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
Customer Service 
Service Timeliness
Repair/Replacement Service
Overall Rating
Total Reviews: 631 Rate this Company!
Service Timeliness
Repair/Replacement Service
Overall Rating
Total Reviews: 631 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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Pages: « 27 … 12 11 10 9 8 [7] 6 5 4 3 2 … 1 » Show All
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I would not recommend a American Home Shield warranty. I had purchased a home and thought their coverage would be a good idea, but it was not only a waste of money and time. Plumbing issues-simple ones such as kitchen drain running slow/clogged was not taken care of. I tired using my policy again for a heating issue. The pilot light had gone out and needed to be lit. They did not even take care of that. They always send someone who in turn tells you that your problem is unique and they can’t fix it. Surprise, surprise when private repair companies were called that the repairs were “no brainers” and fixed in a jiffy! AHS is a total waste of time and money you would do better to build a reliable list of repair companies through friends recommendations and your own experience.
I used the company for two years and I was disappointed last time when my AC had a little problem. The service people came and said that a wire was missing. They told me that it was not covered and it will cost $220 plus $50 service call.
I searched on line and ordered the part for 20$.
I cancelled the service and then the warranty.
After repairing my 20 year old Lennox 5 times over a 2 year period, the system broke again. The tech came out and informed AHS that the part needed to fix the Lennox was no longer available. AHS replaced the system with one (RHEEM) that has similar features and a superior seer rating. I couldn’t be happier with the fine service I received from AHS…they kept their word and even paid for a hotel room for my wife and I while we waited for delivery of the unit.
Unbelievable! My 4 year history with them has been average…a few delays but not too bad, initially laying blame elsewhere but eventually fessing up, etc… But tonight, when a representative called me unsolicited to try to renew my policy that expires in about a month, I explained that I’m not completely convinced that it is worthwhile to renew. She asked why and as I started to explain the cost factors she cut me off, said ‘O.K. fine’ and then hung up on me! You’ve got to be kidding me. Yea, right…please let me give you my $460 right away!
I am sorry that i signed up for this. I’m a single mother who owns and older home. This policy gave me a false sense of security that if something broke, it would be fixed and i would be covered. The contractors are horrible – they refuse to call when they’re on the way for service and I can’t sit at home for 4 hour periods of time waiting for them. Further, i’ve been told i mis-use my appliances and equipment (specifically my garbage disposal – a plumber showed up and claimed i had placed a metal rod down into the disposal which caused it to break. The 3 witnesses who were helping me clean dishes would beg to differ…..). In fact, i do plan to write to the better business bureau my complaint. And, lastly, they find a way not to pay the claims. I was told by sales that they pay $500 toward a slab leak (when calling the # as a potential sale – used a ficticious address) but when it came to actually paying out my claim..they found a way to avoid cutting the check for the repair i had to do myself. By the way….they did send a tech to “diagnose” the problem….but he only told me what i already knew. A complete waste of my time and his – not to mention i had to pay the $55 service fee. I have determined it’s actually cheaper to just pay for the repairs as they come…..
I would not recommend this home warranty company. I went with this company on a recommendation from a neighbor. I used their services twice, and each time the repair companies had to return. In my last repair my hot water heater failed and it took two days and $315 out of my pocket. I pleaded with AHS for another recommendation and their response was ” that is not and option” the only option was a cash buy out. Oh, by the way the neighbor that recommended them had his hot water heater replaced for less the $100, and they removed the old unit; my disposal up to me.
AHS has been extremely good at taking care of my home warranty issues, however, they tend to be to pricey and do not have a lot of choices in the way the bundle the product. I have a condo, but don’t have a garage opener. If the appliance is broken, they will replace it and install the new one but will not remove or disposed of the old one. Overall satisfaction with AHS is extremely good.
I am not happy with this company. I paid almost the same amount as it would cost me to replace my disposal for a service call. No work was performed.
