American Home Shield Reviews

A tech with Climate Experts came out and had looked at the central unit. While he was testing it, the transformer went bad. It was going bad anyway and I had noticed that it was smoking a little bit so I disconnected the power. He said that he was able to rewire the board and everything to get the fan motor working and replaced a few components.

He was great. I'm an industrial technician, so I was trying to help him figure out what was wrong with the unit and was working with him. He was very knowledgeable. He said that the smart valve on my heater has gone bad and that's what was causing my short-circuiting in my electrical system for the fan. He told me he could wire around that. Since it's hot, we're not gonna use the heater but he said we're gonna need to replace the furnace come time to use the heater and replace the central unit.

He said that we would be fine right now waiting until it would be time to need the heater and then we would need to call back again and have them try and set something up to get the furnace replaced. He also told us what kind of financial impact we could expect from our part like fees and charges for what the warranty wouldn't cover. Now, we can at least prepare for that.

Experience-wise, it was really easy. And it really wasn't slow. It would've been cool if we'd have at least gotten some kinda notice that it may be a day or two before the contractor called us. But from that point of us filing the claim, we really didn't have a lot more contact with American Home Shield until after the tech had come and I had my ratings and review email that I got for him for how the service call went. Our warranty would expire at the end of the year and we're planning on signing a new contract to extend the warranty.

Original Review: July 25, 2020

Everything went very good with Whirlpool. It seemed to be a quite a simple fix so it was resolved easily. It was something that I probably could have done myself if I had just taken the time to look into it. I have an ongoing issue with the refrigerator though. My policy with American Home Shield allows for the unit to be replaced if it's felt to be unfixable. I called in about this refrigerator issue back in March and we're almost in August and it's still not fixed. This is my main refrigerator in the kitchen and they've been using the same contractor every time. Every time the contractor comes back, they say that they’ve figured out what it is. They replace it and it doesn't work. So then they come back and say that they will try another thing and order another part. That comes in, they replace it and it doesn't work. It's going on for months and months. I keep saying that maybe they should just call it at this point.

This last time, I called American Home Shield and I said that it has been going on too long. I need to have it replaced. They said that they would put it in another recall work order and have the contractor come back to reassess. If they feel like it can't be done, then it can't be done. So I did that. Immediately, the contractor ordered another part and so they're coming next week to install this new part. I've told the contractor and American Home Shield multiple times that they can try replacing every single piece in the unit just to try. American Home Shield says that there's nothing they can do. I called the contractor and they said that if there’s another part they can try, they're gonna try it.

The contractor thinks they can do it but they have been unsuccessful every single time they've come, which is nine times now. The only good part is that every time they come back, it's been under a recall work order which means I don't have to pay the deductible every time. I've only paid once but at the same time, it's still a long time. It's not necessarily American Home Shield’s fault. They have their own procedures and their procedure dictates that they can't replace something unless they hear from the contractor that it needs to be replaced. So, the onus is on the contractor though I've had extreme frustration dealing with both AHS and the contractor trying to get this issue resolved.

Unfortunately, the issue wasn't anything that happened in the house. It's actually a Generac component that went bad. But luckily, the guy was able to come in and say that he could bypass the whole little Generac component and that way, he could get us our dryer. The only gotcha is gonna be when we do lose power someday and the generator kicks in, we're not gonna be able to use our dryer because this component is no longer connected. But we had it done because the whole house was powered through the Generac and if we were to lose power, having a dryer is probably the least of our worries.

The other claim was for the air conditioner and it is a fairly unit. At this point, there's still a component that's not functioning properly in the AC but it's not essential for here in Florida. I guess it's primarily used for when temperatures are extremely cold. The technician said that it's not necessary and we can always order the parts. So he got our air conditioner running. He was able to change the little capacitor for the air conditioner and then somehow rewire it so that it would work and then we're all in good shape.

Knowing that something is still not working the way it's supposed to is a little bit concerning but he explained it to me and he's the expert so he must know how these things work. So if we don't have to replace that particular part then cool. I'm happy and I'm fine with it. He was a really nice gentleman. He was very kind and professional. He took care of business and since then, the air conditioner has been working perfectly fine.

As far as American Home Shield is concerned, it has worked as advertised. We made the claim through the online feature and within 24 hours, we were notified. The biggest thing that I'm really happy with right now is the communication. Both issues were taken care of expeditiously and we're able to get on to the website easily or on the answering service easily. If the company continues that, that would help a lot for us, the customers. The claims process is an easy step-by-step process that has worked so far for those two issues we've had. We've just had to pay the $100 and then whatever repair was done was covered. So those two claims have been pretty easy so far from a repair standpoint.

I sat on the phone for three hours to be able to speak with someone. The person that I've spoken was very well-versed and communicated with me, so I was satisfied with her. Customer service is always on point. It's just the being able to reach someone is very difficult. I made an attempt to reach someone again today to let them know which refrigerator I'm interested in getting, and probably I'll be on the phone for another three hours. I'll wait again until Monday.

I did receive a number from the tech that was here last, which when I call that, I’m able to leave my phone number and then someone calls me back throughout the day. And maybe three or more hours later, but at least someone calls back. But with their department that I need to get in contact with, me leaving a number for someone to call back is not an option. I’m able to talk to Home Shield because I've been working from home because of circumstance with the corona. But that's not something that I would normally be able to do. I had the phone on hold, and when the person came on, it was three hours and 15 minutes later. She apologized. When you're trying to get the service for the first time then a chat pops up. But I would need to log into the account to be sure. Based on the email, it indicates that you will need to call that number, and it's on Monday through Friday from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm.

Another thing was, the faucet moved from one side to the other. It was very urgent because it was something that is used quite often. I called and I spoke with a lady who mentioned I should expect someone to come out within 24 to 48 hours. The person who called me was within the same day, if not the next day. It was a quick turnaround. The faucet needed to be tightened, but after the tech from High Priority came out and attempted to tighten it, it didn't work. He had to replace the faucet. In addition, there was a leak on the one sink. It was a stopper that needed to be repaired, and everything was completed on that day. I was extremely happy about that. It was a big help.

Another week went by and we hadn't heard anything. So, my wife called and she stayed on hold for an hour and a half and she finally hung up. She posted something on the Facebook page hoping somebody would call us and then two days ago, someone did call me. She said that they couldn’t get the part and that they have been authorized to give us a refrigerator. They were gonna email me the link so we can pick out the refrigerator. It took a while but they sent us an email and my wife picked out a refrigerator. I ordered it and they said it takes about seven days to get it. But my wife was frustrated because when he left, the guy said it needed a control head. If they couldn't get the control head or they were sending out another company to verify that it was the control head because they couldn't it, they should've sent us an email. It would have been nice to have been notified.

As far as the company themselves who came out to do the work when they were there to do the work, I would give them a very high rating. I would give the warranty company a horrible rating. I’ve had a warranty with them for over 15 years with that property. My air conditioner is the original air conditioner from when the house was built in ‘85. They've been out there about four different times to work on the air conditioner and it seems like every time they come out, it's usually a couple days before they can get someone to come out. When they do come out, I had to wait almost two weeks for a part to come in. One time, it was over two weeks that I had to wait for a part to come in. It seems ridiculous to me. I’m not happy with that warranty company but there's not a whole lot of warranty companies to choose from.

I have no qualms with Arctic Air, the contractor that came out this time. In the past, AHS had sent other companies out to do the air conditioner work, and most of those companies will put a sticker on my unit with their name and their company name and phone number. I should call my renter and have him take a picture of my unit, but I've written in marker not to use that contractor anymore. I wrote it in black magic marker. That was kinda their advertising for us to call them back. I don't have a problem with them putting a sticker on my unit. The problem was it was horrible customer service. They never stayed in contact with me to keep me abreast of what was going on with my part. I had to call the warranty company in order to get them to respond after two weeks and then they're like, “Oh, yeah. We got the part now so we’ll be out there tomorrow.”

