American Home Shield

I also had my thermostat that went out at the same time. So, the next day, I used some air conditioning people. They used to be with American Home Shield. That’s how I found them. But they're no longer with them. But they did my checkups and things, and he found that my thermostat was not working. I called American Home Shield and told them that all of my equipment was working and that they thought that it was in the thermostat. They called Baxter Air Conditioning and Heating here in Mansfield. Their response was quick, which was good. I had a good experience with them. They replaced the thermostat and it's working within a short period of time. So, those experiences recently have been very good. However, I had a real serious, uncomfortable, undesirable, terrible experience with AHS and with the plumbers they sent out. I was really, really upset and concerned about what happened.

Back in January, we had a plumbing problem. My sinks stopped up and both our sinks in our master bathroom were stopped up. They were clogged and it was awful. I called AHS the next day and I told them that we had a problem. They said, “Okay. Your plumber will be SDL, and they're out of Seagoville.” They had a plumber come out the very next day and he came out with a little hand Roto-Rooter. We had cleaned out underneath both the cabinets so that he could get through, but he never even looked underneath the cabinets at the sinks. He tried his little hand rooter and said, “I'm gonna have to go down through the vents.” Then he came back and said, “Well, I can't get through the vents. You're gonna have to have somebody come in here and go down, and it's gonna cost $589.”

I called AHS and talked to a guy and he said, “Yeah. These are good people. They really do a good job. I'll have somebody go to him. This is what has to be done and what needs to be done. You're gonna have to pay that. American Home Shield will not cover that. That’s your expense.” So the guy came out, and he had brought a supervisor from SDL. And they couldn’t get down through the vents, so they said, “Well, we're gonna have to go underneath the slab. We're gonna have to do a lot of work. And it's gonna cost you $6,000.” He was gonna send him out the next day or so to do some stuff. But AHS said they needed to get a second opinion, which was smart. I'd give them credit for that.

And so, AHS sent this guy from F6, the ones that I used for recently from Alvarado. And the guy walked in there and I told him what was going on. He said, “Let me show you how to unstop a sink.” He got his Roto-Rooter out, his snake, and then within an hour or less, he had everything completely cleaned out and working wonderfully. The other contractor was gonna try to charge $6,000 for all this other stuff. And thank goodness, the person in authorization department said they needed to get a second opinion. If you go online and look at the SDL plumbing company out of Seagoville and read their reviews, you'll notice that most of them are all negative. It is a scam, con company.

I said to AHS authorization department that I needed to be reimbursed. They said, “Well, that’s between you and the plumbing company.” And I was out of $589 for nothing. They were trying to scam me for $6,000. Now, I'm not making any accusations when I make this remark. It sounds to me like somebody, somewhere is getting a kickback. The guy in the AHS authorization department was the one that recommended and confirmed with the plumber that going down through the vents was needed to be done. So, someone should be held responsible.

I wasn’t happy about not being reimbursed. I've been an AHS customer for 16 years but I'm now considering looking at other companies to do the kind of warranties like this. Nevertheless, I'm pleased with F6, the plumbers that I got this last time. I'm pleased with the air conditioning guy too. I still stay with AHS because it's a heck of a mess to try to change over and get things. But I told the people in the authorization department, “Don’t ever recommend SDL to me again. Those people are crooks.” And some of the reviews that you read online will say the same thing, almost identical to what I had said. The authorization department is responsible for that. They need look at reviews and say, “This is a good vendor or this is a poor vendor.”

I have called in before and I know the service people that do a good job and those who don’t. And they said, “Well, this is the one that pops up, and we can't send them out.” And I said, “Look. I'm your customer. I know who is good and who is not.” American Home Shield had sent me some smart people in the past. And I said, “Look. They know me. They know my equipment, etc,” and they finally would agree and would send the people I requested but I've had them to argue with me. Now, many of them have been very courteous, very kind and considerate, but some of them have been downright almost ugly.

