American Home Shield

I've had three claims at about three months and every time, I say thank God we have the American Home Shield. We had Sears which had became extremely horrible. Compared to Sears, I am extremely pleased with American Home Shield. We had a claim for the washer and it took under two weeks to get the replacement in. The workers were very professional. They were here under 25 minutes to remove the old washer and install the new one. That was a good experience. When the refrigerator upstairs stopped getting cold, the repairman had to make two visits. The first time he came, he was under 25 minutes. He had to order a part and came back within a two-week time period. It took him, again, under 25 minutes.

For each one of the repair people who came, they were very professional with their masks. I've never had to ask one of them to put on their mask. They didn't take it off. It wasn't under their nose or on their chin. It was covering their nose and their mouth area the whole time they were here. It was raining that day when the first repairman came and he put on the foot covers along with his mask at the door.

If it wasn't for the lady on the commercial riding down the street talking about her AC gone, I don't think we would have gotten American Home Shield. We were shopping and her commercials kept standing out in my mind. The advertisement to get them was good and the service has been great except for the the 800 number call in. It is impossible to get in with the call in. They're not picking up at all and that's terrible because some people, especially elders, don't necessarily know how to use the website. But during the pandemic, I do understand. I'm not mad about it.

We’ve had a lot of other experiences with AHS and some were big jobs. We had a claim for the dishwasher and the microwave, which were both replaced and we also had faucets in our bathroom done. Before this guy for the garbage disposal, there was no Covid so they didn't have to wear a mask. So, it was easy to interact with them. But they were very nice and professional. It was a terrific experience with AHS. I live in a high-rise and I always tell people that they should give them a call. They'll replace the appliance if they can't fix it. I always market them to other people and whether or not they listen to me is another story.

My washer is 10 years old, but it was brand-new when we bought it. The repair guy cared about the temperature in the world right now. He had his mask. He came in. He did the job. He called me when he was finished, or when he had to leave, and then tell me that they would call and tell me they’d come back. He told me this was gonna happen, and then he did it. He didn’t stop until he was finished. He also told me when he had to do something different and then, he followed up. Whatever thing broke on my washer, he didn't have the part when he got here, but he looked to see what it was, found out what it was, then he went and got it.

When he couldn't take off something, he called somebody and they came to help him. When they got the part back, he came and put it on then, something else got loose. He had to order a new part then he came back here. One thing I like about this company more than any other company that American Home Shield has ever sent to me is that I didn't have to call them and say, “When are you coming back?” The guy said, “Oh, yeah, I'll be back. I'm just gonna order a part, and then we'll call and make an appointment.” and then, that company just called me. It wasn't like I was worried. Also, continuity of care is important in anything you do and that guy was the same one who came out every time. There was never a different person.

Meanwhile, I fell and broke my hip and had to have surgery. I was in the hospitals and rehab. It was during the time it was beginning to get a little warm which I didn't notice I was not getting a lot of air in some of the bedrooms. I was busy tending to myself and doing physical therapy and the heat was something that wasn't on my mind. Finally, June or July, I noticed that there really was no air coming out of some of these four bedrooms, two baths, and my dining room. The vents were open but there was no air coming out of it. So, I contacted the warranty company. After many, many tries of two-hour waiting, I gave up for a while. But I pursued it and they sent someone out in August. I called them to tell them what the problem was. They said they'd have the company who put the furnace in January go and take a look at it. So, they did.

They came and said the vents in these areas that I had get no air. They're broken or they're crushed because they're old and not have the metal ducting rather than the flexible kind. They also said they took pictures and they were gonna send it to the warranty company. Home Shield wrote back and said it's not a covered item because of misused treatment or abuse. Who's gonna get under there to abuse it? Certainly not us. I called them and said how could it be abuse or misuse of these ducts. They said, "It's not a covered item but you have an option for a second opinion." That was when Delta T came out. The guy was very good. He did not have to go under the house. He just stuck himself halfway down. He took pictures, came up and told me I have crushed ducts.

Apparently, there's not too much room between the floor and the ducts for people to get under there to do their repairs that they had to do. He said the only way they could get across to these areas was go over these ducts . You could see where the ducts were all indented or crushed where they climbed over them. He said he'd send all the information back to the warranty company and they did. Again, they said it was not a covered item 'cause it was abused and misused. I've spoken most recently to two different people. Because one person said, "No, you don't wanna talk to just a supervisor. You need to go to escalation to a higher level," I said, "Okay. Refer me to them."

