American Home Shield Reviews

The temperature in my home in the basement was well over 100 degrees. I contacted AHS about this and they said that they were not responsible for any of the cost incurred to me. I have not had an air conditioner since and I could not afford to buy one. I found out about this lawsuit and tried to call them. Originally, they were very helpful but since this last June when I spoke with one of their representatives over the phone, I began to feel a little less assured about what they were saying to me. I was told that the court case was still pending and they thought it had been continued and that they were going to be in court in a couple of days. The representative then gave me a number and told me that she had my information in the computer and to look for a submittal form again in the mail. It is now October of 2009.

When I tried to call them, the number that they gave me is always busy. I had to get on the internet and find a new way to contact them and get someone to answer and talk with me. It has been a long time since I called that repairman, and a long time to not have an air conditioner. I should think that they would have to live up to their end of the bargain sometime. I have since installed an attic fan as this wasn't as expensive but as anyone knows that lives in Missouri, this sometimes still is not enough.

American Home Shield was ordered in the escrow for the house, and it said plumbing was covered. I did not think they would cover the extensive problem, but I figured it was worth a try. They were called, and they sent out a plumber from Rescue Rooter in Haltom City, Texas to check problems with my plumbing. (I have a plumbing company that I am happy with, but they sent one of their own.) Their plumber charged me $60.00 and ranted and raved about my plumbing and bad-mouthed the plumbing company which had completed the last repair. This company did not install all the plumbing or have anything to do with most of the problems with the plumbing.

American Home Shield called and said they could not cover extensive plumbing problems. That is not a problem to me. I really didn't think they would. It was worth a try or would have been if they didn't sent someone who just wasn't interested in dealing with the problem and wanted to bad-mouth the other company. I told this plumber that I did not believe a word he said to me. His response was "Don't get mad at me. I don't work for American Home Shield." He apparently doesn't work for Rescue Rooter, either!

I called back that same day and complained that I never touched the unit. AHS said they had to go by the serviceman's report, but would send a different company out for a second opinion for another $60.00. I had no choice. It is now eight days since my first call and nobody has called or come to look at the unit. The temperature last night was 34 degrees! Who can put a stop to these criminal actions?

I was told that the ductwork was not covered. The contract reads: Duct Work: "Covered: Ducts from heating and/or cooling unit to the point of attachment at registers or grills and flex ductwork." The customer service representative stated to me that we were not covered based on an exclusion under "Section G, Limitations of Liability, paragraph 5" which reads:

"AHS is not responsible or liable for secondary, incidental and/or consequential loss or damage resulting from the malfunction of any covered item including but not limited to food spoilage, loss of income, utility bills, additional living expenses, personal, and/or property damage, or authorized contractor's service or delay in service."

The damage to my system is a direct result of the system failure, and my claim is for the repairs to the system and the ductwork only. I called AHS, thinking I would get a fair deal and get my system restored to working order. What I got was the plumbing lines to the AC unit blown out cleared and a full diet of the classic runaround. Well now, I plan to turn the heat up on them.

To add insult to injury, a person called from AHS to check on my satisfaction and I was advised that if I am not happy with the diagnosis, they will send out another ("independent") HVAC firm for second opinion to diagnose the problem and that if they still deny the claim, then I would pay another $60 fee. I refuse to be screwed. The denial of my claim is wrong and unfair, and I advise anyone who considers AHS to think again. The internet can be an excellent tool for growing your business. It can also be a company's worst enemy.

I then called AHS and told them what the repair person had said. They had no comment other than to state they had not heard from the repair company yet. I told them that I didn't believe this opinion was right. The pool heater is a covered item under our contract, and as indicated in the agreement, it will be replaced if it is deemed non-repairable. This is, after all, why we obtained insurance with AHS in the first place. They stated that they would review the claim and get back to me.

AHS contacted me by phone about two days later. They indicated they would not be paying this claim because Southwest Pool and Spa Repair had reported to them that the heater was not repairable due to homeowner neglect. I advised them that I disagreed with their decision and requested a second opinion. They agreed to send out another company to look at the heater.

The second pool company, again handpicked by AHS, was Golden West Pool & Spa Repair. Their repairman spent more time examining the heater by taking the top section off and looking inside. He also removed the front panel and checked the electrical wiring inside. After he finished his assessment, he told me the heater would have to be replaced. I asked him if he found anything at all that would lead him to believe the heater was not working due to homeowner neglect. He stated to me that he found no evidence of that and would contact AHS with his findings.

I waited a couple of days and then contacted AHS and told them what the second repairman had said. Their response was that Golden West Pool & Spa Repair agreed with Southwest Pool & Spa; i.e., that the pool heater was no longer working due to homeowner neglect. I was extremely upset over this complete turnaround by Golden West Pool & Spa. Why had they changed their mind? I came to the conclusion that someone was obviously being told what to report to AHS, so that this claim could be denied. I told AHS that I believed I was being scammed and that their business practices were very questionable.

I later contacted Golden West Pool & Spa Repair to get an explanation as to why they changed their opinion. Of course, they had no comment other than to reiterate that the pool heater needed to be replaced - a job they could do for a bargain price of only $3,000.00. I told them not only no, but hell no! I strongly believe my previous service request should be reviewed and the Denied Claim overturned or revised.

I called AHS and told them that I didn't trust their first estimate, that another trustworthy company had told me that my unit wasn't excessively dirty and requested a second opinion. AHS told me I was just in time to request a second opinion, they give you one week, but, never tell you about the timeline. AHS told me that if the second opinion was the same as the first I would pay a service fee. AHS sent out another company. The tech spent a lot of time on my unit. I called AHS within an hour after the tech left my house. The lady that I spoke with at AHS read the tech report and told me that the second tech didn't agree with the first tech and that my repairs would be covered by the warranty.

The AHS representative explained to me that I could cash out and hire my own tech since I refused to have the Sunn Corporation in my home again. The AHS representative told me that I would be contacted later to find out how much the cash out amount would be. Four hours later, I received another call from AHS from a male representative telling me that the technician who came out found that my unit was too dirty and that was the cause of the broken compressor. I explained to AHS that he must have the wrong information as I had spoken to a representative earlier who told me I would get cash to repair my unit. I tried to explain to the representative that he needed to look at the notes from my earlier call and listen to the call, as they tell you when you are on hold that the call is being recorded. The tech acted as if I must have imagined the earlier call as all he knew was that my warranty wouldn't cover it because the second technician said the unit was dirty.

I could never understand how four hours earlier, the technician said it wasn't dirty and now it is. I called the manager of the second air-conditioning/heating company that came out and told him I wanted to verify what his technician reported to AHS. He told me that he couldn't verify what the technician said because, remember this is just two days later, that technician no longer worked for him because he didn't have the proper license. That means the second technician, who can no longer be contacted to verify his report, wasn't even licensed to come into my home and work on my unit. I asked for a manager from AHS to return my call after I told AHS about the unlicensed technician.

I never received a call from the manager and I made numerous calls to AHS. I could never get a manager, only representatives who read my notes, had me tell the story from the beginning again and tell me that a manager would call me. Two weeks later when I called back, the AHS representative reprimanded me for letting the time go by. I explained to her that I was a mother of three who worked full-time and didn't have time to keep calling AHS when they never returned my call. She told me that the picture that the second technician gave AHS showed that the unit was dirty. I told AHS that if they are only going by a picture to determine if my warranty will cover the repair and not the opinion of the tech, I could have sent a picture of my unit for the $35 that I pay a month for my warranty. The AHS representative told me that she would forward my file to the manager who would review my file and call me back. I left my cell phone number, again, as a return number to call.

