Comments on: American Home Shield (AHS)

By: Brandon, Austin TX

Brandon, Austin TX — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:16:22 +0000

Pleasant people on the phone doesn’t make up for the fact that American Homeshield will do what they can not to pay for anything. And their technician here in Austin – ARS are incompetent scamming, lying cheats. I have a house showing a lot of new cracks in the walls. I paid out of pocket to have G&M Plumbing come in and do a static leak test. The house failed the test. I then called AHS to send a technician out to do the test again so I can move forward with identifying where the leak was and then work to get it fixed. So AHS schedules ARS Rescue Router to come out. the technician shows up – I show him that I failed the test. He says AHS won’t cover it … but he’ll call just to be sure. He sits in his trucks, smokes a cigarette and talks on he phone, comes back and tells me AHS won’t cover it AND that he still needs 60 bucks. Seriously. So I call AHS and asked what the deal was – and they tell me the technician didn’t think it needed to be done but if I wanted to pay ANOTHER $60 I could have another technician come out and “diagnose the problem” – translation, come out for $60 and not do the test. OH – and the ARS Recue Router guy – he gave me an estimate to have a static leak test done by him … BOTH AHS and ARS rescue router are terrible scamming cheating companies and I suggest you stay as far away from them as you can.

By: Nader Khorram

Nader Khorram — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:41:36 +0000

I had a problem with my heat system. They send a company who came and was on the phone for 2 1/2 hrs(United Air in VA helping one of his workers who was working in another job). Finally, I said to him “Sir: I have to go back to work”. He gave some report to the ASH and left. I complained to the ASH about his report and didn’t accept it. They send another company for 2nd opinion. They checked it and the unit needed some repair. ASH called the owner of the 2nd company. He (Tony) called me and said, “I have to come and check the unit myself and repeated all the things the 1st company reported to ASH”. I knew he is coming to give the same report as the 1st company gave to ASH, because ASH asked him to do it. Otherwise what was the reason to ask the owner of the company to come and check it when his worker already check it and reported the problem to ASH. He said exactly what the first company said about the problem This means they send him to tell exactly what the other company said in order to deny and not to fix the problem. Watch this company, don’t waste ur money. I know they had a complain a couple of months ago from a customer who hired a law firm, pls. if u have any information regarding the law firm mail it to me at nshahgol@yahoo.com. DON’T WASTE UR MONEY.

By: Nader khorram

Nader khorram — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:12:21 +0000

DO not waste ur money. SAVE IT. They do nothing at the time when something goes bad.

By: Ed papin, Houston, Texas

Ed papin, Houston, Texas — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:33:16 +0000

My oven has been broken for over 2 months and I found out today that they have had the pArt for over a month. Every time I call I get a different story

By: Kevin, Houston, TX

Kevin, Houston, TX — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 21:01:07 +0000

SAVE YOUR MONEY FIND ANOTHER COMPANY. I have had this company for 12 years and only ever used them 3 times. Each time they get worse. The last time in January my water heater went out they sent out a company twice that didn’t even work on that brand. After 4 days of no hot water finally had to replace it myself. THIS IS WHAT THEY TRY TO GET YOU TO DO by making you wait until they outlast YOU!!!!!!!!! I will be chaning companies..

By: JG, Wheaton, IL

JG, Wheaton, IL — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 20:17:40 +0000

American Home Shield Sucks!

Our stove did not work. An electic contractor came out and we paid the $60 fee. He said a wire was loose in the attic and that he fixed it. The stove then worked for about 1 week before it stopped working again. Another contractor came out (we paid the $60 fee) and said that the electical was out of code and improperly wired. AHS denied the claim and we had to pay $500 to fix it ourselves.

Then, the glass top to our stove cracked. We paid another service fee only to have AHS say that the crack was not due to “wear and tear”, thus denying the claim. So we again, had to pay to fix the appliance ourselves.

Save your money! This company is a bunch of hacks… they are in the “Denial” business not in the business of paying for claims when warranted and customer service.

I would suggest those with bad experiences to file a formal complaint with your respective state, as well as witih the BBB.. By law, they will have to formally respond to you. If enough complaints come in, they may be investigated for bad faith.