However, my main concern is that this warranty was purchased because there were some concerns about my HVAC system during the home inspection, even though the parts seemed to be working at the time. Last summer, I called about problems with my air conditioning. Someone came out and I paid the fee for nothing. The fan was rusty, but still working, so no need to replace it. When I called AHS, they said they don’t even have a record of any information because there was nothing done. Not only was the contractor rude to me, but now I am stuck with needing a new fan a month after my contract with AHS expired.
Not that I care because they probably would not have replaced the entire system anyway, even though it is over 20 years old. I would never ever use AHS again based upon my experience with the service I received from their contractors.
I have been a customer for over 10 years with the service being generally ok for the minor items that we had. This past year we had a microwave go out – it took nearly 3 months to get it replaced. Last week the gas heater went out. It was a 25 year old unit. They claimed that the cause was lack of maintenance. There was some rust in the unit but that is common for units of this age with pilot lights and AC in south Louisiana. Don’t expect them to pay up if it is a big ticket item.
I had AHS for many years, they were great till you needed them. I moved and kept them, getting contracted personel in this area was very difficult,companies said AHS just didnt pay so they wouldn’t work with them. Secondly the contracted peronel they did have just didn’t know what they were doing, spent months and large amount of money, still not fixed, the company would not renew me, therefor had a handy man out fixed a $6. part.
Complete and total nightmare. Today marks one month since a “technician” came to evaluate my dishwasher and decided it needed a certain part. It would take 3-5 days to come in and he’d be back the very next day.
That was a month ago. The contracted company will not answer their phone and their voicemail is full. Meanwhile, I’m washing all dishes by hand. Not an emergency, but still annoying since we’ve paid the warranty fee plus the service deductible.
Supposedly, my service request has been “escalated.” I hope to see some movement. At this rate, we will NOT renew our contract and I will let all of my friends know my experience with AHS and their contractors has been a total nightmare.
Stay away from this company! Lack of transparency in what should be paid and what should not, you end up pay most of the repairs yourself with the way they wrote the contract; they know how to get you. Terrible customer services – someone hang up on you when you ask questions they don’t want to answer. The vendors they contracted do not know what they are doing, one destroyed my water pipe and made the damage even bigger. Lack of responsiveness in AHS and its contracted vendors.
I have been a satisfied customer of AHS for over five years. I even sold this product when I worked for Farmers Insurance for seven years. Not because I had to but because I believed in the value of the product and liked the company. I still do, but, I cannot begin to believe how long it has taken to take care of a simple ceiling fan that did not work. I have had ALL good experiences with AHS EXCEPT for this one. I have had a hot water heater replaced, A/C replaced, garage door opener worked on, refrigerater worked on. But never would I have thought that my ceiling fan would be such a problem. Service tech came out from JESCO on 6-19-08, the technician checked the fan, found the motor did not work and that was that. He asked for the service fee of $55, which I had already made the check out, and then left telling me AHS would be in touch since I asked for the cash-out option. He did not have me sign a work order, which I thought was odd, the techs always have me sign a work order. Well, I never did hear from AHS until I received a BILL for the service fee (even though I gave the tech a check for the service fee!) So started my vicious cycle of phone calls to JESCO & AHS regarding this simple fan. It is now almost 12-19-08, SIX MONTHS since this service request was preformed and my simple little ceiling fan still does not work. I would think that a company who has been in business for 35 years would not let a little ceiling fan bring such a problem to them. I understand needing certain information from JESCO before AHS can finish their part of this service request but WHO hired WHO in this scenario? My biggest complaint in the whole ordeal is that AHS failed to follow up on their end, to BE SURE THAT THEY GOT THE NEEDED INFO FROM JESCO TO SATISFY THE CUSTOMER. Every time that I call regarding the status, I am told that they need to contact JESCO for needed information! EVERY TIME!! AHS does not have a follow up system whatsoever!! I have been the one to call back, over and over and over again and until AHS gets the needed info from JESCO, I apparently will have to continue to do so. That to me is totally ridiculous for a company as big as AHS is and for as long as you have been in business. At least in this situation, they need a different system.
I called today, once again and spoke to a supervisor in customer service. AGAIN, he said that they must contact JESCO (surprise) regarding the pricing on the fan and then I will get a call from the cash-out department. We will see!