Two days later when I hadn't heard from anyone, I called and left another message. The next day, I came home and my ten-year-old had taken a message from AHS telling me that my repair wouldn't be covered. When I tried to call back, I could only talk to another representative who could again, only read my notes. We have moved on and found a new air conditioning/heating company to replace our entire unit. It is now mid-October and our house is too cold to wait any longer. Now, AHS is sending me a bill for the second opinion that they claim agreed with their first opinion. I keep thinking that this AHS company is a complete scam. I want to refuse to pay the fee that AHS is requesting, but, I don't want them to ruin my credit. Since you can never talk to anyone of authority at AHS, I feel completely taken advantage of and I want my money that I have paid so far with the monthly payments back!

Taking several days to "fix" the problem at our expense (Florida is not a cool place during summer), the technician continues to stall. Months pass, multiple service calls later, the technician finally did a test called the "Dye Test", what he explained was injecting a colored dye on the system to "see (visually mark) where the leak is located". Instructing to call them when the system stops cooling, we do, and they return few days later for the analysis of the test's results. Not being able to find (at whatever lack of effort or professionalism), they state that the leak should be under the house in "the line" that feeds ext. to int. units and that they will notify AHS about it. AHS informs me that they do not cover this line, justifying that AHS may replace this line if they report something that implies the total installation of a new unit.

In a separate conversation, AHS explains that they do not cover the line underneath the house, which was fine, so I had to call a new technician to fix the air conditioning entirely. This technician comes and shows me that the leak is obviously in the condenser coil and not in the line, as his expertise was not necessary in showing the Freon sensor's readings indicating the leak is clearly underneath the coil itself and not in the line. I called AHS back and requested another company's second opinion because the leak is evidently in a "covered" item (the coil) and not where the first company's technician opinion held (the line).

AHS told me that they "refuse to authorize second visit”, thus refusing to fix or replace the unit they clearly cover. At this point, I realized that I must choose to engage with a lawyer and pursue the case full steam, as I have been a client for 29 years (despite multiple issues I have had in that history). I seek to blow the whistle on American Home Shield's serious unethical business practice, at whatever degree this occurs (even a superficial online research exhibits a sea of relative complaints).

They claim we can return and “Go buy your own,” and they will come pick the two up. But AHS wants to charge $160 for picking up the oven and $90 for the microwave. Neither appliance comes close to matching our other appliance colors, comparable value and again "tough luck". They told us they will contact customer service, and by the way, "Customer service doesn't have a phone number, but they will call you." This has been a continuous runaround for 2 months. In mid-2009, we had our well pump go out. We called AHS and were advised, “Your well pump is not covered.” We proceeded to call well repair since you simply need water.

We then find out later it was covered. AHS can't find the call and who advised us it was not covered. AHS rep advised us to send a letter to their reimbursement department with only a PO Box number; again, they had no phone number, so we did. 2 weeks later, we receive a generic rejection letter saying, "Read your contract. You must use our providers; therefore, your claim is denied." We sent a rebuttal letter late September 2009 again stating, "It was your service rep that denied service," and asking to speak to a live person, and without a response to date. So satisfaction of comparable value is in their print only and not their mission. Our premiums have doubled in 2 years, which is okay, but service and quality of replacement has decreased beyond what any company can provide. AHS has to be a fast falling company.

Their customer service is a laugh. I asked how would you like to be without an appliance for 2 mos. and I was told they won't have a problem with it. Another idiot told me that if I didn't have a model/serial # that the service people have a Big Book with pictures and it would not be a problem for them to pick the right picture. They never call you back. You have to constantly call them to find out what is going on. They never have the number or it is the wrong number to the cancellation department either. Then you are on hold for a half hour because so many people are trying to cancel. This company is the biggest rip off going. Don't waste your money, you will be so sorry.

I called the AHS customer service and was told to hold while they tried to call. Back on the line, I was told that they had also left a message. Bear in mind that all this time, there is water coming out from under my disposal every time we use the sink. Her advice was not to use the sink. Duh? I needed it fixed. I have cancelled the order and called another plumber. It is going to cost me $600 to replace the disposal. I won't be renewing my contract with American Home Shield although I have been a loyal customer for 13 years.

We then had a plumber we knew come out, and they found the leak and told us we needed a new toilet within 1 minute of being in the house. We have been arguing to AHS that we wanted to get someone ourselves because they didn't know what they were doing and didn't want to help us. All they want to tell you is what the contract says. Well they don't know their contract that well, because they sent out a 3rd company. We had to move the toilet into the garage because of the leak and odor it was causing.

AHS knew this and still sent the plumber out and told us we were at fault because we moved the toilet. Well, in the contract it states the modification has to cause damage to the toilet. It didn't. So they are fighting us tooth and nail, because they didn't want to replace the toilet the first time. They are a piece. I am surprised they have not been shut down yet. They are only supposed to call for two opinions, and if they can't figure it out, then they have to pay us to get it fixed or replaced. Nope, they rather have a plumber live at my house then put a stupid $99.00 toilet in. I want to do something about these people. They are just ridiculous.

So we continued putting bleach into the pipe, and then our oven went out days before a holiday and we called American Home Shield and they stated that they would send a "contractor" out to repair it. The following week after the holidays, the "contractor" came out, didn't even examine the oven and said that a new seal was needed and that he would have to order the part. Two weeks later, I was calling in to American Home Shield because the oven still was not fixed and they stated that they were still waiting on the parts.

Then magically, 2 days later the parts were shipped directly to my home address. I called American Home Shield again and they stated that they would send the same "contractor" out to finish the repairs on the oven. The "contractor" came in and put the parts in, then left and the oven still didn't work. I called American Home Shield and they sent another "contractor" out who finally did the repairs correctly on the oven after we had been charged the $60 service fee multiple times.

Then the a/c unit started leaking again and the power in 2 different rooms went out, so we called American Home Shield again to be charged 2 different service call fees for a recall on the a/c unit and for an electrician to look at the problem in the rooms. The electrician called my mother to schedule a time to come out even though she is nowhere on our contract and does not have permission to speak on mine or my husband's behalf. My mother advised the "electrical contractor" to call my phone number to schedule a time as I am the one who pays for the house and the warranty program payments, to come out to look at the problem, but he never contacted me at all.

The electrician came out to my home and luckily my brother was home; however, the electrician got mad because there was no payment waiting for him and my brother was under 18 so he could not charge him for the service. My brother stated that the electrician did not look at anything, just wrote out a bill and left it on my counter and said that the problem is not covered under my warranty and left. I tried speaking with American Home Shield about this instance several times to no avail. When they finally sent someone out in regards to my a/c again, the "contractor" stated they fixed the problem and I was again charged the $60 service fee and the contractor stated that if we had any more problems to call him directly.

Well, a couple of weeks later, we noticed that the a/c was leaking again and tried multiple times to contact the contractor with no return response from him so I called American Home Shield again. They stated that they would send someone out again and there would be another service fee charged. When I explained to them again that they had contractors out here several times in regards to this matter, they stated that they would list it as a recall and I wouldn't be charged a service fee "this time". When I asked the American Home Shield representative about the damage done to my home from the leak that supposedly had been repaired, she stated "American Home Shield does not cover the secondary damage." So I asked to speak with a supervisor who restated that same thing that the representative advised me and gave me the "Corporate Office number".

I contacted the corporate office number I was provided several times and left multiple messages with no return response. Then the a/c contractor called me back to schedule a time to come out after they had contacted my mother to schedule a time and were advised to contact me. It wasn't until the actual "contractor" called me and I stated that I was pursuing legal action against American Home Shield and their "contractors" that this particular contractor (the same one that told me previously to call him directly if there were anymore problems with the a/c) came back out and said that the problem wasn't the a/c, that it was the plumbing that ran from the a/c under the house and outside that was packed up and that he would call American Home Shield to send a plumber.

