American Home Shield Reviews

He said that the parts that were put in were like universal parts, and they really don't work on this particular Maytag machine. We need to use the ones that belong in there. So, that guy called me back a few times, and there was some kind of holdup with Home Shield. When I talked to them about it, they wanted to send Avantis back. I told them there was no way in hell they're sending them back here. As it is, I waited all day for these people to come. He came at the end of the day after he made all his calls for the day. It was about an hour after the window closed, which was an all-day window. Somebody should have had the decency to at least call up and say, "Look, we're not going to be able to get there till let's say 4 o'clock. Okay," so I wasn't a prisoner in my house all day.

I finally got a supervisor on there from American Home Shield. I know they send these people out. They did one or two other things for us that were excellent, but I told them I'm not having them back here. First of all, they claim they fix appliances. I told the supervisor, "It's not fixed." So, she said to me that she would refund the $125, which I said, "Okay." This has been going on for a while now for the service call part of it that they charge. She finally did. I think that went through yesterday. But she wanted me to make another appointment. She said I could start all over and make a new appointment. I said, "Well, I ain't gonna pay another 100 and a quarter until I get back the one that you told me you would," which happened yesterday.

In the meantime, I got this guy that I was using to come over here, and it's not making as much noise. I'm going to wait a little bit and see how it goes with that. The other one with Avantis was a complete waste. Then the third one they didn't want to even acknowledge that part when I was talking to them. As far as submitting a claim, there didn't seem to be any problem at all. They took care of it. They can only go as far as the place that they're sending here, calling me up to make the appointment. But each time that I call them, not that I've called them a lot, but it was a couple of different things. The people got back to me fairly quickly, especially the first time around. It was an AC thing.

Overall, my experience with American Home Shield has been good. They've been fair. The lady refunded the initial $125 they took because it wasn't fixed. Then she finally realized that I refused to have that one company they were insisting to come back. What got me is I don't think they understand that these people did nothing. The first people, at least, they put some parts in. The stuff that came to the house that was mailed here. They did that. I don't understand why they kept on wanting to send back the company that didn't do a thing. Somebody was missing something somewhere.

In our experience in the past with our AC, most contractors come here, and they check the outside unit, the furnace, and the thermostat. They check everything. But when the repairman came out, he was here for 15 minutes, and he said he's been doing this for a long time and he's laughing the whole time. He also said the unit is not built to do good service with these extended heated days. When we got back from the hospital in the afternoon, it was 98 degrees and the thermostat read 78 but it was set on 68. We called him and told him that was unacceptable. We called American Home Shield back and told them about the issue and about my health. They said they'd send them back out out. That was a Thursday but he couldn't come back till the next Tuesday.

He came out on Tuesday, went up in the attic and asked who installed the unit. I told him the unit was installed in 2019 through AHS. He said the unit outside is a two-ton compressor unit, but the compressor in it is 1.5 tons. I reported that to American Home Shield, but they did nothing about it. The guy also said whoever installed the unit left the fan blowing on low instead of high, that he was going to switch it, and that should fix it. He left and that was about 5:30 in the evening. He set the thermostat at 75 and I changed it to 68. That night, it got down to 73 degrees and the cooling wouldn't go past 71, which makes no sense.

When he left, he told us not to call the company back and to call him directly. He gave my husband his number. That was the day before yesterday. My husband called him yesterday, but there was no response. I called American Home Shield because he was non-responsive. They called them, sent them an email, and told them that they wanted a senior technician to come out to see why they can't get this unit fixed.

The young lady, Nicole, called this morning and asked what's going on. I told her about my illness and being released from the hospital. She told me Keith, the guy that came out, is their most senior technician and he couldn't come out till Monday. I told her we're going on three weeks with an AC which is very unfair and not right. She has the same attitude he does. She was laughing and asking how old is the unit. She said she was hoping I could get AHS to send someone else out so they could see what they're missing. In other words, they don't know why they can't get this unit right. I ended up calling AHS back this morning, telling them what happened. I also told them I need somebody out here before Monday. It's gonna be 100 degrees today and 98 tomorrow. They are making it so I can't even sleep in my own house.

