HMS
Home Warranty Plan Details and Reviews for HMS
Premium: $360-400
Deductible: $100
Effective: 30 days after enrollment
Web: www.hmsnet.com
Deductible: $100
Effective: 30 days after enrollment
Web: www.hmsnet.com
Customer Service 
Service Timeliness
Repair/Replacement Service
Overall Rating
Total Reviews: 80 Rate this Company!
Service Timeliness
Repair/Replacement Service
Overall Rating
Total Reviews: 80 Rate this Company!
Coverage Area: USA - All States
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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
This company also operates under the following alternate business names
- Total Protect
- Cross Country Home Services
- Haa Of Virginia
- HMS Home Warranty
- Home Warranty Service
- HomeSure of America Inc.
- Homesure of Virginia, Inc
- HomeSure Services, Inc.
Source: Better Business Bureau
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HMS – Home Sure of Virginia is a total rip off. Talk about your “creative accounting” – they ought to hook up with the folks in California – HMS will have that deficit paid off in NO TIME.
After numerous calls to obtain a receipt for payment & my renewal policy, my husband & I decided to go ahead & terminate this contract with HMS due to lack of customer service & trying to use the policy was like pulling teeth.. The “refund” included a twenty five $25 cancellation fee & instead of pro-rating my refund – HMS uses a “short-rate” method. So instead of 26 actual days, I was charged 72 days. When I confronted the gal in the accounting dept about this – My Comment: “… so by doing this, you are putting less money back into my pocket.” She replied: “yup” & then laffed. I am guessing by her reaction that this is now a running joke with them … Personally, I don’t think it’s so dang funny.
I would “complain” to the BBB but they are NOT a government agency – they are a non-profit charity organization & they cater to the businesses not the consumer.
Buyer Beware !
Claim was approved for new ac unit 7/2/10 now 8/10/10 still not fixed and I am getting run around from HMS National.If I could give lower ratings I would.All I recieved is aggravation.Did not save anything.
HMS took a month to fix my AC unit. No one ever called us back, we had to always call them and was always told they don’t know when my AC part was coming in. Come to find out that they sent my part to a different location and let it sit there for a week! While my husband and i were calling to check all week. By the third week I called HMS and told them how i really felt and by the next day they found my part and had it delivered and installed in my place in two days.
After several tech visits and 2 service companies our AC still does not work. The companies they seem to use are of very low quality, and they try to do as little as possible when they are here. On the last visit from the second service company, he FINALLY brought the correct equipment to search for a leak and found the coil in the outside unit needed to be replaced. 4 hours later HMS called to deny us because the tech reported our unit was buried in mud, which was a complete lie, and an utter impossibility due to the location of the unit. We are now fighting HMS and have to get a second opinion from another one of their service companies. I am less than optimistic about the outcome. I will never renew with HMS and am trying to get my money back.
I got the HMS warranty when I bought my house. So I do not feel so bad since it is free of charge to me. But filing a claim has been an ordeal. The AC had a leak, I called and paid the $100 copay and the tech said it is not covered because HMS does not cover pipes, etc. Like many reviewers, when there is big claims, the headache is unbearable when dealing with HMS. My AC broke 3 months ago. As of now, it is still not fixed. HMS approved the claim but the parts took 2+ weeks but it is the wrong part. Took another week to get the new part and again it is the wrong part! Warranty will expire in 10 days and I am beginning to wonder if HMS will fix it at all…
Stood Up by HMS / Homesure / of Virginia, Inc.