American Home Shield sent a "plumber" who ran a couple of feet of line through the pipe and then said that there was a crack in the plumbing piping outside and that our warranty didn't cover that and charged us the $60 service fee and left. Since this plumber left on 9/23/09, the a/c has been flooding my dining room and my daughter's bedroom which is on the other side of the a/c unit with water, rocks, mud, and pebbles. I have tried multiple times to reach anyone at corporate office and have left multiple messages with no return response provided by the company. I have again tried to contact the corporate office and have been hung up on several times by a supervisor in the Iowa Call Center and the Georgia Call Centers.

We had no control over how the previous owners maintained these units and the units were in good working condition when we purchased them. The contract does not state that the units had to be properly maintained since installation, only that they be maintained throughout the term of the contract. Shouldn't AHS be required to cover these items? Do we have any recourse? I would welcome being contacted by an attorney!

Two men came to the house, spent thirty to forty minutes talking before telling us that they could not work on the unit where it was, and then told us that it was our responsibility to move it to our porch. Then after they had repaired the unit, it was up to us to replace it and another part had to be ordered. (Part #3 arrived about September 19/09.) September 17/09, I called AHS and spoke to "Daniel". I told him the story to which he said that he was sorry and canceled the policy. He asked if there was anything else he could do and I told him that he could get the boxes moved out of our house. On September 26/09, I was called by the workmen who asked if the parts had arrived. I told him that I had canceled the contract and that he must get the boxes (must be moved) or that they will be trashed. He indicated that he understood (Condo law). This will be relayed again to AHS on Monday, September 28/09. If they are not moved, the boxes will be trashed on the next day September 29 /09.

I paid the plumber the required $60.00 fee when he came by to check it out. The plumber told me that it was not covered, and that he could not do anything anyway, since it was not a plumbing issue. He referred the AHS work order to an appliance repair company. I called the appliance repair co. to ask why I wasn't told that it was not covered in the first place. They indicated that I needed to take it up directly with AHS, and that I should have read my policy where it stated that it was not covered. Again, the AHS customer rep never told me this, and I know that I mentioned to the AHS rep that the repair needed on the refrigerator was related to the water dispenser also not working.

My other concern with AHS is that previously, when I had requested a microwave repair, I also had to argue with AHS. This was for a handle replacement in my built-in microwave. I insisted that it should be covered under my policy since I simply could not open the microwave any other way. AHS was denying this claim request, since to them the handle was seen as an aesthetic feature, not necessary for the operation of the microwave. I insisted that it was not for aesthetic reasons, as AHS was stating. In other words, I have experienced resistance on the part of AHS to follow through with repairs based on reasons that favor AHS and not the consumer.

AHS wants insurance customers to pay them, but will refuse claims based on any unreasonable explanations and technicalities that AHS can and will use to deny a customer claim for appliance repair coverage. The current economic downtown will not allow me to spend on frivolous home (appliance) warranty coverage that don't benefit the consumer, since every penny counts. I have other real financial obligations to meet, and I can't afford to throw money away.

I told him that I was done, and asked him to please leave. His van left oil stains on our driveway. I called AHS to complain. This was the last straw. The technicians they have been sending out were substandard. We told them we did not want to do business with them any longer. They had the audacity to turn over the $53 monthly charge to collections.

Oh, and by the way, there was a leak in our downstairs water closet. We contacted another contractor and his son went to our house the next day. The 19-year old felt behind the toilet and could tell that the wall was wet. They had to tear out our cabinets, drywall and flooring - replaced the leaking toilet, cabinets, and flooring. And AHS wants their $53? This is a company with no integrity.

Despite my numerous calls to AHS (over 5), nothing positive has been done. I am repeatedly told that they will check the tapes and call me. After my last call, I was told that if I paid the amount to upgrade my contract immediately, that they would handle my claim. The catch was, the upgrade amount included the monthly difference of my original contract, going back 4 months. I advised AHS that I had no faith in them that they would even repair the air conditioner once I paid that amount. I also advised them that due to the lack of return calls from their company, I had lost faith in their dedication and ability to serve their customers. At this point, I would not recommend AHS to anyone. They sound great but do not do anything (in my experience) except take your money.

I called AHS, they sent out a tech from Third Generation Plumbing and Mechanical. The tech had a new water heater up and running in no time. I paid the deductible and was done. Well, now several months later, in the heat of the summer, my AC has seemed to crash. I called AHS on Friday night. They informed me a tech would call me Monday morning. At 8 am Monday, I got a call from a company called the Air Doctor. They sent a tech out late that afternoon. I explained to him that with the 90 degree temps and 80 % humidity, it is unbearable in the house especially having a pet there all day. He gave me a brief diagnosis on the spot, told me a bunch of components were fried, and he didn't have anything on his truck to get me going that night. But he told me to go to Walmart, purchase a window AC unit, keep the receipt, use it until I get my main AC fixed and then return the window unit. That I did not do.

By Wednesday, I had not heard a word from either AHS or Air Doctor, so I made some phone calls. I come to find out that the tech had not even sent in his diagnosis to AHS yet. I emphasized the severity of the humidity outside and heat temps. I finally received a message from AHS on Wednesday about 12:30 pm. They informed me the tech told them it was lightning damage and they would not cover that but I should call my homeowner's insurance company. After 6 days in 90 plus heats with 80% humidity, I needed to have this fixed now. I called AHS and informed them nothing else electrical was damaged in the house, there were no storms and the diagnosis was inadequate.

An AHS rep told me if I felt that way, I should get a 2nd opinion. After hanging up with her, I called Third Generation Plumbing and Mechanical Co (who was AHS approved to come fix my water heater prior). They had a tech at my house within 3 hrs of my phone call to them. Their tech proceeded to examine the unit to discover that the transformer which amongst other things that were diagnosed to be fried by Air Doctor, were in fact perfectly fine. However being that the unit is roughly 30 yrs old, the fan motor went out (which AHS should cover).

Third Generation had all the parts and pieces needed right on the tech's truck. He informed me the motor was a bit pricy, but it was what had to be done to get the AC back running. I agreed to pay him the necessary costs to fix the AC unit, approximately six hundred dollars worth. After Third Generation fixed my unit and left, I decided to call AHS to explain the situation. AHS informed me that I did not properly report my claim and they couldn't do anything. But the woman on the phone gave me a website (which I still can't seem to locate) and a fax number to type out a request letter explaining myself and the situation, fax it in and in 2 to 3 weeks, I could get a reply. While looking for this supposed website, I came across this Consumer Comment Form, lo and behold, third story down I read was Hurbert of St Petersburg FL, having very similar problems with the exact same AC contractor (Air Doctor) and AHS which inspired me to post my experience with AHS.

It was winter by then and we traveled early this year. But when we came back and turned the a/c on, sure enough, it was not working again. We had another company come up and he said the freon must have leaked and it ended up damaging the coils. We knew we had a freon leak problem last year. The guys just kept topping off the freon, but never fixed the leak.

So now, AHS will pay for the coil, but not for upgrades (which I understand and am not arguing about). But this company is charging $850 out of pocket. We had a similar problem on another unit two years ago and they charged us $450. So I am requesting AHS to have the option of checking out other AHS providers so I can lower the out of pocket cost. But I do not have that option. It has been a while since I have asked them for the cash out option and they have not got back to me yet.

I have a toilet flush that was replaced two years ago. I realized very soon there was problem and it was flushing on its own every two minutes. By the time I realized this (it is an upstairs toilet that we do not use often), it was outside the 30-day period. I called my handyman and he said they had done something strange and I need to call them out. AHS said I have to pay $60 again. I never called them out, but the toilet still leaks.

