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. |
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Reviews
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Pages: « 75 … 38 37 36 35 34 [33] 32 31 30 29 28 … 1 » Show All
If I could rate this company any lower I would do so. This is the most poorly run company I have ever encountered. Their customer service does nothing but give you a run around, they do not have any other ability to help other than the 3 page policy they read from. Per their policy, they are to have orders placed in 3-5 days and their way around this is to state they ordered the wrong parts and the need to keep “reordering” them to delay the entire process. We are going through the same issue I’ve read others are going through. The Technician sent out suggested that the unit be replaced and AHS is searching the globe for cheap replacement parts to fail in a month. It has been over 2.5 weeks with no repair or even all of the parts ordered yet. Also beware, that if AHS suggests any improvements for a technician to make that cause any type of code upgrade they will NOT pay for it. AHS changed the parts in our a/c unit (whenever it does get completed) that have caused us to pay $300 extra for work we did not ask for and there is nothing we can do. We are vigorously looking to join one of the several class action lawsuit against AHS. These were the most painful to deal with. There are about 20 other issues with AHS but I am running out of breath. PLEASE BE VERY CAUTIOUS WHEN PAYING FOR A HOME WARRANTY FROM AHS!!!MY OPINION IS THAT IT’S NOT WORTH IT!!! written by jrm(fiance)
To day is July 5th, 2010. I live in Phoenix Arizona. The high temperature today was 103 degrees. My AC unit is not working. I came home from work to find my house over 90 degrees in temperature. When I called AHS (my home warranty company) they said that they do not deem my Air-conditioning problem an emergency. In fact they can not even get someone scheduled today to come and look at it. They are going to call me tomorrow to get someone scheduled. After they get someone scheduled it could take up to 48 hours to have someone come and fix the problem.
I have two dogs and a cat making it very difficult to just go to a hotel for the night. I can not sleep and am starting to breakout in hives from the heat. I called them back a second time to explain the urgency of the situation and they still won’t help me. If I call someone myself to fix the AC I have to pay all the fees and AHS won’t cover any of it. I have already called into work tomorrow because of the lack of sleep and the fact that I won’t leave my animals in the severe heat for fear that they could get heat stroke. I’m probably going to end up taking all my pets to boarding tomorrow as I can not keep my home a safe temperature for any of us.
To add to the insult, my realtor had a similar situation with a client on the 4th of July who had gone with a different home warranty company. Their home warranty company had someone out right away on the 4th of July to fix her AC. (The loss of AC in Phoenix in July is the equivalent to losing heat in the middle of winter in Alaska).
I have never been so disappointed with a company in my entire life. PLEASE EXPLORE ALL OTHER COMPANIES BEFORE USING AHS!!!
I submitted a service request in June, 2010 for my hot tub. In September, a repairman from the contracted service agency finally appeared. He had, in the ensuing 3 months – failed to show up for at least 3 confirmed appointments. I complained to American Home Shield and requested a different contractor, but they insisted on sending this same one back. The repairs he made (for a leak) were apparently insufficient, as I have just had to arrange for another service call with this same contractor. Again, he missed 2 appointments. I will not be renewing with American Home Shield for warranty service.
We have used AHS for over 6 years. We have used their services many times but for small fixes like a microwave or oven. Our A/C unit went out over 10 days ago. It took 2 days to just get the service guy to call in that the condenser unit had to be replaced. 2 more days to get through purchasing. Now we are 7 business days and still no replacement unit. They cannot tell us where it is nor when it will get delivered. Now we are going into the 4th of July holiday without any air conditioning so it will be another 4 days before we can hope for any action. Nobody on the customer service can tell you when something will be delivered. Messages are not returned by supervisors. It is a horribly run company with no understanding of their customers needs.
My double oven stopped working. A technician came out the next day and discovered the part to make it work was no longer available. AHS called me right away to let me know that they would replace the oven. I was pleasantly surprised to have the oven delivered soon after (same make of oven, only new) and I received a call from a technician here in Kinston – Phillips Electric Service and Repair. He installed the oven very competently and quickly, and made the entire process a breeze. He was friendly and courteous. I was nervous about such a situation happening, but the entire process was very efficient and I would like to commend Phillips Electric Service for his great job!
