American Home Shield Reviews

I moved away from American Home Shield briefly, and I went to HSA, which is an AHS back company. I have different vendors from straight up going through AHS. Maybe the same company, but I get a different set of vendors, and that makes all the difference. It's cheaper, and I get to get my systems fixed. The garbage disposal with the sink needed to be changed. The tech came out and looked at it. He had to order a part. He came back and did something. It wasn't quite fixed, so I had asked for them to come back out. They closed out the order and said that they came back out, and that I wasn't home. That was a lie because I worked from home. I'm home all day. I have cameras all around my house. I had to reopen the claim. That took a month of me going back and forth, and still not able to use my part.

This year, I had to get that same garbage disposal part that was supposed to have been fixed with AHS. I did it through HSA, but when I moved over to HSA, they had better vendors. I use the same vendors, but I never had the same vendors that AHS would send out that I had with HSA. And there are some subtle differences.

AHS outright kept increasing the deductible. Based on the poor merchants, it wasn't worth my payment. I will pay for service and quality all day long, but the waits were too long. It only happened at the end of the year. My theory is it grew so much in popularity that it made it hard to handle the workload. But with HSA, it's a cheaper price per month. I get a military discount. I don't care about the deductible because I seem to have good vendors. Even with the open claim, I've never had a bad report about a vendor. They come out, something else happens, or they have to come back out, but they kept in touch. They called and showed up on time. They were always nice and courteous. They took time to explain what's going on.

Going through HSA is much simpler, and maybe it's the different pool of vendors that service that side. Also, I like the fact that with HSA if I have three plumbing issues, if I put them in one claim, I pay one $100. With AHS, it will be $300. If a plumber was out here and he checked a leak, a toilet, handle or something, and maybe one other thing, it's just one $100. With AHS, I gotta pay $100 for the toilet, $100 for the leak, and $100 for the sink. I don't like the individual deductible per item. But with a good vendor, I could have dealt with it. If somebody fixed it right, hopefully, they didn't have to come back. I love the fact that if the repair is in the same system, I just pay one fee on the HSA side.

Within the contract itself, AHS had a limit on Freon. After that limit was reached, I had to pay out of pocket. For HSA, I don't. I pay the $100 deductible, and if it needs 300 pounds Freon, they take care of it. There's no limit. I always get the upgrade. Recently, I had an issue with both of my units, and I tried to put in the claim, and I didn't see them located on the online. The vendor said, "AHS said that they gave you a payout, and you didn't get something fixed." I said, "I absolutely got something fixed because I paid an additional $4000." It was a cut off, so I took the money, got what they told me to fix, plus some additional upgrades for the code, and I had to pay the difference with the Freon. I got wet switches put on the unit. I kept having problems with the same unit. When I had AHS, the vendors seemed weren't doing what they're supposed to do.

I added lightning protection on the outside. I paid 4 grand out of pocket. AHS tried to say, "You didn't fix it, so therefore, what you're trying to fix is not covered." I said, "That's absolutely a lie. And see, this is what I mean." I sent that paperwork in, and I still had to call in the claim to put it out there. It was, "She did get that done." I was able to get both units serviced.

Recently the garage door wouldn't open. There was a disconnect between the button on the wall and the sensor. The tech changed out something with the wiring and the thing that goes all the way down. He made everything communicate and talk. He was amazing. He even tightened up the other ones on the other side.

On a second occasion, miscommunications arose when I rescheduled a repair. Despite personally contacting the same technician, the system hindered the reconciliation process, leading to delays as personnel needed time to adjust shifts and routes. Unfortunately, this caused drawn-out delays and created the need for additional calls.

I have a refrigerator that’s dying. The freezer part leaks into the refrigerator part. I keep a large bowl and a small bowl inside to catch the water. I don’t have a packed refrigerator since I’m just one person, but the first time it happened it soaked everything, and I had no idea what was going on until I figured out where the leak was coming from. After that, I called American Home Shield. A young technician came out, and he was great. He unpacked my freezer, took a picture, and packed it back up. He said there was some tubing that he cleared out and told me it would be fine, that it happens sometimes and it’s not really a problem. And for a while, it was fine. But about a month later, it started leaking again.