Thank goodness I took the extra step and called. I know the process for me to even get them to call me back was like me needing to leave a message or ask them to call me. It was because they couldn't give me anything to call them back, so I was so glad. I was like, “Okay, great, ‘cause now I’m gonna handle this and I don’t have to keep waiting even longer.” American Home Shield had to find a new company. They gave me Pipe Down Services and someone came out after three or four days. He changed out my garbage disposal right then and told me to run my water as soon as he was done. He was great.

Since I'm a first-time homebuyer, I've never had Home Shield before. This is a first time and it has been actually wonderful. My husband likes it. He said it was a good experience. I made a claim online one time. I know Home Shield is not supposed to charge for the same issue, which is the AC, and I got charged, but it was because instead of calling, I did it online and it's an automatic draft. That was the only issue. It's still the AC. It's not anything new. I shouldn't be charged for it. But Home Shield quickly explained to me that it was because I used the automated choice. So the next time, if it's the same issue, call instead of using the internet. Home Shield does what they say they're there for.

The reason why they came in earlier than I requested with my recent claim, was there was a cancellation on an appointment. They were supposed to come in on Thursday, but they came on Tuesday, which was great, but I understand that's part of this whole thing. If they ask me if that could be improved on, it’ll be great. That's the only complaint I have for American Home Shield. I've been working with them for a while and I gotta renew it after September. I would recommend AHS ‘cause they have a great price.

I called the morning before the vendor shows up to ask what steps do I need to take. After a hour and a half a representative tells me to call a different number. I wait for two hours only to be told I need to have the vendor call the authorization approval number. By now the has done the diagnosis and left as we has already waited 2 hours for this auth. I stayed on the line for another hour to have the AHS rep tell me she can't take info from me only the vendor. So 5 hours of hold the stove is not fixed, no auth, and I am still on hold. This is the worst customer experience ever. This is a poorly run company that is not customer focused. Ask your Realtor or Title company for an alternate choice.

We filed another claim for our microwave. Took them a week to come out, then we were advised parts had to be ordered and they would be shipped to me. It's been a month without my microwave and I have yet to get parts or follow up calls from them. Extremely long wait times, I get reps after 45 plus minutes and don't get any answers that's worth waiting for!! The worse company ever!! I will be dropping them soon!!

About a year and a half ago, I had to call the Arizona Regional Manager for American Home Shield because I have a daughter that was disabled and my air conditioner went out, and the contractor came and fixed it. But they kept charging me $75 for something that never got fixed. We had to pay $75 three times, plus whatever expense I had to pay to get it fixed. I was so upset. So there were some situations that they were not the best person to talk to. But because of the rep, we were able to get somebody outside of American Home Shield to come and fix my air conditioner. It took over a week. My air conditioner went out yesterday and I'm waiting for somebody to be here around noon. I gotta give the tech at least 24 hours.

Recently, the AC wasn't cooling in the main unit on the outside. It wasn't turning. When Jody Millar went in, something had bent. It wasn't making a connection. They replaced it. But it took them a little while this time and it was simply because it was so hot, there was a lot of people that air had gone out, so I understood that. But they gave me a schedule of from 3:00 to 7:00 and they were out here prior to 3 o'clock, so they didn't wait until 7:00. They have always been very good, very professional and tell me exactly what's wrong, fix it in, and what to do. The two guys that came out always come together. They are very professional and very friendly. I love them.

After we got that cleared, he said that I could contact Phil's Good and they gave me the information. We talked about it and scheduled a day for them to come out and fix it. They did a fantastic job with getting it fixed. It's running well and I don't have any issues. We kinda used Home Shield a little bit. We also had them in our previous house for 13 years. I wish the documents that they prepare to send to the folks' home to say what's going on with their house could be emailed. They mail it but I'm not sure why they couldn't email it also if requested by the customer. That would be the only thing. Everything else is fine and I'm satisfied with Home Shield.

The answering machine recorded the lady that left me a message and said, "Your claim has been resolved. The contractor completed the work." I called them back and finally got someone on the phone and they said that was not what they said. I said that it was and I have the voice recording if they wanna hear it. Then the rep said the person should've never said that. They claimed that it was just a big misunderstanding. I told them that the tech never cleared the line. He couldn't even test to see if the line was really clogged. The machine was too tight and he didn't wanna blow the water. He didn't have space to blow the water out to the drain and he didn't want to blow it into the box, so he was gonna have to come back.

I got a second opinion from another air conditioning guy that came out and he determined the same issue. But he said he couldn't do anything because he was only a second opinion. He was only allowed to take pictures and give an opinion on what it was, but he couldn't do any work. American Home Shield doesn't allow them to do any work. They just come out and document what they see and if it's the same or a different situation. Then American Home Shield called me and said that the second company said the same thing. They said it was not a claim and asked me if I would like for one of them to come out. I told them no and that I called a different air conditioning company that came out and fixed it in about 20 minutes.

I had American Home Shield 10 years ago when I bought my old house and we had something similar happen. It was the furnace and they wouldn't cover it. They said it was not a warranty issue. So my experience with them has not been great. But I've heard mixed reviews too. So I'm gonna keep them for a little bit just to make sure.

In order for me to call American Home Shield and speak to a live agent, I stayed on hold for an hour. It was a lot. I was at work. Luckily, we didn't have anything to do and I put them on speakerphone. American Home Shield changed the contractor to the Cutting Edge people and they were awesome. They came out to fix our air conditioning. I would recommend them 100%. Their tech was very respectful and I liked his manners. Manners are very important to me. I thanked him and told him he had been so nice. He was fast too. He was here like 10, 15 minutes to fix the problem and was gone.

We had been told that if they came out on the third time, they should have just replaced the refrigerator but they didn't. I still have the same unit and this time, it's cooling but it's overcooling. We now have a leak inside the door icemaker that is freezing up everything, staying open and dropping ice at random. On the other hand, when Elite Heating & Air Conditioning came out, they did a good job. The technician knew what he was doing and he finished it off really quickly. He told us what was going on and off he went.

DT Electric came out because I had some problems with my electric system. This was the first time I've seen electricians at AHS but they seemed very efficient and they took care of the problem. The switch was kicking on and off. They changed the plug in the bedroom and that right there was supposed to take care of the problem on that side of the house. Normally, when they come out, they would check everything to make sure everything is right but I said that I didn’t have any problems on the other side of the house there so, they didn't.

I had a plumber come in and after he put the garbage disposal in and flipped the switch in the breaker, he said that I have an electrical problem. I said that I would call the electrician back since I still got a warranty there. So the electrician came back out, looked at it and he said that it was not an electrical problem but a plumbing problem. I asked if I have to call the plumber back and he said he would take care of it because it was just a simple wire that needs to be moved off the other wire. So, that's what he did and he knocked it out. It was a done deal. He was fantastic, in and out quick, and was very efficient. So, I will use them all the time. There was no problem at all.

I don’t understand the plumber though because he had worked here before under American Home Shield and he seemed very efficient. On that day, he came to repair the handle on the faucet. He said it was loose and he tightened it up. But every three to four days, I have to re-tighten it. My wife is saying that it wasn’t right but I gotta live with it. I'll just tighten up every three days or so.

It was no better quality. The standard finish is white, stainless or black and all they had was white. We wanted stainless because everything else like our stove and refrigerator was stainless. We didn't want this white blob in the middle of our kitchen. We ended up taking their check which was for a couple of hundred dollars and we bought a unit which ended up being $600 or $700. The money they gave us was what they would have paid for the unit but it wasn’t what its retail was by quite a bit. They said that if we wanted to buy something else, they would just give us a check and we can do that. But they kind of force you into that option by not giving you something that actually replaces what you had like if it was black or stainless or something common. They don't have a similar choice. You can get a similar quality but it was just whatever they happened to have in stock.

We paid the additional out-of-pocket and we got what we wanted. It cost us about another $500 over what they were willing to give us. That was kind of tacky. They say we could take the money then upgrade it any way we wanted. But we didn't want it upgraded. We just wanted to replace the unit that we had. It didn't have to even be the same brand but the same quality and finish. That's been my only complaint with them. We also had another claim where American Home Shield had A-1 Overhead Door Co come out. Our door wasn't working and wouldn't go up and down. The tech assessed the situation, figured out what was wrong, and fixed it. He was professional, friendly, and competent. Just what we wanted.

