Fidelity National Home Warranty
Home Warranty Plan Details and Reviews for Fidelity National Home Warranty
Premium: $350-445
Deductible: $55
Effective: upon payment receipt
Web: homewarranty.com
Deductible: $55
Effective: upon payment receipt
Web: homewarranty.com
Customer Service 
Service Timeliness
Repair/Replacement Service
Overall Rating
Total Reviews: 98 Rate this Company!
Service Timeliness
Repair/Replacement Service
Overall Rating
Total Reviews: 98 Rate this Company!
Coverage Area: Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Texas
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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
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Put in claims for the water heater, 2 bathrooms and the AC. After paying out $220 in deductibles only the 2nd bathroom was repaired. Even though PG&E said certain things needed to be fixed on the water heater, the tech they sent out said everything was fine and refused to do anything, of course we still had to pay the $55 deductible. When our AC unit wouldn’t cool, the tech they sent out said it should be repaired and paid for by Fidelity National, that it should not be a problem, yet Fidelity National again denied the claim! We strongly feel that something should be done about this company. They shouldn’t be allowed to continue doing business. We rarely had problems with Old Republic Home Warranty. They were flexible in who was sent out and rarely denied a claim.
We changed to Fidelity from American Home Shield after having very costly problems related to their very poor service. American Home Shield doesn’t even know if the contractor’s they send out are currently licensed. One very hot August our central air went out. We were given the names of the worst service reps in the area. One of them came out long enough to collect the service fee and when the air went out 15 minutes later he was no where to be found. When I checked his name with the Registrar of Contractors his license had lapsed several months prior. The most costly damage to us was when they kept sending out the same clueless plumbing company to find out why it seemed the water in the toilet kept running. Almost a week later and finally calling our homeowners insurance company did we find out one of the pipes behind our washer broke. Since this wasn’t fixed right away as it should have been it required tearing out walls, our shower, parts of our bathroom for mold remediation and testing. We live in the desert and the testing was required because the size of the water pooled in our laundry area was over 18″. All because American Home Shield sends out the bottom of the barrel companies to your home. They gave us a few vouchers of $100 each for the delays but that only covered part of our $500 deductible with USAA. The total cost of repairs was $9000!! I don’t know why real estate companies are pushing them since they are the worst company we’ve had the misfortune of dealing with. When we sell our home we will have to disclose this of course and since it involved mold remediation it may very well have a negative effect on the price we can get for our home. AHS should be sued out of existence. We’ve had Fidelity for almost three years and are very happy with the quality of the people they’ve sent out and the professional customer service reps.
Imagine how much money this company makes with charging everyone $50. for sending people to your home and doing absulutely nothing!! I think the person who chose this company (the seller in my case) knew about the plumbing problem and was allowed to pass it off on me. The bank should have to pay since they are the ones who chose this company.
They hide behind some fine print that they failed to inform you of when they sold you the policy. They are very difficut to work with and it seems as if that “everything is covered” is really not that much.
I inherited my policy from the seller of my condo. My dishwasher broke and was leakign water into my bedroom, on my carpet. They sent a plumber who spent a total of FIVE minutes looking at the dishwasher, determined that was the problem but he was not an “appliance specialisT”, so he left. Didn’t bother to turn off the water to the dishwasher or ANYTHING.
Fidelity called an “appliance specialist” next day who could not come for another TWO days. Meanwhile, carpet is getting soaked-I had no idea how to turn off water. I call Fidelity back, frustrated, say I need someone sooner. Nope! Can’t get anyone sooner. Woman at Customer Service tells me ot turn off the valve.
Well, there is more than 1 valve.
Next day, my carpet is drenched and water is leaking outside when I come home from work.
I call Fidelity. No, they can’t send a plumber tonight-there are none available. I had to express to them that my carpet was getting drenched and this is an EMERGENCY. They finally agreed to let me go “out of the plan.” But the plumber had to call them at all times, which was a pain-they kept us on hold for forever. They gave me AND the plumber a hard time for pulling out the dishwasher but he had no other way of making sure that was REALLY the propblem. This plumber, since I picked him, was good.
He actually turned off the water!
“Appliance specialist” came the next day (Today). He told me a seal is broken. Apparently they don’t even make that seal anymore but Fidelity has told me they’re gonna take the next 2-3 days to “search for the part.” I can’t wait til they come back and tell me a bunch of BS to get out of having to replace my dishwasher. I will sue them so fast their heads will spin.