I strongly warn you to NOT use HMS / Homesure of Virginia, Inc. I have a home warranty with them to cover items such as the AC and appliances and could not be more frustrated with their service. It is currently over 100 degrees in my town and a week ago my AC stopped working. I called to set up an appointment and they said the earliest they could get out was in 4 days. I tried for earlier but they said it would be an emergency charge…etc. so I said OK, I will wait 4 days. On the 4th day, my wife took off work to wait for the repair man and NO ONE SHOWED. So she wasted an entire day. I called later that day to notify them of the problem and they said sorry, must have been a mix up, and we’ll bring someone out in 3 days first thing in the morning. So we wait 3 more days, my wife takes off the morning and guess what? NO ONE SHOWS. We called the repair company directly (not HMS / Homesure of Virginia, Inc.) and they said they never received the work order. I called HMS / Homesure of Virginia, Inc. to notify them of the problem. They apologized again, and said they would *kindly* incur the emergency fee this time and send someone out by the end of the day. I told them *sorry* was OK after the first mistake, but after the second mistake IN THE SAME WEEK they needed to compensate me for my wasted time. I didn’t care how they did it, a couple months free warranty service, a gift basket,…etc., whatever. They said NO and read me a bunch of legal mess. I said fine, I want to cancel my policy then for lack of performance, and they said OK, but that there is a TWENTY FIVE dollar CANCELLATION FEE — WHEN THEY WERE AT FAULT!!!! I dealt with Christopher Spence x1034 and Aldine who were both polite but COMPLETELY unhelpful. USE ANOTHER COMPANY!!!
Warranty companies like HMS are somewhat like insurance companies; you know you won’t get your money’s worth, but appreciate the peace of mind knowing when real problems strike, they will take care of them – (even if it takes some push from you to get them to do it). Well, it turns out that HMS is really just a money sink hole and a huge headache to deal with. Additionally, it employees uncooperative service people and actively looks for ways to wiggle out of their obligations.
I had HMS for several years on a newly purchased home and they did OK during the occasional need for simple plumbing needs. But as soon as real problems arose, they became a nightmare.
The real reason I paid for the HMS warranty is because the house had a 25 year old HVAC system that can be expensive to replace. After a couple of years, the inevitable did happen, it conked out and their repair person said it needed to be replaced. But HMS refused to repair or replace it. The excuse they conjured up is that the residents caused the problem and there was no connection to its 29 year old condition.
Nightmare number two involved a plumber, the one thing I thought they could do. But this time a leak developed in the laundry room. When their plumber came, he offered one excuse after another over several weeks why he couldn’t do anything: I can’t find the leak, I don’t want to cut open the wall, you have to clean up the water before I can fix the leak!!! Finally I had to get my own plumber to come in, cut open the wall, and fix the leak. But by then the water damage was much worse. HMS refused to give us a new plumber, reimburse us the $100 deductible for the incompetent plumber, pay for the water damage caused by their negligent plumber, nor of course pay for the good plumber.
So here is the bottom line with HMS: dealing with HMS made the problem worse, resulted in greater costs, doesn’t honor its warranty, and is a huge headache — opposite of why you would use them as a warranty company.
HMS is your classic home warranty company. My tenant had his air conditioning go out almost 4 weeks ago. As I sit here today, the AC is still not fixed. When we finally got approval to order new parts for the AC, it took them 2 weeks to ship the part. When we finally received the part, it was missing the compressor, which took another 4 days to ship. We are now going on a month and the maintenance company is telling me they cannot do the work on Saturdays unless the warranty company approves it. I would steer away from any warranty company if you are a landlord. The time it takes to fix problems is simply not worth it, especially with a company like HMS.
HMS Customer service is a joke!!! Dont get this warranty. Customer service was rude and disrespectful. The repairman showed up 30 minutes late which caused me to have to cancel since I had to be at work and customer service threatened that I would be charged anyways for a service call.