We are buying a new dishwasher and microwave on our own even though they are both not working at all and even though they are under warranty. The reason--we have already spent service fees. The guys turn it on, see that it turns on and say it works fine. They never wait to see how it really works and do not care. I am incredibly frustrated now and have just decided to cancel the contract. This way, I, at least, won't have to feel the frustration of being at their mercy.

I heard from another contractor that in very rare cases they cover everything. I asked them about water heater and I heard that if it costs $1,400 to replace one. AHS will provide about $400. I do not know how true is this as I have never got it done.

The house has 3 Carrier 38TDB036 air conditioner units and 3 furnaces installed in 2003 and have the city’s inspection sticker on them. They were installed to run only on high speed even though the units are two-speed capable. On July 17, the kitchen unit stopped blowing cool air. ACH sent Neil’s Heat and Air. The tech filled refrigerant and the unit started blowing cool air again. On August 19, the kitchen unit stopped blowing cool air again. The thermostat flashed error code E5. Neil’s Heat and Air was recalled. Their diagnosis was ‘bypassed, etc., etc.’ On August 20, AHS sent A-1 Heating & Air-conditioning for second opinion. Their diagnosis was ‘unit wired to run only on high capacity instead of two speeds’.

AHS told me to get this changed before the coverage continues. On September 1, Comfort Inc., a Carrier authorized and recommended company, diagnosed the unit and found the unit wired to run only on high capacity instead of two speeds and the evaporator coil has a leak that can be repaired. They replaced thermostat wiring on all 3 units, wiring them for dual speed. This was done only to keep AHS satisfied. All of this was done at my expense of $1,225.

On September 2, AHS recalled Neil to look at the unit. In 30 seconds, the tech looks at the thermostat, punches two buttons and leaves saying, ‘my boss said not to do anything more, I don’t care if there is a leak’. Neil reports back to AHS that the unit is still badly installed. Tell me this, how are these three units working since 2003? If the kitchen unit failed due to ‘improper installation’, how are the other 2 units still working? How come a Carrier authorized company and A1 Heating and Air-conditioning reached a different conclusion than Neil’s Heat and Air? What part of the ‘improper wiring’ caused the leak? Why isn’t Neil continuing diagnosis, even after the wiring was completed on September 1?

After this, we called back, and after paying we still have no air. The answer was "we have 24 hours to respond". It has been nine days. Maybe if the man would have evaluated that we also needed a breaker, this would have not happened anyway. This is not the first time. We had a problem with a garage door. They came, charged us and still the garage door after three months stopped working. So they say it is another $60 if we want somebody to come. The same with a microwave, it took them three weeks to change the door. This was last month, we do not know whether we will or won’t have problems, probably we will.

The next day, American Home Shield called to inform us that they were not going to pay the claim because the technician had told them that the freon leak had been preexisting. The home was 18 years old, so yes, the unit was old. But after sitting outside through all kinds of weather, how is it not going to have a freon leak at some time or another? We fought many times about this. We had this "insurance" for two years without a claim, and the one time we need to use it, they deny it. A few days after that, our hot water heater went out. Not knowing how old the system was, we just replaced it at our expense due to whatever reason caused it to go out that was probably going to be preexisting. We ended up paying out of our pocket $4200 to get our air conditioner fixed and we immediately quit making payments to American Home Shield.

We contacted AHS and they were very nice, saying they would send someone out on Monday. The technician called and showed up as scheduled. My wife paid the $60 service call fee. He checked out the air handler and found a bracket was broken on the squirrel cage motor, commented on how nice our house was and left. My wife called me at work, telling me how pleased she was with our decision to purchase the plan. About an hour later, I received a call. An AHS representative told me that there is evidence that the problem was pre-existing and would not be covered. Furthermore, because we only had a 4-ton heat pump and a 2,500 sq. ft. house, no repairs to the A/C would be covered anyway.

I explained to the rep how illogical it would be for me to keep the policy since I had no control over who was sent for the repairs, did not have time to keep up with their obvious list of exclusions, would be out the $60 if my repair was on the list of exclusions or at that point, would be more subject to raping by the company for the repairs. They sent a technician from 45 miles away. I would rather choose a reputable local company for the repairs to my home. I was out $60 for the service call and $135 they said they spent on the call. Total cost $185 and no repair. I will fix the problem myself.

5 hours later, no call. I had to contact the A/C company and set the appointment. They scheduled me for 12 noon on 09/02/09. The next day, 12 noon came around and no service. 1PM no service, 2PM no service. I called Tri's Heating and Air. The rep told me no one is coming to my house because they don't have enough repairmen. Don't call me, fax me or email. Just don't come. I called AHS and the rep contacted another company and gave me their number. I called this company and they came out within the hour to my house, Dave Broussard Heating and Air. I have nothing but good things to say about them. Excellent.

The service tech examined the A/C unit and let me know it's the condenser and the a-coils. They need to be replaced. 30 minutes later, I got a call from AHS explaining what it is and they are going to fix it by Friday. The service tech lets me know that they will be out Friday when the parts come in. An hour later, I got a call from the tech letting me know that AHS wants a second opinion. Think about this, they don't trust their own companies they contract with. I called AHS. They want to send out the same company that didn't show up the first time to get a second opinion. I've talked to about 5 reps now and they all said it's to protect me.

Well, today is 09/03/09 at 12 noon and no contact from Tri's Heating and Air. I've called the home office and am trying to contact the president of the company, Dave Crawford. He has some type of president's committee to handle complaints. I called at 8AM this morning and have not received a call yet. The labor day weekend is coming in two days, Thursday today. It doesn't look like I'll have an A/C until the next Wednesday or Thursday because Monday is a holiday. My advice is don't buy your warranty with American Home Shield. They don't trust their own service people and don't honor your business.

Very late that evening, I received a call from someone with AHS Authorization Dept. She said that she had spoken to the "repairman" who reported that the problem was with the hose and that is not covered under my policy. She said that she was going to close the work order. I protested stating that the repair had not been made and that the person sent was not qualified to repair central VAC equipment by his own admission. She insisted that he is an electrician and therefore she was going to close the order based on the information he had provided. The next morning, I called AHS customer service again and tried to explain what had happened. I got the same argument that the matter was closed because the hose is not covered under my policy. I explained that the electrician told me that he knew nothing about central VACs and that he was not able to diagnose the problem much less make the repair. The electrician who readily admitted to me that he was not qualified to do such repairs did not tell AHS that. So that put me, the policy holder, at odds with AHS. I went round and round on the phone insisting that AHS send out a central VAC repairman. I felt like, I was having to "pull teeth" to get any cooperation. But finally, he reluctantly agreed to send out another repairman.

I had to take time off work a second time to meet someone who was qualified and skilled to do the job. He diagnosed the problem and repaired it. The repair is covered under my policy. I had to take more time off work than would have been necessary if AHS had simply sent a central VAC repair service to my home in the first place. I had to spend much time arguing with AHS to get equipment repaired that is covered under my policy. I paid $2200.00 for this policy. AHS looked for every way out of covering this repair.

AHS sent a new plumber and this new plumber told us that AHS would not cover the repairs. The pipes were too close to each other and installed incorrectly. Our home is ten years old and we have never had a plumbing problem. He told me AHS would call. They never called, so he left and I called them. Disconnected from the customer service line twice, I explained the details of the conflicting information. The first plumber was on the floor making the necessary, simple repair. He needed more space, so we spent $125 for a carpenter. The plumber could not wait, so he left. We expected him to return to finish the work.

