American Home Shield

Sometimes I've had some representatives that it was not their first language, but they were easy to understand and they were good. Then there were some that you could clearly tell that they were reading from a script. So you could get very frustrated very fast and say, “Please stop reading from the script.” Or I’d ask to speak with their supervisor. But they would immediately go to the script because it’s scripted. So it’s hard to communicate.

Usually, when I need to get something done, I have to call and speak to quality control or retention services at American Home Shield. A lot of times, I’ve had appliances break down and they come in and fix it. But I’ve also had appliance break down and they come in and say, “Oh, well, there’s been an update to that under the protocol or new builder’s thing, and now, this is required.” So I’ve had to pay $300 out of pocket on top of the service fee, yet they still fixed one part of it. In some ways, it can be misleading.

Earlier this year, I had an issue with a refrigerator in my rental property. I went online and placed the servicing that evening. Within an hour, I had a vendor who I reached out to. The vendor set up the time and then they went by and fixed the issue. I paid $100 for that service trade agreement. But for what we had, it was more all-encompassing, so it was $100. Now, the flip side of that is I don’t know if what the person came and did cost $100 or $35.

When my dishwasher was broken in my rental property, the call was placed on January 6th and the contractor came out. They allegedly fixed it. But the next day, it still wasn’t working. They had to come back out and tried something else. It still wasn’t working. It wasn’t until the end of March before that dishwasher was replaced. So that was frustrating because that was for my renter. If that would have been in my home, would I have allowed it to go? It wasn’t life-altering, but it was definitely an inconvenience. Since it wasn't life-altering, American Home Shield kept giving the runaround. It’s not always straightforward.

American Home Shield has saved me. They paid for the hot water heater. But I also had to pay out of pocket for them to do an update that was required because it wasn’t up to code based on when the hot water heater was entered when the house was built. So you think you’re gonna be okay but then you’re not, and that’s frustrating. It's that fine print.

My greatest dissatisfaction with American Home Shield is that there’s not an email. I had emailed them before, and I’ve never received a response. Even if you click chat, it doesn’t go to chat. If you click on the website that says, “Contact Us”, there should be multiple ways but the only option is a phone number. So you call and wait on hold. If I’ve ever want to get anything done, I don’t call to ask about a repair, but I call to speak to a new plan. Then I get somebody who answers the phone on the new plan side. Those are very quick to answer because they’re wanting more business. From there, I say, "I need to speak to somebody in the retention service, and quality control.” But that’s wrong. You shouldn’t have to do it. There should be an email support.

Most recently, I got an email notice that I had a payment that was outstanding due, which didn’t make sense because my payments are automated monthly for the service, and then any time there’s a trade service call, that’s an automatic deduction. It comes right out of the account you set up for them to dispatch a vendor to go out and do the call. When I looked at the email that they sent, it said, “Pay it online.” But I couldn’t get any other information except to call. So I had to call and wait on hold. The young lady who answered was in the Philippines. She spoke very well. She was able to communicate. There wasn’t much of a language barrier. But I laughed because the whole time, you hear these chickens cackling in the back.

We are getting ready to sell the rental property that we have and I’m trying to figure out, “If I renew it, am I on the hook? If I cancel a month later, am I on the hook for the whole year? Or how does that work?” But I can’t get anybody to answer. So I’m really torn because I don’t want to cancel it before I sell the house because Murphy’s Law. Everything’s gonna break the minute I cancel it. But I recently thought about looking at other home warranty companies because American Home Shield's prices have jumped so much. For the first three yeats, it was $50 on each house per month. But now, the house that I have in Colorado is up to $61 a month.

I was thankful for the replacement, then I said, "Look, you guys, you're gonna put in a basic unit just like what was originally installed." They said, "Yes, because that's what we do. Whatever the basic current is, that's what we do." That's usually better than the basic original, which was 30 years ago, so I can't complain. But I said, "Look it, I'll pay for the difference to get an energy efficient unit and get it one size up." They wouldn't allow it, and I don't understand what the issue could possibly be. All they would allow was replacement of a basic original, because that's what I had. They've done that several times on several different items in the house.