On other claims, American Home Shield has been great. They've replaced our dishwasher. We have two HVAC units in our house, one upstairs and one downstairs because of the size of our house. They've replaced both of those. They've replaced our washer and dryer as well. I really haven't had any other issues until now. American Home Shield should vet their contractors better. I think this recent company has one employee and he's running around trying to do everything. He showed up the other day here about 5:45 or so. That's a long day for him. I understand that, being the only employee, you are servicing everybody so you don't have a lot of time to spend on one unit to really figure it out.

75% of the contractors are great, and then there's 20% of them that I would change. But overall, it's fine. I've had some delays that have taken too long, and then there have been two that have been completely unacceptable. American Home Shield's biggest problem is not being able to be flexible after they've assigned a contractor.

I've had two. One guy tried to have me actively defraud American Home Shield. He was going to pretend to fix something, and then have to come back and show that it was a bigger issue, and then give me a whole brand-new air conditioning system, but he was going to defraud American Home Shield out of a new air conditioning system when that wasn't necessary. And they didn't kick him off. And then, the other one was the most recent one and the most recent negative experience.

It was a company that fired its entire front office and replaced it with AI. I had an edge case where a technician came out and tried to order a part, but it wouldn't get delivered, and the AI wasn't able to handle that edge case. I couldn't contact a human being, and American Home Shield couldn't contact a human being. But rather than drop the contractor, they just kept them on the books, and I had to hire somebody out of pocket because it never got fixed. It's been three months, and it's still not fixed.

The other context that I think is important is that I live in a relatively rural area. I live in Harrisonburg, which has 50,000 people, and that's the largest city in a decent amount of space. I lived in Atlanta before, and I didn't have any complaints about American Home Shield, and that was because they had a bigger network to work with. Whereas the contractors that work on a national scale, who would partner with American Home Shield, don't have the same type of coverage in this sparsely populated area. So things take longer out here.

Then, there are mistakes or problems, and those things are compounded. For example, a guy fixed a faucet for me, and it was straightforward, but they didn't have the finish that I wanted on his truck. And it took a week for them to get back to me, not because they weren't diligent, but because the guy only comes to Harrisonburg once a week, because that's what his route dictates, and it's not in their interest to make a new route for me for a one-off $100 faucet. And that totally makes sense. But in Atlanta, that would never happen. They have their pick of the litter for contractors. Sometimes it takes longer for contractors to come because they have to find someone who's willing to come out here.

And I'm okay with that. It's a trade-off. What I tell my clients is, "You have to pay blood, sweat, and tears, but you're getting free stuff." So if that's a good trade for you, then they stand by it, and they do what they say in their contract, which I understand is not necessarily the case for these other such companies.

Once I cleaned the exhaust fan cover, he put it back up there and showed me how to take it down. He said, "Periodically, just take it down and clean it, because that would be the reason that it would go out again." And I had him check the light switch in the living room. He went in and saw that there was no power going to it. He repaired that, asked me if there was anything else, and that was done.

I've had more than my share of not so good experience with American Home Shield, when it came to repairing my water heater and repairing my kitchen sink, that I had someone come out three times before they replaced it. They kept saying that it was fixed, and a day later, it would leak again. My last call to them was, "Either you come and fix it or we're going to have an issue." They sent a senior plumber and he repaired it with a substandard repair, but that's fine. It works, and I'm okay with that. And my water heater, they said that the glass shield was broken. My water heater is in the attic. I'm a heavy girl, so I don't go in there. So, I'm not certain how it would break. Nobody goes into the attic. There's nothing up there, but the water heater. It was wear and tear. That cost me $375 out of pocket. But after that, it was all done, and that was the end of that.