So, I called AHS again, and another technician came out. He said the first guy didn’t do it right, not to knock him, but just that it hadn’t really worked. He fixed it, and everything seemed okay. But about a month later, it started leaking again. I called AHS and told them I needed a replacement because it’s old, and that’s what people have been telling me. But they told me that if I need a replacement, I will have to call within 24 hours after they fix it if it’s not working. The problem is it’s a slow leak. It takes a while to show up, and it’s never going to fail within 24 hours. So, I just let it go because I’m fine living with this refrigerator, even though I have to be careful.

Sometimes, if I’m not paying attention, the large bowl fills up and overflows. It takes up about a square foot of space in my fridge, which wouldn’t work if I had a family or if my husband were still here and we had it full of food. To me, that’s a stupid policy, because there are plenty of things that are slow leaks. Now I’d have to pay another repairman $125 just to come out again and lie, so I can call within 24 hours and say it doesn’t work, or he has to lie and say it’s unfixable. Meanwhile, it works fine for about a month before it starts leaking again. I just don’t think that’s a great policy, so for now, I’m just living with it.

There was also an incident with American Home Shield when attempting to purchase an induction stove that took over three weeks of back and forth because the store didn't have it in stock, despite scheduling my delivery. While these complications weren't directly related to American Home Shield, having to use their Lowe's gift card increased that burden. I eventually planned around the delay by investigating other buying possibilities; however, the obligation may deserve a reevaluation as well to allow for broader compatibility.

When reflecting on the service costs, it has significantly increased, currently standing at double the original rate, now set at $50 a month, with a service fee of $125 for calls made. All things considered, American Home Shield provides adequate service, especially by way of the friendly, patient technicians once they arrive, though accommodating incoming information comes more slowly. Overall, I would rate my experience a 5 for service and a 4 for cost. I understand, especially given the numerous experiences I've had over four years, that there's plenty of potential left should improvements emerge in these areas.

I had a claim for the HVAC that was not putting out heat. I had it maintenanced by another company and they froze it up. There was two inches of ice outside, there was enough puddle of an ice where everybody called it an ice skating rink, and it was only blowing out part of it. I had two other heaters sitting in the living room. So, I called AHS and they said they were going to send so and so out on such and such a day, and they were going to be from Cool Heat Heating and Cooling Company. They're over on the far side of Eugene which is about 20 miles from me.

The guy who showed up was named Wade and he asked me what was wrong with it. I told it was not heating like it was supposed to. He then proceeded to tell me to quit arguing with him. But I told him that I was not arguing with him. So he got two feet in front of the machine, turned it on high, backed up to four feet, and said that it was working fine. He also looked at the filters and he left. He was here for 15 minutes and I was a little upset. He didn't really do anything. I called American Home Shield again, so their rep made another appointment. I asked if it was going to cost me and she said no because Wade didn't fix the problem. She then said that Cool Heat would send Wade and Ben, because I asked for a different technician.

Five days later, Wade shows up. Nobody else. The fist sentence out of his mouth was, “What seems to be the problem this time?” I told him that it was the same as before and he said, "I told you it was working just fine.” But I told him that it wasn't. And again, he went with his I'm-gonna-argue-with-you spiel. He then said that he was going outside to make a phone call. He was out in his van longer than he was in my house and this time, he didn't do anything. He comes back to the door and he said he was waiting on the warranty company to call him. Moments later, I got a ping from American Home Shield saying that I have an appointment set for February 6th. So I wrote out my review on this guy. He was very curt to me and he didn't want to explain anything or communicate.

I waited a three days, then I called up American Home Shield and I told them that since my HVAC is not working, I went to somebody else's house for a few days. And I told them that I would like to know what this appointment is for. The guy then went out of his way to find out and tell me. He said that the diagnosis was that the motor wheel was dirty and was not blowing out air out of half of the unit. He then called Cool Heat. I was so impressed with this guy. He came back and said that there was going to be two guys in my house on the 6th and they were supposed to do some sort of cleaning. But he said they were not paying for it because they don't claim those items. The first meeting, the guy told me that the motor wheel would cost $200 to $500 out of my pocket to clean. It's an internal wheel.