I still think this is a great company, don’t get me wrong, they do have some flaws though. I had my refrigerator repaired since this happened in June and it went like always, no problems! I think that I just got a bad service company in JESCO Jamison Electric and will not have them to my home again. The service tech & JESCO as a company absolutely dropped the ball on this one and AHS followed suit!!
We had a garage door break. Their “repairman” patched it up and a week later it failed again, locking my tenant’s car in the garage while he had to call in absent to work!
The tenant called another repair man and the warranty co would NOT allow him to replace the parts he suggested. They would only allow the actual broken part to be replaced. THREE days later, the other spring broke, taking the overhead track with it when half the door collapsed. They conveniently didn’t cover this.
I would never recommend this company. And to top it off, it was sold to us by a shiester property manager/real estate agent.
Poor selection of replacement equipment. Will do their best to replace your equipment with the cheapest make they can find, even when replacing a top of the line item.
The quality of customer service from AHS has deteriorated in the last five years. I’ve been lucky in that the repair contractors they have sent out have been knowledgeable. If there was another home warranty service, I would highly consider switching.
I have had them since 2003. Pay 481 a year unlike 360 mentioned here. Have used their service 3 times.
The Good:
They have calls handled by Internet, Phone, so lots of ways to reach them.
They respond soon, I have never had an emergency, so don’t know if soon is good enough.
Their customer service is Ok, they try and talk to you and are not mean over the phone.
The Bad:
1. A/C was not working, repair guy said blower is shot, got a blower and charged me for cleaning the inside $75 + $55 (Co-Pay) + $175 A/C Tune up by spraying special liquids on them = $305,I’m pretty sure thats how much it wouldhave costed to repair it without the warranty.
2. Dish washer broken/leaking — bandaid work done and since I’m not a diswasher person, i used it after 3 months and then it leaked again, so it was not fixed at all. completely my fault as I waitedfor 3 months to use it, so againanother $55 copaysoo now my dishwasher is $110,which i could have spend for a new dishwasher.
The Ugly:
when the guy came to fix the D/Washer for the 3rdtime he said this should go but we have been asked to epair and not replace. And everything can be repaired. there is no such thing as can’t be repaired. SO replacement is out of the question. makes me feel mad, but tell me unless I have another option what are my choices. I think these companies shuld be scrutinized by JD Power and given ratings.
This company has violated the spirit of our contract twice. The first time was when we had a short in the control line to our air conditioning sensor; they claimed that a “mouse must have chewed through the line.” Our house is only 3 years old with no rodent activity whatsoever. I followed the line the complete length and could find absolutely no evidence of any rodent activity anywhere. They ignored me, refused to inspect the line and insisted that it must have been a mouse (with no proof whatsoever) and refused to cover any costs (this is after we paid our $60 fee to have a technician come out.)
The second time was when our hot-tub failed to heat properly. We had bought the optional coverage (total coverage $585 per year) and also paid the $60 visit fee. The technician determined it was a fault with the heat limiter; got approval and came back to replace it – a minor cost. That didn’t fix the problem. They then decided it was the temperature controller and replaced it (again a relatively minor cost.) That also did not fix the problem. Final conclusion was that the master controller needed to be replaced = major cost. After ten day AHS called us and said it was not covered because it was a “portable” spa (as they explained ‘portable’ meant it could be drained and moved with a forklift.) This was after dealing with them for two months to get this repaired. They took our money for two years knowing it wasn’t covered but as soon as it was time to pay for the repair they found a loophole and weasled out of it. This company is a highly engineered rip-off. They have planted so many hidden ‘conditions’ into their contract that you will never be covered. I recommend that you avoid them at all costs. In my opinion you will never ever get fair or reasonable treatment from them. This company embodies the worst that the insurance industry has to offer and it is a shame to see a company that is so focused on making their profit by deceiving their customers. Their customer service representative would not even give me her name other than “Tracy in the LaGrange Center office.” I don’t blame her, if I worked for such I company I too would be to embarrased to give out my name.