In this letter that I got a denial, it was a different number so, I called that number. This is where I spoke to the first person, Drew, and he was from the Philippines. I said I wanted speak to someone higher. He said, "We do the escalation. We do the in-depth review. We're the ones that handle this." I told him the situation. I said it was not my fault. Someone that came to repair whatever it is under the house broke something. Why should I be responsible for this? He said he was gonna talk to the three vendors and would call me back the next day. I waited two days later but he never called.

I called that same number again and spoke to someone else. Her name was Josephine and I told her the situation. She said, "Let me talk to someone else that's higher than me." She went and talked to them and came back. She said I needed to talk to someone and gave me the team that deals with the contractors. She also said they would review the telephone call that this other person made and she would get back to me. This was on a Friday. She said, "I'll be gone on the weekend, but I will call you Monday." I have not gotten a callback at all. I never spoke to someone above that, like the contractor relation who were supposed to do all this investigation. I got a letter again a week or so ago saying it's not a covered item. But I'm still waiting to hear what these people supposedly were to have done to have checked upon to see what in fact actually happened.

I don't get a reply where they say they're gonna call me back. They don't call me back. I have to talk to someone else and give them all the whole story again. I don't know if they actually did talk to the contractors. I don't think it's up to me to talk to the contractors. At the very beginning, I did call the vendor after they told me that it was crushed and broken and he said, "We didn't go anywhere in those other areas. We just did the boot work." I don't know who did it and I doubt I'm gonna be able to find out who did it.

We've been in this house for three years and I've had to call American Home Shield several times. They've always come through. They've sent me the vendors and I've gotten the work done. They also replaced the refrigerator that came with the house. It was a Viking Refrigerator. They sent out several repairmen to see what could be done. They needed to order parts but parts were not available anymore. So, I had to talk to someone else, not just a regular representative but someone else who was apparently higher up. I told them they couldn't repair it and I wanted a new refrigerator. They didn't replace it with a Viking 'cause they're too expensive but they replaced it with a French door Sears brand. So, I was satisfied with that. But it took me a little while to do it. They replaced my furnace too 'cause that was covered.

Everything has worked fine, except for this time. This time, I'm not getting called back. They keep telling me it's mistreatment and misuse and abuse. If it was something that was up above the house or outside, I can understand how somebody could come and kick something and break it. But when it's underneath the house, the only people who get under the house are the repair people.

It's also hard to get through to them. I was up one morning at 3:00. I couldn't sleep and thought of calling them. It was an hour and a half wait. If you call in late afternoon, late evening or early evening or Sunday, they don't give you the option to say, "If you want, we can call you back when someone gets free." They do that sometimes. That happens during the day. Sometimes I've had that come in but other times I haven't. At night, it didn't.

One night, I called them and it was close to 5:00 my time. It was an hour and 40-minute wait. I cooked dinner while I was on hold. I cleaned the kitchen up. Finally, a recording came on and said they were disconnecting me 'cause they had been talking to other customers. That was after an hour and 40 minutes. I called two hours later, and it was an hour and a half but I held on. Finally, someone did pick up. The representatives that I've always spoken to have always been very helpful. They're nice. They always say, "Have a nice day and thank you for calling." But the wait time is a horrendous thing. It's too long.

Then we ended up having to have him over a total of three times for the master shower because it continuously kept leaking. When he came the first time, he changed what he called the cartridge which is the assembly that goes inside the handle and it kept on leaking. It's that type of handle that it's only one and you move it on either side for hot or cold water. He disassembled it and said he may have put it backwards. It still kept leaking. We had him come out the third time. He said sometimes they get faulty ones and to let him change it out. If it wasn't that, we had an even bigger problem. I was hoping this was gonna be it. He said that if changing it out didn't solve it, then we probably were dealing with the situation of calcification that had already ruined it on the inside which would not be insured by American Home Shield. But the second one did the trick so there is no more problem. But because of COVID, it took a while for him to finish.

I've had American Home Shield since 2008 in previous houses. The amount of surveys that they are sending is new for me and I love that. I also love that they are getting feedback. What I'd like is for them to vet the vendors out a little more - maybe look up the reviews before they choose them. In one month, I had three items go back and it was pricey because it's 75 a pop. My garage door, my AC and the plumbing throughout the house went out. Two out of the three were awful experiences. I speak so highly of the plumber because he kinda restored my faith.