At this point, the rep told me to hold on again and he called Cool Heat back. When he came back, he said I was going to have someone come out on the 6th to look at it thoroughly and there would be no cost to me. Cool Heat was going to take care of it. So right there, American Home Shield is a 12 out of 10 in my book. Also, their rep did not want me to hang up at all. But he still didn't know exactly what they were going to do or who was going to come over here. On February 6th, there was a knock on my door and a guy younger than Wade came up. Apparently, he had been sitting out in his pickup because he was 20 minutes early, and he said he'd go in and see if he could do something. He said that his name was Sebastian and that he was waiting on Wade. I told him that Wade didn't like me, wouldn't tell me anything, and that he liked to argue. Sebastian said that that was what he does. I then asked him what they were going to do that day and he said they were going to tear my machine apart. And he started taking it off the wall.

There underneath the unit that needed to be moved and when Wade showed up, he didn't say a word to me other than, “All this stuff was supposed to be moved”. I told him that he didn't communicate to me what he wanted me to do and he pretty much quit talking to me after that. So, they tore off my unit, took everything out, wrapped it up, cleaned it internally, lubed this, looked at that, did this, did that, went outside, added some Freon, and checked the connections. They were here for over two hours and they did not fool around. When I went outside, I told them that there was still water and ice. Wade told me that those were supposed to be there. What he didn't know was I was taking pictures the whole time of what they were doing and how they were doing it.

Compared to Wade, Sebastian was communicable and personable. But every time he tried to tell me something, Wade would shut him up. Then they decided to go outside. Wade was also very upset because I have a decorative cover around my outside unit and he didn't like that. In the end, it wound up taking three weeks to solve the problem. I left for a whole week and went to somebody else's house because it was ridiculous that I had to have two other heaters sitting here in the living room to keep me and my animals warm.

On their second trip, Ben was supposed to show up, but it wound up being Wade and Ben. I questioned it and never got an answer. On the third trip, Wade's phone rang and he said to tell Ben to meet him at his house. He said that he didn't need to go to that place, so Wade told Ben not to show up here. Also, I don't like people coming in and being curt with me and telling me I don't know what I'm talking about and what I'm saying is wrong. But I liked that American Home shield stepped in and explained what they could and could not do for me, and that they could communicate for me.

Recently, I had a claim for my dishwasher and I was so impressed with the tech that AHS assigned. He was professional and communicative. Other than that, I was told that AHS covers microwaves only if they're built in. They also cover a hot water on demand unit, but they're not all lumped under appliance. I was also going to have them look at my fridge and dishwasher, and they told me that they're not under the same thing. But the stove and dishwasher are under one heading of appliance. The refrigerator is under another one because of the refrigerant. So, if I would have had the dishwasher and stove looked at, it would have been one service fee. But to add the refrigerator to it means another service fee because of the breakdown of the different departments.

Then, the HVAC is by itself because it's a heating and cooling unit. But exhaust fans, they would cover the one in the kitchen and the one in the bathroom. The lady was so kind and patient in explaining these things to me. But the service fee is not extraordinary and it threw me a little bit. But for the short experience I had, I would give AHS 12 out of 10.

The first time they came out, they had to come out three times for my clothes washer. The tech was kind but he was very quick in fixing stuff instead of thoroughly checking out the washer. Then, when the part came in in November, they told me that they waited until after the holidays to come out. So, the part was in on November 18th and they didn't come out and replace it as soon as they should have. I shouldn't have had to wait until in January. The next time they came out was when they replaced the seal on my refrigerator. The person who came out asked me if I had any cooking oil and I said I did. I handed him the cooking oil and he poured some in the top and put his finger in it, then he rubbed it on the refrigerator door, which I thought was not a good thing to do. So, I was not impressed with that at all but I didn't make a fuss about it.

The other thing they came for was my dishwasher. It was not acting well and the tech didn't pull it out to check the operating board. Since my dishwasher wouldn't dry out, he told me I just had to leave it open to dry it out, which was one of the problems I was calling about because it was causing the mildew smell. The other thing was that the clean cycle would not go off. It would stay on even overnight. So, I started the dishwasher before he came so he could see what it did at the cycle because it was holding water. But he did not wait to see about anything. He just blew it off, said it was the plumber's job, and he didn't even look at the dishwasher for more than five minutes. That was kind of odd. He just said that I needed a plumber because under my sink, there was something type of condensation that was causing the wood to start to look like there was a leak from somewhere.