On Friday, 9 July 2010 I filed a claim regarding my toilets over flowing and feces floating in my house. I was assured I would receive service in a timely matter after speaking with a supervisor on duty and explaining how it took your company over 3 weeks to fix my air conditioning in the middle of a heat advisory in my state. Nothing. Called again on Saturday. Nothing. Got a call from Sooner Services late Sunday and the representative asked me to give a brief description of the problem. She abruptly stated that’s a sewage line blockage and we can’t help you. I said are you a Plumber? Nope. Asked if they can send someone to look at the issue and she said not for several days. Called HMS again. They assigned me a new claim number and again assured me I would be contacted by a plumber who could ascertain what the issue actually was. I was read my warranty, explaining how pipes outside the house were not covered. No contact. On Monday I rented a mini-rooter and snaked the 20 foot drain from my toilet to my sewage out take that is one foot outside my house under my deck. Drain is clear. Once again I have to state my deep disappointment with having to deal with a company that does not bargain in good faith, does not do what they say they will do, takes money from consumers, never delivers in what anyone would consider a timely manner, or at all, and never follows up. I must say, if you were a Taxi company you would be out of business in a very short period of time. I will also say I am reporting you to my state agencies for failure on so many fronts I am tired of writing about it. I want to ALSO point out that your contractor on the previous claim charged me for a pad upgrade for my AC unit and if you want to see the stacked bricks it is sitting on I will be happy to send you those pictures. Sadly the contractor will not return my calls and the number always goes to an answering service.
4 claims for same aircon problem – tech charge us $100 each trip and it lasted less than 4 days. Tech never did papaerwork, HMS is a clearing house for scum and lowlife techs.
HMS did not have a 2nd company to call for service- so we are stuck with the same tech.
p.s. it also take over a week for them to show up!
We received HMS warranty when we bought our home. Our dishwasher began leaking and we called HMS. I took almost a week to get service. When the technician came out he looked at the dishwasher but did not repair it. He said that he needed to get parts. He demanded that we pay him $50 – 1/2 of the $100 service fee before he ordered the parts. He said that if we didn’t, he wouldn’t be back. We called HMS to complain and to request another repair service. They refused saying that it would take weeks to get another service. We had no choice. It took over a week for the repair man to return to fix the dishwasher. He did properly repair it and we have had no further problems. We will not be renewing our contract with HMS!!! They are not helpful and are very rude!!!
Cross Country/Homesure Service and the companies that they use to provide repair services are in my experience the worst. The companies that provide the repair service, know that once the customer pays the deductible to them, that the rest of the repair cost is guaranteed by Homesure/Cross Country, so they take their time about doing the repair. It appears that these repair companies take on an overload since payment is guaranteed, and they leave the customers waiting until they get around to them. When you call Cross Country/Homesure, they are not cooperative in resolving the issue with the repair companies. They just report to you exactly what you already found out from the repair company. They take no measuers to address unacceptable service by the repair service companies. Their response to my complaint about the lenght of time it was taking to get a reapir done, was to offer that I personally pay for another repair service to do the work and then they would reimburse me. This I found rediculous, since I pay a montly fee for their service I should not have to put out any money other than my deductible for the repair. I advise anyone reading this review to seek another repair service company.
I recently purchased my first home and an HMS warranty along with it. About 2 months after moving in, my refrigerator stops cooling. It took 3 days for the service company to come out. By that time the food had spoiled ($200 est. value). The repairman said we had a bad defroster timer and would have to order the part. It took 2 more weeks for the part to come in, at which time I had to schedule another day off of work to meet the repairman. He came and installed the part. It turns out that his diagnosis was wrong. His next move was to put in a new defroster coil, which he did not have with him. Like most people it is not easy for me to take time off of work and this company refused to work with me on scheduling a convenient time. I called HMS who was unable to get the service company to give me a better time, and unwilling to authorize another service company. I ended up having to fake a sick day from work. A week later the repair company came and installed a coil. This fixed the problem, but he was not able to reassemble the fridge in quite the same way it was originally. In all, this fiasco has taught me a valuable lesson:
Cost of spoiled food: $200
Cost of warranty deductible: $100
Cost of lost wages: $500
Cost of HMS Warranty: $450
Never having to deal with HMS Home Warranty again: Priceless
A new fridge from any retailer would have cost me less and come with a real warranty.