The garage door did that thing where something snapped and the whole door came down. It was super scary because if somebody had been there, they would have died. From the get go, the claim went bad. The contractor called me up and started almost shaming me that he couldn't find the house because the numbers to the house were not on the curb which he was correct about and the one that's on the house itself was being slightly covered by the eaves. But I didn't construct the house. I have no control over that. We hadn't even met each other face to face yet and he was already shaming me on the phone so I didn't appreciate that.

He told me it was my coils and it's not covered by American Home Shield. I thought that was odd. How did he know what I have? I could have had the Basic Plan, the Premier Plan, or the Plus Plan. He said for him to go forward, I needed to pay him $293. I went to my computer real quick, looked up the contract (which by the way American Home Shield makes it so easy to do) and there it was black and white. I was covered for everything. I printed it and brought it over to him. He acted as though he was really researching it and reading it carefully.

Then he said I was covered for one coil but I needed to pay him $75 for the second coil. I said, "Why would I do that?" He said, "Because it's going to snap sooner or later." I asked him, "What you're trying to tell me is in the future, that thing's gonna go?" He said, "Yes. So you can either pay me the $75 now, or you can pay me later when it snaps." I thought I won't pay him ever because it won't be him. I'd prefer to pay American Home Shield another $75 and have whoever comes out that's deserving that $75, not him. I said, "Nope. I can't predict the future. Just please change the one only." He did it in a huff and left.

Since then, just like he said, the second one is squeaking. But I don't care. If and when that happens, I'll call and get the second one replaced but the money won't go to him. I was going to give that company a very bad review and call this person's manager and let them know what kind of customer service he gives and how he speaks to people. If that's the way he speaks to people in general, or is it just females, I'm not sure. I called and he's the flippin owner. I did tell American Home Shield how bad that was but I didn't hear anything from them as though it felt like they swept it under the rug.

The second experience was probably worse than the first one. I have a daughter who has breathing issues through the roof so the last thing she needs is to struggle with getting air or hot air. It was very important for me to get somebody out quickly. It was during one of our heat waves that we were having and the AC was doing that little thing where it would work for two hours then it would turn off, it would work, and it would turn off. I have a good friend who fixes ACs, but he doesn't work for American Home Shield any longer. I told him over the phone what it was doing and what it sounded like. He said to have them check the capacitor. The man came over. I said, "My understanding is that it can be the capacitor." He rolls his eyes at me. I don't know, but it meant like, "Oh, man. Now she's either a, telling me what to do or b already knows, or it's not going to work like I'm planning to do here."

He changed the capacitor. Then, he went to turn it back on and said I'd need to give him $623. I asked why and he said I was completely out of freon that's why it was not cooling down and if I kept using it like that, I'm gonna burn the motor then my insurance won't cover me at all. I thought that was odd. He was only here like 10 minutes. How could he know all of this in 10 minutes? I didn't even see him check the machine. I was texting my friend and he said to ask the contractor to give me the pressure reading. I asked him and he said he couldn't do that anymore. He already took the apparatus off. I said, "If I decide that I'm gonna need freon and I ask you guys to come back, how long do I have?" He said, "You have 30 days. But meanwhile, don't use your machine at all because you'll burn it."

He started to leave and I said, "Wait, wait, wait. Wait a minute. Aren't you gonna give me a receipt?" He gave me this look like I had just insulted his mother. He said, "You want a receipt? I have to give you receipt?" I said, "Yes, of course you do. How will I know? How will I have proof of what you did here today?" He practically threw the old piece that he replaced. He said, "Here. Here's your old one." He got really huffy with me. He went to his truck, wrote out this receipt and gave it to me.

I had my friend come over and he checked it. He said there was nothing wrong with my freon. It was my blower motor. He told me to call American Home Shield back, tell them that I want somebody else, explain to them that I had a medical emergency and that I already know what I need. I called American Home Shield, explained what happened with the first guy and asked them not to send me that guy. They gave me an emergency company that came out. They called me at least the very next day and I explained. The lady said, "We're two weeks out because of the heatwave that we're having and because of COVID. You'll need to pay $50 as an emergency fee." I went and did it. It's better than to go to the emergency room with my daughter.

The second guy was so awesome. He made sure that he had the part on his truck before he came out. The guy not only fixed it but he completely made sure that everything was running smooth. I explained my medical need so he double-checked everything. He made it run. He stayed there for like 15 minutes to make sure nothing was going to turn off. It was great experience. I'm an example of a really good experience and two very bad ones and American Home Shield made right on the bad experiences.