We've had a couple of occasions where I've had to call and threaten American Home Shield too. Because it's Friday afternoon or Saturday night, and nobody can come out, or it's the old, "You'll be contacted within 24 hours." 48 hours later, we're going. "Isn't somebody supposed to contact me?" It's always the same, "Oh, well, we didn't get that call," or "We sent that call to the wrong, whatever," or "Well, sorry for that. It just got lost."

People make mistakes. I understand that and I don't have an issue with that. That's why I'm still with American Home Shield 30 years later. It just gets to be a bit of a problem when it happens to you personally. When it's the middle of summer, it's Friday afternoon, and your air conditioner goes out, and the best they can do is, "Well, you have to wait till Monday or Tuesday for that 24 hours, 48 hours to actually kick in." Are you kidding me? I say, "I'll pay the difference. Send them out immediately." On the call, "Oh, we can't do that." Unfortunately, whenever we've had an air conditioning issue or a backed up plumbing, it always happens Friday night or Saturday morning, and we always get caught on this 24-business hours.

The call may go into the company, but your call gets buried by all of the real emergencies that people called in and are willing to pay for that Friday, Saturday, or first thing Monday order. Yours just gets shuffled down in there, because you're just a routine call. So you don't get that call till either late Monday or first thing Tuesday maybe. So, now you've been without AC till, at least, Wednesday, and they don't have the part. It has to be ordered. This happened twice with my air conditioner, the first unit that we replaced. The parts that they needed were in town, but the company that was doing the repair work only ran to that distributor twice a week. I had to wait till it was their turn to go to that place to get the part, and then I had to get put on the schedule.

Using my example, a guy comes out on Tuesday morning and says, "It needs part X, Y, Z. I'll place the order." Guess what? Tuesday mornings is when they go to this company to get parts, and then again on Thursday. So now, I have to wait till the Thursday run to go get parts, and then they have to put me on the schedule once the part comes in, which means the part comes in Thursday evening. They put me on the schedule, but Friday is full, so guess what day it is now? The following Monday, because Saturday and Sunday are emergency calls, and a routine part replacement is not an emergency. My furnace or my AC has now been going on seven days, and I ain't gonna get the part put in for 10 days. That's American Home Shield's business model and I don't like it, but I accept it. Still, they could do better.

I've also had a year where I paid my $450, and I may have used them twice. I didn't need a service, but I go back to when I first bought the house that we're presently in. The house had issues, and the people that originally owned the house either lived with the issues or didn't consider them issues. I had somebody from American Home Shield out here every other week for the house. We had them out here for plumbing issues and for minor electrical issues, and a year like that, $75 a call, it's real easy to break even. I had a plumbing issue one time, where they just had to replace a water spigot. I didn't know if that was covered or not, but I called them out anyway.

The guy came out and said, "No, this isn't covered." Just getting a water spigot replaced because of the freeze was a $300 expense to me. American Home Shield makes sense if you've got an older home and you might have issues. They have worked on a dishwasher, a microwave, my refrigerator, and my washer and dryer over the course of 30 years. When you add up what these appliances could have cost me in terms of expense, it makes sense to have something like American Home Shield. It doesn't make sense when I have that year where I didn't need them at all, but I cannot predict when it's gonna be that year, so I just gamble and pay it. If I sit down and add it all up, I come out ahead.

A & B Plumbing had a late appointment to come out. It was almost 8:00 when they came. They said they were rotting out the connector in the washroom, which they said was successful. When they left, I started the machine and I was having other issues. I called the tech straight back and he did not answer. He shot me a text message telling me that he was on the phone. I texted him that I was beginning to have some issues in the bathroom because it was beginning to bubble in the toilet and it was beginning to come up in the bathtub. He texted me back and asked if I had a cleanout in my yard. I stepped out there and looked. He said to send him a picture, which I did. The tech then told me to screw off the cleanout. This would be something that he should have come back to screw off to see. However, my last text to him at that time was, "I don't think I have the strength to do it." There was no other response after that. That was a Saturday.