We just moved into our new house and immediately found that the AC and the refridgerator were not working. It took 8 days to get a refridgerator repairperson out and then the problem was deemed improper maintenance and the coverage was denied. It took 10 days to get an AC repair company out and their repairman flat out told me that our warranty was not a good one and he doubted that they would cover the problem and he told me they would use the pre-existing condition excuse. The a/c unit worked fine during our home inspection and our 48 hour walk-thru before closing. Sure enough, they denied all coverage. I called my own repair service out and they found a very large leak in the system – large enough in the repairmans opinion that all the refridgerant in the system could have leaked out in just a few hours – some sort of valve went bad. So it wasn’t a pre-existing condition afterall. I explained this to HMS and they disagreed with our opinion and refused coverage. This is absolutely an organization without any ethics. I will try to cancel my warranty and try to recover the unused portion of the premium and I will place calls to the BBB and our state auditor.
I’m really unsure how much more badly in faith this warranty company can bargain. I called twice on Saturday that my HVAC had failed and was told twice I would be contacted in two hours by a service company. Never happened. Called again on Sunday, same thing and was told I could have an 11-3 appointment on Monday. 6 hours later Sooner Services called and said they may be able to do that but HMS doesn’t hold the schedule so not sure where that came from. They came and said the HVAC was dead. I was contacted by 2 other service companies on Wednesday and was told they were told to get a second opinion. Confusion. I was also contacted by the home office 1-800-327-9787, ext 4133 and was assured the unit would be fixed today. One company came out looked at the unit and said, yepp it’s dead. Called the 1-800-432-1033 and they said they would ORDER the part and ship it to the service company. At this point I have been without air for 5 days in the middle of a serious heat advisory in Oklahoma City. I was also told I would need to pay $105 on top of the deductible for a “reclamation fee.” I would like someone to honestly tell me what is going on, when the unit will be fixed, and why HMS needs a “second opinion” on it’s own contractors.” At this point I have had to take 8 hours off work and paid the $75 deductible and have had no results.
To real estate and bank:
I cc’d you all so you knew what was happening. At this point I am 5 days without AC, have had to take 8 hrs of leave to meet their appointments ($232) had to buy a window unit ($125) paid the deductible ($75) and they now are saying I need to pay a reclamation fee ($105) and the AC is still not fixed. Is this the best company to go with? I mean they need second opinions on their contractors and will not buy parts from them but insist on shipping parts to them. They are also not very honest with their promises.
This company, HMS National, told us nothing but lies for the 2 weeks leading up to the day they told us they were denying our claim. An AC repair was our first claim we made with them after over 2 years of making monthly payments to them. So, we went through many sweltering days waiting for them to deny us. I wish I had done my research months ago, because everywhere I have looked on the internet, has hundreds of negative reports about this sham of a company. I have found ONE positive report on them! Stay far away from HMS National/Cross Country Home warranty company!
i inherited this contract when i purchased this property when i had a problem with my heating pump is when my night-mare began it took a year for them to replace it because someone in the office stated they would replace it but some-one else stated it was over my limit i had to threaten to call a lawyer in order for them to honor what they said and still numerous phone calls waiting on hold people asking the same info over and over request being lost parts not delivered and workmen not showing up when scheduled it was a very discouraging experience i am now looking for another
Purchased home warranty. At time of purchase and during all subsequent communications I was promised that I was covered for full repair /replacement of heat/AC split unit after deductible. Paid on policy for over four years. When my unit failed recently I began an horrific effort to submit a claim. It took days of calling and hours of hold time to get a claim number and provider contact information. All reps repeated promise that I was covered for completed repair/replacement of unit. I was unable to contact the provider and had to go through more tortorus holds and e-mails before getting the number for a second service provider. The serviceman comes and related that the unit is shot and must be replaced. I pay him the deductible and ask when he will return to put in unit. He says he has to have authorization from HMS National. Today, almost a month after beginning to to file my claim I am called and told they capped my policy at $1,ooo and will only pay me $900 for the unit which will cost around $5,000 to replace. This company practices predatory sales polices and fradulently misrepresents its coverage. They blatently lied to me and I relied on their statements to my own detriment. I would never have paid $37 a month for four years if I had any idea they would only pay $900 on a $5000 claim. These people should be arrested. In addition to lousy service they will misrepresent the coverage and delay payment of what miniscule percent they will pay you! Do not use HMS National or their subsidiaries Cross Country and Total Protect! They are scam artists.
