. You can file a complaint on line. The State Board calls it “making false promises”. If they gave you a piece of paper quoting codes that are inaccurate as to cite number and application as their logic that you need to pay them over and above what your contract with the Home Warranty said that you have to pay, they can be held accountable under their license if the code references are found to be bogus or if you didn’t violate them. They have possible violations of their Texas Occupations Code: Intentionally or knowingly misrepresented services or services to be provided 1302.401(b)(2), 75.70(a)(8), 75.71(b)(2) And/or
Made a fraudulent promise 1302.401(b)(3), 75.70(a)(9), 75.70(b)(3)
I did beat them on the “non-covered charges” issue. I had to fight them “tooth and toenail”, however. They settled out of court so there would be no court cases for you or your attorneys to research. There is a good case to study on the Travis County civil court web site. Search civil cases where American Home Shield was sued. The documents are actually on line for you to download. It was settled also, but it is good fodder to study.
If you go to Small Claims just be sure that you tell the judge that all you want is for all parties to honor the contract and then proceed to tell the judge how you think that the home warranty and/or contractor is not doing so. In my case on an a/c evaporator coil repair the contractor could not prove that I had code violations prior to the repair, they didn’t have to make any modifications and I paid them for a float valve upgrade. Therefore, under my Texas contract they should not have asked me “pay up” on any uncovered charges. Most of them won’t make the repair unless you pay them first so they have you over a barrel. I paid and then took them to court and showed the judge my contract. For example: If they tell you that they must change hangers in the attic for some reason be sure to make marks on the old hanger and take pictures before and after they leave to see if they actually changed them out. Mine didn’t and I had pictures. If they tell you that they have to make plenum modifications takes pictures and measurements prior to the repair and measure after the repair to see if they really had to have a bigger one. In my case the plenum came with the evaporator coil that AHS provided. You get the gist…. Don’t take the contractor’s word for anything. AHS does but you don’t have to. If you are in a bind, pay them and then get someone to help you in Small Claims court. It’s useless to talk to AHS Customer Service and expect a resolution. Small claims in Texas is up to $10K including attorney’s fees so an attorney can probably be totally paid if they help you win. If you can prove they lied and knew they lied, you can get triple economic damages up to the $10K. It is worth a try. I’m tired of reading about consumers getting taken advantage of. At this point, it might not be the money but it is the principle of expecting contractors and home warranties to do what is right.
In addition to contrived “Noncovered charges” the contractor put in a 4-ton coil in my 5-ton system which in addition to causing other problems, actually voided my AHS warranty. Be sure to learn to read coded a/c and evaporator coil model numbers and check to be sure you’re a/c unit isn’t compromised with mismatched tonnage components. This is what got my contractor in BIGGER trouble than the noncovered charges issue. No one would make good on the mismatch until the State Licensing folks got involved.
The HVAC industry knows how to decode the numbers. If they mismatch and don’t let you know that they have done so, my theory is that they knew they did so (lied). According to one of the Alderman articles, the Industry standard on how to decode model numbers can be imputed to them, thus proving that they intentionally mismatched and knew that they mismatched because anyone in the HVAC industry should know how to read model numbers. Mismatching is bad for the unit and for your energy bill. The first technician who came to my house was actually the one who taught me how to read them and told me that it was “job security”. On almost all units there will be a number somewhere in it that is evenly divisible by 12. Dividing it by 12 gives you your tonnage. EX 42 = 3 ½ ton. I didn’t get that far, but I think that imputed to the contractor, BINGO, I could have gotten triple economic damages under the Texas DTPA.
We had a major problem first thing Saturday morning. EVERYTHING was backing up!!! You couldn’t run water anywhere in the house without something over flowing. We called and they had a plumber come out. He snaked the drain pipe outside but didn’t do anything at all inside, because of roots. I get that they don’t cover roots and that is fine, but we still can’t shower. The shower backs up still and now it won’t drain at all. I have called them 4 times and they still won’t do anything about it. I keep telling them that it has nothing to do with the claim that we made on Saturday because it is in the pipes inside, but they won’t listen. They told me that I can pay for a plumber to come out and write a report to submit to them claiming that it is different, but if I am going to pay the plumber to come out I am going to have him fix it. I am already out 60.00 because he wouldn’t come inside to make sure he fixed the job right and cleared everything out. They won’t even send someone to come out and look at it. We will not renew with them again!!!
I have been an AHS customer since April 2002 and have never had a claim until now. Just before Thanksgiving (as luck would have it), my gas furnace went out. The ignitor, solenoid, gas valve or something was not working properly and something started to make a clicking sound as the furnace tried to ignite.
