American Home Shield

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Home Warranties • American Home Shield • Buyers Home Warranty • Choice Home Warranty • First American Home Warranty • Home Warranty of America • National Home Protection • Nationwide Home Warranty • Old Republic --- • Home Warranties Not Always What They Seem • Old Republic Responds • Think Twice Before Buying an Extended Warranty --- • Home Warranties Not Always What They Seem

It seems like a good idea -- prepaid home maintenance, basically a service contract or extended warranty on your house.

The AHS booklet states, "Commitment to your total satisfaction"� "That's why we back every job we do with the unique money-back guarantee shown on the back of your home warranty" ... "AHS guarantees that all approved covered service repairs will be completed to your satisfaction. If for any reason you are not satisfied with that service received, we will work with you until you are satisfied or we will refund the trade service fee."

Unfortunately, consumers tell us it often doesn't work out that way, as David Wood reports in his report, . The complaints to the right break it all down into neat little categories ... whereas those below sort of sum it up.

Donna of Plano, TX July 10, 2009

Air Conditioner was not working right. They charged me 60.00 for the call. They said the Pleneum modification was bad it would cost me 250.00 I needed a city permit 200.00, Disposal fee 75.00 and needed flow switch 75.00, I was charge 1,050.00 out of my pocket even tho I had 500.00 home warranty. I ended up paying 1,050.00 even tho I had a warranty. I will not renew my warranty with them.

Kathleen of Rowlett, TX July 10, 2009

We came home from a trip on June 21, 2009, to find that our house was hot. It was 81 downstairs and 92 upstairs. We contacted AHS and the next day I received a call to schedule an appt. the NEXT day. We live in Texas...it's hot!The serviceman said that our upstairs unit was dead and we needed a new compressor. He recharged the downstairs unit. He never came inside to check that the unit downstairs was indeed cooling. He did, however, come in to get a check and a drink of cold water. Now, after nearly 3 weeks, the temp. downstairs is 83 and upstairs 91. No contact from AHS. We have been under heat advisories. We live in a suburb of Dallas, and the temps have been up in the hundreds many days during this time. I am 67, and my husband is 73. Luckily, we have a small guest room and bath downstairs, because we can't use our bedroom or bath or office. My computer is up there, and I fear for it. I'm using a laptop downstairs. The heat index for the next 3 days is predicted to be 105+.

Two years ago our oven went out in early Nov. They fixed it in mid Jan, after Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years, which is the birthday of one of our children. No Christmas cookies from Grandma. No Thanksgiving pies, turkey, etc., either. AMS not only takes a very long time for service to be completed, but they seem to cause a great deal of inconvenience, also. I don't know if there is a truly efficient home warranty plan. It all seems "take the money and stall!"

Charles of Lizella, GA July 10, 2009

My air conditioning unit has been in need of repair for each of the last three years. This unit has been in place for over 13 years. Finally, it has given out and Home Shield has agreed to replace it which should be the end of all my worries. This has been nothing farther from the truth. It has only demonstrated home shield's lack of concern and unwillingness to handle it's customers needs satisfactorily or otherwise. I have been given the complete runaround even to the point where complaints against the vendor have gone ignored. If only they can be as efficient handling my service needs as they are deducting my monthly payments.

Giovanna of Tucson, AZ July 10, 2009

I have been without an air conditioner for more than 3 weeks. AHS sent an incompetent technician after I asked them NOT to send this company as I had had bad service from them in the past. The technician began the whole process by tell us that HE DID NOT KNOW THE EQUIPMENT. He came back two days later with someone who said he knew the equipment. They said they fixed it. It blew air but not cold air. They screwed up the report and said it was a heat pump. It is a Goodman Wall AC unit - unique. It has coils on the roof which they said needed cleaned to the tune of 150 over an above the AHS fee. It still did not work. Then the original tech came back and caused a short circuit -- which we heard -- and blew out the unit completely. Since then we are waiting for a repair. This is a libary and my books are cooking in the heat and our wooden furniture is beginning to split. We cannot use the room. This is going on since June 19th. AHS said we would get a new unit...that was last week. Now they are searching for the part. It is excessive an unnecessary. We want some action.