When he went to pop the crisper back in, he was moving it around and trying to get it to get into the slider, and he was very nasty about it. I told him that he had to be a little careful because he would break the sides. I told him to let me put it in and so, I did. But he was not happy about things. He told me to let him decide what was wrong with the refrigerator. The guy was back there and he was taking the back off the bottom of the fridge and I asked about the water down there on the bottom. There was something in there that’s gotta be leaking. He said to let him decide. It was not a problem but he was getting nasty with me.

A refrigerator has a plastic tubing that gets attached with a nut and then, it's the copper tubing that goes to the sink. All of a sudden, he asked us to turn the water on. As he was holding the tube, he said it was leaking. My husband checked that last night because that was one of the first things that we checked and it was not leaking. He said, “Well, it's leaking now.” I said that it wasn’t leaking last night and that there’s got to be something else that’s got to be doing this. I told him that where it was leaking was right at the lug nut. The plastic had a cut in it and it looked like a clean slice. I told him that it was not a problem to fix it then. He said that he couldn’t do it. It was a plumber’s job and that it was not part of the refrigerator. I said that when you buy the refrigerator, that plastic tubing is attached to the refrigerator. The plumber’s job is to attach the copper tubing with a little nut to attach it to this plastic piece.

He still said it was a plumber’s job and I asked him if he was not going to fix it. He said it was not his job. I asked him if he had parts to do it. He told me not to tell him how to do his job. I was just asking him if he didn’t have parts for simple fixes like that. If my husband saw that this was broken and if that was what was leaking, my husband could have fixed that himself. But it wasn't that and something else was leaking somewhere.

We didn't see what he was doing back there. Firstly, my husband didn’t see him slice it because he didn't know what to do with how to find the other thing that was leaking. The tech got argumentative with me. My husband came out from where he was and he said that he would appreciate if he didn't talk to me like that. The tech said that we were trying to just get this resolved and that thing needed a plumber to work on it. My husband said that when we got that refrigerator, that tubing was already attached and he replied that all we got to do was cut it and then put it on the lug nut there. I asked him if he couldn’t do that. I paid American Home Shield a hundred bucks to do this. He said it wasn’t his job and he got argumentative with my husband.

Meanwhile, I was waiting for American Home Shield to come on the phone. I was on the phone with Sears because I didn't like his attitude, the way he was talking to me, and all of a sudden now he’s trying to say it's not his job. I said that I was gonna get Sears on the phone right now and he said he didn’t care who I call. I could call whoever I want. It was starting to get to the point where my husband was saying that it would be best for him to get out of our house and he told me to call the police. This guy was getting to my husband’s face and I thought there was gonna be a physical altercation in my kitchen. The guy grabbed the stuff very nastily. I asked him his name and said Mr. Band Aid. I told him that I didn’t think that was his name and that he didn’t have to have an attitude like that.

Sears came back on the phone with me and I told them what was going on. They apologized and said that they would send another person. I told them that the guy said it was not his job and it was up to a plumber to do the job. They said no and the technician said there was no reason why. I said that I've got American Home Shield on the phone and that if this was an issue last night, I would have had it resolved last night. I didn't need to have a plumber to do this. This guy should do it. We paid them $100. I was on the phone with all afternoon between Sears and American Home Shield. Sears told me that he filled out the paperwork and said there was not a charge. That was because he knew what he did was unprofessional.

Within half an hour, I get an email with the invoice that says there was a charge of 129 but then underneath it, it said there was no fee. I didn't know what that meant because it said “Money Due by the person.” It said 0, because it showed, “Labor 129” but I've already paid $100 to American Home Shield. They paid them where the guy told me that there was no fee and they were not charging me. I've been going back and forth and I’ve called American Home Shield five times now. Every time I call them on the phone, they said that they were gonna get Sears on the phone because the technician never called them to give them any paperwork.

I asked why they still paid Sears if the technician didn’t give them paperwork. They told me that I should probably get the $100 back from Sears. I asked why I should get the $100 back from them. I didn't pay them. I paid American Home Shield and they owe me the $100 as far as I’m concerned. They paid Sears when they shouldn't have especially before the job was even considered complete. They said it was completed and I said it never was. He didn't do anything and there was still a holdup. I ended up getting someone else to fix that.