However, I'm still upset over the fact that I was encouraged to have someone go down through the vents, which cost me nearly $600 for nothing. Somebody needs to get with SDL and straighten them out, or AHS needs to drop them as a vendor. They should be made by AHS to make that reimbursement. But they're not gonna do it because of the fact that that guy in the AHS authorization department said, “We're not gonna be responsible for this. It's between you and the plumber.” And that’s their cover. And so, I don’t think I'll ever recover that $589, which I'm not happy about. I'm a retired senior citizen on a fixed income so that's fair. I'm not really angry at American Home Shield. I'm disappointed though that they didn’t try to do more, didn’t try to go to the company. And if they continue to recommend people to use that company, in my opinion, AHS does not go as high as it used to.

Recently, I called in and asked for Cowtown Pools and they said, “We can't send anybody." I talked to Cowtown Pools and I was told, “Well, just call back and tell them that we can take them.” I called back, and AHS said, “No, We're not gonna do that.” That happened with Cowtown. So, I just waited until Monday and called back. And I got through quick, and they were fine. Also, this last situation with replacing the flush valves in my bathrooms and then replacing thermostat went through great, and so I do give an A plus on those experiences.

I waited for a few days and I didn’t hear anything. I called AHS and I was told that I was rejected. I overloaded my machine and they would not be covering that. I told them what he said to me and they said that they were not gonna do it. I told them that the guy didn't even look at the machine. So, I demanded that a second person come out. AHS made a big deal and I had to go through supervisors until I finally got one who said that they will provide me with a second opinion but I would also have to pay the $75. I was happy to pay that because I have trouble figuring out which the problem was. I called two other clothes washer people and asked if there was a way for them to determine whether or not I put too much clothes, which I didn't. At that time, I was single and so, I didn’t. Both guys said there was no way to tell that.

AHS finally had another guy come out and he determined that the machine was a little over seven years old and the part that attaches to the drum on the inside is like a flywheel and it spins. It wore out and it’s normal wear and tear. When the guy sent in his report, they immediately ordered new parts. However, it cost me $75. I don't want him to ever to come to my house again.

A few months later, my dishwasher caused a $60,000 damage in my house. I had to have a technician through AHS come out and take a look at what was going on. Right after the guy got here, I walked in. He asked me if I had any water come out. I said no but I got mold on the side of the dishwasher, so there must be something leaking. We needed to figure out what was going on that caused that and how bad it was, so I can determine if I'm gonna pay for it myself, or have my insurance company pay for it. So, he unscrewed a few screws, leaned in and said that he couldn’t work on it because there was too much mold back there, which I could accept. As he was doing that, I realized this was the same guy. He did his little evaluation and said there was too much mold.

I called AHS again and told them that I asked them not to ever send this gentleman and his company back to my house again. The rep said that they don’t look at anything. I asked him if there was no way to manage whether or not they would order the technician back, out of all the people in my area. They said they would make another note of it and hopefully, they would pay attention. They eventually sent me out another guy, as soon as we got to the point where the mold was gone, and we got the problem solved. I never should have had to pay the $75. The technician was not very competent and he was asking me how I could afford my house and things of that nature.

When they finally did the dishwasher, they charged me twice but they reimbursed it. There was a problem with the collection of the money. I always authorize the $75 once the job is done. If the guy doesn't show, I don't owe them. The other day, I got an email saying that AHS was processing the $75. That was the day before the guy was due to be here. I called and asked why they were doing that. They said that the email just went out but they didn’t go ahead. I checked my bank and they have not done it.

Recently, when we connected the door, the door started running again. So, there was a glitch. I disconnected it so that I can manually pull it and I couldn't figure out how to put it back together. The technician from Active Garage Door came out, connected the door back to the motor and as soon as we did that, it ran and it’s still running. He went over a few things and he did his job. So, I’m very satisfied with what he did. I may have had some problems but I'm still with AHS. All I want is somebody to reasonably cover my stuff and be able to do it smoothly. So, hopefully, that means something to them down the road because I always pay on time. There's never an issue about the money. I pay both the regular fee and the $75, whatever is due. I want them to treat me like they want me to treat them. With AHS, the work gets done and when we get down to the nitty gritty, they have skilled people.