Sharon of San Antonio, TX July 10, 2009

My A/C has been out for 5 days in 100+ heat with a heat index of 105 - 110. No one at AHS or the contractor(Wynne Air) seems to have any concern or be in any hurry to get it fixed. I paid my own A/C company 80.00 to look at my A/C and tell me what the problem was. I then called Wynne Air and informed them so maybe they could get the parts ordered. They stated they would have to look at the A/C themselves because they didn't believe me or any company that was not contracted by AHS. They came tp look 2 days later. Then because it was a week-end, nothing could be done as AHS and Wynne Air were closed and at home in their nice little air conditioned houses.

It is now Monday morning and I've been on the phone with a supervisor(Ron) at AHS who tells me the compressor has been ordered and is at the warehouse. Wynne Air says the warehouse doesn't have the compressor and it will have to be ordered from the factory. The technician that came to my house is the person answering the phones. If they are so busy why is he not out doing repair calls?

KAREEMAH of NORTH LITTLE ROCK, AR July 10, 2009

I called American Home Shield (AHS) at 8:30 pm on Jul 10th requesting air condition service. I also inform the representative that I need service immediately due to a medical conditon. I had a Brain Anerysum and can not allow my blood pressure to elevate due to heat or any stressful conditions. I was sent an email for Natural State Heating and this was a normal request. I was also informed someone would contact me in 2 hrs.

I called back at 10:30 and informed the request has been expedited. On 11 Jul, 8:00 I talk with Edmond Y and he stated the previous request was not expedited and he would put the request at the top and I would hear something by 1:00. The two supervisors Edmond and Jason did not give any assistance due to my medical condition and was very rude.

I called back to ASH and spoke with two young ladies that were very professional and very helpful young ladies Brittany J and Tiffany B they were very polite and performed there duties with great customer service. I called one of the contractors that service my area contact Brittany she immediately contact Steve Hester Air for verification while I was on the phone.

This same service could have taken care of 10 Jul instead of giving the customers the run around. I am a paying customer that is paying these employees salary. It is a shame to get this type of treatment when the weather is 98 plus degrees this weekend.

Nick of Palm City, FL July 7, 2009

On June 26 my AC went out. I called AHS to report the problem. A service person was sent out who identified the problem and said a evaporator needed to be ordered. He called AHS who said they would order the part. After 10 days of waiting in 95 degree heat I the service person who advised an order had not been made by AHS to get the needed part. When I called AHS they said they were waiting for the price and availability of the part from the vendor. This is after 12 days from the date of identifying the problem and solution. AHS provides testimonials which are as believable as the stork delivering babies.

Juan of virginia beach, VA July 7, 2009

I've been a Customer of American Home Shield for almost 5 years now and worked fine on allmy service request but A/C. I have several service request done to my HVAC unit ( at least 4 each year) 50 to 60 each time + 100.00 subcharge not covered in my warranty on my last request. Ok, 12+ services to my A/C and still breaks down every 4 or 5 months....By the way my unit is the original unit 1998 (Not old- not new) kept above ground away from rust and dust. So after all this "Professional-Contractor's services" that works for AHS my unit still breaks, do they really fix it or they just temporary patch it for the next trouble-call??? .

This morning my unit was service again (TWICE IN 3 MONTHS) a local Virginia Beach contractor, replaced in this last May Several parts of the unit (compressor and others)..by the way it took AHS ONE WEEK to shipped those parts. Parts where replaced (Took another day off to wait for the contractor's 12 Hours window...). Ok parts replaced unit ran smooth and cool until last week.... Took another day off work to wait for the contractor, different company by the way...The tech opened the unit and I'm next to him this time, just in case of The Gremlis attack!!. The veredict: Installed the Compressor did not install a filter dryer, did not put the sercice caps back on ( Freon Leaked because of it) they bypass the High Preassure switch and MORE...

