Cinch Home Services

The recordings are pain in the butt. It's ridiculous because we don't get to talk to a person right away. And sometimes the prompts do not take us to what we need. I don't like that we have to go this step to this step to this step just to get to where we need to go. The phone should be more personal where we could get ahold of a person and not be bounced around to one person to another. I dread making the phone call to get the process going. It shouldn’t be that way. Sometimes the ball is dropped. And that has happened a few times. I have a number to a supervisor. So, I try to give it some time. Also, I've had a couple of times I’ve put a claim in and not heard from anybody. They never heard that there was a claim. I don't like to think that I have to have a turnaround of 24 hours, but I would wait and find out my claim was never written up. But it used to be worse than it is now. It has gotten better.

We had a company come out for a refrigerator two years ago. But the poor man couldn't even get on the floor. He's elderly to do the job. And he did the same thing with our washing machine. The man couldn't perform his job. You gotta be able to get down and do your job. I don't care how old you are. You could be 90. If you could perform your job, that's okay with me. It's about capability. That was the worst service we had. We just know not to go with them.

Usually, I'm satisfied when the job is finalized. After the garage was done, I got a substantial amount of money back from the initial. It was $1,000. I got back 800 for the service being done. So, I've been satisfied as far as replacement. One year, we had two refrigerators replaced within a couple of months apart. So, after two or three tries, and they would say, “Okay. We give up.” I like that. If the appliance couldn't be fixed, they would offer us to get another one. So, I've been, on the most part, happy with them. I referred them to a couple of people.

The guy said, "Oh, we can't turn on an air conditioner until it's been 72 degrees for longer than 10 days. So, I don't know why they sent me out here, but I can't do anything today." So, I asked him if he would reschedule when it's more than 72 degrees for 10 days, and he said he didn't know. Three weeks went by, nobody called me. So, I called the company and they said, "Our policy is that it has to be 72 degrees for 10 days." They were never gonna send somebody out again unless I called and I owe them another fee. So, I asked the woman, "Really? Is that a trick that you don't tell the person calling? 'It's not a good time for you to call, wait until it's 72 degrees,' that you actually send somebody out and then they don't do anything?" She insisted that that is how they do business.

So, I called Cinch. I just got the information that they took over. The woman said, "I will have somebody more local come out to you." She gave me a phone number. She told me to call them because I was a little annoyed about it. Then 15 minutes later, the guy from the company called me and told me that Cinch contacted him. He came out the next day, and he said it was a compressor issue. He put the part in. I asked him if I owed him the service charge and he said Cinch told him that they would give him the service charge just to come out and fix my unit, and he went home. So, Cinch really did a good thing. Then somebody from the other company called days later and apologized and said that they would send somebody else out. I said, "It's okay. Cinch already sent somebody else. There is no reason for you to come back." So, my experience with Cinch was a good one.

When I had to email Cinch for a claim one night and I paid them $115, I got a call from a serviceman the next morning. Then they were in the next day and fixed my dishwasher and they were gone. It was excellent service. But I had a claim where I had a total of three companies that came out and in my opinion, each of them were fly-by-nighters. But it was not Cinch's fault. I even wrote them an email and told them that they had to be very, very careful about who they sanction as a representative of their company because it gives the company a bad name.

I had a serviceman that Cinch sent out and he was a very nice guy. He said, "May I use your bathroom?" I said, "Well, of course, you can." So, he went to the bathroom and he stayed approximately one minute and 13 seconds and he came out and said, "Let me show you something. Come here for a minute." So, I went in and he cut the water on in the face bowl. He said, "See how much pressure you have. I tore this down and I cleaned it out and I put it back together and that's why your water pressure is up." The valve in the basement controls the water pressure. It was low. But when you flush the toilet, while the toilet is filling up, the water pressure at your face bowl is gonna be low. When the bowl fills up, your pressure's coming back up again. I didn't wanna argue with him, so I just let him go. But when I shared that with the vendor, they said, "He would not have done that."

The vendor that came out for my heat exchanger put in a piece of PVC and they stripped it where it wasn't put in correctly. It filled up and leaked all over my basement, my attic, and ruined the ceiling in my kitchen. That's been five years ago and I still have the piece here somewhere to remind me never to call this guy for anything.

I got a text saying my technician is coming back out to replace the control panel in the stovetop. It tells you who my technician is and that he is expected between 8:00 to 5:00. I got that yesterday. And this morning, I got an update saying, "He's five stops away. It'll be 1:27." So, Cinch is good about updates because he's expected to get there at 3:14. And he can't replace the parts. He has to get approval. He had the part for the dryer, and he was able to replace it. So, it's a one stop deal. The dishwasher was something stupid. The previous homeowner got a new garbage disposal and never took the plug out when he hooked up the dishwasher. So, the dishwasher would not drain. That was a simple fix. And the stovetop was also simple, but the tech had to get that part ordered because he doesn't carry those. Parts came in, and he's coming out today to install.

But when it came to going online to address my pool heater, Cinch didn't have a pool option. But that's one of the services they cover. So, when I called Cinch's 800 number, they tried to direct me to go online to address and file claims. Which is fine and dandy because online they have is it an appliance, a kitchen, a dishwasher, but they didn't have a category for pools. And the pool is one of the covered services. So, it complicated things.

