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
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. |
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
Reviews
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Pages: « 75 … 35 34 33 32 31 [30] 29 28 27 26 25 … 1 » Show All
Before I added our refrigerator to the policy, I specifically asked if a loud recurring CLUNKINGING noise (compressor most likely) was covered. They said yes, so I purchased this additional coverage.
Later, I called and told them about the loud clunking noise, loud enough to wake you up at night. They asked if there was any food spoilage? I said no. That is ALL they asked before scheduling a service call.
The service folks came and upon arrival immediately asked if the refrigerator was working. I said yes. They said it would not be covered. Would I still have to pay the $60 charge? YES.
I called American Home Shield back and related all this. My position was that 1) they said it was covered and 2) the gal who talked to me DID NOT tell me there would be NO COVERAGE if the refrigerator still worked, NOR DID SHE ASK IF IT STILL WORKED. After much haggling, they agreed to send a certificate good for a free service call but they would not reimburse it. I told them for sixty lousy bucks, they were going to get as much bad press as I give them.
Long story short, save your money with any of these companies. If you are buying a house, get the seller to give you the money via a credit at closing and self-insure. You will actually get something for your money then because ALL the home warranty folks have more loopholes to avoid coverage than swiss cheese has holes!
I cannot say that I have had a positive experience in the last 2 years for either of my 2 contracts. Each time I have to call for follow-up, 2nd opinion and to complain about the lack of service.
I’ve used AHS for several years and so far have not had any problems. I was disappointed to find out that my custom toilets would only be replaced with contractor grade. It was inthe small print. I should have purchased the toilets myself and had the company AHS gave me install, as they would have been much cheaper. I’ve had a couple of AC repairs, and the technicians usually ask if it is an emergency. Today’s response was next day service. My AC works, but its old, so it will need to be serviced a couple of times a year. I’d rather do that than risk them not paying for a unit when needed. A friend didn’t have hers replaced because fire ants got in it. I guess there are good and bad comments, but so far my results have been positive.
After many years of paying AHS for warranty service they completely led my around by the nose for 3 weeks in over 110 degree weather and finally shoved a little over $600 at me, cancelled my coverage on it. Basically they wanted me to “go away” because the entire united needed to be replaced. I found a reputable firm to replace the Heat Pump at far less than I paid AHS, American Home Shield in annual premiums. No one should ever use this company as in my opinion they have no intention of covering expensive repairs. In addition to the costs of the repairs I had to take my dog and go to a motel as we were both getting sick from the heat. This company is despicable and should be put out of business.
These people were so rude! Costomer service below poor! We had issues last summer with AC, they took their sweet time repairing. They wouldnt go with a popular local company, sent some shadey people in here from out of town with parts that are no longer on the market to fix it. These people tracked mud in all over my carpet and left black handprints all over my walls. No to mention they turned it on and left and black sut blew all over everything! I have called and called and complained and they have done NOTHING! Then the heat went out in the winter, samr thing some no name jerk from out of town and it took DAYS!!! I had to keep calling and had to get nasty to get my heat fixed. Their customer service gives you and attitude and transfers you all around anf no answers no help. When they say they will call back, good luck with that. It’s been 7 months and nothing to resolve everything that was ruinned here by the people they sent!
AHS has the worst customer service that I have ever seen. I’ve had coverage since 1998 and have have so many issues that I can’t count anymore. The latest fiasco is the AC. In Texas, AC is a must but these people just don’t care. Thier technicians are incompetent and slow to respond. They have come out twice and have yet to make the repair or tell me why they feel i need a new AC unit. They tell you that they will arrive at a certain time, but they don’t. No calls from anyone. I have complained and asked to speak with supervisors at AHS but they give me the run around and never connect me. Put me on hold for over 20 minutes and then hung up on me.I thought the AHS would be a liasion between me and the company. The only thing AHS called to ask me for was more money for things that were not cover. I am done with this company…I am cancelling this contract ASAP.