P.S. AHS has our fax number listed on our Warranty for some reason? In light of my Review, if you want to contact me please use my cell number which you should also have in your file for me. Thanks!
Don’t get fooled into thinking this is a reputable company.All they do is deny claims and that’s the only reason their repairmen come out. The a/c duct in my attic fell in.( My home is over thirty years old). It is a box type duct and I was told that it had been pushed in and my claim was denied. No one has been in my attic and why would anyone push it in? I had to have this repaired after paying the $60 service fee. My a/c coil, which is 12 years old, had a freon leak and the coil must be replaced. They also found a reason to deny replacing it. Another $60 fee. If I could join a class action suit, I would. DON’T WASTE YOUR MONEY!
After filing a claim and finding out “that is no longer in your contract”, we promptly cancelled our contract. We gave this company another chance, after we received a call back (what can we do to keep your business). Although my wife “warned” me about the “negative reviews”, I still renewed another contract.
In the meantime, while checking our mortgage statement (it’s added into our payment), we noticed that they had not stopped billing us, from when we cancelled.
Pissed. Did I say “pissed?” Well wouldn’t you know .. got the big runaround everytime we tried to RECANCEL (is that a word), plus they didn’t want to refund our money for the “first cancellation”.
We recently received a letter acknowledging that we are included, in the “Class-Action Lawsuit”. Isn’t that jiffy?
As a realtor, I have buyers that have used these over the course of 13 years. I have received post card updates whenever work is done along with the amount that AHS had to pay for the repair work. During that time my buyers have had electrical work and plumbing work done by contractors. They have always indicated satisfaction from this provider. The only buyer who was a bit unhappy was one whose water heater went out. The repairman stated that a particular part was not covered and she would have to pay for it. After looking through her paperwork that I had given her at closing, she had to admit that was stated in the contract. She was still happy to have the contract. From the reviews above, I believe that the service really varies from State to State and it seems that the A/C repairmen expecially in the southern states are incompetant. Perhaps AHS needs to review these contractors.
I took over a warrantee that was on a property when I bought it. Is a beachfront condo. The AC was 9 years old (the only one that had not been replaced). A home inspector suggested that it was dying and needed to be replaced but sellers said AHS would cover if it failed. Finally it failed. AHS sent a technician from an AC company who checked the unit, tried a few things (changed a capacitor) then said the compressor was bad. This unit was rustted almost completely away and was obviously in need of replacement. I called the AC contractor that AHS hired and the manager admitted to me that if it were him, he would replace the unit, but if he did that too often, he would lose AHS business (a $2M contract is what he said). Calling AHS, they say that the contractor said all that was needed was a new compressor. AHS does not allow second opinions from an independent company. AHS also will not send, fax or email any info from the contractor to customers (i’m guessing due to the paper trail issue). AHS offers a cash-out option which they say is what they would have paid the contractor to do the work. The work was to replace a compressor on a 3 ton unit. The cashout was $414. There is NO WAY anyone would be able to do that work for that amount (parts and labor). I ended up taking the cash out and replacing the entire unit for $7500.
The short story is, AHS (and likely all home warrantee companies) will simply nickel and dime repairs. in this case it was record heat in Florida. They would have replaced the compressor and the condensor would have failed soon thereafter in which case they’d replace that too, and this would all be done with inferior parts (SEER 13.. new units are usually min of SEER 16 and I installed a SEER 19). With the warantee coming up for renewal, I did not want to commit to a long period of pain with this company.
As far as home warrantee companies go, perahps this one is good, but beware that these companies are there to MAKE MONEY, and the only income they get is from YOU the customer. To limit expenses, they will do the MINIMUM required to get a system limping along. You have no recourse of action if you disagree with their decisions. For my money, I’m going to pay to do the job right and do it when I need it done.
One last comment. The contractor they hired was unprofessional in appearence and did not give me confidence in his abilities to diagnose and repair the system. The company I hired sent obviously very compentent technicians who removed the old unit from the roof of a 6-story condo and replaced it along with a new evaporater, blower, thermostats inside the condo, all in half a day with the top of the line Carrier model. Condo was cool and comfortable within 90 minutes of their completion and i have a 10 year warantee included from Carrier.
