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
| 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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Requested service via their web. No response until I made a call to their office after 2 days. Once called, the serive povided refused a Sat service call. The company then said this was pre-exsiting and would not honor the paid in full request. It was a simple charging of coolent in the central air. ($75) Would not recommend and have request a full refund.
I was given the warranty when I purchased the home. I made a call to FNHW to tell that the garbage disposal was not working. They sent a plumber and charged me $55 promptly. Then called me and told me that the garbage disposal was broken before I purchsed the home. I don’t understand, why when I told FNHW that the disposal was not working, they could not tell me that this was a pre-existing condition and not covered. Pretty bogus company, rip off. Never do business with them.
Been with this company for 10 years. Every year the fees keep going up and the service goes down.
Customer service definitely needs work, have had some that were ok, others including today that are very rude.
The quality of the service providers is anywhere from good to awful – as in stay away – using these people will be a liability. Problem is you never know what you are going to get. Fidelity needs to find better service organizations or screen them better.
Based on my most recent interaction with Fidelity Customer Service, I am going to cancel my policy with them and either pass on coverage or find another Home Warranty Company.
August 2011 temp 105. Tuesday:The A/C stops cooling but the condensing unit is running. Knowing that all home warrenty companies suck and expecting low refrigerant I call a good repair company and they come same day and diagnose a bad compressor. First call to FNHW, Assigned Air One as the HVAC Contractor.
Wednesday: Call Air One and discover that a)they are a low budget, low class contractor. Call FNHW, explain that a) I know it’s a compressor failure and b) when Air One shows on Friday they won’t have a compressor thus delaying repair until at least Monday. Call FNHW again two hurs later to complain, call again two hours later to complain, call again two hours later to discover they have assigned Sears Home Service to the repair and they will be out Thursday.
Thursday: Sears shows up on time and confirms the failed compressor, gets FNHW approval for replacement.
Friday: Two Sears Techs arrive and change out the compressor in just under an hour. Cool air flows from the ceiling.
So, While FNHW is awful, and like any insurance company will do the minimum to comply with the contract, persistance pays off. Getting the right contractor makes all the difference, if I have another claim I’ll ask for Sears right from the start. Lastly, if you can stand the heat you can save some money. I’m out ~$800 for two years of premiums plus $110 for two deductables (this event and an earlier clogged condensate line)but today I saved $2400 so I’m $1,490 to the good.
I’ve saved $1000 with my Fidelity Home Warranty this year alone. I found customer service easy to reach and professional. I had a leaky shower fixed, a broken pipe fixed, and my washer fixed. If I didn’t have this home warranty, each service call would have cost me between $150-$700 each including the parts and labor. I paid $50 for the 3 times I had a plumber, drywall contractor, and appliance repair professional in to complete these jobs. Each job was done well the 1st time. Now, when something breaks in my house I know I’ll save a bundle and pay only $50. It makes home ownership more fun by relieving me of the stress of expensive repairs and replacement costs of appliances. These are costs not covered by renters or home owners insurance. I recommend reading the policy, which outlines what is covered and what’s not.
Best regards,
Karen
Our refrigerator/freezer broke 4 weeks ago, and our family of 4 still does not have a replacement. Fidelity has been seeming to drag their feet at every step of this transaction instead of treating it as a “high priority” claim. I have been extremeley dissapointed, and would not recommend this company to anyone (real estate agent or homeowner).
There is a pending class action lawsuit against them. Just search for “Fidelity Home Warranty lawsuit” and you will see. As for me, I got denied 2/2 times. So unless you like to pay 50 dollars and have a plumber come and tell you they can’t fix your problem, don’t buy from them.
We had nothing but problems with this company and they refused to make repairs on our AC and HVAC — and could not /would not make repairs for two systems house in Glendale ,CA! We had to replace four costly units and they wanted to install the cheapest replacements. They are a JOKE! Do not do business with them. We had problems with them EVERY time w e needed something repaired.They refused to make repairs on some appliance since they said it because the previous owner did not care for the failed items.