Worst customer servicer ever. My air stopped cooling in April and I called AHS and explained that my parents were elderly and oxygen was in use so I needed the air fixed ASAP as we were in Fl. The company they contacted cancelled the morning of the appt with no explanation. I called AHS to complain and find out what they were going to do about it. Bottom line was nothing. All they did was give me a spiel about how this contractor had this great record. When I asked them had they annotated that the company cancelled at the last minute they said no and I said well no wonder they have a great record. If you are not keeping a record of when they cancel on a customer they will continue to have a great record. They didn’t do anything to try to rescedule an appt for me or send out another contractor. I had to keep calling the contractor to try to set up another appt. I called AHS and spoke to a supervisor to find out why was I paying them when I am doing all the work. She said that they called the contractors and “hoped” that they would show up. I told her I don’t pay for hope I pay for a guarantee. The contractor finally showed up and it was just a loose wire but they tried to tell my Mom that she needed a special filter that only Carrier and this contractor sold. I felt that they should have given her a free one as compensation for cancelling but they tried to sell her one. I went online and ordered directly from Carrier using the size specifications the technician wrote on the invoice and it was the wrong size! He was supposed to be the expert and he couldn’t do something as simple as get the correct filter size? I went to Walmart and bought the same size and type and size that was already in there and it worked fine. Incompetent customer service reps, incompetent supervisores, incompetent contractors. Don’t waste you money. Luckily I had only been with the compay 8 months and I cancelled immediately. They tried to use the scare tactics that once you cancel you can’t get it back and I was look, good because I didn’t want it back. They also tried to spew their benefits of they will replace something if they can’t fix it but from reading all of the other reviews, I a glad I didn’t fall for them. I rather put the money I would have paid them for a warranty aside for if and when something breaks because that plus the $60 for each service call was not worth it.
We were told we needed a whole new air conditioner by the company they sent to our home. As you know that would cost over $7,000. They said this happened because of lack of care on the unit. Interesting but we have two air conditioning units and the other is fine. They were checked a year ago by a different co. then the one they send. We now know that the ducking in the unit has black coating that comes off. It within that year got on the coil. To make a long story short they blamed us and wanted to put on a new unit and we would need to pay for it. I found out a fellow teacher’s husband is an air conditioner specialist so I asked him to come and look it over. Well $500.00 later we have our air again! Quite a savings compared to a NEW unit. To say I am upset with that company is an understatement. The old saying a sucker is born every minute is true but not true for us. My feelings are there is no care for the consumer and not everyone is earning a million dollars a year to fix every item they deem as totally broken. This company needs to think of people and their needs not the almighty dollar!!! When you pay for a warranty let’s see it through instead of playing games. The reason for all of this and I really feel this is true, was because the unit was an older unit not ancient but older. Which says to me they do not want to repair older items that are expensive. Good bye to this company! Maybe just paying for problems as they come is the best way to go from what I’ve seen on line about all these types of companies.
Take your premium and put it in a savings account for a rainy day!
We have had this service for about 5 years and wished we had quit sooner – absolutely not renewing. The aggravation of having to wait many days and in a few cases over a week for pluming issues to be resolved was absurd. They require many of their contractors to get parts from AHS or their supplier and they send things by ground, even though the part is available locally. Often times they would have to send out a second contractor to confirm what the first contractor stated. These are generally the “lower end” contractors that don’t have enough work (wonder why) so they have little clue what the plumbing code is. On told them that our water pressure was illegal. Then I had to get a statement from the water company that it wasn’t. Another repaired plumbing incorrectly and never fixed the real problem (we did with a real contractor whose main gig was not plumbing). We often had to get another out of network contractor and then be reimbursed which took a good month.
Remember that they replace your quality items with “builder’s quality” which is a euphemism for crap.