A new plumber was sent and conflicted his co-worker's original plan, thus making AHS deny our claim. More importantly, the plumber said he would replace the original part, without replacing all of the piping for $325. Apparently, AHS can't pay for a service call and repair, but we can? It's safe enough for him to make the original repair, now that he's claimed faulty installation.

Shortly after moving into the house, my husband and I decided to install a shower stall in the basement. I shut the water off at the main shut-off valve to the house to do this work. When I went to turn the water back on, the knob just spun in place and the water wouldn’t turn on. I immediately called American Home Shield to send someone to fix the problem, approximately 6pm. I was told that the issue was being processed as an emergency and that someone would call within an hour to let me know who was coming out.

I went about cleaning up the mess from installing the shower and wasn’t really paying attention to time. Before I realized how quickly time was passing, I realized it was 9:30 pm and no one had called me. I called American Home Shield to alert them that no one had called me. I was told at this time that no one was answering the emergency call out and that I should go ahead and hire my own plumber to come out and they would reimburse me the cost minus the sixty dollar service call fee. I called Roto-Rooter to come out that evening followed by an immediate call to American Home Shield to find out what I had to do to seek reimbursement. It was during this phone call that I was told American Home Shield has a Do Not Use list and that Roto-Rooter was on that list. If I chose to use them, they would not be able to reimburse me. I hung up immediately to call and cancel Roto-Rooter as I knew they were on the way.

I phoned another plumber who assured me that it was nothing to worry about as long as there was no physical leak. He agreed that he could come out first thing in the morning, the very next morning (Thursday morning). This was mainly to save me money by not having to pay an after-hours service call fee. Approximately four in the morning, I phone American Home Shield again; this time was to check on the status to see if there was an estimated time of arrival for their plumber. If their plumber was only going to be a couple hours later than the one that I hired, then it was financially better for me to pay the sixty dollar service call fee rather than paying for the entire bill and then sitting back waiting on reimbursement. It was during this phone call that I was told ”American Home Shield has no one to service your area, so you’ll have to hire your own and we’ll reimburse you.”

I demanded at this time to cancel my warranty service with them because what use was the warranty if the company had no one to service my area?! I was told that I was locked into a contract and that there was no way that I could cancel it. Frustrated, I hung up the phone still not knowing what I need to do to seek reimbursement. Shortly after 8am, the plumber I hired called to let me know that he was on his way. I immediately phoned American Home Shield to again ask what I need to do to seek reimbursement. I was told at this time “Don’t hire your own, we have people! Let me put you on hold while I send someone out!” I was told they had a plumber that was going to be coming out and provided with a number to verify an estimated time of arrival for this plumber.

I immediately called and cancelled the plumber that I had hired and followed up with a phone call to the plumber that American Home Shield told me was coming out. I was surprised to hear from the plumber American Home Shield hired that he was not told this was an emergency and that had he known it was an emergency, he would have never taken the call. I asked him how soon he could get out to help with my situation and he responded that the earliest he could get out here was Saturday morning maybe Friday evening at the earliest.

I immediately phoned American Home Shield and was told “That is all we can do at this time. If you cannot wait until Saturday for the plumber to come out, then you’ll have to hire your own!” Trying to imagine going Thursday, Friday and goodness knows how long Saturday with no running water, I asked “Can I stay in a hotel or somewhere until you can send someone out?” I was told that it was not American Home Shield’s policy to provide such accommodations and if I was not satisfied, I should hire my own plumber to come out and fix the problem. I ultimately just fixed the problem myself; something I should have done from the beginning, but felt that if it was covered under the warranty it made sense to report it to the warranty company!

After this incident, I began noticing things that were wrong with the house, and I kept going back to my conversations with Deb ** who told us that we would not have to worry about anything at all, this policy would protect us from having to do any major repairs in the first year! The first thing I noticed was my light outside that illuminates the stairs was not working when I turned the light switch on. I tried changing light bulbs and a few things like that before calling American Home Shield as I was certain this should be covered by the warranty. American Home Shield stated that this was not covered and that the warranty only covers the physical structure of the house.

The second thing I noticed (and this may seem odd to most, but it’s one of the things that attracted me to the house) is my front porch is actually part of my basement. By that I mean the house sits on one part of the basement, and the porch rests on top of another. So from the ground level entrance, you actually walk under my front porch to get to the basement under the house. I noticed that where the cement porch connects to the house, water was leaking into the basement. I called American Home Shield and was told that since it is part of the porch and the porch isn’t a physical part of the house, this leak would not be covered!

A few weeks ago I had a leak from my bathroom into my kitchen. I called American Home Shield to send someone out. They sent someone out who removed the ceiling tiles and fixed the leak. I waited a few weeks to call them to send someone out to replace the ceiling tile. I explained that my house is from the 1940s and the ceiling has wooden slats with what appears to be cardboard or press-board tiles stapled to it. I was told “We only do Sheetrock, we don’t do tiles!” leaving me stuck with about 5 or 6 tiles missing from my kitchen ceiling and apparently doing this myself too.

Presently I have a hole in my ceiling that I am going to have to repair myself. I have older appliances in my house than what I should because I thought if the appliances were covered (as I was told by Deb **) then it made sense to get rid of my appliances and use the ones covered by the warranty! My appliances that I got rid of were about 5 years old or less; the appliances that I have now are about 15 years or older!

Unrelated to the oven, they chose a contractor in response to a plumbing leak at my other house. The contractor repaired the leak and was paid his $60 in cash. Apparently, he reported to AHS, however, that he had not been paid. So twice AHS has sent crooks to my home and offers only labor costs (at their contract rate) in compensation, parts be damned. There are other companies that provide this service. If the oven contractor has not called me in 3 days to come install the part, I will cancel the contracts I have on both my houses and find someone else to deal with. Even if he does call and installs the part and it results in repair of the oven, I will probably cancel both these contracts anyway. I don't need incompetents and crooks sent into my home. I will say, however, that we have had our AHS contract for 10 years and before this year, we were satisfied with the service we received from them.

It seems the companies that work with AHS are paid on how many calls they can deny by finding loopholes in the coverage. Then, when none can be found, the company drags its feet on making payment or fixing the problem and the customer must call in and follow up a minimum of 5 phone calls just to get a status. The main idea seems to be to make the process so difficult that the homeowner gives up and pays the claim themselves rather than continue to waste time tracking down AHS. I have no idea how this company stays in business by providing the service they do. They should be ashamed of their tactics. God forbid they just cover the things that are obviously covered like any respectable insurance company does and stop trying to screw their customers.

My argument with AHS was not about the pressure reducing regulator. It was that the hot water heater is not part of the plumbing system as per their contract. Excessive water pressure and pressure reducing regulators only apply to the plumbing system, according to the contract. The section of the contract that describes the plumbing system makes no reference to the hot water heater. The hot water heater is referenced in a different section. Bottom line, the contract does not define "excessive" and lists a hot water heater separately from the plumbing system, but applies the faults not covered in the plumbing section against the water heater. I had to pay a $1,800.00 homeowner's insurance deductible to cover the damage to my home (the hot water heater is in the attic). I had to pay AHS $60 for the service call. I paid $380 to have the regulator replaced (not covered in warranty).

But just this week our 9 year old Amana washer broke. It had been on its way out for some time. Finally, the axle gave way and the tub tilted off center, stopping mid-cycle. What happened next is a story of deceit and incompetence. First I submitted an online service request to AHS. They wrote that the Greenway Home Service in Nashville would be in touch. When no one called, I phoned them only to find out they had just one technician and he was booked into the following week. That was unacceptable, so I called AHS and they said they'd find an alternate repair company, which turned out to be Sears. Sears was supposed to come out on a certain morning, and when it appeared they wouldn't show up before I had to leave for work, I called the number AHS gave me and was told the tech would call me back to reschedule. But instead of calling me to reschedule, he left voice-mail on my cell phone and went ahead with the service call while I was not at home! He reported to AHS that I had overloaded the washer and broken it, so of course AHS denied the claim as being beyond normal wear-and-tear.