Since I've been with American Home Shield, I've made claims on the property and Grease Trappers was the best experience that I had. I had another one that was decent with Fox Locks out of Gurnee through rekeying the house and the other good one that I had was with the garage door corporation. Those three experiences were incredible and then three of the experiences that I had were terrible. Either of these guys that came out were rock stars or they came out and were very unapologetic and late.

There was a gentleman with a plumbing company who came out to take a look at my house. There was one leak in particular that was causing my wife and I not to be able to live in the house so, I have been in a hotel with my wife and my two children for the last month and a half. I haven't said anything because I don't know who to complain to. There was one pipe that was leaking and it stemmed from underneath the master bathroom Jacuzzi tub. It was leaking into the family room and living room area. So, I couldn't install the flooring in my house that I would like to install. I couldn't move in my furniture, which means we couldn't stay there as a family. I mentioned this to the plumber that came in and he recommended that I do some things with my plumbing system. He did the diagnosis of the house and checked what was around.

I asked him if his company would be interested in tackling the project since they were a licensed plumber in the area. I assumed this was a $40,000 to $60,000 job and I would be willing to hire their company to take care of it. He said no and that it was more efficient for him to take 10 American Home Shield calls because whether or not he does any work, he gets paid on them. It was more profitable for him at his age to take all of the 10 calls from American Home Shield at $75 or $100 a call, rather than stressing himself out about a large project where he has to hire a crew. He was giving me advice, but then he was not backing it up with anything. He was just telling me what I needed to do and then he was leaving. So, he didn't fix anything nor did he even open the drywall even when I offered to pay to have the drywall repaired because I had another contractor on site.

So, I asked for a second opinion and a new plumber came out. I took a lunch break from my work, I drove about 35 miles north and I sat there for an hour and a half waiting for the second plumber to come out. He never showed up. So, I called American Home Shield and they were able to get ahold of the plumber who called back and lied to AHS. He said he tried to call me and left a voicemail. I told him that was not true and that if he tried to call me and I missed his call, I would give him the benefit of the doubt. However, I never received a voicemail, and I was sitting in the driveway when he was telling me that.

I asked the AHS person what the deal was and she said she was gonna send them out. I told her that I was not gonna be here but I would see if I can get one of my family members who are in the area to come meet with him. So, my cousin who happens to be a contractor himself went with them on site on my behalf which took 40 minutes out of his day. We spoke to that guy and rather than going and assessing the work, apologizing about being late and doing what he needed to do, he took some of the notes from the last gentleman, even though American Home Shield says that he doesn't have any visibility to those notes. He had some level of visibility because before he even assessed anything in the unit, he literally just copied what the last guy said verbatim. He said there was nothing he could do, it wasn’t covered and it was a preexisting condition. Then, he left.

American Home Shield is a fantastic company and the portal is easy to use. Everything that they are doing at this point is right but I wish they would hear us out as the people filing the claim. There was more benefit of the doubt given to those who were calling in to complain about their experiences with these other people. We have no reason nor incentives to misguide them. There were two plumbers that didn't want to do their jobs and that was a bad experience but then, I’ve had good experiences. It was hit and miss and it’s who American Home Shield has contracted with. Some of the guys were awesome and some were just awful. When the guys are awesome, we’ll let them know as well as when the guys are bad. There are people who are getting a lot of complaints or the companies that are receiving a lot of complaints and AHS may wanna consider dropping them and finding another contractor in the area.