Very dissatisfied with American Home Shield. They say that they guarantee customer satisfaction, but this customer is NOT satisfied. It has been almost a year of having to deal with my refrigerator not working properly. They contract with people that are still in school, “can’t touch that”, and who “guatantee” that they will fix the refrigerator. But after 3-5 months, (going on the 4th time now!!) I have to make another service request, and pay another $60.00! Stuck with the same company coming out because they have dealt with the freon. (Nobody else with touch now!) And they still say they can fix it, instead of replacing it!! Two thumbs DOWN for american home shield!!
We have been with this company for almost 15 years and have always received prompt and courteous service. I read some of the reviews and could not believe they were addressing the same company! Anyway, truthfully we do not have any negative complaints about AHS.
Never use this company! I could re-iterate all the poor comments throughout this site and then some, but bottom line is they have a complete disregard for the hardship caused when an item in the home goes out. All told, I have been out of my house for well over a month with AC issues with temps inside of 95. If I hadn’t already invested years worth of premiums with this company, I would drop them in a heart beat.
I had a policy for 13 months. Two claims were made in that period and both times AHS refused coverage on grounds that were never outlined to me when buying the product.
I have yet to receive a “contract booklet” which outlines their coverage limits.
To say that their business practices are deceptive would be an understatement.
I’ve canceled the policy and would never recommend them to anyone considering such a product.
There is a class action lawsuit against this company and people that have been damaged should look into it to see if you are a part of it.
The lawsuit is:
Laura and Steven Faught vs. v. American Home Shield Corporation. (Case number 2:07CV1928-RDP in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama Southern Division)
I contacted AHS online to set up a service call for our a/c unit on a Sunday. The tech was here on Monday morning, and had it working again by 11am. The technician kept in touch with us, even calling to say they had been detoured around a closed road and it would be a little longer than they thought. He was still an hour early from the promised time. This is my first experience with a home warranty company so I have nothing to compare to, but I was pleased with everything on this issue.
This company has the worst customer service I even encountered in my life. The reps on the phone are not knowledgeable but also very impolite. The company’s definition of emergency is way off. I have to also defend the coverage because for things listed on the brochure, the customer care reps says no. In the end they agree to send a crew four days after and it turned out they sent the wrong crew. We were so frustrated because we took the day off to wait on them. The problem is not resolved at all but we got the $60 bill. The company gives no peace of mind but more hassles in case you have things broken.
AHS cannot provide service over the weekend. They always try to avoid the repair cost. $60 per visit is too much. We are without A/C for over a week now. They r trying to avoid the repair cost. Overall Rating for them is Zero. Never choose them for your home.
I have now waited over a week for a/c replacement/repair. It went out on 6/15. I contacted AHS on 6/16. Contractor came out to evaluate a couple days later – for the third time in two months. Finally determined that it cannot be repaired and will need a new heat pump. Then the search started for a replacement that is the same as the one that failed. None have been manufactured since last year, so have waited another few days for them to locate one to have it shipped here. It won’t be here until 6/28 – if then! If it arrives, it will be installed Monday – in theory! The customer service is unbelievable – really! They could not be nicer, but they commit to nothing. They do “empathy” very well, but that doesn’t compensate me for coping with a heat advisory with no a/c for several days in a row, with no relief in sight.
I have been with AHS for over 15 years, thinking there was no other company that offered their services. I have never been more aggravated than when dealing with them. Their sub-contracted technicians are rude, very, very late and inept. They never know what’s going on and they don’t even know how to diagnose. DON’T USE THIS COMPANY, THE PAIN OF DEALING WITH THEM IS WORSE THAN THE EXPENSE YOU MAY ENCOUNTER. I am so annoyed and frusted with them, after 5 months (YES, 5 MONTHS) they still have not fixed my dishwasher. Another time they sent a dumb technician to fix an oil leak in my washing machine, he was so stupid that he broke the tub and the spinner and I ended up losing the whole washer! NOT WORTH IT.
3 weeks and still no ac. First company they sent informed the AC was in perfect working condition and my house was 85 degrees. Then they sent me a quote for a new AC (not sure why if mine was in perfect working condition according to their report) for $10,000 for an AC and Furnace. The same equipment can be acquired for 4k or less with any other local company or online.