So, I called up AHS and asked for someone else to come out. American Home Shield sent someone else out and the first time they came out, they said they didn't see anything wrong with it, the job was complete, and everything was working. They said there's a little bit of steam that comes out on the side of the dishwasher, but that wasn't the reason. So, there wasn't a leak under my sink.

I called back and told them that things were the same and the washer wasn't working properly. They then came out a second time and changed the operating board. But I am frustrated with it and I just said I'll go ahead and leave the dryer open so it can dry out because it won't dry out. And the moisture stays in over until the next day. I am going to call the company that came out one more time and ask why the cleaning cycle won't go off because they're the experts, so they may just tell me when I have to open it. But to me, it's an inconvenience to have to worry about when the dishwasher is going to go off and I have to open it up. I also wondered if that is what all dishwashers do but I don't think that's the case.

Other than that, American Home Shield always gets someone out right away and I've had them for a very long time. They've been great about the quality. But in the area I'm in, Lake Area Appliances is the first one that pops up and they always come out. However, I've always had to call them and call the people that come out then call American Home Shield to get them to come out. So, the quality of service has went down. Also, the people that come out have to get on the floor, but usually, they short-tail us out, or they don't look professional at all. So, most of the time, I'm just not pleased with the people that AHS has been sending out.

They should give customer service because they charge me $100 a month and out of a year, they may come one time or every other year or every three years. So, they're getting their money and their rates are getting high. Aside from that, they should give standards that the contractors have to have when coming to your door like showing you a card instead of just saying so and so. But the techs call and tell you they're so many minutes away from you and they're coming your way, so you pretty much know that's them.

It's under warranty. I didn't think I'd have to spend that much. But if that's the policy, that's what I needed to do. So, he took care of that. Everything seems good to go. I wrote Carl's a check. I paid the home warranty. I had a contractor come on the following Saturday. Last Tuesday, they replaced it. Saturday, I had a contractor come over because I'm having some work done on my bathroom. The tech looked around. We went in the basement. The water heater is the first thing when we hit the bottom of the steps into my basement. He said, “I smell gas. Do you smell that?” I said, “They just replaced the water heater. Maybe that's what you're smelling, the residualness of all that.” He said, “No. This seems odd.”

He got a tester. He had a diode on it. He calibrated it. He went right up to the fittings of the pipe. He said, “This thing's gonna detect natural gas. It's gonna go off like crazy.” He started putting it by the pipe. Immediately, it started screaming. He said, “You gotta call them back. And they need to come out here and get this fixed. You got a gas leak.” I called the plumber. The on-call guy answered. He said, “I wanna help you out, but you gotta go through the home warranty, unfortunately.” I got on the phone. I explained how pressing it was, got the dispatch number over the phone, called the on-call guy back, gave him that. He came right out. He detected it. He said, “Yup. The previous guy just made a mistake and didn't tighten it all the way.”

He took it apart. He showed me. He didn't have the tester with him, but he sprayed it with soapy water. I saw a bubbling up, showing that there was gas leaking. He put some dielectric pipe grease on it to make sure the seal held. He tested it. He said he has been a plumber for over 30 years, he would talk to the guy that came out, who was nothing but nice. He just missed a step. I get it. It happens. And they came out and fixed it. They didn't charge me. I hope I wasn't charged by the home warranty. I don't believe I was because I didn't have to initiate anything. They told me I wouldn't pay for it, so I'll look on my account, because it was under warranty.

The plumber texted me when he was coming. I told him I had to run out. “What time do you think you'd be here?” He would cut me in the loop. He was here for an hour. He took care of it, answered all my questions, and was very nice. Monday or Tuesday, I got a call from the woman at Carl's, making sure everything was good, wanted to know what happened, make sure the story was all checked out. I told her the same thing. She agreed. She said, “I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but I'm glad we got it taken care of. And let us know if anything happens.” I would recommend them. They said they would talk to the guy that made the mistake and use it as a coaching and learning experience. I understand that mistakes are made. They got that it was an emergency, given that it's natural gas. I didn't want my wife, myself, and my daughter to get sick. They handled it perfectly. Everything works good now. I would use Carl's in the future.