When I told them the washer was 9 years old and had been showing signs of breaking for some time, they offered to send someone out for a 2nd opinion. In the meantime, some company called A & E Parts called saying Sears had ordered a "massive amount" of parts for my washer and asked if I wanted them. I said no, since there had been no contact with the repairman (not even paperwork was left) and I hadn’t got a clue what he ordered. Days later a couple of guys showed up for the 2nd opinion from a company called DirectTech in Donelson. They couldn't have been much over 20. They were sort of glassy eyed and one of them never even opened his mouth. I told them about the visit from Sears and that I wasn't home to inform the tech that the washer didn't just suddenly break from abuse but had been showing signs of wear-and-tear for some time due to normal use and age.

Shortly I heard from "John" at AHS and he said the 2nd team corroborated the Sears report, adding that the unit was rusted from exposure to the elements. When I said it was in an enclosed utility room next to the furnace with a dehumidifier running constantly, it made no difference to him. He said he always tried to err on the side of the customer, but that he was obligated to go by the technicians' reports. He added some nonsense about the appliance being in proper working order, and I said emphatically it had worked for nine years! (Besides, if it was in working order, why would I call for repairs?) I told him I strongly disagreed with their assumptions and asked how to appeal. He gave me a number to Customer Relations/Disputes and a very curt man who gave no name told me bluntly there was no recourse. So, I decided to call the customer service number listed on the AHS website and talked with a woman who seemed to be very empathetic.

She agreed that the team from DirectTech couldn't have known for certain if I was running too heavy loads and that the location in an attached, enclosed laundry room should not have affected the decision to deny my claim. I expressed my concern that the same type of arbitrary decision could be made about the furnace if and when it broke. She said she'd look into and put me on hold (for 10 minutes!) and came back saying her supervisor said the claim denial had nothing to do with location, but was solely based on the abnormal wear-and-tear to the unit which my warranty did not cover. She also had nothing concrete to say about my furnace question. I told her I was very disappointed because I thought she was going to be more of an advocate. It was obvious she'd been put in her place by her boss and couldn't help if she wanted to. So, I said I wanted to terminate my contract. She connected me to yet another department and a disinterested party closed out my account without even asking why.

So, the hundreds of dollars I paid to AHS were wasted and now I have to buy a new washer myself. I wish I had taken these other peoples' stories more seriously back when my mortgage company (Regions Bank) first sent me a flier advertising AHS. This company and the vendors it contracts with seem to be in a conspiracy of fraud and deception. I will never do business with a company owned by ServiceMaster again. In fact, I called Terminix to cancel my policy simply because they, too, are owned by ServiceMaster. I may even confer with my attorney as I imagine a lawsuit would not be hard to win.

My advice is to pay close attention to boards like this one where consumers have taken time to post how they've been misled and robbed by unscrupulous companies like American Home Shield. I wish I had done so years ago.

After the A-coil was replaced on a Monday, on Friday we noticed water in the formal dining room with water coming up from the cracks in the wood. A-1 was called on this Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday with no answers or response back from the owner. Mike the owner of A-1 did call me back at around 11:00 am on Monday morning and I explained the whole issue with him. He stated that he needs a work order from AHS and I told him a different scenario because this is warranty work from the A-coil he just put in on Monday. He stated it would be a few days before he could get someone out to the home and advised me to turn off the unit. Two days later a service man named Chris came to the home and spent 45 minutes looking at the unit and talking on the phone and left and stated someone would be in contact with me over the issue. It was 48 hours after that when I made contact with AHS to find out what was going on and when I could expect someone here to fix the unit because it’s now been 3 more days with air.

A-1 showed up and replaced the A-coil once again and 4 days later it was once again leaking water. I once again placed a phone call to AHS to get another company out here to fix the air conditioning. AHS stated they could not do that because A-1 was the one that put the A-coil in and they needed to be the one to fix it. On the same day I received a phone call at 4:52 from Cool-Heat and they stated they would be out tomorrow to look at the unit. A service man from Cool-Heat showed up at 3:30 and looked at the unit and took some pictures. He stated that someone would be back in contact with me over the issue. It was also noted that we did not have any air for 24 hours prior to Cool-Heat and he replaced a fuse on the outside unit and it started running once again. The service man from Cool-Heat left and about 2 hours went by and the unit was blowing hot air inside the home. I attempted to make phone calls without any response.

So now it's been another 24 hours with air inside my home. I have talked to AHS three times today and there’s nothing but the runaround of when, what, and who is going to fix my air conditioning unit. We have lived in this home for right at 5 weeks and a total of 17-18 days without air conditioning. I was told just a little bit ago from AHS that someone would be getting back to me sometime tomorrow. I know that this unit will not be fixed prior to the weekend, so that is going to be right at 20 days without air conditioning. We paid money to AHS and I would expect for this company to uphold the rights of the customer. Nobody should be expected to be pushed around this much and to make a family suffer this much. I will be the first to say that when I call AHS I'm not the friendliest person, but I want something done about this. I have talked to Scott the person with Cool-Heat and he knows what needs to be done to make this unit run and AHS needs to let him do his job.

My house was built by a reputable builder. How can he say that it was a design fault when it worked for 13 years? Apparently, if the technician declares that there was a design fault in the installation, then automatically, AHS will not cover any work. Well, that was a good excuse to refuse service. Telling you that it was a design fault will always be subjective. All a technician will say is it's a design fault, then it's not covered even if it was the original design of the house. What a lame excuse to refuse coverage. I did not know this is how they work. They told me that they can send another technician for a second opinion, but I have to pay for another service fee. If AHS is really serious about their service, then they should have sent another technician to corroborate the opinion of the first one without any additional fee from the customer.

Last year, my water heater broke. They sent a company who wrote me an estimate of $386.00 for extra charges on upgrades, since they said that these upgrades had to be made in order to put the new one. American Home Shield said that they have to go by what the technician says, and I had to pay for the upgrades. Last night, the fan of my A/C broke. AHS put an emergency ticket at 6:00am. At 11:00am, I called to see when they were coming and they knew nothing about it.

After they called the company they had chosen, they came back to tell me that their secretary had not gotten the fax because the fax machine was out of paper. They put a call to a company called Barker A/C. They came and the technician looked at the A/C fan, but did absolutely nothing. He said that it had dust over it. Well, of course it had dust, what doesn't get dust in an attic? My husband gives maintenance to the A/C every winter. The technician over charged us for the visit, and he left without leaving an invoice, or saying what was wrong with the fan. The company then called AHS and told them that the fan had burnt out because of lack of maintenance because of the dust it had. AHS said that they will not cover it, and got very sarcastic over the phone.

I believe that AHS is as bad of a company as the companies they use. The technician that changed my compressor 4 years ago explained to us that AHS send their contractors to training, and that they specifically train them on how to find whatever the problem is, and then turn it around and blame it on the customer, or on something that the contract does not cover. He told us that they do it on purpose so that they can back themselves up by saying that it’s due to lack of maintenance and then they do not need to cover it. I recommend not to waste a penny on this company. Trust me, I have been paying them for 6 long years and have had a lot of expenses besides the $55.00 service fees. Thanks.