Terible!!! Don’t waste your money. Ripoff.
Assessment of repairs substandard. Repairs shoddy and cheap. Dishwasher blew a gasket and was repaired with glue. It blew again and leaked for weeks under the floor, undetected. More than 5 visits (with accompanying inconveniences of having to be home, dealing with the repairmen, suffering through their perplexity at what the problem was, the mess, etc.) were required before the leak stopped. Repairman said the floor “would dry out”.
Now I have a mold farm under my flooring and am sick!
A mold remediation company says the floor has to come out.
I don’t have the money to pay for that!
The company could have just paid for a new dishwasher and it would have been cheaper for them. They paid the repair guys for 5 visits!
The attic ventilation fan also went out. A repairman came who was physically handicapped and could barely get to the area. He needed to borrow a ladder…did not have his own. He mounted a very cheap, very noisy, inadequate fan to the eave with pieces of 2×4 in a haphazard and rinky-dink construction. The fan does not adequately ventilate the attic, and I also now have a disaster, where the entire attic’s insulation has become moldy and ineffective….also toxic and has to be replaced.
I did not call the company back to complain anymore because I was worn out and tired of dealing with them. I get their game and I don’t want to play it anymore. Buying the warranty was the worst decision we made as homebuyers! It would have been cheaper for us to have called our homeowners’ and paid the $1000.00 deductible for each of the issues, because now we have two major remodels needed just to fix their incompetence.
We did not renew our contract, needless to say.
Has anyone paid for their “service plus” package which would cover “undetectable pre-existing” conditions? It seems like their way out is by declaring that everything is pre-existing, and I was wondering if their “service plus” package will help close the loop hole. It’s uder their flex plan, and it would have been available from April,2008. Please comment if anyonoe has it, and if that will help close the loop hole.
The first repair they sent over a moron, who said the plumbing was incorrectly installed and then offered to fix it for $450. After repeatedly arguing that it was OK and hadn’t been fixed, they sent in a second guy who was great and fixed it. I have called them for a few other things as well, and have had no real problems then either. I wasted a lot of time with them to correct the errors of the first technician, but after that it has been fairly smooth sailing. Unsure if I will renew the warranty though.
After 1 service request I was left with the impression that the contractors are incentivized to determine problems to be pre-existing or homeowner-caused. When it came time to renew my policy, AHS sent me multiple renewal letters and made numerous phone calls to get my premium. No chance. I wish they would try half as hard to please their customers after they receive the annual premium.
Afew times before when i had called they were fine, but this last time, NO WAY. My tenant called to report a bathroom light that wouldn’t turn off, so wanted it fixed. I have owned the house for 5+ years and not any real problems. AHS sent an electrician out promptly who said it was a case of faulty wiring and therefore pre-existing so would not cover it, although he was stumped as to why he couldn’t get it to go off. AHS said i could pay for a 2nd opinion, which i agreed to. the tenants call me 3 weeks later to say that they have called the new electrical co. 2-3 times and no one ever returned their call. AHS claims that the 48 hours has elapsed after the time to get a 2nd opinion , which they never told me about, so i am left holding the bag. I cancellled my policy with them.
I am now in the 8th day after I submitted a service request to repair a gas forced air furnace. The first repair tech diagnosed a cracked heat exchanger and said the furnace was dangerous and unusable. AHS wanted to get a 2nd opinion which seemed like a smart thing to do and was OK by me. The company chosen to give the 2nd opinion didn’t come to do the inspection until the 5th day after the original service request was submitted. They, too, diagnosed a leaking heat exchanger. I’ve now been waiting over 48 hours for their estimate and still haven’t heard anything from them. In one day, they gave AHS 3 different, incompatible, stories about why their repair estimate was delayed. AHS is totally unconcerned about this lack of responsiveness and I can’t get any help in expediting repairs. I’ve spoken to 2 AHS supervisors (one of whom was quite rude to me) but they didn’t seem to be concerned either.
I must say, however, the customer service ladies who deal with clients are very polite and genuinely seem to want to help. Unfortunately, at least in my case, nothing they have done has expedited the repair.