Very first day I moved in to my house, the water heater died. They jerked me around, wouldn’t do a replacement or the repair even though I faxed them every inspection report under the sun. I had no choice but to pay out of pocket. They told me a week later that they’d approve it for half reimbursement, then sent me another letter telling me they were rejecting the claim completely. Finally, the seller’s real estate agent got involved and Fidelity eventually reimbursed me for half of what I paid. Other service claims have been handled better, but I’m looking at all my other options before I renew with them.
First problem–our toilet wouldn’t flush completely unless we flushed twice. When the tech. came out I explained and told him not to flush right away because he has to look while it’s flushing. Of course he flushes without looking and the next flush works fine. It wouldn’t have a problem again for a couple hours, and of course he couldn’t stay that long. Claim denied. Of course I could have had him come back for a $50 fee…
Second problem–the instant hot water dispenser lever broke. The tech. came out and said he would check in his truck for a replacement part. He didn’t have the right one, so he said he would order it (should have gotten that in writing). When I called 2 weeks later to see if the part came in, guess what? Claim denied. We must have used excessive force, and that’s why it broke. After using the lever for 9 months, we knew how much “force” was enough. I Googled a replacement part, and found out they’re not made–you have to replace the whole unit. The denial makes sense now…
We knew going in, based on reviews, that chances of denial were pretty good. The previous homeowner paid for the warranty, but it would have been better if she hadn’t. I wasted too many hours waiting for techs and making phone calls and dealing with jerks.
This home warranty company will use any excuse to deny a claim. I have had a claims paid rate of about 20% in the past year. I properly maintain all of the systems in my house, and yet almost every time the reason given for claim denial is that the malfunction was caused by lack of maintenance. It does not matter that I have the receipts to prove regular maintenance has been done at my expense. Additionally, most things require approval from the home warranty company before anything can be done. This means that most repairs take at least a week to address minimum. When you have a inside plumbing problem or A/C that isn’t working in 100 degree heat, this is less than ideal. In more than a few cases I’ve just opted to pay out of pocket to have time sensitive repairs done the same day. This policy was provided to me by the seller when I purchased my house. I will not renew my policy when it comes due. I do not recommend that you buy a home warranty from Fidelity.
I was sorry to read of the dramas on this site. I have had fidelity since 2004, first year paid for by the previous owner. They have denied a couple things that were not covered, but have found them to be helpful and timely overall, and once helped me avoid a call-out fee by directing me how to fix the problem myself. They sent out a plumber to fix a pipe-tube thing that was cracking. he did a great job. also have had them replace my garbage disposal a few years ago.
I have been a customer of Fidelity for 7 years ,every summer and winter since then I have had to call Fidelity about some issue with my heating and air unit. each year their service technicians have been able to jerry-rig this hvac unit to working ( sort- of!!! ) bearing in mind that this hvac unit is 37 yrs old. in December of 2010 the heating failed, once again the technician managed to get it working again despite my concern that some of the wires leading to the unit have melted. I was told that this was not a problem!!!! ( WHAT !!! )
Then on June 15Th of this year, my ac broke down. The temp in the house a balmy 92. The Technician ( and I use the term techniciann loosely) came out two days later, supposedly fixed it, two days later it failed again, he came out again , left and one hour later ( I kid you not!!! ) the ac failed again. this is not the worst of the problem though, dealing with the customer service people has been an absolute nightmare! They have been absolutely unsympathetic and at times downright rude. You never get to speak to the same person, every time you call you have to re- explain the circumstances of your claim,, I don’t know if this is on purpose but every time I have called It has been an exercise of extreme frustration. After the first technician was sent out and the ac failed once again I was finally allowed to get someone else to come in to see if they could fix the unit, this company came out, it was like a breath of fresh air getting someone in who was polite and competent, and I would recomend them in an instant ( one hr heating and air ) The inspected the hvac unit from tip to toe their recommendation was to replace the unit. ( big surprise ) They would not fix it because their opinion was that it would just fail again within a couple of days. The heating system is in such bad shape they turned the gas off and said DON’t USE! When the tech told fidelity this they insisted on another fidelity tech consult to confirm. This company came out the next day and , BIG SURPRISE , no problem maam we can fix this and btw their is nothing wrong with the heating unit. so they fix it, please hear my screaming in absolut fury, when not TWO days after the repair the ac failed AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.