By: Sam, Chattanooga, TN

Sam, Chattanooga, TN — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 21:01:59 +0000

I first used American Home Shield about 12 years ago, and had a pleasant experience. I continued the service until this past year and saw my satisfaction slip with every experience. I can appreciate the need to make a profit, but when you accept my money for what you ask, don’t scrimp on delivering the agreed services. The repair people sent were bottom-of-the-barrel, not the better appliance services in the area (one drove a Mercedes and was totally clueless). The best repair people sent were the ones where there were only competent service reps available for them to choose from. Their instructions were to continually repair regardless of whether that was the best decision, or not. It takes a completely dead appliance for them to authorize a replacement. Each repair that lasted 30 days, resulted in another Service Call Fee to me. The repair people get aggravated if they continually get called back for work within the 30 day period as they are not paid again. One just decided to lie and say there was nothing really wrong, it was us. When we asked for a 2nd opinion, they told AHS it should have been replaced the first time and the representative sent had no idea what he was talking about. I am looking now for a new Home Warranty company that realizes why people pay them $600-700 in insurance.

By: Melissa, Bowling Green, KY

Melissa, Bowling Green, KY — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:01:49 +0000

We purchased an AHS warranty when we purchased our current home. We went without air conditioning off and on ALL SUMMER (in Kentucky, that’s pretty miserable) because they just kept filling the unit up with freon instead of fixing the condition at the root of the problem.

The customer service agents that we have dealt with (probably 15+ in the one year since we’ve had our home) are not familiar with what is included in the contract. Also, AHS offers several add-ons, one for improper installation which we elected to add on since you never know what you’re getting when you buy a home. We were told by the technicians sent out that it was not included in the warranty, then when we showed them the paperwork, they would not fix it because AHS would not reimburse them. We quite literally had over 5 different HVAC people look at our unit before it was finally fixed.

We did have a plumbing issue in the kitchen, and although we had to wait all weekend to get someone out (AHS’s fault, not the plumber – he came the same day he was contacted), the technician was very professional and timely. He even had the parts with him and fixed it right there.

When we had an issue with out water heater, we also had to wait several days to get someone out, and at one point when we called AHS they had not even filed the claim. This problem actually happened on a few occassions.

We have a baby due this year, and with all the issues with the house last year, we decided that even though it was a pain we would renew so that we would haven’t a new baby and have to worry about finding technicians and several thousand dollar bills if something big happened. Surprise, surprise – when we went online to renew, the system went down. When we called, we were told it was impossible to renew online. Funny, then why do they have a big “Renew online now” button??? We now are unsure as to whether or not we will renew, and are on this website to look at other alternatives.

By: JM, PA

JM, PA — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 13:53:08 +0000

I have had American Home Shield for the past three years since we purchased this home. At first I was happy with the service, but it seems that each year there is less that is covered and my annual fee continues to increase. I’ve used their services several times, most often for appliance repair. My stove was over 10 years old and needed repairs 4 times in the span of about 8 months. When it started having a chronic issue, it was again repaired, but until it would not work at all, AHS would not agree to replace it. I am currently waiting 4 weeks for a part on my dishwasher and have had a broken washing machine for the past week. The speed with which items are repaired is unacceptable and I feel like they often continue to repair appliances that probably should just be replaced given their age and the number of times they continue to stop working. Additionally, I had an experience with plumber who came out to determine the cause of a leak, cut open my ceiling to diagnose the problem, never located the cause, I later discoved a cracked toilet tank after the plumber had left and not noticed it and handled the replacement myself. AHS sent someone to patch the ceiling where the plumber had ripped out the drywall and the patchwork was done horribly.

By: Phil Kaufman

Phil Kaufman — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:56:40 +0000

This company is difficult to navigate their system when you have a problem. They don’t call back. My heat pump broke a week after I bought the house (warrenty was included with thee home) AMS finally sent another repairman out to look at the problem, he came up with a different reason the unit was broke. AHS denied his claim too. They now claim the problem was pre existing and won’t pay that either. I have the inspection report of the system when i bought the house and all was good. I wouldn’t have bought the house if the heat didn’t work. This has dragged on for almost a month. The warrenty was $800 dollars and it appears I’m going to have to fix it myself. AMS customer service said if I don’t like their answer I can go to their legal department and they gladly gave me their address.