My only concern, which is why I'm no longer with American Home Shield, is every year for the last five years, they've gone up. They've not offered any additional services to me, but they've gone up every year. If I need to come back to American Home Shield, I will go back through the same process and vet again as to who can offer me the most for my money. AHS brought it down to 102 from 116. They gave me someone who brought it down to 91. The homeowner warranty I have now is a month, and I'm only paying 57.50 for it. They offered me a lot of the things that I need covered. AHS offered me a bit more things that I didn't need covered, because I hardly use or wouldn't use. But I have what I need right now to cover what it is that I'm looking to cover.

D & B was supposed to come out as a plumber to take a look at the leak caused by the first company that tried to install the dishwasher. They set a time with me to come out on a Friday, but I had to cancel it on Sunday because I got called into work for a Monday appointment. It was over 24 hours in advance notice to reschedule, but the guy still came and they charged us. I called American Home Shield and they refunded me the money. The company has two owners, D and B. Dennis was the one I originally scheduled with, but B was the one who showed up. He said it would have been better if they had been informed about the reschedule. But they still told American Home Shield that they showed up. I said I gave them a 24-hour notice. I tried to call them myself to reschedule, and there was no answer. I left messages but there was no response to reschedule it.

The rep from American Home Shield couldn't help me and told me that I was gonna have to call back during business hours. They need to contact that company to see if what I was saying was true. I called back, and they said there was nothing that they could do. I got more help through the online texting service than I did over the phone, and the online reps showed more empathy. The people that American Home Shield sends out are a gamble. Some of them are good, but you don't know what you're gonna get when they come out.

The guy from the first company didn't speak any English. So, to tell him what was wrong, we had to type it up and then translate it into his language. Then you had to wait for that company to get the part. They came out but that didn't do anything. They ordered another part, but that still didn't fix it. So, we had another company come out. They were fantastic. They said we need a new dishwasher because repairing the control panel doesn't make sense. But we had to wait and take several days off work. Plus, we have to be home the whole day because these people will give you at least a four-hour time slot. And sometimes, they don't even show up during that time slot.

I had to take off a day off work to get the dishwasher in my house, and when it arrived, there was nobody scheduled to install it. It had to sit in my house because the company won't come out until you have it on your premises. When the installer came, he did not take away the old one. He said if it was still there the following week, he would come back later and get it. But he said the trash company will pick it up. It sat out there for several days and I got a letter from my HOA asking why I had junk sitting in the front yard. The trash man ended up picking it up. I'm glad my dishwasher’s working now. But it was a complete nightmare. Everything was resolved, but it took four phone calls, messaging, and hours of back and forth to get there. It was frustrating all around. The price is decent, but it took me four months to get one issue fixed. So, it was more of a headache than it's worth. Even though it's cheap, you get what you pay for.

American Home Shield would not replace the refrigerator and just kept jerking around. We called, complained, and tried to get someone to do something, but no one would do anything. They finally ended up giving us a payoff and we got a check for $1,700. And we went out and bought a bigger and better refrigerator. As soon as we got the payoff, we canceled the service. If that had been my furnace in January, it would have been unreal. We were with American Home Shield for several years and we were not happy. We're done with them and we went with another company.

Every time I call American Home Shield, I have to start the entire process over again. Customer service has been incredibly frustrating, communication is difficult, and the representatives seem completely unprepared to deal with an unhappy customer or actually solve the problem. A warranty company is supposed to provide service when something goes wrong. Instead, I have spent a month making phone calls, waiting for contractors, explaining the same problem repeatedly, and getting absolutely nowhere. At this point, I don't understand what exactly I am paying for. If you are considering American Home Shield, think twice. Based on my experience, getting them to actually resolve a problem has been nearly impossible. I would not recommend this company to anyone.

We’ll never know if they changed the motherboard or if they put the old one back. We don't know what they did with that. All we know is that the last company said, “It needs this part, but you know we didn't know if it needed the motherboard too.” It was very inconvenient in a way because they don't give you a set time. They just tell you, “It will be Tuesday, and we'll call you.” I kept telling the lady, “Ma'am, I'm trying to help my son ‘cause he works all day, but I also need to know.” And they were like, “We're sorry. We can just give you your 30 minutes.” I said, “I don't know if I can leave work.” I just switched from another company, and I was having second thoughts about this company. The other company was more easygoing. Also, they had told me it was a 100 deductible, so it shocked me when they said 125. But the other company was only $85.