Oh, and I’ll make them pay for damage mitigation on my carpet and drywall, even tho they told me these are “secondary damages” and NOT COVERED.
BTW, THERE IS A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT AGAINST THIS COMPANY.
Just google “Fidelity National Home Warranty” and lawsuit.
Very unprofessional and often rude answering service. Company also contructs incompitent service technicians.
We are currently living the nightmare that everyone else has been through.
We had our heater on our spa go out and would not work. We called Fid. they said a spa repairman would come out but he is only in our area (he wan’t even in Orange County!) 1-2x week. so, he finally came out a week later and we paid our $50 (rip off right there). He says, “Yep, I know what the problem is, BUT, you don’t have a GFCI installed according to code. (Evidentally the original owner of the house AND the owner before us AND the 3 inspectors of each home sale failed to realize this major code violation.) And fid. would not authorize him to fix the spa until we put in a GFCI box.
So, I go down to Home Depot, buy the $100 GFCI and, with the help of my buddy who’s an electrician put in the GFCI. And I pay my buddy for his help $100. So, $250 just to get the OK to come out and fix it.
So, stay with me, I call Fidelity to tell them I put in the GFCI and they say they will send out the spa guy.
He comes out, I have to take off work, and he repairs the problem with the heater component.So, I thought, “Well, at least it’s fixed and done.”
not so fast, he calls today and tells me Fidelity is now NOT authorizing it. He says we either have to pay him $300 for the part or he has to come take the part he installed back.
So, I call Fidelity, and of course the rep is clueless and I’m sent to a “que” to leave a message for a supervisor and they will “call me back”.
WHY did you give the spa guy authorization to fix something that isn’t covered? And why wasn’t I told what was being replaced and if it was or was not covered??
Let’s just say, regardless of what this outcome is, we will not review our coverage. for the amount of times you might need it it isn’t worth the payments.
FNHW has done a wonderful job for us the last 10 years!
I have Fidelity Home Warranty for my rental property in San Diego. I have had this policy for over two years and am thrilled with the excellent service I receive. Not one of my repairs has every been turned down. I have had another company for my primary home and they are not nearly as good. I am switching my primary home to Fidelity when it renews this fall. Fidelity is by far the best warranty company in my book! P.S. This is a totally sincere and legitimate compliment.
Thank you
This company is in the business of denying all claims to refuse from paying . They are always looking for ways to not pay for a coverage item saying it was installed incorrectly. By coincedence they installed it and later after failing to work I called and said it wasn’t covered since it was installed wrong. BUNCH OF JERKS
Very hesitant to pay anything, it’s like throwing your money into a garbage bin! Horrible!
Have Fidelity Home Warranty coverage on several rental houses that I own. Most of the Fidelity staff have been very courteous. A few service suppliers have sent out incompetent people who couldn’t or wouldn’t complete the work in an effective manner. I’ve reported each case of poor service, in writing, to Fidelity. If after that the same service company was scheduled to come out to a house, I request an alternate provider and explain why. Most of the incompetent companies disappear after a short while. They do have some problem providers like the pool service company that ALWAYS reports that the “malfunction was due to lack of maintenance”, or the plumber who installed a water heater incorrectly and the wires to the unit shorted out a couple of days after installation. I haven’t been offered their names for quite a while, which tells me that if you keep them posted, they try to weed out the bad apples.
On the other hand if an air conditioner fails on a Saturday afternoon when it’s 110 in Phoenix, they will authorize me to find an outside contractor who can give same day service. My tenants have been very appreciative.
Then there was the time that a built in microwave oven died. The tech who came out to work on it said that it needed to be replaced. Fidelity arranged for a replacement unit. The new microwave failed two weeks after it was installed. Unfortunately the microwave seller and manufacturer got corsswise with one another and neither would take care of the unit. The seller wanted me to uninstall the built in microwave and deliver it to the store for service. Finally I was able to have Fidelity direct the merchant to replace the unit. That merchant, a national chain, no longer is an approved appliance provider to Fidelity.
Are they perfect? No. But they do try to make things work out OK, if you call and explain the problem, in a calm and courteous manner. Also their service provider notification system doesn’t always work properly. The worst part being that occasionally they have failed to notify the service provider that I have paid the $50 service fee in advance. As a result the service man has demanded the $50 from our tenant. But all it takes is a few phone calls to get something like that sorted out.