Every time I'm on the phone, AHS was on the phone with Sears. I'm on hold, waiting for them to come back. And after a good 20 minutes, maybe longer, the phone gets disconnected. They're supposedly talking to Sears. The last person I spoke to last week said that he was still on the phone with Sears. I told him to put me back on hold. After coming back twice, I was still on hold. The rep was trying to talk to Sears and I said that the other person was supposed to do that three weeks ago. The other person before that was supposed to do that weeks ago but I never got a call back from American Home Shield to say that there’s a resolution now.

I was told in the beginning that if the guy doesn't turn in his paperwork, there's a problem there. I have not gotten back my $100 and I disputed on my credit card. I'll let my credit card companies deal with it and dispute it with American Home Shield to get me back my $100 because the service was not done. Sears said they will send someone else out but no. Sears is not walking in my door after that. That guy was very rude and unprofessional. AHS asked if we had someone else do it. I said my husband ended up fixing it. We had to pay money to fix it.

A month and a half ago, I recommended AHS to my sister- in-law who opened up an application with them. But I would not recommend them now. I'm just very disappointed. At this point, AHS needs to call me. When the call gets disconnected when I'm on hold, they do not call back. They have my phone number. I work in Customer Service and whenever a call gets disconnected, we call them back because we have their number.

I’m still waiting for a response as to what's going on with the service that happened in July. They were at my house July 17th and still no resolution, which is downright wrong. They’ve got phone calls and records of me calling them. American Home Shield kept telling me that they would call me and get some information from me. They're not calling. They are calling for something totally different.

The next morning, I got a call from the same girl who called me the last time. She left a message and I called back. She told me that a tech would get back with me by Saturday and that she was gonna set the appointment for Sunday. She recommended that I actually cut the AC off. But it was extremely hot and it was kinda difficult to keep my air off the entire day. We were able to do it off and on as much as I could because I have a child at home. On Friday, I called American Home Shield because I wanted to let them know that I placed an order online. Normally, I call in and do it. When I called, the guy that I talked to said that he was going to do something to where I wouldn't have to pay the service fee again since it would be notated as a recall and not something new because a contractor came out before.

When he did that, I got a phone call on Saturday from another guy at the AC company. He called me and said he had an appointment for me. He said he had two work orders. I explained to him that the guy had said that he was trying to notate my account to where I wouldn't have to pay the extra fee. He told me that it would come up like that so I told him that it should only be one work order. The guy told me that he would still keep me down for Sunday and that somebody would contact me later on Saturday. Cool, everything was okay. But I never heard back from anybody. Sunday comes around and this the spot with the water had grown tremendously big in my home. I had to take the vent off and stick a bowl because I didn't know what to do.

When I called Sunday, the contractor was closed so I called American Home Shield and informed them of what was going on. The person that I talked to said they were gonna do the emergency line. She was able to call the contractor and get through. The guy said that a tech would be calling me 30 minutes before they arrived. I told the lady, the servicing went the same way it went last time. When they told me a tech was gonna call me, a tech didn't. I told her nobody was gonna call me today because they didn't call me Saturday to confirm a time that they would be at my home on Sunday. But this water was like everywhere so I was just trying to figure out what to do.

The lady gave me a number to call. I called and this time, I got a name. The guy that I spoke to was Angel. In the very beginning, Angel was okay with his tone and everything was professional. I expressed my frustration to him then he came out and told me that all he is is just an emergency call person and that he doesn't have the system in front of him. But he was going to reach out to speak to a supervisor. He would call me back within 10 to 15 minutes. This was a little bit before 2 o'clock. 3 o'clock came and I still haven't heard from him so I called back. I expressed to him who I was and my frustration. He was like, "Well, a tech did come out to your home."

First, he stated that he couldn't get into the system and couldn't see anything then he stated that he was reading a tech note. He said, "You're in Forney, right?" to which I replied, "No, I'm going to Dallas." He said the guy notated in his system that he came to my home, he put Freon in my air conditioner, and he charged me $144 to do it. At this time, my frustration was out of control and this guy was frustrated too. Both of us were very unprofessional. I told Angel that if he could see what the guy put in there, then he should be able to see that when JT came to my home, I didn't pay him anything. Why then would I give the other guy something?