I had to call, wait until I got ahold of somebody. Called about the pool heater, and they didn't have anybody in the area that could service it. So they said, "Go find your own, we'll reimburse you." I called one. They came out and looked at the pool heater last Friday. And they said, "Yup. It's not repairable 'cause it's a gas pool heater. The manifold and the gas tubes are rusted out. So we have to replace the system." They sent me the invoices saying the diagnostic thing, "Hey, yup." And they did that Monday.

Monday I called Cinch and asked what they needed me to do because I figured I had to get pre-approval before they would authorize replacing the $4,400 pool heater. They said, "Yup." So I emailed them Monday with the information. And I got an email yesterday saying they need additional time to look at my claim, and they would let me know if they need additional information. It's all good because it was through the service they use. It was quick and easy. But because now I've had to go out on my own to find this, that's where I have a concern about, "Are they going to fight me on having to replace this system?" But it's straightforward.

On the other hand, I was very satisfied with the work I had done for a garage door opener. I called a company out to look at it, because I didn't think it was a warranty issue. That company charged me $100 twice just to come out and look at it. First time, they didn't fix it. The next time they came out, they did whatever they did, then they wanted put a whole new thing, so I said, "Forget it." I called Cinch, then they came out and fixed it. They did a good job. The thing wasn't working and they said, "Couldn't repair it," so they replaced it. I was very happy with that one. However, I learned a lesson on this. I'll never call anybody other than Cinch, but they raised their deductible up to 150.

We're Realtors, and we use Cinch all the time. The disadvantage is on some things, people need something instantaneous. They gotta fix it now. They can't wait for a part. Right now, for example, I have an air conditioning unit that's at least 25 years old. It works fine, and I've had it checked every year, but that may not even be compatible with the new furnace we put in. If my furnace went out on January 1st, I can't wait for three weeks to get a new furnace. One issue we had was two months for a part to come in. We had another claim, for a microwave oven, and they couldn't get it fixed for four months. The home warranty company sent us a check for 350 and told us to get it fixed, because we could get another company here to fix it for 350.

I am generally satisfied with Cinch. The only complaint in selling them is some Realtors say things they should never say. They lead people to believe that, "Oh, if this breaks, you get a new one. If this goes out, you get a new one," and people's expectations are awfully high. That's not the way it works. People pay 150 bucks, the home warranty company sends someone out, and if they can fix it, they fix it.

My wife had almost insisted that everybody get a home warranty, but I don't do it, because if anything goes wrong with Cinch, they start blaming me. However, I tell people it's a good idea if they want to get it. If something major goes wrong with their house, they have a warranty. I would give Cinch good marks as any of the other companies. Also, I like the agent that's in charge of this area. She's cute, really helpful and does a nice job.

I told him I wasn't gonna pay him for work that wasn't done. But he became very aggressive and I was scared, so I gave him the money. Then, I called Cinch to make a complaint and never heard anything else from them. Also, I had a bigger problem as a result of them. They fixed some plumbing in my bathroom where they stopped the water from running but didn't tell me that I had a bigger problem until water was running outside of my house. I had to get another plumber to fix it.

Then, there was an issue with the main pipe from my washer. I told them what my problem was over the phone and that I'm really not trying to pay the $100 in advance if they can't fix it. The rep said she would send somebody out here but I would have to pay that deductible first to establish the claim. I paid it and the contractor came out but came to find out it wasn't covered. I threw away $100. I'm retired and I can’t be paying all that. But I'm still trying to give Cinch a chance.

I had a furnace issue and I called them. When I paid the $100 deductible with the $15, the tech came out and tinkered down there for 30 minutes. Then, he said it was an old furnace, which I had told them over the phone. He said that if he tried to turn it on, I might have an electrical problem in my fuse box. He told me to call him when I've had somebody come out and fix the fuse box. I called Cinch and they said it was gonna be another 100 to send somebody out to look at the fuse box. I told them to just forget it. I was not willing to pay them another $100 for something they’d say is not in my contract. I had another company come out and look at my fuse box and I waited on the first tech. I called him back about 20 times and when he didn't reply, I just bought a new furnace.

If you need a washer and your faucet, Cinch may be good about that but nothing bigger than that or appliances. If I find somebody else, I will transfer out because they don't do anything. It's too expensive for what I get and I'm very dissatisfied. I wouldn't recommend them to my enemy.

Cinch claims to have great Technicians they will send out but they are the worst in the state, and half the time they do not even speak English.

My first one was fine. It was my air conditioner. That was fixed right away within a week. That worked out good. But this washer is getting me frustrated. I told the rep, “For a drum and checking the prices, you could have bought me a new one.” The customer service is fine. Except for the one on my air who was awesome, it's the vendors Cinch uses. Cinch needs to stay on top of their vendors to make sure.

The second plumber said, what clogged the one drain was from when it backed up, it probably worked its way into the other pipe that caused the second clog. I had to call the plumber back out, because the second time they came out, the toilet wobbled. It didn't wobble before. But they ended up having to put a new bottom part of the drain pipe and put a new drain piece of drain pipe in to stop the toilet from wobbling, which was fine. They're coming back out Monday because the one drain line got a little seepage down the one drain pipe, which like I told him, "I'm not in super hurry, but when you get time, I need you out here," which they're coming out this coming Monday.