Over the years the cost of the Fidelity policies has been quite a bit more than what we would have saved had we not had the coverage. However the policy allows us to not have to worry about finding a service contractor, when an emergency occurs at one of our houses.
Just bought a home and on the first day, we had an issue with the toilets clogging up and water backing into the shower. We called Fidelity thinking they’ll fix it. Well, They sent out a plumber at 7pm. So he shows up in the dark with a flashlight saying that we only have a 1 way clean out and the clog is inside the house, so Fidelity doesn’t cover it. We spoke to the “authorization dept” and they said “sorry too bad, we can’t help you, you need a 2 way clean out before we can help you.” The service guy (AJ Bono) then says he’ll charge us $750 to install a 2way. (Highway robbery!) And if we wanted to be able to take a shower anytime soon we would have to pay him $350 to flush the vent, but it wouldn’t be warrantied. So now we have to pay someone else to do the job in order for Fidelity to ever come back and unclog any stoppage. But after reading these reviews, I think they’ll come up with an excuse every time regardless if we spend $400 or $750 for this 2 way clean out. What a joke!!
they change the policy every year they have changed it so that they do not cover what they did in 2004. Now they say all is excluded. They won’t go on roof for clean out when they did 5 years before, they find any excuse like alleged faulty sink installation not up to code when the sink was inspected by my tough city inspectors. Times are tough but I would say the premiums match the cost and you can get a contractor. During boom times the contractors are not happy to be there but now it is slower they are there johnny on the spot. I don’t like how they try to get out of things on technicality. One time they fixed my garage and another time they said it was excluded so it depends who you get and if they have a pulse or not. Some people may be rewarded for denying claims. If you report them to your Department of Insurance in your state, they seem to reconsider because they are always in trouble with the state for some violation and since they are insurers they need that certification or they will be put out of business. Bottom line, usually it covers the premium maybe and you can get people during boom times that normally would not show up unless big buck jobs are involved. In a bad economy they are hit by housing and selling policies so expect them to decline more on first go around and appeal to the Department of Insurance. I don’t have much respect for them but after all they are an insurance company and better than nothing like all insurance, you have to fight them and try to get to their jugular or they will screw you over.
I switched to Fidelity in 2008 because their service charge was lower than my last home warranty company. Service call were prompt, technicians were courteous and professional and completed all repairs. This year, 2009, they increased their rates by $80 and increased the service fee bt $5. I am shopping for a new home warranty company.
I understand what everyone here is saying. Unfortunately I am one of their service providers and I will openly say…this is a game. Your Service provider (the repair man) is the one who must explain what the problem is and why Fidelity should cover it. He sets the price to Fidelity. Basically this is the smart service providers game. As a provider – it is way more beneficial to me to help you, than to help Fidelity. Unfortunately, many of these guys are just some service guy for a large company with only a salary in mind – not your best interest. Ask for a small independent operator.He’s hungry and making deals. Only the impossible can not be overcome.
Good Luck all
Had a leak under kitchen sink, figured it would be easy, so I got the parts and tried to do it myself, took off the hoses and could not get the on and off valve to come off, so I just called for service, was told by plumber that since I started the process they would not cover it. I was not very happy about this, it only took him 10 min and charged me 130.00. Advised I would complain to Fidelity and he just said they will not cover it. Next time don’t touch the piping. I advised him that they did not say this would be a problem. I feel fidelity should have stated this to me on the phone, I would have tried harder to fix issue if I had known this.
FIdelity are thieves i wish i would have read these reviews before i joined. We had water heater go out and they say it was pre existing and of course it is not. If theres a class action suit against these thieves please count me in.
Fidelity National Home Warranty is only good in talking. They are nice when you call customer service. But the plumber they sent out have no intention to fix your problem. They are told by FNHW not to do this and not to do that. All they want is your $55 plus the premium you already paid. It is cheaper not to have FNHW because they will do nothing for you. If the seller offer you FNHW, you tell the seller to give you cash. DO NOT BUY IT unless you want to reduce your life span. I consider this is a scam.