The last time I had some complaints to American Home Shield, it was like talking to the wall. I didn’t have anyone to mediate the conversation to the point that it was me against them. I don't know who and where American Home Shield gets these small companies from, but the contractors seem to be low-end individuals. Their margin of operation is not as large as the established companies as well. They're mom-and-pop type of units and I have no problem with small contractors. However, I have a problem with contractors who do not respect the household and not only that, dispatched work instead of following through to make sure everything is functioning properly.

These small companies that they send out are not very responsive as far as doing a follow-up and completing the work. Either they come out and leave a mess and they won't clean up behind them or they are slow in responding. One time, my air condition unit wasn't coming on. It wasn't blowing cold air in any form or fashion and SBS found out that the fan had become entangled on a wire. It shut the system down. When SBS repaired that, they went upstairs to check the unit to see if it was working. It was, but they failed to notice and inform me that there was a leak coming from that unit. Since there was a leak, after a couple days, we noticed that the pan in which the unit was supposed to drip into overflowed.

In doing so, the water saturated the floor as well as the bedroom walls upstairs. Upon which, I called the company a couple of times to come back out to look at the damage that was done, but I never got a callback. The SBS guy who came out and did the repair was nice and he was very cordial. The company as a whole though did not respond to my request for them to come back out and check the unit again. SBS never came back. Since the pan was dripping and the water damage was great, I had to follow another avenue as far as getting the problem resolved. I had to file a claim to get my bedroom repaired.

American Home Shield had a water restoration company come out. They dried out the attic, the bedroom and the carpet and they've torn out the sheetrock and the walls that were damaged. The sheetrock around the closet area was damaged and the closet door had to be removed too. The whole ceiling in the bedroom had to come out as well. It cost me $2,800 for water restoration and then it cost me another $3,000 for the wall, the sheetrock and everything else that was damaged. Also, before the water restoration people could complete their work, I had to have our AC man come out here to remove and replace the air conditioning unit, which was another $1,000. This was done so that the water restoration people could tear the saturated floor out and put a new floor down.

That AC person put the air condition back in place last Thursday. Today, I have an appointment with another restoration company to put that sheetrock and paint and ceiling fan back. We’re waiting for the restoration people to come out here to finish off the work that was caused by that leak that was not repaired. So, what recourse do I have about American Home Shield since the representative that they sent out did not respond back to my request to come out here? I’m getting the bills now, so I’m waiting to get all of it before I contact American Home Shield. I have taken pictures of the damage and everything that has gone into this process, but I was so frustrated to the point that I had to have something down right then, and I couldn’t figure out what to do.

The issue was a reversing valve. The unit is underneath the house. The tech told me he didn’t want to go under the house so we never really identified the problem. I ended up spending six hours on the phone with Home Shield and I'm not very happy. I was really angry. It was close to 100 degrees that weekend and I live with my mom. And then the way Home Shield addressed that too, with not getting a technician out that weekend, was really bad too. They wanted to know my mom’s personal health history, which is none of their business. It’s a violation of HIPAA. The whole experience was awful. I'm reporting everybody to the Better Business Bureau.

With my plumbing, it was terrible. I was overseas and I just got home June 19th of last year. So, my mother was here when she scheduled the first plumbing appointment. They came out and then the problem was still existing, so they had to come out again for the same toilet issue. They fixed that and then, I discovered a leak from the Whirlpool to my master bedroom. They came out and they were supposed to fix the toilet again because I told them that when I flush it, I have to do it twice. The guy was working on the Whirlpool tub at the time and he was working on that for about two hours. I asked him about the toilet after he finished and he said that there was nothing he could do about it. He told me how he used the bathroom. He said that he would always flush while he was using it and then flush again at the end.

I take showers mostly but I told my mother to take a bath in the Whirlpool just to see if the problem was fixed. So, she took a bath and I went downstairs in my basement, and there was water leaking on my floor. The reps had already cut a hole in my ceiling to look for the problem and then they said he fixed the problem. He then came and put the drywall back in the ceiling. Now, it's leaking again. I just moved in so I didn't have any furniture there but my 82-inch screen TV just came in today and that's it's going on the wall where that leak is coming from. So, I have to delay my installation on my TV until they get this plumbing issue fixed.

I asked American Home Shield to outsource it to another company because I didn't wanna deal with these same guys that keep coming in my house. They said that it will delay the situation so I said it was alright. Somebody's supposed to come again tomorrow and we'll see how that goes. Hopefully, they'll get it fixed and don't have to cut my ceiling again. It is American Home Shield’s fault because they are outsourcing contracts to the cheapest bidders.

We had a policy with American Home Shield when we lived in Abilene so we probably had one about 12 years. We use them so often that they called us high risk because when you look at what we've paid in versus what they've had to pay out for claims, they lost money on us. Ours is a little bit higher than the others. But now, at this house, a lot of our pieces have been replaced. We may look at others that are a little bit cheaper. I live in a small town so it'd be nice if American Home Shield could respond a lot faster to some of the claims. There are times that they can't find anyone in the area so we have to go find someone. It would also be nice if they expand their network of providers.

The only downside with American Home Shield is that it takes much longer than if you called somebody else. It's not the quickest service. But once something gets fixed, it gets fixed. Other than that, I've never had an issue. I’ve had American Home Shield for maybe 15 years. I've had maybe two or three claims. They’ve always been very good.

So then, we called back, "Hey, that didn't do anything." Then, the contractors didn't come out the next day. The next guy came out on June 30th and then he hooked his stuff up, and soon he said, "No, the first guy that came out diagnosed it wrong." The first guy added what they called 420. It needed 410A. He went up in the attic and said it needed a new evaporator coil. He left.

Then, American Home Shield sent a different company out here. The guy went up in the attic but wasn't here very long. He said, "Yeah, needs a coil." It was like he was with climate control. This was on July 14th. He added 410A, a little bit and he said he'd write it up and see what the warranty company would say. A couple of days later, an expert from Louisiana showed up, and nobody told him anything. He was like brand-new and I told him the story. He went up in the attic for a while, and he finally got up there with his torch. He said he plugged the leak in some valve, but it didn't do any good.

Then, another guy came out. The last guy that came here was really good. First of all, he had to correct everything that the previous guy did. There's a cover that goes over the unit upstairs, which keeps the air blowing into the vents and that was completely hanging off. The screws were broken and all the air from the AC was blowing in the attic. So this guy patched all this up and I helped him up in the attic 'cause he had to tape everything. He set all his things up on the machine and he was doing the right kind of pressure.

I was hoping he'd come back 'cause I was monitoring what it was doing overnight. It was a weekend, so I called him on a Monday and he said, "Oh no, I quit." The last guy that was here that was good, but he quit. So I've gone with somebody else to fix it. Three of the contractors said it needed a coil, but nobody ever ordered it. Everybody that showed up was brand-new.

When I would call in, Home Shield automatically assigned me this really bad plumber in Illinois, and the house was in Indiana. That has happened twice and I've had to call back. I hardly get the actual person I want to service. The last time when I had this most recent call, I said, “Can you designate Altstadt as my preferred plumber?” Because then the next time I call in, if I had a problem, it would automatically assign them to my case. I'll find out next time I need a plumber. Hopefully, it won't be for a while though. Other than that, I've had several claims with Home Shield and I've been pleased every time. They've done a good job for me.

I've got a couple of things so far with American Home Shield. A contractor came out and fixed my heater when it went out. They were quick. I was with another home warranty company before and they were terrible. That was why we had to switch to American Home Shield. So far, customer service is prompt and quick. The service is great. I like it and I've also recommended it already.

I like American Home Shield and they do a very good job. I appreciated them responding and saying that they didn't do anything. They did refund my initial upfront deposit, which started off many years ago. It started from $35 and it’s now up to $100. I dropped them before and I’ve gone with another group for one year, but I came right back to them. I highly recommend American Home Shield. They hold the consumer in check by making sure that we can show records that our particular appliances are being looked at and are adjusted an annual basis or whenever the last time we had a problem. So my track record is good with them. I haven't needed them a whole lot, but I'm satisfied with what they've done and that’s why I'm still with them.