The next Saturday, I tried the machine again. When I did, it was not only bubbling and not only spilling over in the washroom. This time, the toilet was filling up and about to overflow. I tried to call the tech again but got no response. I call Home Shield and explained to them what had transpired between the communication between the two of us. They tried to contact him then they said it was the weekend so they were going to try and contact him on that Monday. I kept calling back and they said that he had closed the ticket saying that I did not have a cleanout in my yard and that the only way to do anything was to do it from the roof, which was not covered by a warranty. Home Shield was gonna send the ticket back to the etch and give him an opportunity to recant to fix this.

When I called back again, Home Shield said the tech was still stuck with saying I did not have a cleanout. I didn't want the original to come back out if they went to that extreme of not coming back to see what my issue was. Home Shield was going to move the claim up to a second opinion. K & S came out. I showed their tech the cleanout and he was trying to work with it. He established that a camera and something else he said would be needed to see what was causing it to not reach from the actual cleanout to the main cleanout, which was the city's line. He called Home Shield while he was there to explain to them that I did have the cleanout. He sent them pictures and he was stating that perhaps their feet need to have been held to the fire for putting me through all of that because the other tech didn't even come back out.

I'm still dealing with this and K & S did me a little favor. He took the cap off of the cleanout. But it's in my driveway between me and my neighbor's house. I tried not to do anything but just normal stuff, like taking a shower and flushing and not using the dishwasher. I've been having to go to the laundromat and spending about $30 trying to wash then I can come back and use my dryer. I've been dealing with this for over a month.

I had this problem before with my heating system. Someone came out and they gave me a little runaround. He would come out, do something, and get the unit blowing for a minute then it stops. From my perspective, it looks as if the tech wanted me to purchase a whole system and I was a little concerned with that. I paid him the service charge and I asked Home Shield not to send the tech back out. Home Shield accommodated me with recognizing that I was having an issue with the tech. They understood the pain and that I went through some cold days because of the tech filibustering.

Home sent me someone else who immediately told me, "I know what that is" and fixed it right away. The first guy told me that the system was so old but I told him that when I had an inspector in here, he didn't tell me that because I recently bought the house. I asked the second guy for his opinion on the system. He assured me that the system would probably outlast me. There is nothing wrong with it. That gave me a little bit more comfort.

Home Shield was a part of my closing when I bought this house in 2019 and I've kept it ever since. I love them. With my last renewal, I moved up to platinum and I'm thinking, "I'm not only paying $75 for our service call, but I'm paying 100."Where Home Shield has held up their end of the bargain is where you can replace a person and give me someone else then I can move on.

In the meantime, I got a new bill for 56.99 again and they were saying that they didn't see where the guy I talked to had made this adjustment But I got a new contract agreement with 50.99 on it and they couldn't explain that. I then asked adding the electronic package on and they said they could add it on but I'd have to pay the whole amount and it wouldn't take effect until 2022. So, I've got to pay you this entire amount for 200 and something dollars and it wouldn't take place. So, I called back because when you call back, you get somebody different every time. I talked to this girl and she said she could add the electronic package on starting September 26th of this year and my bill was going to go to 68.99. I said that was fine. But she called me back and said she wasn't able to do that. That was a mistake and I told her that not to add the electronic package on anymore as I didn't want it.

Then, I had a claim for my hot water heater that started leaking. I called AHS and they sent this company out called Action Mechanical Services. And when they told me that was who it was going to be, I went on the Better Business Bureau to check everybody out. Action Mechanical Services had all kinds of complaints. Then, I talked to a relative of mine and she said they came to her house, and they were terrible. They didn't believe the COVID was real and they didn't want to wear any masks. So, when the guy came out here, I asked if he had a mask and he said he didn't need it. He said he had COVID and he already had his vaccination. He then looked at the hot water heater, took a picture, and was here for about five minutes. That company was awful and I don't ever want them again.

At another time, my faucet on the outside broke where my husband couldn't cut the water off. Then, the other one in the back of the house is leaking. So, I put in a claim online for the faucets. But Action Mechanical popped up as my contractor, so I called AHS and told them that I didn't want them to come. But when I called, the representative said that they don't cover our faucets outside. But I told him that my sister that lives over in Jennings, Missouri said that they fixed hers. He then told me to hold on and I could barely understand him either, but he was better that the previous rep I talked to. When he came back, he confirmed that they do not cover the faucets on the outside. So, I told him no to take that $100 out of my account because as soon as you call or place a service online, they immediately take that $100. So, they canceled the claim and they did not take the $100.