The companies that American Home Shield is working with need to understand that people work and that they cannot just tell you, “We'll be there, but we can give you an hour.” A lot of companies give you windows, 8:00 to 12:00, 1:00 to 5:00. And then you can say, “Okay. 4:00 to 7:00 or 12:00 to 5:00 would work for me and stuff.” But when they're saying, “If you can't be there, we're sending this back to the company, and you can find another company.” That was the third company, so I was like, “No. We need our dishwasher.” But they fixed it. It just took close to two months to get everything established and done.

When I requested reimbursement, AHS denied it, saying I should have called them instead of submitting the claim online. Where is that emergency instruction on your website? If that's your policy, why isn't it clearly communicated before customers are left in dangerous situations? This is not the support I expected from a home warranty company. I hope someone from AHS management reviews my case and makes this right. #AmericanHomeShield #CustomerService #HomeWarranty #HVAC #Arizona

I still have issues so I send in a new request and find that I do indeed need to put in a completely separate claim and pay the one twenty five deductible. So a different trade can come out and resolve the electrical issues. So I do that yesterday and the first company that was selected is not in business and has a full voicemail. So I spend an hour on the phone with AHS and they finally reassigned to someone else, what I get the schedule in call with that company, they tell me it will be one week before they can come out for an issue that has been dragging on since June (it is now August).

I call AHS to try to get someone there quicker. And I am told that their system plays contractor lottery, and that I'm stuck with the current company that will be available in about a week because they've already reassigned it one time. Their escalations team member seemed to not care about customer service. Told me that we were speaking in circles, which I'm aware of because there was no resolution and provided no steps to resolve my issue in any way shape or form other than schedule with the people that are currently assigned. And wait for a week. Either this company couldn't care less about their customers because they've been paid or they have some extremely unsatisfied team members who either need to quit or be fired.

If this is the service level that I'm to expect going forward. It is really pathetic. Especially when my hvac team has been absolutely stellar. Completely professional, and they deserve a five staring. Perhaps I was just spoiled and got lucky with a contractor lottery and found a superstar in aire serve. But a bunch of losers when it comes to the lottery for the electric contractors. The rep should have just said, well, better luck next time. Maybe you'll get somebody who's actually in business. And somebody that is available within a decent amount of time. As well as maybe your next rep will read. The notes provided by the contractors for the hvac, saying that we need to schedule with a whole different trade and actually have ahs go and do that rather than tell the customer that everything is perfect.

The first tech said it wasn't getting enough water, but the machine itself would tell me if it wasn't getting enough water on the screen and it never said that. And I can see the water. Even though the washer has a black front, it has this big black hole door where I can see the water slosh. His company was called Alpha Appliance and they advertise on their website that they're the number one favored company by American Home Shield. But when I looked them up after they'd been here, which you don't always have a choice with American Home Shield as to who they send out, I saw on Google that they had 38 reviews. And only two of them were okay. The rest had the very same complaints as mine and they were horrible. Their tech also told me I didn't know how to wash my clothes. But I'm going to be 90 years old next month. I know how to wash my clothes and I know how to use the machine. I also know how to use a dryer if I would choose.

So, I asked American Home Shield to send another company and they did. The only problem is now I'm having trouble getting hold of the supervisor, Stacy, who did that, because they sent me a bill for $100 for the second company but she said she'd make a one-time exception. All in all, I still have the same problem and they said it can't be fixed.

Finally, after waiting for 40 minutes (which is the norm), I reached someone who told me that they had sent me an offer for replacement 3 days ago, and that the offer will expire in 21 days. Good thing I called, I guess. They offered two models at zero cost, but they weren't of a like grade and quality to my old one. Mine is an energy star, theirs were not.