However, the level of service of AHS depends on whether or not we get somebody who speaks English. A lot of times, we get people who don't understand what we're trying to say. We've been very dissatisfied with the plumbing service that we got through AHS, Down the Drain Plumbing. They've sent the same people out multiple times and they could never get it right. The techs from there just come out, look around, say everything is fine then leave. We've had six different service calls for them to come out and it's been terrible. We finally managed to get someone different to come out but this issue has been going on for about six months. All of our clothes in the basement are ruined and there is black mold buildup from all the moisture.

There is an existing repair request I have out there that's under some sort of review process. It's been three weeks since the tech came out here and assessed it. I'm a little dissatisfied with that. I called yesterday to get a checkup on it, and there was an hour long wait to talk to someone just to see what the status of an existing claim is and to get more information on it. Overall, I've had a good experience, but this latest one with why there's a three-week delay on getting approval for a part that needs repaired on our oven is unknown to me at this time. That’s probably a bit of a downside for us, but hopefully I'll be able to connect with someone to figure out what the holdup is there.

There was one thing I had earlier in the year where they had a hard time finding someone who would fix the issue. They would not authorize it. I’d contacted another company who said that they knew what was wrong and could fix it, but American Home Shield was saying they had to go through all of their vendors before they could allow me to use them. I hired them so I ended up just canceling the claim and paid them myself to fix this since I had like four other different contractors come out who were unable to fix the issue. I just gave up after that. Despite those two not so great experiences, American Home Shield is probably one of the better companies out there who do provide home warranty services. With any of the other things I had, it has been good with them so far. The fact that if the same thing breaks within a 60 or 90-day period that they will send someone back out without an additional charge is nice as well.

I called and demanded that American Home Shield find me somebody sooner. But it still took the tech forever. The tech was lovely and very nice. He informed me. But when I asked if he had the needed parts, he didn't and they had to order the parts. If they were going to come here and do a refrigerator, they should have had the majority of the parts needed for cooling. I then had to wait another two weeks. I'm not very happy with the response.

American Home Shield's response time is okay. But when they don't have enough people in their group to come out and help you, it’s very frustrating. Being without a refrigerator is a big deal and I would consider it an emergency. You can't have dairy or anything. Also, I am without a refrigerator for weeks and I'm paying. On top of that I have to pay another $125 just for someone to come out. It's a bunch of crap.

As far as dealing with American Home Shield, it wasn't their rep's fault. I spoke to her numerous times. She was trying to help me as much as she could to try to find someone. American Home Shield is not at fault too but they should have more people and find more people to get to customers sooner, even if they have to go a little further to find them, especially when it’s an emergency.

I've had AHS for almost 18 years and I haven't had any problems. They’ve been great. They've also been prompt regarding sending contractors out. If their contractor couldn’t fix it, someone else would. The prices have gone up a little bit, but they haven't been too bad. I have heard horror stories, but I have not experienced anything. So, I’m pleased. I've referred them to other family members.

On the other hand, it has been a nightmare on the electric. The guy from the company they sent out was a joke. He was telling us how we needed to rip the wall out and he wanted to cut a hole through the wall with the cabinet. It's a $375,000 house, which, in the area we live in, is good. I told him that it passed inspection and they never had any problems with it before. It was simply the switch that you go to turn on for your garbage disposal that went dead. So, it's not anything major. Rather than get a plumber out to do the garbage disposal, we have to make sure that it's not the electrical line because that was bizarre that it would go out like that. So, the guy spent an hour here doing everything ridiculous. He said how he was gonna have to get up with somebody else in the company to talk with them about it. I said that there was not gonna be a hole in my wall.

We had a flickering kitchen light and when he went to fix it, he said he didn’t have time for that because he got two other calls that night. So, it left us with a bad taste in our mouth. That was on a Thursday so we waited for the next week for somebody else to call us from his company. They never did so we let a week go by and we called American Home Shield. The rep apologized profusely and she said that if she could keep me on hold, she was gonna call that company. She did and she said that the company was gonna send somebody else out.

Another week goes by and there was nobody. So I called American Home Shield again. It was quite a wait to have to get through to them so that was a little bit problematic to me to put in for a service call. It then went back and forth. Three and a half weeks later, somebody else was given to us only to have that bad company call the next day and tell us that they were told they have to come and fix it. I told American Home Shield I didn't want them at my house because he came back and lied to them. He said that there was a nail or screw that went through the line. I said there's no way to even hang anything and there was nothing that went through it. On the paperwork he gave us, it never even said that. So, we were bothered by that and there was some company that came out and did it. The guy said that there was nothing wrong with this line at all.

To put it in a nutshell, it's a little bit difficult getting up with American Home Shield and after this ordeal, I talked with my husband. I said I would prefer to cancel it because I wanna be able to call who I wanna call for a contractor because this is not something we wanna go through. Also, we had AHS on an automatic draft for them to take out payments and when we had to pay $75 for the electrician and then $75 for the heating and air guy to come out, they drafted that but somehow, that knocked us off the automatic draft where we were paying our payment every month on that. So, they're sending me all these late notices and since I'm on an automatic draft, I was questioning why it wasn't taken out. So, I’m done.

We have a panel inside the house that we can turn the pool filter on with. But now that won't work unless we do it manually. There must be some kind of a short or something inside that sub panel because now it's to the point where we have to turn everything off and when we want the sprinklers or the filter to come on, we have to manually turn them on. We were hoping that the technician could tell us if it was something that could be fixed of if it was covered, but he just said that he didn't really know and left.

We had someone come out for our air conditioner and for the pump for our spa. But they didn't fix anything. They said that it was something else so we just hired somebody and had somebody to come do it. Out of all the times that we've called American Home Shield, they've fixed something twice. I'm a mortgage lender and I’ve got clients that buy houses all the time, but I don't recommend American Home Shield to them at all.

The reps from American Home Shield are always nice enough when you call them, but the contractors that they send out are companies that don’t have a lot of business. The very first time I ever had to call was for our garage door and the guy that came out looked at it and said that it seemed to be fine to him so he just sprayed a little oil over it. But he also said that I was going to need something else in the future. So he gave me his personal cell phone number and told me that he could do that on the side for me and he would give me a better price if I was to come to his company. They almost deny everything that they come out for but then they want you to do something on the side with them.

2 days later the compressor shows up to Sun coast ordered by AHS. Problem again, no fan. Sun Coast calls, we call again, we requested escalation. They could not give us any information. Another day passes, same thing, ask for a manager or supervisor...nothing. Today July 23rd, same thing, and we were told the part should of arrived on the 21st of July. AHS doesn't know why or where the fan is. They can't tell us when our AC might be fixed. They can't tell us when a part will arrive. They can't tell us what might of happened to the part they ordered, but they cannot see where it could of went. We are now on day 9 of no A/C. Here's a breakdown of the air temps....not real feel but air temps since the 14th... 93 deg...93 deg...97 deg...88 deg...90 deg...90 deg...86...86...88 and today 93.

We have a child in the house, 3 pets and my wife is working from home. There is a pandemic going on and now a tropical storm in the gulf and not once have we been told anything about any resolvment of issues. Not once has a manager or supervisor called us back. Not once have we been told at the very least a time frame. NOTHING.

On top of that per our contract we must pay for the freon to be reinstalled. 595.00 worth of R22 freon. After all this I believe this fee should be waived due to the incompetence of AHS in resolving this issue and the compounding cost of electricity we are running with the temps the way they are for refrigerators, fans etc. We have not even been able to cook a meal inside on the stove because of the high temps. We have asked for escalation and nothing has happened.

Original Review: July 23, 2020

In truth, they cover almost nothing. They charge you $75 BEFORE the contractor tells you, guess what, your problem isn't covered by American Home Shield. Then, when you try to get a refund for your $75, there is almost no way to contact AHS and get a live person to help you-- everything is set up to submit service requests only. I have been on hold for over an hour trying to get my refund. They should NOT be permitted to charge you before the contractor visit. We have had two repairs done since we purchased our home a year ago, both contractors AHS referred were sketchy and I felt uncomfortable with them, plus there were add-on costs for the repairs, one was over $200. You are much better off finding a vetted repair person over a service like Yelp.