After that, I got an email from American Home Shield saying that I needed to contact them about my service request as soon as possible. So, I called and I got this young lady who I could not understand at all. She was saying that our part was going to be $800 but I didn't understand what it was for. And we went on and on until she finally said that they could just give us a pay-out. I told her to send me what they were going to pay for the hot water heater and they sent me a check for $596, which did not pay for my hot water heater. So, we went to another company and AHS said that whoever we were going to use, we got to send them their complete invoice or they'd see what they did because now, I would be covering this water heater. So, I sent that to them and they sent me the little $596 that wasn't enough to pay for the hot water heater.

I also had to call AHS when my furnace wouldn't cut on and they didn't send that Action Mechanical out. It was another company called Budget Air Conditioning Heating and Plumbing and they were really good. The ladies in the office where very professional and they had good customer service. The guy that came out said it was the motor and he put a new one in. He also put his mask on and we talked about that before they came. I asked if their technician had a mask and their rep said he did. She also said they wanted to make sure that no one in our home was sick and I told her that I'd have on a mask too. They were very nice and courteous. Everything went well and the furnace worked really well until Friday. But they put it in on November 1st and Friday was November 13th.

That Friday, the house was cold and my husband had even turned the thermostat up to 85 to get the furnace to come on but it wouldn't. So, I called AHS and they didn't charge me again. Their rep said that I wouldn't get charged $100 because this was what they called a recall. And they were going to have the same people, which is Budget Heating and Cooling. So, I'm waiting on them today.

All in all, the biggest issue I had with AHS was having several different people telling me something different about me trying to add on the electronics package and with my monthly bill. It was just so confusing. But I haven't canceled and I'm going to keep them because I have family members that have them and they haven't had any issues.

With the provider I had before, you can call your own people to come out and you have to pay for the service, then they will reimburse you for part of it. That happened with my washer. To get it fixed was going to cost $600 and they only wanted to pay 400. I don't need anything like that and wondered what would happen if I don't have all that money upfront. That was when my sister said that with American Home Shield, you pay your deductible and they send somebody out. Then they just take care of it. So, I said I was going to switch to them. Then, I talked to my sister-in-law, she has American Home Shield and she said they had to buy her a new stove and she didn't have any issues. So, that's why I went to American Home Shield and I haven't had a real issue with them yet. So far, it seems like things have been working pretty good and I would refer them to someone.

Then he said that the faucet in the bathroom is older. AHS would either replace the whole thing or give him parts to use and those parts would be generic-y and plasticky and yucky. In his opinion, if my husband and I would go out and buy a sink, that would be much better for him to do the work, and he would just do that. It was really difficult to distill from our conversation while he was here what was covered and what wasn't. I was so confused and I didn't know what to do. I’m reading my contract and it says one thing, while he’s telling me another. I reached out to AHS and they were saying that it was not the plumber’s business to tell me that while he was at the house. His job is to come, diagnose what needs done, write up an estimate, send it to AHS, and AHS will let me and the plumber know what's covered. In reading my contract, the access was covered up to $1,000 and then returning back to a drywall finish.

The company was supposed to call me back, write up an eligible estimate that I could look over with my husband, and pass on to AHS. This went on for a week and a half back and forth, and the phone calls. I decided to call AHS back on my own and talk to the representatives and see what's happening. They said that Nussbaumer called and told them that I created access to the shower, broke open my own drywall, and then broke my plumbing, so they would not cover any of those. It was a circular argument. I was frustrated and I was telling the lady that I certainly didn't do that. She was like, “Are you calling them a liar?” I was like, “Well, I guess.” She then said that I would have to get a second opinion. I asked if I have to pay another deductible and she said she didn't know. It was terrible and I was so angry.

Then I reached to Nussbaumer back after I had that conversation. There were three people there that I talked to, Erica. Briana, and then Jordan, the technician. Briana wasn't able to help me with any technical questions that I had, but Erica was. When I called back, I asked for Erica. I also asked when did they review the estimate and I let them know what was happening about us ripping our walls apart. The lady wasn't easy to talk to and so I told her to have Erica call me back as she's familiar with what's going on. She put me on hold for 15 minutes and then she got back to me saying Erica's with another customer and she’d call me back and I was fine with that.