I added, "Then you tell me he put Freon in my air as if it's not cooling. Why would he put a liquid when my air conditioner is already leaking liquid? That would make no sense." I said the guy was lying and that he didn't come to my house. Angel went back and forth with me and insisted that the guy said he came to my house. I told Angel that I would not pay the guy any money when American Home Shield takes money from me on a monthly basis for service. This was not making any sense to me. Angel finally said that when the guy calls him back, then that was when he would let me know. That was how bad it got.

I called American Home Shield. I even tried to go online to set up a new appointment. I was willing to pay the $75 fee because I stressed to them that I didn't want those people out in my home. I was so frustrated I couldn't get any phone call on Saturday and I was still thinking somebody was gonna come to my home on Sunday. I asked Angel who the tech that said they came out and he said it was Thomas. When I called American Home Shield, it was a complaint because I told them, "I want you to give me somebody new to go through because this guy's lying, saying he was at my house and he wasn't." The guy ended up texting me while I was on the phone with American Home Shield. He said that he could come to my house in the morning between 8 o'clock and 10 o'clock.

I texted him back and I said that was fine and that I would be at home. I told him this was really irritating me. I said, "The guy, Angel, told me that you said that you came to my house, put Freon in there and charge me $144, which you and I both know that's not true. If you're coming to my home tomorrow, I need you to uphold your end of the bargain." He never responded.

He texted me that morning and said that he would be within my house within 30 minutes. I was getting up and he turned around and he texted back, "If you don't respond, then you're gonna have to call them." I responded and told him that I was at home. He actually showed up at my house a little bit after 7:00. It wasn't between the 8:00 and 10:00 window. He fixed the unit. Because I was so frustrated, I didn't take my anger out on him. But it was the same guy, Thomas. I was really tempted to ask him why he made that comment in my file and lie about it when he didn't come to my house but I let it go.

I had to pay to get a carpet cleaning company to come out to suck up all the water that was in there. I had to go back in and suck the water that was up at my house up in the vent. It was just hectic. After all of that weekend stuff, I was okay come Monday. But it was just so unprofessional to me and I even went back as Angel was asking me who I talked to. That was another thing. Even on the messages that they left, they never left the name. It was like, "This is American Home Shield, give me a call..." It wasn't like, "This is Madilyn, calling with American Home Shield." I couldn't get anybody's name. Even when I talked to the people, all I could remember were their voices. When Angel asked me who I spoke to, I told him it was the same girl I spoke with last time.

I just really couldn't remember her name because I didn't even ask. She was talking so quickly when she answered when I first had my service with them. That was what I was explaining to American Home Shield. The procedures that they went through the first time was not the same. The first time when JT came out, I got a phone call the next day like the rep said. He scheduled a time and he texted me the time. I didn't have any issues. But this time around, it was so frustrating. I don't know if American Home Shield records their phone calls, but I told the last lady I spoke with, "I didn't wanna take my frustration out on you because it's not for you. It's for them because they are the ones lying, saying that they came to my house." I then started receiving all of these text messages from American Home Shield that my stuff was completed.

But it wasn't American Home Shield's fault. It was really the contractor's fault. I don't know what American Home Shield was able to see like if they were able to see that the contractor was coming. I called three times and I held so long. One of the ladies that I talked to was telling me that they had one in there and cancelled the order. She didn't know where that was coming from. She said it wasn't American Home Shield cancelling it. It was the contractor. I was going back and forth with the lady and it was irritating.

I've already fixed the ceiling twice and every time we call, we have an air condition man come out, which was never L & W (the company that installed the air condition to begin with). Whenever they would come out, they'd mess with the PVC pipes. The last person that had been here was a very nice man from Lanier Air Condition and Heating. He said he didn't how they had the drain line hooked up there and that something was not right with it. He adjusted it and blew it out to make sure that it was clear. The Thursday before Memorial Day weekend, my air conditioner started leaking into my kitchen again. To me, it seemed that the plumbing must've been backed up but what was happening was that the device that was supposed to automatically shut off our air condition didn't stop it.

I went to the cleanout that's closest to my house, and when I opened that up, I saw that the water was clogged up all the way to the top. It wasn't draining, so we turned off the air condition manually and then I put in a call to American Home Shield saying that I had a stoppage. Strong River came out really quickly on Friday and the man that came, Mr. **, told me that he didn't know why my air condition was leaking. It was supposed to be Strong River Air Condition, AC and Heating, so I was under the impression that they were not only plumbers but they were AC people also. To me, it wasn't like my air condition was malfunctioning. I was thinking it was all part of this blocked sewer line.