However, American Home Shield has let me down. My washing machine that wouldn't agitate. Sometimes it would go a minute or so and then it would stop. The washing machine wasn't agitating. So I called up and they sent somebody out from Active Appliance. The first guy came out, he looked at it and said, "You're right, the washing machine is not working properly. It doesn't agitate. We'll order a part. We'll come back and fix it as soon as the part comes in." That was on April the 2nd. Two months later, I waited and I figured because of the coronavirus, maybe there was some problem. I called up Active Appliance and I said, "Where have you been?" Then I called up American Home Shield and right away they said they'll be right out the next day. They said they had the part.

What happened was the first guy from Active Appliance said that the transmission was in really bad shape. It was slipping and that's why it wouldn't agitate properly. But they would order the new transmission and they'd come out and fix it. Two months later, they hadn't come out. Finally, they came out. There were three guys, and I asked them, "Did you bring the part?" "Yes, we brought the part." They went and fooled around in the back of the thing and came out after about 30 minutes. The guy that came out to fix it said, "The part doesn't fit and there's rat infestation." Now, there was nobody else that ever said rat infestation until they came out and said that.

So then American Home Shield declined my orders. But I then said I disagree and I asked for a second opinion. I said, "I'll pay for the second opinion." They got Magic Appliance and Magic Appliance came out and they said, "There's no rat infestation, the washing machine doesn't work properly because of the transmission." They said that they would notify American Home Shield and they did. Then American Home Shield told Magic Appliance, "We're not gonna fix it because it still works." In their eyes, it still works and until it totally shuts down, they're not gonna fix it. I called up and talked to like three people and they all sympathize with me. I said, "Look, if my heater doesn't work, everything goes on but it doesn't heat. Well, my washing machine, everything works but it doesn't wash."

They didn't buy it. The guy from Magic Appliance called up and talked to four people. They told them, "No, that's the way it is. We're not gonna honor it until it breaks down totally." But he told them that it was really not working properly. I called up American Home Shield again, and they said they'll look into it. The guy from Magic Appliance called me back and said he talked to somebody at American Home Shield and now there's no record of all of these things. They were totally missing. I'm very frustrated and I'm gonna cancel my contract.

I got the warranty because I bought this house and I asked myself what if there were some problems here. Maybe I ought to get a little protection and so, I made the seller buy it. I said that I would drop it after I've got a year's worth of experience because I know it's just not gonna work well. So, I was very prejudiced against the idea. But after I had American Home Shield and the way they responded and the people that came out, I renewed. I’m very happy. I had two contractors and they were very good. I have no complaints. They did everything that I needed and they did it very professionally. The people who came out were very professional. I'm very satisfied with AHS and I had a very good experience with them.

I tried thinking it might be low volume at night time, but the same thing. It just goes to some other country. Sometimes, if you're lucky, you get somebody on shore, here in the US. That's when you get most of the things done, in US. But, it was frustrating as it is. Not just that, there's no backup or response back. I call somebody to check my AC and to see why it wa's not cooling properly. That person came in and wrote me a quote for the $100 and left. I was like, "I call you to see if there is anything wrong." All he said was the thermostat was in the wrong place.

I said, "The thermostat has been there for the last six years now. Why would it suddenly impact me now?" So I called American Home Shield and they said, "Okay, so don't worry, we're not gonna charge you another $125, you're gonna have a follow-up visit.” But then nothing. Nobody called back to me. That has been my challenge. Right now, I believe my contract also has expired with American Home Shield and I don't even know if I want to extend with them or not.

They have a chat option and the chat option would come in and go as well. They were overwhelmed with the chat windows so they just took out the option. They were added periodically and whenever they would like to add it, the support has not been so great. I get it that it’s coronavirus. But unfortunately, it has been bad support that we got from American Home Shield, which is why I'm really not thinking of renewing my contract with them. I've been there for five years now. But this time around, it's so bad.

This house was built in the 70s and I don't put anything down the drain. I put everything in the trash can. So, that was unfortunate, having to eat that when we had their service for a number of years. But we had an electrician who was awful and we called American Home Shield, and they helped with that one. Also, we've always been happy with Bay Appliances who usually does a good job. When the showerhead wasn't working, All & All Plumbing fixed it very quickly. They were great.

When they switched me over to the people that handle replacing the refrigerator, I stayed on the phone so long, 'til the recording came on saying that I've been on hold for too long and it hung up. Then I called back again the next day. I stayed on the phone for an hour and a half. I left my phone on speaker while I was looking at the TV. It took an hour and a half before somebody finally came through to talk to. This is my first time using them but the hold time was the only problem.

The contractor came out for the refrigerator. It was in the garage and they went in there. They looked at it and said they couldn't fix it so they had to get a new one. They sent me a website to look at. I put it up on my phone and looked at it while I was talking to the guy. They only had two or three that I can pick from that wouldn't cost me any money. I chose one and it took me a week or so before the refrigerator finally came. Then when I filed the claim for the air conditioner, it only took three days for the contractor to come out. He fixed it and left.

AHS solved my problem on both times but the replacement part was a lot harder than the guy that came out and fixed the air conditioning. Overall, I would recommend them if the people are willing to stay on the phone for two hours to get to talk to somebody. If the people ain't willing to do that, then they might not wanna deal with AHS.

Advanced Comfort came out and they said that the first technician misdiagnosed my problem, that there was a leak in my coil system in my attic and that they would be ordering a part. It would take about five days for it to come in. I asked them if they could expedite the order because I'm a dialysis patient and I take my dialysis at home. They apologized and they said that they'd see what they could do, but they couldn't guarantee anything.

I called American Home Shield and I explained the situation with them, that I was a dialysis patient and that I really needed to be in my home. I couldn't incur a lot of expenses at a hotel trying to make an accommodation. I was out of my home from last Tuesday until yesterday, waiting for this part. I asked him if my service request could be expedited, if I could be placed at the top of the list, and they said that the earliest that they can get to me is on Monday, which was this past Monday. They said that they understood, but that there was nothing that they can do. I said, “Are you going to reimburse me for my expenses out of my out of my home?” They said no. They said they couldn't do that, then that the earliest that they can get to me was Monday not unless somebody canceled Friday.

I asked to speak Gus. The person on the phone said that Gus was not available, that he was out on a service call. They tried to call them and he didn't call back. I said, “Can you please leave Gus a message to ask him to call me back?” I called back in about an hour with my dad on the phone and my dad talked to Gus and explained the situation, that I was on dialysis and that I needed to be in my home. If they could expedite my service call. Gus said that he would see what he can do, but he couldn't guarantee anything.

I was out of my home until yesterday. The guys came and repaired the AC. I thanked them. I said, “I appreciate your effort.” I said, “I don't agree with how your company handled my service request, but I like them, but not Advanced Comfort.” They knew that I had a medical emergency with my dialysis and they treated me just like any other customer even though this was a repeat. I was upset because if my problem was correctly diagnosed in June, I wouldn't have been so displaced.

With COVID going on, the gentleman from the company who came out to look at the AC didn't have a mask. He didn't have anything covering his shoes. We have two hatches that go up into my attic where the air conditioning units are, and I live in Las Vegas, so we had some issues with the AC cooling. He peaked up there and said, "There's not a safe way for me to get to it." I said, "Aren't there two by fours up there?" He said, "Well, yeah, but we're not allowed to walk on the two-by-fours." I said, "Well, what are you supposed to walk on? I mean, that is the roof structure." He ended up coming down and taking a picture of something. It was where one of the AC ducts connected to the actual HVAC unit. He ended up getting up there because he had a picture with him. I asked how did he take the picture if he didn't get up into the attic. He said, "Well actually, all of this is installed all improperly."

I told him, "Well, this house was built in the 80s. I'm sure that it's probably HVACs and AC ducts that had rules that were back in the 80s." He said, "Well, everything was just installed improperly." I said, "Okay, well, I don't see how we're gonna get any further than where we are now. So you are more than welcome to just leave." He denied my claim. I called the 800 number for American Home Shield and they said, "Well, we can't send anybody else out there unless you pay another $75." I said, "I'm not paying another $75. I mean, the gentleman said he couldn't get up there, and then he did get up there, and then he's telling me that everything was installed improperly. I don't trust his judgment and neither should you."