The new service company did not fix my unit and called AHS to report they findings, it's 98 degrees inside my house with fans and windows open!! AHS did not contact me. I called AHS 3 hours after and they told me that they are still trying to figure it out...Meanwhile I'm sweating, lost my day at work and waiting for someone from AMH that is sitting in a cool office to call me.

Amanda of Henderson, NV July 4, 2009

I called AHS to fix my pool heater a month ago. 2 days later, they sent out someone from Golden West Pools. The tech came out for 5 mins and said he needed a part. He would have to get it auth'd by AHS. The following week, he came out again... was here for 5 mins.. then just left. Didn't say anything or leave a receipt. I called him the next day... he told me he talked to my son and told him he'd be back the next day. *I don't have a son*...Well, he never came back. I called him again and he said he needed another auth from AHS... it could take 2 days or it could take a week. 10 days passed and he called me on a Friday to say he'd be by on Monday... Monday comes and he's not here. I call him at 2:30.. he says he'll be here by 3.... 3:30 comes and he says he needs ANOTHER part and more auth from AHS. It's now been almost a month and the fun just got started.

I call AHS FOOLISHLY thinking they would want to remedy this situation for me. I call and talk to Scott who tells me he's really sorry for all the delays but the tech hasn't even called in a diagnosis yet!! After a month! All of these "auths" that the tech said he's been waiting for are completely fabricated! SO he calls Golden West and the tech says he'll phone in the diagnosis the next day, Tuesday. Well, Tuesday comes and goes.. no diagnosis. So I call AHS again.. they say they'll have someone from contractor relations call Golden West. So on Wednesday, I get a phone call stating that it's going to cost me an extra 500 bucks out of pocket to fix the pool heater.

I'm a little shocked that he comes up with this diagnosis just now because he hasn't been to the property in weeks. What was the delay? They put me on a 3 way call with the tech who says he was here on Monday.. I tell him, "Unless you came through a secret tunnel in an invisible car, no you weren't." The AHS lady tells me that I'm being rude and she doesn't have to listen to me talk to HER vendor that way.. I ask her who's side she's on... then she hangs up on me. Oh, I'm sorry... the call got mysteriously disconnected.

Anyway, now I've called AHS 4 times... I've asked for an invoice of the repairs that need to be done they are claiming aren't covered by my policy. Their answer? "We don't give invoices."... So I had Lutonya, a floor supervisor, call Golden West and asked them to email a list of these repairs. They cashed my 60 dollar check. It's the least they could do, right?..Nothing. I called them to tell them this... and Valdivia (sp?), another supervisor, said, "Well, what do you want us to do?"

I tell them I want a trustworthy professional to come to my home in a timely manner and fix my pool heater. I tell them it shouldn't have taken a month to get a diagnosis. I tell them the tech they sent has consistently lied to me and I don't trust his work. I tell them if they want me to come up with 500 bucks out of pocket, I want an invoice of these repairs so that I can get a second opinion.

I've been hung up on, put on hold indefinitely. I've sent several emails... no response.

I feel so frustrated that they blatantly don't care about me. They care enough when they are selling you the policy... they care when they are cashing your checks... but after that, you are NOTHING to them. After reading all these complaints about them, I see what a HUGE mistake I've made in trusting them with my first home and my money.

Misty of Athens, TX July 2, 2009

In 2004 my condensor wasreplaced on the outside of the house for mt A/C, then in 2007 my inside unit was replaced as well. Since 2004, I have contacted AHS with more A/C problems,my unit runs 24/7 and my light bills are up to 500.00 in the summertime. This summer they finally send a reputable company out to address my rearly complaints of something is wrong with my unit! Cometo find out in 2004, they replaced my old unit with a 2.5 ton unit, my house is 1.636 sg. ft. and in 2007 my inside unit was replaced with a 3.5 ton.

So, to make a long story short, AHS will not correct this mistake that they authorized their contractors to make. So in short, they approved a 2.5 ton unit to run with a 3.5 ton unit and now they won't fix the problem. They also acknowledge that after running 24/7 it will burn up and they will not be liable for those repairs because of the mix-matched units that THEY authorized. I'm confused on how any of this is my fault?

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