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.

Diane of Washington DC (06/09/08)
On Sunday, June 1, 2008 I filed a request for servicing with AHS for my central AC, as it was not cooling. I was given KC AC as the contractor. Eliot form KC came out on Tuesday, June 3 but did not bring equipment to test the system. Eliot returned with a companion to test the equipment on Thursday and advised me after the test that the system lines were out of freon and that the coil was leaking and had to be replaced. He advised it would be ordered the next day.

On Friday, I called AHS and KC AC. It has been 100 degrees for the last 4 days and I have not heard from AHS nor KC AC. It has been more than a week and AHS has made no follow-up calls to even when asked on Friday to speak to supervisor.

I have had to purchase 2 window air conditioners and 2 fans, I have lost three afternoons of work, and have had to send my dogs to my daughter's house as my house is 90 degrees during the day.

Kelli Wood of Snellville, GA June 8, 2008

Kelli of Snellville GA (06/08/08)
Our AC unit went out and we contacted AHS to request service. The tech came out the following Saturday, looked around and first said that the unit had been installed incorrectly. We bought the home less than 2 years ago. He also had a host of other items that he said were bad, thus AHS did not authorize it. We have a 3 month old baby and I called AHS to let them know my concerns.

My husband told them he believes the company is a hussle. He said anyone can come in and say things are wrong. Therefore, we are going to have to pay for the AC replacement. I think I am going to cancel this service.

Therefore, we do not have air at this time, and it is very hot here in Georgia. I guess we are going to have to find the to pay for the repair ourselves.

Donna of Victoria, TX June 5, 2008

Donna of Victoria TX (06/05/08)
Last Tuesday, May 27, I placed a service request for my AC. The vendor came the following day, Wednesday, and diagnosed the problem. The compressor is out, therefore I have no AC. Thursday,5/29, he contacted AHS. The parts were supposed to be in Victoria Tuesday June 3. Since I am a severe asthmatic with a histamine allergy and on medications, I cannot tolerate heat. I explained, to numerous people, that this repair was a medical necessity. I also volunteered to fax doctor reports as proof.

Additionally I stated I was willing to pay the difference between AHS firms buying power? and mine. I volunteered to give FedEx account numbers to expedite freight. Pay overtime if needed All to no avail. I told the AHS supervisor late yesterday afternoon (Wed 6/04) in addition to an email I sent - that if I had not heard from someone about this by noon today CST I was contacting corporate. I did. AHS is owned by Service Master. CEO is Pat Spainhour. I make promises, not empty threats.

Being without AC in Victoria, Texas with heat indices near or exceeding 100 for over a week is absurd to say the least. Two neighbors both realtors, one being the one that recommended AHS are both aware of this situation. At this time neither myself, nor anyone else I know can in good-faith recommend AHS. That is sad, because since 2002 when I first bought my policy I have educated numerous folks AHS and the benefits it provides. No more.

Feeling poorly. Using breathing equipment daily.

Chad Matthews of Pleasant Grove, AL June 4, 2008

Chad of Pleasant Grove, AL (06/04/08)
Our Air condition went out Tuesday night so we contacted our home warranty company. We are told by the AC repair person that it will be Friday before they can find time to come out to our house. Well I tell the guy that I will contact our home warranty company and inform them that this is not acceptable since I have 2 kids and it's 95 - 96 degrees outside and with the humidity it's hovering around 102 degrees in the house. So, we call and are told that this company is the ONLY one that can be sent to our house. This is because the repair company is meeting the expectations of the home warranty company. 

I start thinking about it a figure out that if the guy comes on Friday between 3 - 5pm if he needs a part and doesn't have it on his truck he is going to say 'Guess it will be Monday folks'. Or I bet if we pay him the overtime he will magically find the part that night nad return the next morning Saturday and fix it for the over time fee. So my wife contacts the home warranty fools and tells them this and they repeat that it's not life threating and that we are out of luck.

I know for a fact we have about 60 AC repair companies in the Birmingham area and for these fools to tell me that this one company is the only one that can do the work is an insult to me and my family.

Al Harper of Marietta, GA June 4, 2008

Al of Marietta GA (06/04/08)
I signed up with American Home Shield (herein also referred to as AHS) on 08/09/07 and my first payment was charged to my credit card on 08/15/07 as agreed, and every month thereafter on time every time, without fail. On the evening of 04/09/08 our water heater began to leak from the top of the tank. By the morning of 04/10/08 it began also leaking from the bottom. This of course meant that we had to turn off all hot water to our home.

I contacted AHS on 04/10/08 at 11:08AM and they assigned a vendor (ARS Rescue Rooter) and I was contacted by ARS Rescue Rooter within an hour and told they would have a technician come out between 1:00PM and 6:00PM the same day. The technician arrived at 2:15PM and I took him to our crawlspace to surmise the problem. Before even making it to the water heater he shook his head and blurted out code violations (apparently the ARS Rescue Rooter illicit M.O.). To my surprise because I had just purchased the home 2 years prior and we had the crawlspace area thoroughly inspected. He made a call to AHS for approval and I waited to hear about coverage information.

I was contacted by AHS within about 30 minutes, approximately 2:55PM. The AHS Rep. told me that they would cover the water heater because the problem was due to normal wear but he said that he was informed by the vendor that there were code issues in relation to the water heater that would cost an additional 900.00 out of pocket. I spoke with the technician and he stated that he could not perform ANY work without doing ALL the work due to County laws and ARS Rescue Rooter policy. I then asked the technician to provide me with a written copy of the estimate, to my shock he refused and stormed off (right across our new sod, as a mention to his mindset in regard to respect for clientele).

In truth there were no code violations as confirmed by an authentic professional and an inspector. The ONLY additional work possibly considered necessary, not under warranty by AHS, was the compression tank and that is only required if we upgrade the tank we currently had, not simply replace with a comparable item. By the way, the expansion tank is a 20.00 item retail if we had of requested a new one to be installed, and at no time did we request to have ARS to remove our old unit.

I contacted AHS to inform them of the misconduct, attempted extortion and exploitation of a client in a vulnerable situation. I was informed by AHS that I could opt for the Cash Out Option but I would have to wait. To add insult to injury AHS finally offered me a Cash Out offer of 165.00 to cover the cost of the water heater and the labor to repair it. I have since verified with the County and a legitimate plumber that the alleged code violation pointed out by the technician were in fact erroneous and I have had to have the problem repaired on my own at a total cost of 379.44 just for the water heater with labor, and this was at a substantially discounted price from a well known service provider. The lack of cooperation in resolving our issue from AHS is in direct violation of our agreement, resulting in our home having no hot water for four days.

Bottom line, I have been in no way compensated for the four days we were forced to live with cold water only in our home due directly to negligence on the part of American Home Shield. Had I realized that we would be unable to count on American Home Shield I would have had a new water heater installed the same day as the problem occurred. I know several honest plumbing contractors due to my daily field activities. After I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau AHS did send another check for an additional 150.00.

To sum up, service was never provided nor was adequate compensation; which is in direction violation of our agreement. This act by AHS and failure to react responsibly when required nullifies any and all agreements that may have been in effect prior to the morning of 04/10/08 leaving a full amount still due of 312.00.

Valerie Lopez of Austin, TX June 4, 2008

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