IT took me a day and a half and HOURS on hold to have them sending another company to check my AC. It was really hard for them to understand why I didn’t want the same company.
After new company goes to my house and detects the problems no one calls, we have to be calling and following up and pressuring for them to get things done. SUCKS!!! AMERICAN HOME SHIELDS NEVER AGAIN!!!
If you want to get stressed and upset that’s what you need. If you want a company that doesn’t care for their customers, that’s the one!!
My AC went out 4:40a Monday morning. Placed the service call at 7:00a and never got a call back from the contractor. I had to call them in order to make an appointment. I finally got an appointment for Wednesday between 4-7p, did I mentioned that is 88 degrees inside the house. The contractor showed up 1.5 hours late and in a hurry. We diagnosed the issue was electrical and forwarded the call to an alectritian. The electitian came out next day and said that the issue was the AC and not electrical. Thursday morning I got another appointmen with the AC contractos for Saturday, they don’t know the time, still waiting for them to call me. Once I’m done with this issue I ma leaivng AHS, already searching for another company.
The time they allow themselves to schedule service for you is ridiculous especially for heating and ac problems. Five service calls and eight days later my ac is still not working. I live in the south and the heat index has been >100 degrees most days. Other comments are accurate…they do not advocate for their customers and provide the bare minimum. I would rather pay more on my own and get decent service. Live and learn………….
Friday June 17, my air conditioner went out at about 1:00 in the morning. I called at 1:00 in the morning and by 8:00 am Friday I received a call form the contractor. Because it was 100 plus degrees they, along with every other contractor in my city was booked. They stated they could be here on Saturday and sure enough they showed up as they said. The technician replaced a part but unfortunately it did not cool but prior to leaving he gave me his cell number. I called him Saturday to let him know and he promptly answered the phone and said he would get by my home on Monday. Sunday was Father’s day so I understood. At 7:00 in the morning Monday he called and said he was on his way and fixed the problem and it is working great. (It was a fan motor and something else) I must say though over the weekend while it was hot, I obsessed and read some of these reviews online and got a bit nervous because this was my first experience with AHS because it was included as part of my home purchase just a month and a half ago. After my air was fixed and I had such a good experience I wondered why so many people hated AHS and then it came to me. I was very hot this weekend and that would frustrate me as well and I might have been prompted to post my concerns, but from the majority of what I have read here it seems to be more contractor problems than AHS but maybe they could do a better job of screening them in some areas. I am not trying to minimize peoples complaints becasue I am sure they are valid but my experience with AHS and the contractor was great and I appreciated what they did.
I was not satisfied with the level of service I received. I have been looking for another provider. To all in the same boat – Happy Hunting!
Save your money, it is not worth the hassels and run around to find that they won’t cover the problem anyway. After 3 visits from the “professional” technician, he finally diagosed a circuit board problem with my Salt water pool. The circuit board controlling the salt cell on a Salt Water Pool is not covered according to their interpretation of the contract. Electrical says its covered but chloronator is not, so they interpret it as teh chloronator. Go figure. They have no appeal process when you don’t agree.
I recently purchased home warranty insurance from AHS. I have not even been with the company for a year. I paid $500.00 for the year. In June my AC went out. I called AHS for them to send a servicman out. It took several days for someone to come to my home. When the man arrived he spent two hours at my home all to tell me that I would need an electrician to come out and fix them problem. Two days later an electrician came to my house and told me that it could be fixed, however it would NOT be covered under my insurance. He told me he called AHS and verified that it would not be covered. He fixed the AC unit later that day and the next day he sent me a TEXT (yes TEXT) asking for payment, however I could only pay him via cash or check. I wrote him a check, he came by to pick up the check. Being new to AHS I called AHS to inquire why it wasnt covered and why I had to pay via cash or check. Come to find out, it WAS covered under my insurance and the electrician never called AHS and they never told him it wasnt covered and he NEVER reported that he took payment from me. This has been going on for 2 weeks and I still do not have a resolution to the problem. I have had to call everyday and talk to someone new about the same problem. The most distributing thing about this situation is that they just let ANYONE in your house! Beware!! Just because they come from AHS they are third party contractors.