His whole denial was that he couldn't get up into the attic because there wasn't a safe way to get up there, but he told the company that he denied the claim because of something else. It was not good. I had to call my real estate agent, but he got me to a different young lady in a different office, and she was able to help me get a different technician out here and not pay another $75. He went up there just fine. He went up in both hatches. He said, "Here's exactly what's going on." I said, "Do you believe that anything up there was installed incorrectly?" He said, "No, no, no. This is just how they did it back in the 80s." He was a super great guy.

With the amount of time I spent on the phone with American Home Shield's 800 number, it was about a little over three hours in total. It was an hour and a half wait and discussion, and then the next day, it was an hour and a half wait and discussion. That was really a huge headache. I'm thankful that my agent sent me over to somebody else. What I needed was very simple. I just wanted a second opinion. I just wanted a more reputable company to come out and take a look at it because I just did not trust this one guy's judgment.

Recently, no one could get my dryer fixed, but I got a new one. We called and then Home Shield sent Will from Appliance Plus, the dryer guy. He came several times, replaced a bunch of parts on my old dryer, and then once he ran out of parts to replace, he said he didn't know what was wrong with it. He put in the note to Home Shield, and then I called them the next day and asked what do we do next since the tech said the dryer was broken. They connected me to the appliance replacement people and they just sent me an email that had a list of appliances that I could choose. I picked the one that fit my space and they had somebody deliver it. I could've had them take it away, but I'm leaving it for Will because he said he would like to tinker with it.

I always recommend Home Shield. My father is a plumber in California and he works with Home Shield and they've been very good about working with reasonable technicians. Out here, I've found that it's $80 or so after-tax, and it's $200 for me to call a plumber. 80 bucks and they come, and if it's a stoppage, then they will clear the stoppage. If it's broken, then they'll fix what's broken. The only thing they don't cover are the knobs on your stove and your light fixtures. $80 is a lot better than a $200 bill.

When I submitted a claim online to AHS, I didn't like it at all. I kept on having to get out of it, refreshing and refreshing, 'cause it wouldn't give me the option that I needed and it just wasn't easy. But as soon as I call and make a claim, they send somebody out either that same day or the next day. So that, I have been very satisfied with it.

I had to file another claim and their rep told me that it was covered. Then when I contacted them back, another lady told me that it wasn't covered. My understanding was that they were gonna contact somebody and send somebody out. So I was waiting and a couple of days passed and I called to find out what was going on. I found out that it wasn't covered and nobody had contacted me or said anything about it. It was cumbersome.

I did my appointment yesterday and they said that somebody was going to call me. I tried to call them. I couldn't get through, and then they said they’d call this morning and because I tried to do it online and they said I couldn't do anything, that I had already put in a call and so this morning, they called and they said they were gonna set up a visual appointment for tomorrow. I said, “But I need this sooner because the wall is drywall and underneath is all wet and I'm afraid that that could burst in the garage.” Still, they said, “Well, the sooner I have is tomorrow, visual. And they will tell you if they need to bring a new one or not.” I haven't gone to the store because I was waiting for them to call. I can’t leave. I have to wait for them to call me.

As far as the air conditioning, one guy said that they needed to look for leaks and put something in it, and it would take a while for that. Then they sent their own people and they just filled it up with Freon. He said there was no leak but I paid $760 to put in the Freon. I do notice that sometimes, my air works too much and it gets cold, and some days, in the morning like today, I woke up at seven o'clock and it was so hot. The thermostat was at 73, but my house thermostat was saying there was a 78. Still, I've had very good results with American Home Shield in the past. I have recommended them to my neighbor and they got it.

The guy from Prime Plumbing Services came by and he was very helpful. He found ways to tighten it even though it was missing a piece. He did a good job and he took the time to explain a couple of things to me as well. I was very pleased with the work. I just bought this house and it came with some of these issues. The toilet in the primary bathroom was kind of loose and that caused the primary leak that I called about, which was in my crawlspace. So, he was able to fix all that and the service went well. It's nice to think that you're gonna be charged $75 and it would be resolved that way rather than unexpected. That's always such a relief. That was my only use for AHS but so far, it has been a good experience.

Original Review: July 23, 2020

With American Home Shield, it takes a long time to get a contractor out to our location because they only operate in the daytime. Plus, they don't operate on the weekends too. Recently, my circuits tripped and City First Electric came out as AHS's contractor. The tech found that my circuits overloaded on a wall where I had a microwave. He told me not to use my microwave and my coffeemaker at the same time.

Before, I had a plumbing contractor who always talked about what Home Shield was not gonna cover. In my eyes, if AHS is not gonna cover all the work that needed to be done, why would I be paying an extra $75 for AHS to tell me they can't do a job when that $75 could've gone towards an outside contractor. I also notified AHS about a leak in my air conditioning unit that I had a few weeks later. Home Shield told me they would fix my unit but wouldn't cover any damage that my unit caused. That issue still cost me $300.

I called Home Shield to put in an emergency claim and somebody to come out because I have an 84-year-old grandmother there. But they couldn't find anybody. I called them three days straight. They found somebody in Macon, Georgia and they said that they couldn’t come out until another week. After they heard me fussing and complaining because I had to pay my deductible to the first company that didn’t resolve the issue, they finally found somebody. Air Design came out the next morning. The tech looked around and he told me exactly that it was the circuit board. He said they would have to order the circuit board. That was on a Tuesday and it would be in on Friday. They came back Friday, put the circuit board in and air conditioner has been working since. My final experience was great. It was just the back and forth with the people and not getting somebody out in emergency basis, explaining to them when you’re in a house at 97 degrees.

But I washed my second load of clothes. I didn't even put four loads in there because I wanted to make sure the washing machine was okay. All of a sudden, it just stopped spinning and it was doing the same thing again. The tech came back out and I waited another eight days for another part. He came in yesterday and that was when they finally put a new pump on. I washed a load of clothes and so far, it's good and the water went back out.

I was gonna cancel my American Home Shield because I was upset. I had my air conditioner looked at and nothing was wrong with it. All it needed was some coolant. I had a warranty for it like you have the buyer’s warranty from the brand new unit. I had no problem with it. Since the guy that was supposed to do my air conditioner wasn't getting any money out of the deal, he went and told American Home Shield that I needed a coil when I just needed some more Freon. American Home Shield didn't cover it so I had to turn around and pay a whole other company because the tech messed up. It was $515 in cash. The only reason I kept the home warranty is because of my washing machine which is but a year old.

For example, a plumbing leak. You would think a plumbing leak inside of a house would be covered because your paperwork spells it out. I had one guy crawl up in the attic. The pipe was leaking. He'd seen that it was leaking, took a picture of it, and came down. He said that it was not covered. His exact words were, "All we do is, if it's a small leak, we patch it up. But this is gonna take more extensive work with a plumber, so we don't cover." Then he left and we were out $75.

Recently, the AC needed Freon and a part. Family AC Service Solutions came out and fixed it. Now, the only question I had, which I need to ask them ‘cause the guy that did the air conditioner said that it's pretty much on its last leg. I'm not sure if a new AC is covered under the warranty or not. Overall, I would recommend AHS to others, just read the policy and know what it says.

The plumber who came out told us that there was no cleanout on the pipe. He didn't even go far enough away from the house to finally cleanout. Typically, a cleanout is further away from the house in the yard. But he just dug two inches right there by my house. They also told us that we weren't covered. It was gonna cost a lot more money to do this. So I told the plumber to just clean the line out and I would do it later if I would have put one in.

My daughter was the one that was there and she didn't know anything about wastewater. The plumber helped her out, but I was totally dissatisfied with what he did. He just dug one line, which was close to my daughter's restroom. So he didn't even go through the mainline which you would have to go through the top of the house and then out through the mainline in an alley. I would not put a hole in that line like that. He didn't go far enough down in the backyard to find it.