Fidelity Home Warranty has failed to send a technican within the required 24 hour “business” day period on 2 occasions. In both circumstances Fidelity has contracted with companies that have provided sub-standard customer service … The most recent Hurst Plumbing provided such poor customer service that they the didn’t show up, call or reschedule. Their response to missing the appointment was that they had an “emergency”, couldn’t call because “you know how men are”, and told me that my appointment “wasn’t worth their trouble”! Fidelity should contract with reputable companies and not those the cut them the best deal!
i called ahs on 1/6/09 for two ceiling fans with lights. i had to call the technician twice, because he never responded. after he left, i waited a week, because i had not heard from ahs, so i called them. was informed that after over a week the technician had not sent in his report. i waited another week, and was told that he had still not sent in his results and was forwarding me to another vendor. well, i waited two days, and I called ahs again, and was told that the first vendor finally sent in his report and was on his way to pick up my fans.
Well, i was astounded. how could a vendor pick out fans form my house and i had not given ahs or this vendor authority to pick out anything for me. well, ahs stated that the choice of fans is black, and if i did not wish to have the black fans, that they will send to me, then i could do a “cash out” and i was offered $300 for the two fans which include installation. this is absurb and i am definitely NOT renweing my contract with this company. How dare they think that anyone can pick out any fixtures for my home.
My experience with Fidelity has been wonderful. Not only do they do what they promise, but they send very professional techs to my home.
I read all the comments before making the phone call to Fidelity National Home Warranty. After reading all the comments I mentally prepared myself to get rejected and treated rudely.
Surprisingly, the customer service was not as bad as expected. The phone reps were OK in professionalism, but still far from the greatest though. Service promptness was good. I called 8 am and by 1 pm I had the plumber arrive. But just as other comments said, the plumber claimed the dishwasher was not covered due to faulty installation and insurance will not pay. The garbage disposal didn’t work, and because they found a coin inside, they claimed it was due to faulty use by me and once again did not cover.
The only good thing the insurance did was send an electrician to fix the circuit breaker that controlled the garbage disposal. In the end, the outlet works for the garbage disposal, but my sink still clogs and my dishwasher still overflows with sewage water. Despite the obvious need to repair, insurance said they can do nothing. And in the end, I still had to pay them $55 for the service call. Sure, they fixed the electrical, but the insurance cost over $400. Just as with other people, the Home Warranty give me a false sense of coverage.
I will NOT renew my coverage. Good luck to you all. Maybe you’ll have better luck than me.
We received the home warranty from the seller when we purchased our house this year. After our built in microwave broke, I made a claim about a month ago. They scheduled one technician who came out and told me the key pad was not working. Then the scheduled a 2nd technician for the “2nd opinion” to tell me the exact same thing. Both technicians were professional and seemed very competent.
Now Home Fidelity is saying they are sending a 3rd technician from a different company to get another opinion. Do I really need 3 technicians to tell me the same thing? When does anyone fix anything or replace anything?
I think they just don’t want to pay for the microwave. Every time they have to schedule a technician to come, I have to miss work for a 4 hour block of time. I tried to complain to customer service but dealt with a few rude people who were not very helpful.
I will not be renewing my warranty with them. 16 hours of missed work and the $50 deductable, I could have purchased my a new one already.
I would recommend going with some other company.
I was really surprised that there were a few people who had positive things to say about Fidelity. This warranty was arranged thru my realator at the sale of our mobile home, so half was paid by me half by the seller. I’v had to call the company 3 times in the past year. They are nearly always rude on the phone, and usually act as tho they paying for everything out of their own pocket. I finally gave up after the third call on my dishwasher. The first time out on this call, they sent a fellow new to this country, so we could not understand each other. He kept looking at his watch very nervously, he did replace the heating element, then took off. dishwasher never worked, had to call again. this time they sent someone new, but again, their was a language barrier. he fixed the washer and it worked ONCE. went back to the same thing it had done in the first place, just kept washing over and over. on the third call, after schedulling another trip, I got to thinking that if they come out and tell me “oh, its a new problem” thats another 50.00 bucks out of my pocket, with no guantee the washer will be fixed, so I canceled the call, and told them I was just going out and buy a new washer. this nickle and diming my self to death makes no sense to me. so good luck to anyone that buys thru this company. I just do not trust them at all. I know how expensive repairs are, especially in so. ca., but you should have some assurance that when you spend the money on whole house warrranties, the doggone thing should kick in.