An hour or so later, Jordan, the plumber, called me back saying he waited so long to call me back. He just got off the phone with his boss who was furious about what the warranty company told me that they said. He said he was totally wrong about the diverter in my shower. It doesn't just need that one part. His boss told him that that piece is a one-piece apparatus and can't just switch out a diverter or a valve, and AHS won't cover that. I just thanked him for telling me that.

At this point I knew I have to get an estimate from Nussbaumer for Greg and Andrew from the warranty company to really understand how they're treating AHS customers, what they're telling people is out of pocket versus covered, like something unethical is going on. I also talked to my dad on the phone about all this drama. He looked the company up on Yelp and told me to read their reviews. When I read it, half of that stuff came out of Jordan’s mouth to me with all the bait and switch with the pricing. Everything that people complained about happened to me. I called my dad back and he said that I should not let them back in my home.

Yesterday, Resolve Services LLC came out for a second opinion. They got their tools out and started to work. Two hours later, they said they needed to get the older parts replaced, and they were not sure they would find them right away but they would shop for them until they find them for me. I wrote down some places for them to try and they left. They first went to Etna and they went to Oakmont then they came back. They found what they needed at a place in Oakmont and replaced everything with parts. Everything was fixed. They didn't have to create access. They said everything was covered by the warranty too. They did a great job. It's all working.

Going on month 4 without a fridge at this point. Still no appointment. No calls. We have had to call both the service people and AHS several painful times to get this situation resolved, to no avail. My conclusion at this point is that AHS will continue with this charade for as long as they want without having to replace what their contracted rate is for this appliance. Unacceptable. Absolutely 100% unacceptable. Very unhappy customer. Exactly how long do we wait before they tell us they can't fix the appliance and they will just replace it as advertised? I'll answer that, FOREVER.

Other than that, the first company was good. They came, put the little piece in my dryer. Dryer working good. I ended up getting a new washing machine. I already got the machine and I sent them a copy of the bill. They're not gonna give it all back to me. But they're supposed to give me so much back to cover what I paid. That's what I'm waiting on.

The recent electrical claim was supposed to have been toward the ceiling fan. It wasn't working. The contractor came out and the tech said the motor was gone in it. So, they ended up putting another motor in it and another cap over it, but it was smaller than the one that was up there. At one point, he told me that someone would come out and patch it up. But I just bought one that fit.

I was satisfied only because when they first came out, they tried to do more than one thing. I also had a kitchen light issue. They asked about it. And I told them I didn't call about that. But if it was something they could do about it, fine. He caught himself somewhat fixing the light, but he told me the light was gone. He told me the motor was gone in the fans, and he ordered another motor. But he had to close the case first. Something he said he had to do and wait for American Home Shield to get back with him before he could address the ceiling fan and the motor. They got back with me and came back out. The guy gave the indication if I wanted to have both done, he would do it for me. But one of them I would have to pay for. But I'm all set now.

Aside from that, I bought a policy for the garage doors and paid a lot for it. I filed a claim when the garage doors were not opening because the radio waves that they open up on were opening when they weren’t supposed to open. The contractor said they were picking up somebody else's and that that was not covered. But the problem was with the motors and they are covered. I kept calling AHS and it went nowhere. I had tenants moving in so I gave up and I paid $1,000 for three new motors for my garage.

Besides that, there has been a lot of other things that have been excellent with AHS and I've been exceptionally happy with them. If they couldn't fix something, they were going to replace it. In fact, they've replaced air conditioning units and refrigerators. I also had an appliance issue where Simon Appliance came out and did a great job. All in all, American Home Shield has been better for the last four months. They've been more responsive and I appreciate that. They've been very polite as well and I feel like they stepped it up.

We've also had that happen with an air conditioning unit. One air conditioner was over 3,000 and another one was over 5,000 where we just had to replace the whole system because their coverage says they'll repair the AC, but in reality, they don't. They'll just go up to a certain point. It's one those fine print details but that's not specified upfront.