The air conditioning stopped working on 5/4/10 and we immediately called and placed a claim. Since earlier in the year i had a problem getting them to give me a response on my dryer i called every single day to check on the status where i would get told “we will expedite your claim”. on Friday 5/28 they finally called me to say that they could not replace the outside unit because they no longer made that model and that they needed to restart the claim because they would need to replace the inside unit as well. The thing about it is that the inside unit would need modifications that were costly and the warranty company would not cover this, yet no one could even give me a rough estimate of the amount of money it would cost me. Well on friday i was told that the contractor would be out on saturday early morning and he would call me friday night to let me know what time on saturday he would be out. Well no call friday and no show saturday. Finally tuesday morning 6/1 the contractor calls me to say he would be out in about 30 mins. He comes out to do the measurements for the inside unit and the idiot cant even give me an estimate of to how much this would cost me! ISNT THIS YOUR JOB, DONT YOU DO THIS EVERY DAY?? How could you not know a round about number for me to prepare for. All he would say is that the warranty company would contact me with a number once the claim went through( yeah dont expect anything quickly) Well now its been 1 month and the heat has exceeded 90 degrees on multiple occasions and no one cares! Well we call back the supervisor that we finally got a direct line to and what do we get but a voicemail every single time and a run around with 40-50 minute hold times and still NO BODY KNOWS ANYTHING expect “im really sorry about that we will put you claim into expedited”. I dont know what these people think expedited is, but it is not 1 month in the heat and humidity that is for sure. I will definately not renew my contract!
We have had our Air conditioning out for 3 Weeks now. Matt, in the office of the president is incompetent. He returns call in the evenings and never answers his phone. It took 2 weeks to get approval for a new air handler. First, they ordered the wrong one, second, they didn’t give the A.C. company the correct authorization number to pick up the air handler. We are still waiting and Matt always has his voice mail on. The amount of cash that they would give you to buy your own products would never be adequate. Therefore, you are forced to take the junk they will provide from the warranty’s warehouse. DO NOT USE!
We purchased our home in November of 2008. In January of 2009, our heat wasn’t working very well so we filed a claim. HMS sent out a tech. The technician discovered that the condensor fan and the outside disconnect were bad and the unit needed the evaporator coil replaced and the unit needed a good cleaning. HMS denied the claim, advising that it was a maintenance issue. I didn’t have have an issue with that as the home was a foreclosure.
In June 2009, The system wasn’t cooling, so we filed another claim. HMS sent anothe company. The project manager advised that the compressor needed to be replaced because the unit hadn’t been cleaned properly which led to the compressor failing. I showed the tech the bill from the first company showing the unit was cleaned and he got a representative from HMS on the telephone. HMS denied the claim again and we paid the new company $1466.00 for a new compressor and a level 3 cleaning.
We did not renew our warranty with HMS, due to their poor service.
May 14,2010. The house is not cooling. We contact a local company. Their technician diagnoses the problem. Company number two used an aftermarket motor and the compressor was blown. The heat pump was still under the Trane warranty when company number two replaced the compressor and there was no reason to use an aftermarket part. He also advised that the amps were at 17.9 when they should have been at 15. He was surprised that we didn’t have a fire.
Now I have yet another bill of $900.00 to correct what the two previous companies caused. I’ve shelled out over $3000.
Stay away from HMS if you know what’s good for you!!