I explained to American Home Shield that anyone living in my home could have gotten seriously injured or killed because of their shoddy service. I suggested to them to send an intermediary to assess quality of work that this particular vendor is providing to its customers representing their firm. They (Kim and the supervisor I spoke with at 4AM, August 21, 2009) told me no and when I described the water damage and I requested to send them pictures of the extent of the water damage in my home - they refused. They told me that American Home Shield only covers the initial damage to the air condition unit and they are not responsible for the structural damage to my home caused by the failed attempts to control that water leak coming from my air condition unit in the ceiling of my home. The damage occurred on August 21, 2009 at 4 in the morning.

On August 25, 2009, today, I had to nearly beg them to send a technician out to assess the damage and to repair the problem to my home, so that my homeowner's insurance USAA could start making plans to repair the damage caused by the vendor AHS sent to my home to repair my air condition unit. My insurance adjuster came to my home on Monday, August 24, 2009, the same time that American Home Shield told me that a technician would come to my home and they did not show up. I have assisted with trying to minimize the water leak problem by paying for additional parts (float shutoff switch) that the air conditioning technician told me would fully resolve my water leak problem by automatically shutting off the air condition unit once the water in the drain pan gets to a certain level. I did this noble act on July 30, 2008.

Now, I am stuck in a quagmire of repairing major damages caused by American Home Shield for poor judgment in selecting the best qualified vendor to resolve my water leak problem caused by my air condition unit. I don't deserve this type of response to a situation clearly caused by mismanagement and misassignment of quality air condition sub-contractors. I pay over $500 a year to protect my home from these unplanned and crazy circumstances along with a $60 service fee. Now that everything has spun out of control, they (AHS and the vendor) want me to pay for the entire bill to repair my home, while they sleaze their way out of being fair and honest by assuming some responsibility for damages they caused to my ceiling in my home.

Secondly, when I called several times during the week, AHS assured me they would return calls. They never did. Their contractor came back out 8 days later with whatever he needed to check the leak and consequently the next day, we got a call saying they were denying our repair. This is the same old story with this company. They really need to be put out of business. Is there any existing class action suit that I could take advantage of? I wonder why they don't come out when we ask to add extra coverage for our air conditioners and take pictures, review them and then tell us honestly that if it breaks, they would not be responsible and not take our additional $150 for those additional appliances.

I am so disappointed and upset and I want to know what avenues are available to me to make sure others do not suffer the same loss in money that we have. This is truly a scam. It is a shame that people like this can prey on honest, hardworking Americans. If nothing else, could we please have the name American removed from their name? Thank you for your time.

The tech showed up at 11AM and said it was the evaporator and he had to order the part through AHS and would call when it came in. Fine, still hot. We wrote him a check and he was on his way. We got a call on Thursday from AHS and they said they approved the part, however, Polar Air is requiring $375 to install it. I asked why that wasn't covered by our warranty, wasn't that part of the repair? They said we would have to take that up with Polar Air because that was their fee. I just don't understand how this company stays in business. All the realtors should be informed not to use this company when recommending sellers to buy these warranties. I agree that a class action suit needs to be taken!

Their customer service was extremely rude and I was never able to speak to a supervisor. Neither of the people I spoke with will give me their last names. I will not refer them or renew the service. This has been the worst agency I have ever dealt with. Their staff is inexperienced and has no clue how to treat their customers. They do not return phone calls and could care less the customer situation. My family has been without air conditioning for two weeks waiting for them. I have a small child and pets. This has been the hottest two weeks this summer in NJ.

Additionally, their customer service is rude, non-existent, not the least bit helpful or courteous. It took more than 3 calls to convince them that it's the downstairs unit, not the upstairs unit this time that has the problem. My upstairs unit appears to be working, but after repairing a leak and then what they claim was 6-9 pounds of freon. How can that be? It's hotter than blazes in my downstairs and I'm only close to comfortable upstairs where that heat pump unit seems to be okay, but that little tiny unit is running all the time to cool this entire 2,000 sq. ft. house.

AHS never called me back, but within an hour the plumbing company called me and offered to return my check, which they did that same day. In the meantime, I still have no hot water or gas at my house, so I called a friend and got the recommendation for a plumber. They were out the same day and had my hot water repaired and new gas line laid all in the same day. The charge was 1/3 less than the AHS preferred provider had estimated. Now, here's the rub. Guess what? Since AHS didn't recommend the plumber, they aren't going to cover the repairs. Nice, huh?

Two months later, I had the same problem with the air conditioner and the leaking water. I contacted AHS and they sent a different contractor out to inspect the problem which cost me another $60. The new contractor told me that the problem was not fixed the first time and they could not do anything because they did not do the first repairs. The original contractor came out two days later to inspect the problem and told me it was the coils that needed to be replaced and that it would cost me $405 to fix the problems. I paid the $405 and had it repaired.

Two weeks later, the same problem occurred. After contacting AHS, I was told that they could not find a contractor to come out to fix the problem but they will continue to locate someone. All of this was happening when the temperature inside the house was 95 degrees. Now, the ceiling has began to fall apart because of the continued water leading from the inside unit. AHS has told me that the damage to the ceiling is something that they will not be responsible for.

Later that day, AHS called me and told me, without referring to any state of California or LA city codes, that now my water heater, new install, isn't covered but it would cost me $1,100 to get a new one. Can you believe that? A total rip-off. The whole point of using AHS is to deal with extended warranty problems, but it's like a crap shoot that they just don't want to pay. You get the feeling calling customer support in Georgia they have no idea what they are talking about and are just reading off a script.

I refused to give them the copies and asked for a form to change the bank information. She refused saying I had to send in my license because it was a picture ID. I reminded her that since I hadn't sent it in before, they had nothing to compare it to and didn't know what I looked like anyway. I canceled the policy. Two years later, the $600 GE refrigerator, which turned out to list for $499 at most stores, won't freeze or cool. The serviceman said the bill would be at least $250 to fix it. I'm disappointed in American Home Shield for deceiving me about the cost of the thing and for requiring more ID to change bank info than for setting it up in the first place.

The entire unit overflowed onto my exotic wood floors. The floors buckled up, so I called AHS. They told me they had no responsibility. They then called the company back in. I was then told the motor needed to be replaced. They took out the motor, received phone call from the AC company. They could not find the motor. They brought it to another company, still could not find the part so they were to replace the entire unit. AHS was not happy with their findings, they said they were bringing in another company for a second opinion. They sent over a company by the name of Jayme's Repairs, a company that is a jack of all trades and master of none. Their finding was, the reason the AC was not working was because there was no motor. Well yes Jayme, there was no motor because the first AC company took it out. It does not take a rocket scientist to find that out. I got no call back from AHS, their response was that they thought I got fed up and fixed it myself.

They called back the first AC company to put back the old motor, so the second AC company can see which type of motor it needs. In the meantime, my house has went under contract, the buyers were in the house, the AC repair person told my buyers that the AC systems were antiquated being the building was built in 1990 and the cost to repair each unit is $10,000 - there were three units - and told them to be prepared to replace them very soon. Then proceeded to tell them how this particular system, which is eco-friendly, is not efficient and the heating and AC bills will be hundreds of dollars per month (my bill's average is $79.00 per month). The buyers walked away from the sale based upon the AC person's comments.

I called AHS, they said they cannot control what other companies say even though they have contractual agreements with their vendors. Another week went by, still no word from AHS and the ac company. I then called the sales rep, who told me never to go through customer service. I should have called him directly or his assistant. He put his assistant on the phone and she had no follow through whatsoever. Actually, her name is Sonya. She was quite rude from day one. By the way, I am a realtor and they were looking to do business with them. I gave them 8 deals in 1 month. Meanwhile, I informed Sonya that on June 17th, my significant other was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He had his surgery on June 17th, he was recuperating at home and the AC in the bedroom is important. On August 1st, my significant other was rushed to the hospital. He had a brain bleeding (hemorrhage) and was in the ICU for 4 days.