Then, that Thursday, my daughter and I were home all day and between 11:00 and 3:00, I did not go anywhere. I waited for the guy to show up, but I never got a confirmation phone call or text about the appointment. I never talked to the person ever. I didn't even have a conversation with them except through text. 3 o'clock rolls around, the end of our window, and I had things I needed to do. I didn't know if the guy was coming and if I was still on his schedule book. So I called the number that was sent through the text originally. It went to voicemail and said that Clark's appliance repair was busy with a client and on the message, it said if I couldn't leave a message, then text. I left a message saying my appointment was between 11:00 and 3:00 and asked if anybody was coming that day. I also sent a text. The guy texted back asking for my address.

I sent him my address and he said he was going to a call out in Chandler and then he would be coming to Mesa. By that time it was 3:30 and I had to leave to go pick up my husband at the airport. Chandler is like over half an hour away from where I live anyway. We were talking 4:00 or 5:00 o'clock traffic and I had no idea how long he was gonna be at that call. I told him I needed to leave and go pick someone over in the airport and I would be back. I asked if it worked with his time frame. He said he would call when he was on his way and if he couldn't make it that day, then we would reschedule for tomorrow. It sounded great. I was on my way to the airport and at 4:00, Clark's appliance repairs texted me he was not gonna make and he would schedule me for the following day.

I asked what was his anticipated time frame for the following day because I am a nurse and I work night and I sleep during the day. I took Thursday off, so that I could be up all day long with him being here. He asked what time I go to sleep. I said that I sleep at noon and all he texted back was, "Sounds good." He said he would be here before then. I asked what time because if he was talking 11:45 and he was gonna be here for an hour diagnosing the problem, then that means I don't get to sleep till 1:45 and I have to get up at 4:00, so that doesn't work for me. He said he had an appointment and he had to go out to Apache Junction first before he comes to me. So, not only was everybody put before me on Thursday, now we were rolling into the second day and he was still putting people before me. And I was supposed to be on between 11:00 and 3:00 on Thursday.

He never called, he never said he was running late, nothing until I finally reach out to him and said, "What's the deal?" I texted him and said that he seemed really busy. I told him to go ahead and just cancel my work order with American Home Shield because I have already taken a day off and I couldn't take another day off Friday. I said I was gonna have to call and schedule a different appointment. He said he would cancel my work order with American Home Shield. He wished me luck finding somebody to fix it by the end of the following week instead of the following day. That was the last time I heard from him. He didn't text or anything else after that.

AHS has always been great. I've been a customer of theirs for 15 years. I was a real estate agent and I use to buy a home warranty for American Home Shield for all my clients. So, I've never had a problem with American Home Shield, but he was not professional or appropriate in any way. He did not reach out. If he at least, let me know, "Hey I'm running behind," then I could have made different arrangements to get my husband picked up from the airport. But he didn't even do that. He didn't give me any time frames.

The next day, I called American Home Shield and explained that situation that I've already paid $75 copay, I couldn't go back online and request service again without having to pay another $75 copay. And the guys never showed up and then didn't get in touch with me until later in the evening when I texted him, still never called and I need to get my dryer fixed. I was on the phone with the first lady, she hung up on me with American Home Shield.

Then I called back and talked to the second lady. I explained the situation again and while I was in the phone with her, she asked if she could put me on a brief hold and try to find a vendor in my area. I said, "Sure." So while I was on hold, they called him. She said that Clark's Appliance repair called her and he told her he had been out to my house twice on Thursday. He said I told him I had to go pick somebody up in the airport and he would try to reschedule to come back later in the afternoon and that I couldn't reschedule it. Everything he said was a total lie. None of it was true.

I have all the text messages and times conversation of when I actually had the conversation with him and I never received a phone call from him. My daughter and I were here all day. I even texted my neighbor next door and said I had to leave and go pick my husband up from the airport. My daughter was gonna be here by herself and she knew to let the guy in to fix the dryer. I have all these on text, times, dates stamp, everything, and this guy completely lied. AHS said that he said the job was done and he has completed the work order. And I canceled it, but completed the work order and was sending a bill to American Home Shield anyway even though he never came to fix it. We would have known if he would have even come and knock on the door. Even if we were in the back of the house, we would have known if someone was at the door.