I came across this review site quite by accident; I’m in the process of looking for a new home warranty provider, and after seeing all of the negative reviews on HMS (my current provider), I felt that I had to add my “two cents” – if only to help convince someone else to stay as FAR away from HMS as possible!
Anyway, where do I begin?!? Pretty much everything basic that I’d want to say about HMS has already been said here by one person or another (horrible customer service, outrageous costs, inheriting our policy from the previous homeowners and not having a choice, etc.), so I won’t repeat it; however, I will share 2 specific cases where HMS screwed up big-time.
The first happened in February 2009 – right in the middle of winter. My husband and I suddenly lost our electricity one night (it happened to be on Super Bowl Sunday, right in the middle of the game, so I remember it vividly!), so I called HMS (from my cell phone) right away. They sent an electrician out to our house the next day (Monday), who soon discovered that we needed a new circuit breaker box. He said that the old one was fried and was actually a fire hazard (!!), and he showed us the scorched plug (which I took a picture of, just in case HMS asked for proof of the damage). HOWEVER, when the electrician called HMS to inform them of the damage and the necessary replacement, they gave him – and us – the runaround, putting him on hold, telling him to call so-and-so, hemming and hawing over whether or not they would cover the new box, etc., and my husband and I (and our 4 pets) were without electricity – more importantly, without HEAT! – for almost 4 whole days before HMS finally got its act together and approved the new box. (And let me just add that the temperature in our house got down to 50 degrees – I’d never been so cold for so long!!!) Yeah, the new box cost $1,500, but isn’t that WHY we have a home warranty policy?!? (I still can’t believe that we actually RENEWED our policy with them 3 months later in May!)
Anyway, the second incident occurred just a couple of weeks ago. The faucet in our master bathroom was leaking, and there was also a strange dripping noise inside the walls of the bathroom, so we called HMS and had them send out a plumber. The plumber came in a timely fashion and was pleasant (just like the electrician in February of ‘09), and he discovered that we actually needed a new pressure regulator and informed HMS of this. HMS flat-out refused to pay for it, though, stating that our warranty didn’t cover items which they deemed to be “unnecessary” to replace. (This very much surprised the plumber, by the way, who STRONGLY advised us that we definitely DID need a new one!) Anyway, my husband and I wound up paying for a new regulator out of our own pockets ($305, to be exact), and that whole incident put the proverbial “lid on the coffin” in regards to our ending our relationship with HMS!
Air conditioning went out in the middle of the summer. It’s been exactly one week now. No supervisors will call back when they promise to. I got several of their personal extensions and they refuse to answer their phones. And the service technician who looked at my unit called me today to tell me they claim to have lost his service order, and want him to come look at my unit again. Absolutely unbelievable. Am filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, as you all should as well.
My husband and I purchased a home last month. With that purchase we also purchased a Home Warranty through HMS. Once we moved into the house, we had a bout of unseasonably warm weather. We turned on the AC unit, and found that the upper level of the house was not cooling sufficiently. We called HMS and had a heating/AC company come to the house. Both AC units were going but also both coils in the units were bad.
HMS REFUSED TO APPROVE TO HAVE THE AC UNITS FIXED. Therefore, we could only fix the bad coils. We understood that just replacing coils and not the units may cause some issues going forward, but we agreed as we needed some relief to the heat. Unfortunately, HMS refused to cover both units. Your brochure states that HEATING AND AC SYSTEMS ARE COVERED. Apparently HMS doesn’t understand the word system. Our realtor contacted the Mid Atlantic office asking about it. She was told that if we upgraded our policy and paid an additional $100.00 that both units would be covered.
When the AC repair service attempted to order the 2 sets of coils, HMS once again rejected the claim and stated that they would not cover the second unit because ‘it was a pre existing’ condition and the upgrade to the policy happened after we reported our issue. HMS just took the extra $100.00 from us and did nothing.
I will tell everyone I know, including several realtors how bad this company is.