I have some concerns about AHS, because I've called in the past. The rates go up. Everything is more expensive now. I complained because I was gonna cancel once to say, “I don't need this anymore. You keep raising the rate.” They kept putting me on hold and said, “What about this rate? How can we keep your business?” They gave me an offer I couldn't refuse. When they did that, they said they would reduce my monthly payment. They never did that. They said, “We're going to provide you a one-time credit that would equal out to what that discount was.” Never saw that. Never was applied. We're going on two years.

The people I talked to aren't the easiest to understand. I'm patient with them. But besides the language barrier, they have no clue on the account of what the notes say. Their calls are recorded. I've called three times about this discount I was supposed to get. It was in a 12-month period. It was supposed to deduct roughly 20 bucks a month off my bill. 20 times 12 is $240. I kept track on it. I called on it. It came to a thing where AHS wouldn't honor their word and I'm getting irritated. But the contractors that they use have been solid. They have done all right besides the billing issue that they have not cleared up for me.

On another occasion, I was navigating the frustrating process of repairs for a dishwasher and a refrigerator, both of which were declared irreparable. Trying to secure replacements was not straightforward. I found myself repeatedly following up with little to no updates from the service side of American Home Shield. Unfortunately, I had to handle it all without guidance as the supposed guidance email never arrived, not even in my junk mail.

The customer service agents I spoke with were generally polite and doing the best they could within their constraints. However, the lack of an emergency protocol for urgent water stoppage was problematic. Overall, the layers of communication and scheduling challenges made me question the reliability of this service. I don't like that I gotta pay $100 every time I call them to report something. This experience has led me to evaluate my options and consider alternatives that might provide a more responsive service.

The service from their team was incredibly convenient. The tech was in and out swiftly, and everything operates perfectly after the fix.

Even though I find their pricing a tad high, it's justified by the peace of mind they provide. Both online and phone interactions with American Home Shield were smooth, with excellent customer service.

The experience with the refrigerator wasn't seamless; the issue persisted and the technician suggested another call-out only if defrosting didn't solve the problem. On the brighter side of things, I had a consistently positive experience with Hornet; they were both professional and trustworthy, especially compared to another appliance technician from American Home Shield who attempted a fix on my dishwasher. That previous visit led to a string of inefficiencies where more parts than seemed necessary were ordered, with little value added, causing unnecessary additional costs.

A broader concern I faced with American Home Shield revolved around plumbing services. During that service, the plumber they sent out was not communicative and caused more damage than solutions, flooding the area and damaging the ceiling with improper sealing. Customer service didn't offer viable resolutions, resulting in a deeply frustrating experience. A fundamental issue seemed to be the inconsistent quality of contractors, with some taking little pride in their work, causing long-standing problems.

However, American Home Shield had positive moments too, particularly in dealing with electronics. When my TV needed replacing, their collaboration with Allstate was effective—after some delays and inconveniences—which resulted in a replacement TV after issues with the factory warranty and original manufacturer.

In sum, my interactions with American Home Shield revealed instances of exemplary service marred by communication barriers and procedural inefficiencies. While I appreciate their capability to handle electronic claims efficiently, the concerns with appliance repairs and plumbing services introduce hesitations about them. If improvements were pursued in these pain points alongside maintaining customer relationships, it could entice me to continue using their service.

Despite requesting a different technician due to the discomfort during his visit, American Home Shield insisted on sending the same person. Since he entered the house, he talked to himself. People do that sometimes. They don't want to tell us, but they will talk to themselves and make us feel bad. When I requested not to send him again, AHS still sent it to him. But he didn't do anything. He left. I told him, "I need to know now what we're gonna do." He said, "I don't know. You can call American Home Shield and they will answer your questions." And while leaving, he rudely talked to himself. I ended up purchasing a new dishwasher, hoping American Home Shield might assist with this expense considering the circumstances.