This is the third time I've had to call to get somebody to look at the dishwasher. The other two times, they came in and said it was something about the float valve. It might’ve shut it off, but then they never pulled it out and took a look at the pump, or the water lines underneath or anything else. The contractors superficially looked at everything and thought they had fixed it, but it never was fixed. All in all, we’re having trouble with the dishwasher not getting fixed, but other than that, American Home Shield answers my requests.

American Home Shield is normally pretty good. However, it seems like more recently, they're difficult to get ahold of and they want to do everything online. I'm totally all about that, booking an appointment and stuff online. But there are certain things that can't be handled online and you need to be able to explain an issue to someone who can help you. In those cases, you want to be able to have a phone call. I would like it to be easier to talk to a person. I've already invested so much time on the phone with them. It’s irritating. I ought to be able to submit the paperwork that's required and I ought to get what I should be getting based on the service I’m paying for.

Sims Electric was on the phone a few times with American Home Shield to try and figure out what was going on. Then, American Home Shield had set up another dispatch for A. Johnson Cooling to come out. I got an email saying that they were gonna come out, but I didn't hear anything about what was going on with Sims Electric. I contacted American Home Shield again to try and figure out what was going on. I was told that they didn’t know why A. Johnson Cooling was going out here if I've already been in contact with Sims Electric per their request. I asked how we could get this resolved. Sims Electric was still trying to send the estimate and the diagnosis and all that stuff that they were supposed to be sending and that AHS had been requesting. They said that they were gonna look into it and then they're gonna call me back. I never got a call back.

I called again the next day and got a different person. I asked what was going on and the rep said they don't know and would look into it. They would call me back. So, still no call back. I've been on hold probably an hour to two hours every day I'm calling. I called back the next day, which was a Wednesday. At this point, it was 95 degrees outside. My wife is complaining and when my wife gets hot, nobody's happy. I told them that I wanted somebody to come out here and I don't care who it is. I haven't cared who it was in the first place. When I was told to hire my own contractor, I said that I would but I don't have to pay any of this stuff out of pocket. So, they were telling me I had to send in the estimate and the diagnosis to this place, and then this place, and then that place, and I was still not getting a straight answer. Finally, I got an answer that A. Johnson cooling was contacted to come do a second opinion.

I got an email on that Monday that A. Johnson Cooling was gonna contact me within 24 hours instead of an appointment time. A. Johnson Cooling never contacted me so I figured it was an error. Now I'm finding out that he was supposed to come out as a second opinion and I asked why. There were no notes in the system about why there was a second opinion requested. So now, it's up to me to contact A. Johnson Cooling, to schedule for him to come out after I get an email saying that he was gonna contact me within 24 hours. 72 hours later, I'm contacting A. Johnson Cooling to set up an appointment for him to come out. Due to COVID, a lot of heating and cooling companies are backlogged. I have no idea when this guy is gonna come out. So, I contact him, I get a voicemail and the voicemail's all full. It was 5:30 at night and I figured his business hours stopped at 4:30.

I'm a patient person and I could contact him in the morning. So in the morning, 8 o'clock rolls around, I called them. There was no answer, I got his voicemail and voicemail was still full. Then, I got a text from him saying he was busy and to text him. So I texted him what I wanna talk to him about. It ended up being closer to 800 characters and he ended up calling me. I told him that he was supposed to be my second opinion and he was supposed to come out here. I asked when we could get this scheduled and he said he could come out tomorrow. I said that would work. Then, he asked me if the air conditioner's turned off. I said I didn't know. We've had it on and off trying to figure out if we can get this thing working. Maybe it was just freezing up. He said he couldn’t come out if it has been on.

The next available would be next Thursday. So this was Thursday that I was talking to him, so it would be a week until he could come back out there. I kinda stressed to him that this has been going on for almost three weeks and he was supposed to contact me within 24 hours of me receiving the email on Monday. This is closer to 80 hours that he hasn't contacted me and we were going on vacation that following week. We were gonna go off to Northern Michigan and we weren't even gonna be home that week. So then, that would make it two weeks before he could come out. So, he ended up coming out.

My wife was home and he came in and she said that he was disrespectful. He was disheveled and wasn't very professional at all. He didn't even come inside the house and take a look at any of the air conditioner parts that are inside the house. He just looked at outside and noticed that there was a loose wire that needed to be replaced. So he replaced it and the air conditioner started working. On Friday and Saturday, my wife and I went up north. We came back the following Sunday and found out that there was water around our furnace and the air conditioner was still not working.

I contacted American Home Shield and I said that our air conditioner was still broken. They said that A. Johnson Cooling was out here before, so they could contact them again if I'd like. I said that I didn't care who they send. I just want the air conditioner working. They said that since he was out here before, they wanted him to come out and take a look at it because he was the responsible party that was supposed to get it working. That was fair and I got that. So again, I had to contact A. Johnson Cooling. The guy was super lazy. He came out here and I was actually home this time. I met him at the door and he asked me if it was an indoor issue or an outdoor issue. I'm not an HVAC specialist so I couldn't answer. I looked at him and I said that was why he was here. So then, he comes inside and he asked me one more stupid question again where I had to look to his expertise of why he was here.

I was telling him when we turned off our air conditioner, there was a loud bang. Then, when we turned it back on, there was a loud bang. So then, we just left it off because, clearly, there was an issue going on down at the basement. I showed him the water around the basement and he couldn't tell me why there was water in the basement around our furnace. There has never been water around our furnace before up until this time. He went outside, looked at everything, and said that everything looks like it's doing all right. The other thing was he asked us what we usually set it at and I said that we usually set it during the day between 67 and 68. He looked at me and said that was a bad idea.

He wasn't forthcoming. He didn't explain anything. We're new homeowners and we've never had a house with central air before. So, at the end of the call, he said he didn’t know what was going on with our unit. It seemed to be working fine for him and then, he just left. As a homeowner, I was not satisfied with that answer. So, I contacted American Home Shield and I filed a complaint. I don't know that they take complaints on contractors but they should because this guy was absolutely horrendous. They wanted a second opinion and they sent this guy and I don't trust him. He has shown that he didn't take pride in his work. He was unprofessional and did the bare minimum.

Also, when I talked to him on the phone, he kinda went off on a tangent with me about how homeowners just want new units and other contractors are just willing to appease the homeowners and give them new units at the cost of the home warranty company. He was basically calling me a fraud, a cheat and a liar. I didn’t care if it was a new unit. I just want it fixed. The unit is 20 years old and it's gonna break down but I'm not asking for new unit. I never once said that they should give me a new unit. I may have said that Sims Electric is making it known that they suggest a replacement unit but I never once said that I want a new unit. I just want a working air conditioning because my wife is miserable. So, I contacted American Home Shield and told them about how horrible this guy is and that I'm not satisfied. I made a request of another company to come out as a second opinion for me because I've been doing this whole runaround.

Right now, at this point, we're hitting about a month that we've been dealing with this issue. When we got this home warranty program from when we bought our house, I knew there would be a little bit of a runaround. I expected that but this brought it to a whole new level that I was not expecting. American Home Shield was very accommodating. They said that they would send out Barbour Heating and Cooling out at Albion. I said that was fine and they contacted me the next morning. They said they could come out this morning. I'm still home and I wasn't going back to work until the following week because I was on vacation. I'm supposed to be relaxing at this point but I’m not even getting a chance to do that.

Barbour Heating and Cooling came out and took a look at everything. This guy was absolutely phenomenal. If American Home Shield could duplicate this guy over and over again, they should do it. This guy was fantastic. He explained everything to me. He hooked up his little gadget to the air conditioner and the compressor. He showed me where everything's running and where it should be running at.

He asked where we set our air conditioner at and I said that we usually set it between 67 and 68 degrees. He said that was too low and on a day like this, I don't wanna set it that low because the air conditioner is working too hard. Right now, the Freon's pumping through at 33 degrees and if I get any colder than that, our unit's gonna lock up, which is probably why I ended up with water in my basement. He took the time to explain what I should be doing, what I should expect and how I should operate the system. After he left, I felt comfortable with how everything was sitting and we actually haven't had any issues with our air conditioner since.