This time I thought for sure Fidelity would finally agree that this un it needed replacing but once again NO.
So this is now July 17 and I AM STILL sitting with a hvac unit that is limping along, half working,costing me a fortune to run and a heating system that i’m to terrified to use even if I needed to.
BOTTOM LINE: AVOID THIS COMPANY LIKE THE PLAGUE!!!!!!!!
I had a leaking water heater and filed a claim with Fidelity. They had a contractor respond within 6 hours and write a estimate for replacement. This estimate was padded beyond belief with items that did not need to be replaced. Earthquake straps, pressure release valve, gas valve, etc. all at a greatly increased rate triple or more the retail price. The tech told the fidelity rep. that these items were there but he “wanted” to replace them. The rep. gave him the ok and said charge the homeowner for the upgrades. When I protested the unneeded items I was told that they had to take the word of the tech. over mine (the policy holder). I told them to cash me out and I would get the work done by someone else. At this time I find out that in addition to the $55.00 service charge there is an additional $65.00 dollars due the tech. out of the cash out amount. Bottom line STAY AWAY FROM FIDELITY!!!!!
I purchased my first home two months ago, in May. The appliances were all the originals from when the house was built, 1994. Mid July and 100 degree temps and my Compressor goes out. Fidelity did not hesitate to replace my outside A/C Unit and had it approved and ready for pickup the next morning after the service tech came out. I highly recommend Fidelity! Unfortunately, I do not recommend the Service Company that they sent out, Smith Services, from Huntsville, TX. The tech, Chase Smith, is the rudest most unprofessional person in a service industry that I have ever had to deal with. I filed a complaint with Fidelity and they were very apologetic and appauled at the behavior of this tech. Needless to say, I hope they end their contract with this company!
Have been a customer of Fidelity National for ten years. My air conditioning condenser went out last Saturday (July 9th) and the servcie person said I needed a new condenser. As of today (July 14th) I still do not have my condenser. I’ve spent hours on hold and they keep giving me the runaround saying the unit is out of stock. Are you kidding me?? There’s not a 4 ton R22 13 SER available in the entire western United States? They said they can take as much time as they want to get the best deal on the unit. With temps well into the 100′s, they are just stalling hoping I’ll get tired of waiting and go out and get one myself.
These guys are more than willing to take your money for the warranty, but will not pay out for a legitimate claim. I purchased a home warranty with the a/c rider when I purchased my home. When the a/c broke, I called them to have it fixed. They charged me $55 for the service call and denied the claim because the say it was preexisting! I purchased the home 4 months ago and everything was working fine.
Avoid these guys. They are just another rip-off company!!!
My one year warranty is up and I will not renew due to poor customer service and service timeliness. Their customer service rep are rude and unprofessional. The vendor they use are not skill. For each service request I placed in the past 12 months the vendor has to come out at least twice to resolve the issue. A service request for clogged toilet is emergency/priority and it has been more than 24hrs and I have not heard back from Fidelity as to when they would have a plumber come out and I only have one toilet.
We bought the policy 1 yr ago. The primary reason wasn’t due to saving money, but for convenience and service. Simply put, I ended up hiring my own plumber to fix a leak and had Fidelity send me the “cash out”. They only had one plumbing contractor to do the work…not able to schedule for 4 days, then missed the appointment and lied about showing up. Then said they’d take another 4 days because they were booked up. I told Fidelity if they didn’t have control over their contractors,what good where they (Fidelity) to me?
I have been a customer for over 10 years. Service in Reno was excellent. Heater broke in winter and they came out at 10pm to fix it as the temp that night would be freezing.