I still don't have a dryer. I took today off again because I'm here today, between 12:00 and 6:00, somebody named Jarred is supposed to be here to diagnose my dryer, not fix it, and then, they're gonna have to order the part. And God knows when they'll be back to fix it. So, I'm going on four weeks now without a dryer. I'm a little bit frustrated but the second lady that I talked to with American Home Shield was very helpful and very understanding. She put in a whole new work order so that I wouldn't have to pay another $75 copay to have somebody come out and fix my dryer.

He knew how to fix the problem, though, but he would have to pull the toilet up and then I would have to pay him an additional fee. I was trying to get the problem fixed and I agreed. As he pulled up the toilet, I went upstairs and I contacted American Home Shield. They only have people working for them who knew exactly the issues and if it wasn’t listed under my warranty, that contract should be able to tell me that it wasn’t. So, with that confirmation from AHS, I took it as that and I wouldn’t have to pay the guy. Then, Michael told me that everything was fixed and I shouldn’t have any more issues or problems. But three days later, it started happening again.

I recontacted the plumber company because if it wasn’t listed in the contract, then I figured American Home Shield wasn’t gonna be able to help me. But Home Services of the Triad contacted American Home Shield warranty because I was listed as a client with AHS. Another technician came, his name was Bryan. It was an actual emergency and not just that, I had to pay American Home Shield for the deductible fee even though it was denied and I ended up having to pay Michael. With me paying Michael, I thought that justified my services whatever needed to be done and it still wasn’t fixed, that they will come back out and they did not.

Before Bryan came out, Michael called me and asked what they said was wrong. I said the same thing happened which he said was crazy because he had fixed it. He wanted me to call him back and let him know what Bryan would say. In the meantime, someone told me that Michael was supposed to contact American Home Shield, let them know his assessment, and then they were supposed to call me and explain to me why his services was not covered. He did not do that and I didn’t know it because that was my second time dealing with AHS, so I didn’t know the process. They still hadn’t got the assessment that Michael had denied American Home Shield based off of my contract saying that it was not warrantied.

Bryan was nice. He came through the kitchen sink and he brought in a roto-rooter or snake and tried to clear the line that way. But no one could tell me what was clogging up the line. Michael and Bryan said that we should not use feminine products and flush. My daughter is 24 years old and I am 42 and I have a 17 year old, so we all know not to flush feminine products. But then they never could find anything in the line. Bryan thought he had flushed out the line and told me everything should be running smooth. But in four or five days, I had to get another appointment because it flooded again.

At this point, they still had not gotten the information back from Michael why the service was denied. And I think he didn’t deny services or turn in an assessment because he knew he took my money. The only thing that AHS did was credit me my money because the third plumber that I called was not with AHS but was based off of me looking into Google. I already had three floods by this time. They offered getting a confirmation from a different company and asked if a second opinion would make me feel better. The guy who came out showed me the clean-out pipe is directly in the bathroom where the flood was happening and he did the roto-rooter or the snake through that drain. That was the whole point why Michael denied my services and he charged me. But American Home Shield sent me a check for the amount that I paid to cover those expenses because he lied, he took my money, and it still was not fixed.

But the guy could not produce anything to show me why my bathroom was clogged up or why it was flooding as well. American Home Shield sent another company out, Advanced Appliance. When they came out, I did not like that they told me they set up an appointment with me and as it got closer towards the end of the day, I ended up contacting them to see what time the plumber was coming. They told me that they forgot and that the plumber was not there. He had called out that day and so he wasn’t gonna come. That was on a Monday morning.

They rescheduled me for a Friday and when that day came, they said that plumber was sick and was not there. Again, they didn’t call me and let me know that the plumber was not coming. I ended up calling again and they told me the plumber was not coming because he was sick. He was sick where he went to the hospital which I understood. But I thought their customer service reps would contact me and let me know.

