Best Home Warranty Companies In evanston, illinois

Michael Klaessy, Evanston

On Aug 02, 2018

American Home Shield (AHS)

My wife and I are extremely disappointed by the service we received from American Home Shield (AHS), and would not recommend them to anyone. Please note, we had an AHS warranty for 2 years, and this was not the first issue we had with them, but it was the last. We reported an air conditioning (AC) outage to AHS on 6/19/18 and as of 7/12/18 the ...View Moretechnician they assigned (Always Heating and Cooling - "Always H&C") had not even set up an appointment to repair it. We called AHS to report the issue of this extreme delay in repair, due to excessive heat warnings in our area over the time, but they refused to assign another technician. From the start, it seems like Always H&C was overbooked, and should not have been assigned to our issue. They had extremely limited availability and could not even make time to diagnose our A/C issue. Finally, on 7/9/18 someone representing Always H&C showed up at our home to diagnose the AC issue, but the person that Always H&C sent out did not work for that company. Instead he explained he was a "friend" of the owner of the company, so not the actual technician that AHS assigned. We allowed this person to inspect the AC as we were desperate to get it fixed, and he left us an invoice for his work that was not on Always H&C Letterhead (comparison photo can be provided upon request) and did not mention any “code issues”. However, when Always H&C communicated the diagnosis back to AHS they said it was a code issue, but provided no details as to what code was violated. As such, AHS told us that they would only pay for $250 of the repair due to it being a “code issue”, and then Always H&C provided an estimate to fix this issue of $915 (estimate can be provided upon request). Frustrated by this poor service and lack of information, I found a reputable contractor (licensed, bonded, and recommended through Home Advisor) to provide a 2nd opinion. On 7/11/18 we had Aqua Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling Services (Aqua) out to diagnose our issue (invoice for diagnosis showing paid $89 on 7/11/18 can be provided upon request). The technician from Aqua was very professional, provided photographic evidence of the issue (can be provide if necessary), and confirmed that there were no code violations as the issue was with a broken low voltage wire that was not required to be sent through conduit per code. The Agua tech also scheduled a repair appointment for us on 7/12/18 for $678.06 (estimate can be provided upon request). I agreed to this appointment and called AHS the next morning. I called AHS on 7/12/18 and spoke to a “James” from their disputes department (at 877.489.8320) prior to the Aqua technician fixing our AC. I explained all the issues we’d had to date, and that our AC had been out since 6/19/18. I informed James that we were extremely dissatisfied with the contractor that AHS had assigned to our service (Always H&C), and that we needed to have the work performed by another technician. James from AHS informed me of the "cash in lieu" repair option (i.e., AHS will pay us the money they would have paid to their contractor – $250, upon proof we had another contractor perform the service) so I would not need to use the AHS suggested contractor. He also communicated that if the contractor we used found there were no code violations then AHS would re-review our claim. James indicated that he noted this all in our file, and I asked him to note that that we also planned to use the cash in lieu option. The technician from Aqua arrived on time on 7/12/18, and completed the work (providing photographic evidence of the work performed) so we have running AC again. The invoice, which can be provided upon request, shows that he specifically noted that he "Ran new wires to condenser from furnace on 7/12/18. Found no code violations. 24 volt (low voltage) wires don not have to be ran with conduit.". Also, the paid invoice for $678.06, paid by me to Aqua on 7/12 for this repair, can be provided upon request. Following this repair, I contacted AHS on 7/16/18 via email and provided them all the detail necessary to receive payment of at minimum the $250 they would have paid to Always H&C. However, I expected them to re-review our claim and ideally cover more of the repair since it wasn’t a code violation, and due to the excessive lack of service we’d received. I received a letter (can be provided upon request) dated 7/19/18 from AHS denying our claim and refusing to pay anything for this repair. This was supposedly because we had not gotten authorization to use an independent contractor for our repair, even though “James” from AHS had provided the authorization and supposedly indicated in our file that we would use the cash in lieu option. I contacted AHS immediately, but the person I spoke with “Feena” could not get me through to the claims department and informed me they would call back within 24 hours. No one from American Home Shield ever called us back to discuss this claim. Due to this incredibly poor service, I would not recommend AHS to anyone. They are dishonest in their dealings, offer extremely poor customer service, and use subpar technicians to perform work (in the past we’ve had a tech to repair a new washer that now screeches during spin cycles, and had to have 5 visits from another tech to repair a broken dishwasher before they finally agreed to pay approximately 40% of the replacement cost). American Home shield is in the business of taking honest people’s money, then denying them competent, complete, and honest service for that money.View Less

Melissa, Evanston

On Jul 18, 2013

American Home Shield (AHS)

I was pleasantly surprised when received a call back within 1 hour. Also, I appreciate how when I submitted a claim, the attendant let me know immediately which company would be handling my request and gave me that company's name and number.