When they started checking things out, they realized that the second cleanout was clogged up. It's near my property line that hooks the sewer line into the city sewage. We needed to get the city to come and use their Roto-Rooter thing or whatever they've got on a big truck to clean out the line that enters my sewer line into the city sewer line. With the pandemic and everything, the city was already closed. It was after 12 o'clock and nobody was going to be there on the weekend or on Monday. On Tuesday morning, after I had left several messages, I just went to our city hall and told them I was having this issue. They said that the machine that they use to clean that out was broken and they didn't know when the part was coming in to fix it.

There wasn't anything Strong River could do to help me until the city sewer line was unclogged. The city did come out though and just used what they call a rod. It wasn't going to cure the problem, but it was going to help alleviate some of the water in the sewer line. Finally, a week or so later, the city got the machine fixed, and they came out and cleared the line. Everything was cleared, but then the air condition kept leaking. The water was leaking down the wall and we had to put a bucket in the return air and keep throwing the water out to be able to use the unit upstairs because that's where all our bedrooms are. It was a frustrating thing.

Mr. ** told me to call him once the city had unclogged the line, so he could come and recheck the plumbing to make sure I didn't have any other stoppages and that granted all my toilets were flushing okay and the tubs were draining all right. I wasn't having any problems with that. It was just the air condition kept leaking. I called him on that Monday after the city had gotten the line free and he said he was going out of town the following day. He could be here on Wednesday instead. I said that it would be fine and that since we've been dealing with it all this time, we would just keep the bucket.

On Tuesday however, I decided to call American Home Shield and open up a ticket on the air condition. Because if this doesn't have anything to do with the stopped up plumbing issue, there has to be something wrong with the air condition. When I told American Home Shield about the situation I was in, the person who was taking my service call over the phone was very nice. He understood what I was telling him and got everything going. I told him that I wanted Strong River to be the service people to come back out on the air condition since they've been here, and they knew what was going on with my problem. The next thing I knew was I was getting a call from Chuck with the Lanier Air Condition place.

He told me he has been to my house before and he knew what I was talking about with the air condition line, so I said maybe AHS just decided to send him instead because he has been here the last time. To make a long story short, Strong River never came back because the plumbing was clear. The guy from Lanier came and he started checking everything out. As he looked further into what was going on with the air condition, he realized that the air condition and furnace had never been installed properly on the platform. It was leaning towards the right rear and the water was then running to that side of the pan and it was leaking down the wall, in the inside of the return air.

That was why it wasn't even getting water into the drain line, so I could shut the air condition down if it started leaking. It was ridiculous. This has been going on now since they put in the new air condition in 2018 and we kept blaming it on the plumbing. He told me he could fix it for me, but he had to call it in to American Home Shield and let them know what was going on. When he called them in, they said that this was not on under any kind of guarantee because this air condition was installed two years ago. The installation problem is not American Home Shield's fault or under their guarantee.

It was so unfair. How was a layperson supposed to know that their air condition unit wasn't installed properly by the company that got sent out by American Home Shield? They have also never been the company that was called back here whenever I complained that the air condition was dripping into my kitchen. After I got a phone call from somebody from American Home Shield, I explained this whole story to that person. She said she would see what she could do and she'll get back with me. I think she was trying to get in touch with the people that installed the new air condition unit, but nobody ever called me back.

I gave them four days to get back with me and when I didn't hear from anybody, over a weekend again, I asked Chuck how much he was going to charge to fix this thing. He told me he was only charging $162 and he said he had to get it lifted up and fix the platform level. I've paid $100 every time an air condition man has come out here only to not ever fix what was really wrong with it, so I told him we would just pay for it. I wrote Chuck a check which was 173.34 and he fixed the platform, plus a big gap on the right hand side next to the wall where the platform wasn't closed up all the way. All this time, for the last two years, it has been sucking air from our attic, which causes more condensation when it's really hot, so we kept getting this leaking coming down our ceiling in the kitchen.

When Chuck was leaving, he said American Home Shield was not letting him complete the job. I said, maybe they still got the ticket open because they're trying to get L & W to pay for it. The guy that comes isn't always the person or the subcompany that's going clear the problem. Strong River had a separate plumber that was going to come here and do the plumbing. Lanier Heat and Air Condition does what they say they do and Chuck comes out and works on air conditioners. Now, L & W was another one of those things. The man that owns it had a cousin or a nephew who came to install the air condition. That guy never came and looked to see if everything was okay.