I requested him to verify the coverage once and he gave me a letter stating the diagnosis done and he will call them to verify coverage and get back to me later, if AHS is going to cover it. I got an email an hour later from AHS to call me since there are limitations. When I called they mentioned that the technician wrote in their diagnosis about moving water heater away to fix the problem and putting it back which will not be covered and will cost $750 out of pocket. I mentioned to AHS rep that there is an utility sink that can be moved to access the wall and they mentioned that I have to work with the Technician if that's feasible. So far, I'm extremely disappointed being a long time loyal customer that, first the access fee is not covered which means if you have things like plumbing concealed (which is typical in american homes unless its a basement where sometimes pipes and wires are exposed), you will end up paying a hefty fee out of pocket.

If you look at my scenario, the actual quote for fix is around $450 which AHS might pay but the access fee is $750 which I have to pay. And, I have already paid monthly premium and the diagnostic fee of $125. I feel this is a ripoff and deceiving practice and honestly don't recommend AHS anymore. I used to refer them to my colleagues and friends since in the past I had minor issue with Refrigerator turning off automatically and the technician assigned to me from Sears repairs fixed it with some simple fix and AHS didn't give me trouble with approval. Feels like simpler issues are covered but as things get complicated, you are really at the mercy of it being easily reachable otherwise, the out of pocket cost is huge.

Right now, I left a voice mail to the first technician who came here to see if he work around by using the utility sink gap so we can avoid water heater access fee. Otherwise, my plan is go for a second opinion. If both don't work, I'm going to cancel AHS. Why? Because I recently found out another competitor has a $500 automatic approval for issues like this so the technician doesn't need to call the warranty company before they start the work. Sounds like a better option to me. Thanks AHS for all the peacefulness you give me after purchasing the warranty while screwing me when the time comes to repair where I see the true color. How do you expect all the issues to be accessible without need to move around anything. I wanted to make sure whoever is planning to go with them is aware of this big limitation.

Online portal on AHS says the job is complete. Calling AHS, they tell me it has been sent to authorization and authorization has approved us for a NEW DISHWASHER but no one can tell us how to get it! Weeks have gone by, no one would call us. When we get transferred to "authorization", we are on hold for hours with no one picking up the phone. I have tried calling authorization 5 times already, waiting 2 to 5 hours each time until I give up, as no one would answer the phone. This is BEYOND FRUSTRATING. If it's this hard to get a dishwasher replaced, I can't imagine how hard it would be if we had to get a new AC. Awful awful awful.

Then AHS closed the order. I reopened the order and AHS sent it back to Home Choice who said they would have their scheduler get in touch with me...just about a week..no communication and their phone is annoying music and cannot leave message. I attempted to contact AHS via phone and it is either a 1+ hr wait on the phone or "call back at another time". I feel the service fee paid is a rip off as all the contractor did was tell me it makes noise. This noise can be heard over 100' away....

The contractor came out immediately to diagnose, but no one has come to fix in 3 months. This is ridiculous! No recourse. They even went as far as to somehow completely close the ticket out and process a new one so it wouldn’t look like I’ve been waiting over 3 months to get this fixed. It says there is no cap on AC yet here I’m being charged $1700. Very, very poor service. No urgency in fixing AC when temperatures have been up to 107 degrees here in California.

At the time the fridge broke, the repairman recommended a new door that was available. The parts department sent a seal that didn’t fix the problem. Then three weeks later the door was no longer available forcing me to a new fridge. When I called and held for 3 hours and 15 minutes to discussed the door handle on the fridge that was suggested, the parts department could answer the question.

I made a trip to look at the suggested fridge to see if the handle could be switched from left to right. Home Depot answered the question in minutes. I then called back and held over four hours to discuss the change in handle and was told I selected Home Depot and they issued a card to purchase that I never received not wanted. I never activated a card. Had zero apology for the hold times. Zero communication to see if my fridge was fixed. I was told by the supervisor that they only have 5 people working. Unacceptable! Really despicable! I just wanted the refrigerator door fixed! The replacement was fine just needed the handle switched and not 1 out the 5 people could help.

We had another issue with another appliance. We waited for a company to come out but they never came out. American Home Shield replaced the company. They came out and when we went over the problem with them, they said it required a whole bunch of work. I needed a cash out instead. So I called American Home Shield. They said that it was another department and they would have them call me but they never called. So now I try to get through but I can't. It's a over three-hour wait. The company called back and said they have the parts. But we wanted a cash out so we're still waiting for the call, and that was two weeks ago.

It's like the luck of the draw. When I get good contractors to come out, they are good and they're able to fix the problem. But trying to get people to fix what is there drags out the process for me to contact American Home Shield. Getting assigned a contractor and then scheduling for somebody to come out is a week. And getting a second opinion, that means the issue is still there for another week, causing more damage than it really needs to be done. Some of the contractors seem like they don't wanna do the work and that has been a headache for me. But American Home Shield has been great at getting me what I feel I need for the betterment of my home. As a whole, they have been helpful with all the things that have been falling apart and at the same time, it has helped me manage my home better.

And then I had to call again four months later because it started doing it again. This Dave, the guy from A-1 Appliance Service, came out and then we started talking. Told him what to do. I said, “I know you’re supposed to blow these lines out, blah blah blah.” He fixed it. Plus, the icemaker wasn’t working too, so he had to order a part and come back, so he fixed it. He’s a good guy. But then the icemaker quit working again. He had to come back and order an icemaker. Now, I have a feeling I’m about to get him back out on the freezer. He had to put Freon, and then it would get cold, but then it seemed like it doesn’t cool as much. And then he said it could be some of the copper lining in the walls of the refrigerator. It could be leaking Freon. But he did a great job.

I said, “Could I get another valuation? One lady helped me. She’s really nice. She said, “We can send somebody else out from a different company, get you a second opinion before you spend all your money.” So, they called another company. The man came out, and by this time, my AC didn't pop back on. It came back on. He said, “Oh, there’s nothing wrong with your AC.” I said, “No. There's something wrong with it.” It just wouldn't shut down like that.

I went like five days without AC. The first company said I needed a whole new air handling unit. Then the next man come out said there was nothing wrong with my AC. After the second man came out, he gave his evaluation. American Home Shield didn’t contact me back at all. I called them and I said, “Hey, the second person came out, says was nothing wrong with my AC. But no one has called me back to see what I need to be doing from there.” Everything was going through authorization. He did mention that my thermostat was off. So, I figured he put that in the report. I called them back. Whoever pulled my report said, “We don't see anything about a thermostat.” I said, “Well, that's fine. But I had two people come out and two reports came in about my AC. So, I need the authorization to look at the reports and tell me what do we need to do next.”

No one has still called me about my AC and said, “Ms. Smith, the first person said this was what’s totally wrong. This person said, nothing wrong with it. Where are we at with your AC? Are you up and running? Is it back down?” There was nothing. This has been at least three weeks. I've been with American Home Shield for 15 years. I give my money regularly. I pay my $75 every time I need something. I feel like they dropped the ball on it. They should’ve followed back up with me.

A-1 was great but Home Shield was **. I was ready to cancel the policy. They were charging me double because they didn't understand that the first company was cancelled. They were sending me emails and I was not very happy with that. It took me two and a half to three hours to get that straightened out. I was talking to people in the Philippines that I could not understand. They are trying, but the first woman that I talked to was overwhelmed. She didn't know the system. She didn't know what she was doing. Another thing is that it probably took me about 40 minutes to get ahold of somebody. The next time, it took me probably an hour to get ahold of someone else. I didn't get any callbacks. Home Shield was terrible. They could get somebody that speaks English fluently. They should also get their people to know their system.

Since this last guy has been out, the AC has been working fine. It’s loud because of what the guy did beforehand and the guy that we just had said that he would bring it up to the company. We haven’t heard anything back but the last technician shouldn't be faulted at all for it. He did a great job and we were very impressed with him. With American Home Shield, that's who they defer to, and we have the option to switch out but I'll use the company and I could refer them because of the last guy we had. But I'm done with the other two people before this last guy came out. American Home Shield has been great. I brought up the problems I had and they got right on it. They bounced back and forth with Total Air Care to get everything straightened out.