Don’t believe their hype. This company has continued to disappoint us. Most recently our refridgerator stopped working and we were notified that the quickest service appt would be 5 days later. With two little kids this is unaccepatable!!! Last month we had a pipe break in our boiler at 9pm. With water pouring out we quickly called our own plumber as it was an emergency. We were denied reimbursement because we did not try AHS first. With their poor record of response saving our basement was a greater priority! I strongly suggest you look elsewhere if you want satisfaction! I know I am changing plans soon!
Just found this site after seeing a tv ad for another company and saw a 5 star rating-with only two reviews. I understand that people have legitimate complaints and are justified in their feelings but how many people feel the need to rate a company after getting excellent service? Not many, I expect. If a company does what it’s supposed to do we just move on but if they treat us poorly we get angry and want to vent. It’s human nature. I’ve never given a positive review for any company even though I’ve had excellent service. I’ve had an AHS warranty for over 8 years on my home and 3 years on a condo I own. Have never had any service issues and have had these repairs and replacements: new filament in water heater(twice), replaced water heater, fixed microwave oven, replaced control on oven, replaced toilet, fixed/replaced two shower faucets, repaired A/C system(twice), repaired refrigerator, replaced dryer heating element. They’ve aleays been on time(within the time frame they gave) and been very courteous.
I have no doubt that most of these complaints are legit but take a look at the number of reviews, this tells me that obviously they must have a lot of business and therefore have a higher chance of disappointing more customers.
Two issues were denied coverage as they stated they were not from normal wear and tear. We asked for a second opinion from an independent contractor, so they ended up covering them in the end, but it was a big pain in the neck.
The technicians that they contract with are idiots. We had a plumber that had no idea what he was doing. The washing machine repair man was clueless.
I am canceling asap and signing up with someone reliable.
My A/C went last year, AHS would not cover as had not been serviced in 2 years. One week later a “Slab leak ” was discovered under the foundation, would not cover as NOT in my house. I’ve had their cover for 8 years with 2 or 3 minor call outs.. WILL ABSOLUTELY NOT RENEW IN JUNE!!!
My A/C went last year, AHS would not cover as had not been serviced in 2 years. one week later a “Slab leak ” was discovered under the foundation, would not cover as NOT in my house. I’ve had their cover for 8 years with one or two minor issues.. WILL ABSOLUTELY NOT RENEW IN JUNE, USLESS..
They are a scam! Don’t waste your money! I have had 2 repairs that should have been covered denied! They will not return phone calls. DO your research, I wish I had before I spent $600 on a worthless warranty!
this is the best program I have ever had.My A/c unit went out and they where out there within the 4hr. the told me they would be out there.The cool thing is that I didn’t even have to pay the deductable.American Home Sheild is the best program out there and i want everone to know that it is very beneficial.
My hot water heater tank broke after I got the contract and they would not pay for it,stating it must not have been in workign condition when i got the contract. This was even after I already given the technician my $60..Do your homework and read reviews before selecting a company.
AHS has the worst customer service that I have ever seen. I’ve had coverage since 1995 and have have so many issues that I can’t count anymore. The latest fiasco is the AC. In Texas, AC is a must but these people just don’t care. Thier technicians are incompetent and slow to respond. They tell you that they will arrive at a certain time, but they don’t. No calls from anyone. I have complained and asked to speak with supervisors at AHS but they give me the run around and never connect me. Put me on hold for over 20 minutes and then hung up on me. I am done with this company…I am cancelling this contract ASAP.
Don’t waste your money on this company. They send contractors out fast, but they don’t fix anything. Plus, they have so many holes and exclusions in the contract for the core things such as plumbing that go wrong in your home.
Ditto most everything I read in the negative reviews. I had a ceiling fan fall from the ceiling. AHS would not repair nor replace it. One technician they sent was rude and obnoxious. A leak uner the kitchen sink was “not covered”. I had to pay to have it fixed. Etc. Etc. Just not worth the money they charge nor the aggravation one suffers dealing with these people.
What a racquet! I will never use American Home Shield again. After talking to other people, I think their service is best summarized as “cheap, bad insurance.” If they were worth their salt, why wouldn’t they inspect the items they “cover” (term used loosely . . . ) before giving them a “warranty”???