Now living in California, Air Conditioner went out and temp is 104. No one is available to fix at this time.No one is returning calls. This is Customer No Service.
Hello,
I’m writing this review to help anyone who is looking for a home warranty to hopefully see my story and help them not make a mistake. I opened an Air Conditioning ticket with Fidelity on 6/16/11 due to my A/C not functioning. After Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in Phoenix Arizona Triple degree heat (110-113 degrees), an A/C guy arrived at my home to see what the issue was (He was from Four Seasons Mechanical). He listed that I had a bad circuit board that needed replacing and mentioned my Coils were painted. I asked if this would affect my cooling of the A/C unit, as it was working just fine all year until the 16th. He advised it would only affect heat exchange, not the cooling. Two days later (not the next day) he came back, replaced it, and told me my issue was resolved. When i got home that evening, I immediately realized the issue had not been resolved. I contacted him and Fidelity and a recall order was issued. He returned the next day and stated that because my coils are painted, its not working (contrary to his statement on monday) and that my Coolant pressure was twice what it should be. He dumped the coolant out of my A/C and blamed the coils and temperature to be the cause of the extra pressure. He and Fidelity both admitted that reducing the coolant would in fact make my A/C work a little in this heat, but not at all at 85-90 degree weather.
I complained this was not a solution, but Fidelity said because my coils were painted, they wouldn’t cover anything and that I was on my own. So i hired a second opinion (Parker & Sons inc) to come out to my home for a 2nd opinion. They arrived 2.5 hours later and told me a different story.
My Coils were NOT pained, they had dry wall dust on them which was easily removed and I could do that myself. I decided to look at this to confirm and i took pictures. There wasn’t any paint, just dust. Also, they mentioned that because the coolant had been drained from my A/C, they now needed to refill it (435.00 just for that alone) and the cause of the issue was my condenser fan motor running at 1/2 speed, over heating, and shutting down after a short period of time. This causes my coils not to cool, which doesn’t evaporate the coolant, and thus caused the spike in pressure.
With this new information, I contacted fidelity and advised them of my second opinion, and faxed them the new invoice (now 1000.00 in repairs plus some)to get it fixed. Parker & Sons is not affiliated with Fidelity in any way and will not work with a home warranty, and I don’t blame them! So my home warranty scheduled a 3rd opinion by another company of their choice “Cool Blew”. He Arrived on 6/25/11. He explained there was no Coolant in my system but he found nothing wrong with my A/C.
Frustrated I argued with him that if that were true, then my A/C would not have broken down to begin with. He put coolant back in for me and the A/C did start cooling the house, but I told him it wouldn’t last long as it would stop in about 30 minutes. That is what it was doing when this whole thing started. He couldn’t do or say anything more so he left. Sure enough, 30 minutes later i have hot air blowing out of my A/C. I called Cold Blew back first, and they told me that is caused by a massive leak in my coolant system.
At this point I had 3 different companies give me 3 different opinions on what my problem is, and Cold Blew was going to try and sell me that NO ONE caught a leak in my A/C unit. I advised that a previous company recorded twice the normal coolant pressure levels, explained why, and now they are trying to sell me that my A/C coolant is leaking out. After an argument, i hung up with them and called Fidelity back.
Upset, frustrated, hours and hours on the phone, and many hours off work, time sweating in my house, I’d finally had had enough. Fidelity employee’s were rude and unsympathetic to my issue. They simply do not understand that now 9 days of living in 113 degree weather with NO A/C is completely unacceptable and a health risk. So i moved out of my house to a parents. I got a Fidelity supervisor who was very competent, caring, and actually had a head on her shoulders. She looked over my entire case and felt horrible for the situation. She approved having Parker and Sons come out and check if my A/C really was or was not leaking coolant. If it wasn’t, she approved to get the Condenser fan motor replaced, and if it was leaking, they’d replace the unit.