I asked to speak to the supervisor because even if that was the only plumber that has the scope that can go down and look at the drain and see what’s clogging or blocking up the pipe, I felt like someone should have contacted me and let me know. The rep didn’t let me speak to the supervisor but she tried to sweeten me over. She told me that someone would come out and I had to wait again to the following Tuesday morning. I had to wait a whole week and when the plumber came out, he used the scope but didn’t fix the issue. He took pictures and that was it. I haven’t contacted American Home Shield. I don’t even know if it’s gonna happen again because we don’t know what made it happen in the first three times.

The contractors that AHS used, especially the first one who completely did me wrong, put a bad taste in my mouth and there has to be a little bit more checking on these contractors. Other than that, American Home Shield to me has been absolutely the best with customer service trying to help me get these issues fixed. Overall, I would recommend them to a friend and I’ve done that. I’ve shared it on my Facebook page and my Instagram pages because I really like them. I’m the president of the HOA out here in my neighborhood and I’ve told other homeowners about American Home Shield.

I am not going to pay an extra $900 for the same service. I have not had air for 6 weeks and I have four Siberian Huskies that have suffered greatly through this including kennel cough because of where I tried to board them. I also have mold growing in the house due to using an attic fan during wet conditions. I have filed a complaint with the BBB and I am still waiting to hear back from them on this issue. I have also sent two certified letters to the president of AHS and I have not hear anything back from them as well. I have logged over 30 phone calls to them and still no air.

A week later we contacted AHS again and when the agent again stated he would look into and get back to us we requested to speak to a supervisor and were told they were experiencing a large volume of calls so it would not be possible. We asked for the supervisor to call us back and the agent stated he would “try” to inform him of the request. Meanwhile Central Air Conditioning and Heating will not return our calls nor as we are being told will they respond to AHS. With all this you would think they would contract with a reputable company or get us someone to come out who can accurately diagnose the issue but NO they get the worst of the worst who have horrible reviews across every platform. WE STILL NEED OUR AIR CONDITIONER FIXED!!!!

A few of my neighbors had problems with their AC and I talked to other people whose AC was down. They didn't have the home insurance protection that I have so, theirs was gonna be a little over three grand just to get it up. To redo everything, it was over six grand out of pocket. I told them about AHS and gave them the information.

I’ve never had a complaint with American Home Shield. Each and every time we’ve asked for a work order, it’s been done. The agents that they contract with contact us to determine the time is verified. Most cases, I ask them to call a few minutes before they come, and they do. And they’re very neat, very clean, and very polite.

The tech that came out was super nice. And he asked me if I checked the breakers, so I told him that was the first thing I did and made sure that all of that was good. I've got background in construction. So, I know a little bit about HVAC. And so, he said, "Okay, great. Because you'd be surprised, sometimes, we come out, it's just the breakers." He pulled off the cover, and tested the capacitor. He said I had a bad capacitor and he changed it out within just a short amount of time. He was in and out.

My wife was there with the contractor and she said it was a very good experience. The tech had to go in the attic, which was very hot, and then did the work. He was very professional and he explained to her the concern of what it was and how he was gonna repair that and what she needs to keep an eye on if there would be any further damage or anything. Since then, it has been really good.

We've used American Home Shield a few times and the individuals that came from their third-party contractors or the contractors that have come have all succeeded in fixing the issues. We've had very good success with the transitions, meaning that if we make a phone call, they're very quick to respond with a text or email and then able to get us the right contractors to come and repair the things on the first time.

The people who came out were professional. They were very nice and courteous. The guy who came in today noticed that my house was ready for sale, and he spent a lot of time cleaning his feet before he even came in the house. These people pick up on those little things. It was a tremendous experience overall. I purchased a property in Florida and we got American Home Shield there as well.

He also said I have to open the doors, take everything out and that should rectify the problem. However, I don’t wanna defrost the freezer and refrigerator until I freeze up a lot of stuff, otherwise I’m gonna have leaks for 48 hours. I don’t know where to put the frozen food. Still, I'm satisfied with how they put the new part in for the water dispenser.