I moved into my house in April 2006. Dallas gets very hot in the summer months and not 3 months into moving in, I was calling AHS b/c our A/C unit was not cooling correctly. They sent out a service provider, to whom we paid the then $55 service fee to, who told us the coils were dirty. We had them cleaned.
In 2007, we had two service providers sent out by AHS . . . continued paying service fees, but no one who came to service us really ever told us anything.
Ditto for 2008.
In 2009 the ceiling to our bedroom and my home office showed stains. . . the pan was overflowing. AHS did nothing. My boyfriend figured out that the condensation was overflowing in the pans and put some sort of jerry-rigged tubing up to re-route the condensation. We’ve been manually draining it.
Finally, I had enough. AGAIN, I called AHS to the scene. This time they sent a provider whom they had not sent in the past. The guy who was dispatched to my home told AHS that the unit had been installed incorrectly; AHS told me faulty installs were not covered. Ummmm . . . ok . . . but WHY the heck did the 8th guy make this astounding discovery and not someone who came out in 2006, 2007, 2008 or 2009???? WHY have I been paying for fruitless service calls and having incompetent technicians sent over?
Because it’s a rip-off. Pure and simple.
Save your $468 per year. This company is a sham.
Don’t waste your money. I told my husband not to purchase this. We purchased the warranty at closing of our 22+ year old condo. This is a second home, which we purchased 11-16-09. The condo is in Stuart, Fl and we live in Erie, PA. We have replaced most of the lighting fixtures, all the receptacles and outlets, all the windows, floors, and have freshly painted the place just in the last three months. We purchased a new hot water tank in April before we replaced the floors even though it would be covered with the warranty if it went, but we didn’t want to take any chances on having a leak. On 5-1-10 our friend who checks on our place called and said the water tank or ac unit was leaking. So we asked him to call the company that installed the water tank. They recommended a service check to go over everything, clean it up and change the filters. We agreed and paid Premier Air Conditioning $60.00 to do so. They came 5-3-10 @ 8:00am and said the unit needed replaced for many reasons and gave us a price to replace it. This is where the nightmare starts. On 5-3-10 we called AHS to file a claim. They said they would be in touch as soon as they had someone to come out. They emailed and called and said Automatic Control would be out the next morning. They arrived on 5-4-10 as scheduled and told our friend (who is a retired PA Deputy Chief) the unit was shot and too old to fix. Joe from Automatic Control also left a detailed list of what was wrong with it and at the top was 22+ year old unit. Joe collected the $60.00 service charge fee and said he would be contacting AHS within the next two hours and we should hear from them that afternoon. AHS never called us back. We called later that day and they told us they would look into it and call us back and again, they never did call us back. We called them 5-5-10. They then proceeded to tell us that the tech from Automatic Control said he could not figure out the problem and that; the tech recommended that AHS get a second opinion. I find this hard to believe that our friend who was a detective for thirty years could miscommunicate, “the unit is old and shot” to, “I don’t know what is wrong with it”. At 3:45pm we received an email stating Acutemp would be contacting us to schedule an appt. Acutemp did call and schedule an appt. for Saturday between 8 and 10am. On 5-6-10 we received another email at 5:37 stating AZ Remolding & Plumbing would be contacting us to schedule an appt. On 5-7-10 at 1:30 our case manager, Laquita, called, we explained no one had ever contacted us from AZ as the email had stated. Up until this point we had called AHS several times and no one had ever returned any of our calls. We told Laquita we were very concerned with the amount of time this was taking because of the improvements we had just made to the place, also the concern of the heat & humidity would ruin our new floors. Everyone knows the southeast gets very hot and humid this time of year. We asked why did we get an email from AZ Remolding when we already had an appt with Acutemp AC. Laquita said she would look into it and promised to call me right back. Well at 6:30 that evening we still hadn’t heard a thing. I called back again. I told them I needed to know because I had already made arrangements to have someone there for the next morning between 8 and 10am. I also explained that we had to pay someone to be there because we don’t live there. After thirty minutes of talking to Tammy then Julie the manager, we were told