Re leaved I made an appointment with Parker & Sons to come out. They advised they’d arrive around 7-8pm and would give me a 30min call ahead of time so i could be there. I’d been at my house with technicians for 5 hours in the heat so i went to my parents to cool down, get something to eat and come back. However, at 5:30 I get a call from Parker and Sons that the tech was on site, right now. Surprised I advised I wasn’t at the property, that I was told I’d have 30 minutes warning and that they wouldn’t arrive until 7-8pm. I was then told the technician would NOT wait for me to arrive, and they’d schedule something else.
Completely taken back and irritated, I demanded he stay, I was transferred to someone else, and they proceeded to tell ME off! After a heated conversation she said “FINE you’re 30 minutes start right now”, we hung up, but i was so angry, shaking, I called them back immediately and told them I didn’t want to use a service that treated me this way, after all I’d been through, and would tell ME off during my crisis.
I called Fidelity back, I couldn’t get any supervisors this time round, and they said they’d try to find someone who could come out today (Sunday 6/26/11). They couldn’t find anyone open so they have someone coming out on Monday, but to my shock!!! Even though I’d advised i did NOT want this company back at my home, they were going to send “Four Seasons” The people that caused this entire mess to begin with. I was totally shocked and said that was unacceptable! After a few more minutes, they got Sears scheduled instead for 12 noon on Monday.
After that was handled, i then asked for a supervisor again. Now I got one. I Explained everything, my frustration, not living at home, I had to increase my cell phone plan because the only phone i own has been used more in the past week than i do in a month, I’ve lost hours at work which amounts to not getting paid, I’m traveling 30 miles a day every time i have some tech come to my house because i cannot live IN my home, I’m living out of a backpack!!. I was told they were “Sorry” but they couldn’t do anything. No hotel, no covering any of my cell phone expenses, no compensation for the amount of time they’ve taken (and are STILL TAKING) to resolve my issue. to DATE, i have Sears ariving at my house on Monday JUST TO CHECK FOR A LEAK. I don’t even know if they can fix the A/C when they arrive. I only hope and PRAY I’ll actually get to move back into my home this week.
This has been a completely NIGHT MARE and i have nothing to show for it by bills and loss of time at work, not to mention stress on my family for watching my dog, making extra space for me and trying to be there for me.
My Advice? Save your money for emergencies, don’t put yourself through this nightmare of a process that Warranties put you through.
After three years as a customer, I am giving up on Fidelity National Home Warranty. Frankly, I feel like a complete idiot for staying with them so long. I was just too lazy to do my homework on sites like this one.
I know that the disclaimer above tells you that “Home Warranties are a complex insurance project,” but it turns out that “complex” is just another way of saying “we will find any possible loophole to deny your claim.”
Even in a universe of bad home warranty companies, though, Fidelity is a putrid offense. Learn from my mistakes. Avoid at all costs.
I have had this service for the last 7 years. Yes after you read my complaint you will call me dumb needless to say. My air conditioner breaks about three times a year. They send incompetent people over and over again and somehow rig it until the following year. I just got home from vacation (2 weeks after the repaired it for the second time) and guess what! Hot as heck a crappy 92 degrees in my home. I would NEVER renew this warranty. I’m a single mother and fear the “Big” cost but if I would have not renewed, I would have had somebody competent fix this thing. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS WORTHLESS warrant. It is a waste in the biggest way.
If I could rate this company at 0 I would love to do so!
My rental proper had all appliances broken, call them to come out and fix. They waited for almost 2 months and called me back 1 time and notify me that they could not contact my renter and I have 48HRS for them to do the work. If not, the work order expired so as the warranty. I finally kicked my renter out called them back and been told that I have no more warranty. If This is a scam and I don’t know why they are still in business. The title company must have some sort of deals with this company. Have someone try to contact Channel 7 on your site and BBB yet? If not, please do so b/c I will. If they get away with this scam, they will do it again and again to many others
this is the worst home warranty which bought together with my new home. the warranty is good for nothing since everything you try to repair is not “covered”. the customer service yelled at me since i asked a few more questions.