Their decibel level was significantly higher than mine. Mine fits 14 place settings; theirs fit 12. To get a model of "like grade and quality," I would need to order what they called an upgrade - for $160. I have written to them to make these points and say that the $160 so-called upgrade is the actual fair replacement model for mine. I am needing a confirmation that they have received my email, not wanting to find myself past their 21-day deadline for responding to their offer. I have been on hold now for 25 minutes, just enough time to write this review. Here are facts, with no editorializing. Imagine how it would sound if I told you what I really feel!

We're still waiting to hear back on parts. There's no follow-up. It just seems like, all of a sudden, there's no accountability and that the customer is not coming first. And I don't understand what changed. Usually, you had an option of different providers if you weren't happy with someone. This place was giving us a window of a whole day instead of half a day. My husband is a physician and I'm not mechanically inclined, so I wanted him to be here. They just weren't working with us. I feel bad about giving them a 1-star because we had a great 19-year run, but this was so bad. I literally spent hours on the phone, and I still don't have a good resolution. And it's a month out now.

The second guy that they sent out, they never sent him out. He just called and said, “We're going to take care of you.” I thought, ”Okay, they got somebody else to do it.” Then they went dark. I'm still sitting here. I was about to send them another message like "Excuse me. When you charge my account for the call, and you don't show up, I think anybody would wanna know, how come?”

First, I'm paying the payments. This guy called last week. They've asked me numerous times to send them the serial number and all this kinda stuff, like they're getting stuff done. He said, “Yeah, we're gonna try to do it Friday,” which was last Friday. But zero call, no reply, no response. I am to the point where I want to call the state of California and do a sting operation to show how fraudulent they are. Because they came out for a simple air conditioning issue I had, and every guy they sent out told me a different story. Then they were sending guys out to go up on my roof and look at it without even telling me. Then I got calls from their air conditioning company that said, “Your whole air conditioning needs to be replaced.”

I had the guy send me emails with their bids so that I can have some written evidence that they're doing this. “$22,000. We can have it done for you tomorrow.” I work for the state, and I have employees here who are air conditioning techs. They said, "No, that's not what's wrong with your air conditioner. It just needs to be rinsed off.” I went up there, and I rinsed it off, and it's been working fine since. I know they’re not the government, but they've got some real serious issues that are coming up that I see online that people just had enough.

The only other one was a water heater. They said, “Yes, your water heater is covered.” The guy came out in a car. He was wearing sandals or slip-ons, and they had me speak to somebody. They said, “Yes, your water heater is covered, but we have to charge you to bring it up to code.” And they charged me $1,250 to bring it up to code, which is about the price of a new water heater. My water heater area was already up to code, but I didn't know it at the time. All they did was put a new pan under it, which it already had a pan, and strap it to the wall, and it already had the straps.

Nothing that this guy did was anything that I didn't already have in the house. That was fraud, in my opinion, because they're charging me. They're getting away with it by claiming they gotta bring everything up to code, and then charging AHS. I think it's just to pay for the water heater. That's not cool. It's still not being addressed. It's a simple repair, and it's covered under my policy.

One more. They sent a guy out because some of my outlets weren't working, and this was three weeks ago. This guy showed up in slippers and shorts, but he had a van with a company name on it, and a license written on the back. He found that there was an outlet that went out. Apparently, the other outlets don't work because that one was out. They sent me a letter in the mail from what I call a shell company called Open Door. It said, "That repair was not covered under your contract because there was a space heater that caused that problem.” The bad part about that is, I don't have a space heater. They're just listening to hearsay.

‘Cause I remember the guy telling me. "Normally, space heaters cause this type of thing, where the outlet burns and then the other outlets don't work. They're saying it wasn't covered, so we're gonna give you an estimate." I said, "You're not gonna give me an estimate ‘cause you did the repair without my authority then. ‘Cause you came out and fixed it, then you told me it wasn't covered."

If there was something, that guy should have said, "I want to let you know I can fix it, but this part's not covered under your warranty.” That's what he should have said. But he was maybe 17 or 18. I've had a just a really bad experience with this company, and I’m about to change. They gotta make their stuff right. They need to get their stuff together.