they had cancelled the Sat. appt. with Acutemp and they would contact AZ and have AZ call us back that night. Well we still had to pay for our Saturday appt. for someone to be at our condo. AZ did call us at around 2:00pm Saturday and said they could be there later that day. We explained we don’t live there and we need more notice to make arrangements to have someone there. AZ said they would be out 5-10-10 Monday between 9 and noon. They came said they put some Freon in the unit and got the unit started. We had our handy man there to over see things. When AZ said they were done, our handy man said you need to stay because in ten minutes that ac unit will be leaking all over the hot water tank and onto the floor. He said he couldn’t wait, he had to go. So in ten minutes it was leaking all over. Our handy man shut the ac off and called the man’s cell phone from AZ. The man started speaking broken English and said he couldn’t come back and said to call your warranty company. While AZ was there they also tried to collect another $60.00 service fee. We called AHS they told us AZ should have waited and taken care of it. They would call AZ back and have them call to reschedule. AZ called last night at 8:30pm. The woman said she would have dispatch call us this morning. It is now 3:00pm and AZ has not called. AHS has not called. I would never recommend AHS to anyone. We will be contacting our realtor’s office, home inspector’s office and we will be sure to tell all our friends, relatives, and everyone we know how awful it has been to do business with you. We will also be contacting the better business bureaus in every state. My husband & I have been in the car business for over 35 years. When people have a bad experience they tell everyone they come in contact with, unfortunately, the people that are happy just expect it, so they don’t tell everyone. This web site is a perfect example. I see many more unsatisfied than satisfied. I for one am going to copy & paste this complaint many more places. Shame on AHS, you are not good business people. Word of mouth is everything. If you buy this be prepared to be smoozed by everyone you talk to at AHS. All the girls we have talked to were very apologetic and sympathetic. They would calm you right down, tell you how it wasn’t right, they’d get right on it and then do nothing. AHS will just blow you off. Unless you are lonely and have nothing to do, don’t bother. It’s been over a week and they are just stringing us along. Maybe we can get our money back through the better business bureau because there is NO WAY AHS is going to pay for our new air conditioning. AHS should not be in the business if they don’t stand behind what they sell. They are the ones that wanted to take our money knowing or not knowing the condition of the condo. What would they expect from a 20 plus year old condo. The first company they sent said the unit was shot, that was on 5-4, you can’t tell me it took until 5-10 for a second opinion. AHS know exactly what they are doing. This has been an awful experience.
They are very pleasant on the phone and accomodated us within an hour someone was at our home. BUT we found out that if you have a water heater that is connected to a solar system it is NOT covered under the policy. Our water heater went out and we ended up paying the deductible for nothing. I would think if something wasn’t covered, then the customer should not have to pay the deductible.
Dont bother dealing with AHS. We have been having the same trouble with our refridgerator for four years. It shuts down, every thing melts, and then mysteriously comes back on.It has been worked on at least five times and still has not been diagnosed correctly.Last week it happened again.AHS Could not get someone in there.We informed AHS that we store medications for diabetes and arthritis.We had someone come twice, AHS had someone three times, and it is still not working properly. After all of this AHS refuses to replace it.Dont waste your money with them, They SUCK They SUCK,They SUCK,They SUCK,They SUCK,They SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The list “in network” contractors that AHS had to service our refrigerator was so small every company had a 4-5 day service call lead time! We had an appointment scheduled with Sears, to have them come out and service our refrigerator, but American Home Shield canceled that appointment when they declared we had been upgraded to an “emergency status” yet they didn’t have another appointment with a new company! Now we have to wait an additional 3 days to have a different company come out and do the repair! This repair could have been done in the same day had we not had to use their “in network” contractor (i.e. if we opened up the phone and called any contractor). This home warranty policy is a huge waste of our money and time!