The sad part about it was when the air condition was installed, we also paid $1,000 to put a new furnace at the same time. The air condition was going out and the furnace was just as old and we figured to just pay that ourselves. When they were finished installing it, they turned it on and had it running. It was noisy, but everything seemed to be fine. However, the guy wasn't out here 20 minutes when it started leaking into our kitchen. I had his cell phone number, so I hurried up and called him back. He turned around, came back, messed with the drain line and put the safety thing back on it. We figured it was fixed, so every other time that the air conditioner leaked down into the kitchen, we've always blamed it on the plumbing.

We never thought the air condition was not installed properly, but that was evidently the problem. It has been a little nightmare, but I'm happy that they found what the right problem has been all along. This was after three different air condition companies have been here and never figuring out the problem until this last time, when Chuck looked at it again. I can't blame him for coming this time and finally realizing what was wrong, but the claim was all the way back for two years ago and money has just been flying out the window. I've paid the $100 service charge for the plumbing being backed up when it wasn't even my fault as well. It was the city's fault with their cleanout.

Also, I kept thinking that the safety feature device that was supposed to turn my air condition off if my plumbing was ever backed up again never worked, but it never was going to work because my line wasn't clogged up. That device was put in when our air conditioning was leaking down into my kitchen really bad one time. I knew it was going to take a few days before we got anybody from American Home Shield who would come and work on the air condition, so I paid a local company not contracted with AHS. The man that came flushed out my unit because at the same time my plumbing was backed up. He flushed that drain line then he started me out with that safety feature on it.

Every house that we've ever had, we've had American Home Shield as our warranty. I'm used to all the phone calls, the holding and all that sort of thing, but I don't think we should have had to pay for this. I've been a customer of American Home Shield for over 30 years and most of the time, it's satisfactory. It takes a little battling sometimes though. I've had a bad situation with the stove in my kitchen and that went on forever. That was when Sears used to do the claims and I've had issues with them when they came here. A man had come out for our stove, because the oven wasn't coming on.

He diagnosed it as being a bad thermostat and when checking on the part, he said that it was no longer available. He then charged American Home Shield $190 something for doing absolutely nothing. I knew a lot about kitchen appliances because I worked for 15 years for my dad's service company and after looking online to see if I could find a replacement part, I found that there was a replacement for the thermostat. I went and bought it myself, but then the guy from Sears refused to install it because it wasn't their part. I have a $5,000 JennAir 48-inch range with the six burners and double ovens. With the part not being available, American Home Shield was only going to give me 600 to buy a new gas range.

The new gas range to put in the place of the one that I have now costs about $8,000. I ended up getting a whole other company, Stringer, to come and diagnose the unit. The issue ended up being the igniter was gone and not the thermostat. Also, the igniter that had been replaced on my stove by a prior Sears serviceman was not the right voltage to begin with. That was why my oven took forever to pre-heat and it finally went out. Stringer replaced it with the correct part, so my $5,000 stove is just working fine. However, I paid $400 for a thermostat which my stove didn't need. It also took so long trying to get somebody to install it for me that when I wanted to return it, I had to do a restocking fee.

The claim went on for at least a month. Did I have problems? Yup, I had problems with that, but I have my stove and I didn't have to spend $7,000 to replace what I had already. I was just out a few hundred dollars because American Home Shield ended up paying for the bill, which wasn't bad at all. With another claim, I think that the igniter was out on my dryer and I don't think it was the motor, but that same man from Sears condemned my dryer, which caused us to have to go buy a new one and you only get a certain amount of money to replace the dryer. We then had to chip in the balance of it as well. All in all, American Home Shield tries to rectify and keep customers happy, but with some of the things that have happened, I'm not completely satisfied.

I stay with American Home Shield because I live in an antebellum home. We have renovated it and put all new appliances in 11 years ago, but it's still an old house and things go out. My husband and I are into our late 60s now and I don't work anymore. He still works, but we don't have available funds to be able to have to replace a dishwasher, a stove or other different appliances like that, especially the air condition. We have a large air condition unit for the downstairs in our house (the upstairs unit was the one that we have had the issues with the leaking), and they have replaced it twice. If we would have had to pay for that air condition unit out of pocket, I'd much rather pay $600 as an insurance policy. We're also not that handy. There are a lot of things that might go wrong here and we need somebody to come and help us repair it.