AHS dispatched SA Heating to my home on 11/20. I was told the problem was dirt and that cleaning the furnace was not covered so I paid $180 out of pocket + $60 service call fee. The furnace started to have the same problem so SA Heating returned on 11/22 and the tech replaced some kind of sensor (smoke or flame). The furnace worked for 1 day and went out again with the same problem. SA Heating returned a 3rd time on 12/1 and the tech couldn’t find any problem, but said that some wires were loose. The furnace had the same problem so I quickly called the tech back and he returned to my home the same evening and this time replaced the gas valve. No sooner does the tech leave and the furnace exhibits the same problem.
This morning, the tech calls me to give me 2 options: 1. request another contractor through AHS or 2. they will come out again (5th time) to try to diganose and fix the problem. I called AHS to try to exercise option 1, but they would not approve it since no diagnosis has been made and provided to AHS. So, I have to endure another visit by SA Heating which I am fairly certain is not going to yield any good results. Only after that will AHS authorize another contractor to come out. They won’t even authorize a replacement. I actually don’t want a replacement furnace, just heat in my house since it is 59 degrees in the house and I have a 4 year-old daughter.
I spoke with an AHS manager and told him that if SA Heating cannot fix the problem on the 5th try, he will have lost a customer and that I’ll ask for a prorated refund of my annual premium. I actually have never renewed my AHS warranty until moving to my home in 2002. I guess, I wasted some $3K on premiums of the past 7 years which would have paid for a new furnace.
I wonder if there are any truly reputable home warranty providers out there? Or are they all like this?
Do not purchase this home warranty. I have had them for 6 years and the rates and service fee keeps going up. I had an issue with my AC/Furnace in 2007 and I thought AHS would cover the cost, but they didn’t. They blamed me for not maintaining the unit before it went out. I purchased a home that was approximately 20 years old and that was the orginal unit in the house so when it went out, it was 25+ years old. I had no maintenance records from the previous owner (how could I)but they blamed me. I purchased the home warranty knowing that something like that could happen and they failed me. I had to purchase a new AC/Furnace unit($5000) because they would not cover it and now I am getting rid of them. They will no longer have my business.
We have been trying to get our heat repaired for almost a month now. We don’t seem to be any closer to a resolution than the first call we placed to American Home Shield. We’ve been lied to so many times, I still don’t know if the parts that were supposedly ordered were ever ordered. Never in my entire life have I been spoken to the way the heat company’s (a contractor for American Home Shield)service mgr spoke to me – rude, condescending, and argumentative. We’ve had a service contract with American Home Shield for 10 years (I also had a contract for a previous home in another state, but never had to use it). This is the first time we’ve placed a call and I’m in utter shock as to how we have been treated. I now understand why Clark Howard doesn’t recommend this company. How do they stay in business?? I’m about to file a complaint with the Consumer Complaint Agency. I’m also going to contact either the BBB or the GA Secretary of States office. This company – especially in the tough economy – needs to go down. The absolute worst company in the USA. I only wish that I had found this website before this ordeal started!
Very consistent service in the Cincinnati, Ohio area. Relaible providers and good results without debate of any kind. I would recommend them.
First experience was on move-in day, and for three months more – all for the same issue. I was very discouraged to learn that the three plumbers AHS sent out in as many months were not even reputable enough to be rated by the Better Business Bureau. It was only after they refused to cover any more of my ‘whole house’ plumbing blockage that I started looking into the service guys they were sending out. Once I called an A+ plumber on the BBB list, I’ve not had another problem. I’m currently looking over this site, trying to determine if I should renew, or with another company…
after waiting for 2 weeks, to get parts for dishwasher, they need some more parts, which the Tech did not order on 1st visit, so they need 2 more weeks to order parts,
1st visit tech spent 2 hrs, 2nd visit he spent 4 hrs, 3d visit not sure
The company seems to be run by inefficient people, who are willing to try to spend more than 6 hrs on site, plus parts, trying to fix a 20 year old dishwasher, not to mention the customer inconvenience for 4 weeks, which obviously they do not care , not sure why NAR even endorses them, the attitude has been lets find a way not to cover this, the concept of a customer centric company is really Greek to them, not sure how long a company of this caliber can stay in business, As a RE Broker, will definitely let all my agents and colleagues know about this, and have them make their own decision. Plan to request refunds for my other rental properties for which we have AHS.on a scale of 1 to 10 , 10 being the best , I rate this company as a Minus 1
After my experiences with AHS and all that I have read here how would you all feel about a class action law suit ..
If you interested email me at tsmith6719@yahoo.com
Run from this company as fast as you can. We are going on day 5 with no water in the house . Hot water heater broke the day before thanksgiving and I have spoke to no less than 8 supervisors. They have no desire to help. When you call there only interest is to get off the phone . A plumber finally showed up this morning and told me AHS would not cover $520 of the repair cost . The repair will not take place for 2 more day . This company will take your money and give you nothing but grief ..
We have moved often and have used other home warranty companies. Here in Houston, AHS has given us timely and effective service. We have renewed our policy each year because of their good service.