They had to move my appointment back a day, which was understandable. They sent me a message, letting me know the technician was on his way. The technician got here, went down and looked at the furnace, and explained what was happening. Then he automatically went outside. I went with him to look at the air conditioner.

He said, “What your problem there is, it's low on Freon.” He put his gauges on there, and he said he could do that and explained the policy, which I knew through American Home Shield what they do as far as covering Freon, and he said, “You got a little leak someplace. I can add Freon, or we can write it up as a replacement. But since this unit is old, this could last for another year, two years, just by adding Freon.” I said, “At this time, let's just add the Freon, and we'll see what it does when next year happens.” It was very professional and empathetic. Everything's working fine. The problem we had before was that the furnace was vibrating, and then we turned the air unit off. And since then, everything seems to be working just great.

The other thing I had an issue with was the washing machine, and they sent repairmen, and they repaired it. Then, a couple of years later, now, it was an older washing machine, and it was going to cost too much to repair it. So, we went out and purchased a new one. And I submitted the invoice back into American Home Shield, and they sent me a check for the amount of the purchase.

Nowadays, things are not made to last like they used to, and that one started acting up. Called and set an appointment up, and the tech came and worked on it, and he put a lot of parts into it. It started doing the same thing again. That repairman came back, and then he had just advised American Home Shield. He said he really couldn't figure out anything. Put all new parts in last time, and he declared it not to be repairable. So, they authorized me to get a replacement, which I did, and submitted the invoice to them. In just a week, I had the replacement check in hand. Everything’s gone very smoothly. American Home Shield is a good company, and they respond to their customers.

AHS wasted my time. I waited for a week and the pump is leaking. I had to buy another pump. It's over $1,000. I still had to pay for the $100 service call for the contractor to come out and tell me it wouldn't be covered. So, I'm spending over $1,000 to have this pump replaced. When I called AHS to complain about the pump, why didn't they tell me it wasn't covered? I threatened to cancel, and they gave me three months free. That was okay.

The app is very good. They offer a free video chat as well, which is a good and flexible option instead of having a guy come to the house and charge a $125 service fee. The free video chat is very quick and gives you a flexible option without having to spend much money on the service. I'm enjoying the warranty with American Home Shield right now. It gives more safety and protection, so I suggested a few people to it.

One time, I had a dishwasher, and it wasn't pushing water out. It stays in there after it's done. And that wasn't covered. I was like, "Why?” “Oh, this unit’s well known for doing this problem.” Well, what do I have insurance for? I actually dropped them for two years for that one. I had to go buy a whole new one. So, stupid stuff like that. Like, “What do you mean it's not covered? It's not pushing water out.”

I also had an experience with the bathroom where the diagnosis was super long. The tech tried to claim the slab was not level, and that's why it's not flushing. “Dude, what are you talking about?” He said, “Yeah. I see this all the time.” So, he submitted that. American Home Shield was gonna believe him. All I had to do was to change the seat. I had no problem ever since. American Home Shield hires anybody who’d take their contract, and then we end up paying for it.

American Home Shield is fair, reliable and transparent. But sometimes, the operators on the phone are frustrating. They do not speak proper English and they can’t understand what I’m saying. So, I have to end up sometimes calling back again, getting the operator who speaks English and I can go from there. Price-wise, they’re sneaking and creeping up there, but I have no complaint.

Now I have contacted AHS and advised of the issue and that I do not want that company so they cancelled the work order and said it would go to dispatch where they would ensure that company would not be put on the job and sure enough that’s exactly what they did so I contacted them back and they said I’d have to cancel the claim again and call back in the morning to get a new company and both my parents were on the call to witness the conversation however they did not cancel it and now they’re telling me they can’t cancel it and send another even though there’s many other available now and said it’s because they think that company can complete the work.

I said absolutely not and twice their escalations team did nothing and when I requested for a manager I received no manager call back. I also paid for them to have my washer looked at of which they didn’t fix either even though it’s still having the same issue DON’T GO THROUGH THEM they have no respect for their customers and do not manage any escalations. They also put misinformation in the notes to protect them and won’t pull up the prior calls to prove their reps are not doing what was asked.