I called Sonya back again, told her the situation and can you see what is going on since I had not heard from anyone? She informed me she really did not care about the situation and that we had other rooms in the house. For what she cared, he can sleep on the couch or on the floor since the other areas of the house were air conditioned (the other areas of the house is a LR/DR combined, den, kitchen and hallway). She called me back. The AC was being installed on Friday, 7th of August. I called first thing on August 10th to Jayme's. They informed me that the motor was still not in and is back ordered and won't be in for another 6 weeks. I called back to Sonya and informed her of this situation. I told her it was unacceptable. She informed me that she would call, but once again, told me "I don't care how sick he is, you have other places for him to sit. Actually, the floor would be good for his back."

I then asked to speak to her supervisor because at that point, I was really angry. She told me she was the supervisor and if I didn't keep my mouth shut, she would cancel the policy and I could pay for the repairs on my own. She hung up on me. I called back and asked for her supervisor. The supervisor informed me that she would check into it. I received a phone call back. They informed me that they heard from Jayme's and the woman who answered their phone was mistaken and the motor came in on Friday, she just did not know about it. They informed me that they would be there by 5PM. At 9:37PM, I got a phone call from Jayme's pool service (did I tell you Jayme's is a pool cleaning company. Those are the people who are repairing my AC system and also told my buyers the cost to repair the units), they informed me that they will be at my home between the hours of 11PM up until 1AM.

I informed them that it is a luxury high rise and that the bylaws do not allow for repairs after 6PM. I also told him that my significant other just came out of ICU and was in bed. He asked me whether he should get out the violins. He said, "Either you get it fixed now or he will put it as a non-priority, and could not guarantee when he would be back. It could be over 6-8 weeks." He also called me a ** and cursed me out. I hung up on him. The next morning, I called the supervisor from AHS. She looked into it, apologized but could not give me an exact date. I informed her that I was heading to the vet because on that day, my dog of 14 years had cancer and was going to be put down. She said she would call with a time they were going to come to do installation. She did call back with an installation for Thursday at 5PM.

On Thursday, August 13th, my significant other received a phone call from the supervisor as well as Sonya. They were on the phone together. They informed us that they were going to do this repair, but as of August 13th, they have cancelled our policy because of conflict of interest. They also said that they were instructed by their legal department to cancel the policy as well. We asked for it in writing and the reason why the cancellation, they informed us they will. Dealing with AHS has been a nightmare and a company that is truly a scam. Just look at the number of complaints they have on the Better Business Bureau as well as your site. So consumer beware. This is a company not to do business with.

This month (August), my Wells Fargo bill listed another charge for AHS. Meanwhile, AHS sent me a letter on July 21 saying that my "contract" entitled them to charge me one month's payment for "prorated charges and administrative" fees. But I have never gotten or signed a contract, and was told earlier in the month that I would be repaid in full.

I have asked and asked how I can get my old range/oven hauled off? AHS has no suggestions. So, I called the installer. Their response? We can only do what the AHS work order says or we get in trouble with them (AHS). I have offered to pay any reasonable sum to AHS and the installer. Nope, AHS refused to help in any way, saying "They're not set up to charge extra for anything." The installer refused to help for fear of retribution from AHS. The installer even said "this is weird" when I asked if he usually hauls off old appliances that he replaces. He paused for fear of saying the wrong thing then went back to "We can only do what AHS tell us." I repeated the question, and he said, "Well, yeah, we usually take the old stuff with us, but we can only do..." (You know the rest by now!)

I can't believe 2 things: 1) Hauling off is not included in replacing something, and 2) if it is not included, why isn't AHS set up to take some of my money by offering this service at an extra fee? Help!

I contacted American Home Shield who informed me it was not their issue. I had to deal directly with the contractor they sent. The heat and air contractor will not return calls. American Home Shield indicated they do not cover ductwork; however, according to the second contractor I hired, there is nothing wrong with the ductwork, not until AHS contractor "adjusted" the dampers and "unwired the zones". American Home Shield will not accept any responsibility for the problem caused by the contractor they sent. However, during the so called repair, a representative from American Home Shield called my home to inform me the repair was not covered by the warranty and would send the "best duct person" to my home to give me an estimate for repair of my ductwork. This call from American Home Shield made me very weary of the home warranty company. I will be contracting my own services for home repairs. I do not know the cost of repairing the "repairs" done by American Home Shield's contractor.

They knew this was a problem before ever coming to my house. Why did they not send someone competent in the first place? It has been a week without any way to preserve food in a house with 4 people, middle of August in South California - not a good situation to say the least. I have given AHS till end of business Monday 8/10/09, to give me a response I can live with. Either repair (I am doubtful they can find part after 35 years) or replace it with the same side-by-side, or cash in lieu - I buy myself. I have had, in the time I have had this policy, many more horror stories like above - heater going out in winter, dragged on for 2 weeks, hot water heater gone, contractor lied about what new codes were; it goes on and on. Is there a class action or some other type of group I can join against AHS?

The Comfort Doctor does not answer or return the calls I have made to them. If truly the damaged duct work was caused by pests, even though there is no evidence of pests in my attic, there is nothing in the contract that says they will not cover something that is damaged by a pest - unless they are classifying this as unusual wear and tear. It appears that they do not want to cover any problem that may cost more than a specific dollar amount. Years back this same warranty company repaired my duct work when a similar problem occurred. As a result of this, I will have to pay for another diagnosis out of my pocket and more than likely pay for all of the repairs. Since my contract is not up until March, I cannot cancel my service contract with them.

I am writing to inform you that I am upset and extremely frustrated with American Home Shield. I have been trying to get my side-by-side refrigerator repaired for months. Once again, the temperature in my freezer is 20-plus degrees. I am tired of throwing out good food because it has defrosted. I currently cannot store any meat and my freezer and ice cream has the consistency of a milk shake. I have had 8 service calls since November. At this point, my refrigerator is still not working. I need a new refrigerator. The following are the sequence of events:

In November 2008, Shapiro Appliance Service first came for a repair. He needed a part and had to come back. In December 2008, Shapiro came back and supposedly fixed the freezer. The refrigerator stayed cold for a while, but then it started warming up. Ice cream was once again the consistency of a milk shake. On April 13, 2009, Shapiro Appliance Service came out again. The technician said there was nothing wrong and the temperature was fine. I told him about the ice cream being soupy and the technician said ice cream and yogurt are supposed to be soft. On May 13, 2009, I called again because everything was soft and runny in the freezer. I looked at the receipt and it was exactly 30 days from the previous service call. AHS said I would have to pay another service call because it was not entered until the 14th. Are you kidding me?! You finally decided to send me a coupon for the service call.

On May 14, 2009, this time All Valley Appliance came out because Shapiro was too busy. All Valley said the wrong freon was put in the freezer. Many companies put the wrong freon in because it is cheaper than the correct freon. They told me the wrong freon will hold the temperature temporarily, but eventually it will warm up again. I notified AHS. You told me that I needed to get Shapiro back out because he did the original work. On May 18, 2009, Shapiro came out and said he did not use the wrong freon and there is no way to tell what type of freon is used. He said I needed a part. By the end of his service call, he said no one uses the correct freon as it is too expensive. I do not know what to believe. All I know is my refrigerator does not work.

On June 2, 2009, Shapiro came out again. He flushed out the freon and added freon again. He said if this doesn’t work, he needs to pull out the freezer and work in the back. At this time, I decided to put a thermometer in the freezer to check the temperature. I wanted to make sure the temperature stayed around zero so I could call before 30 days. I have paid far too many service fees to fix my refrigerator. Two weeks later, I saw the temperature rise again. On June 23, 2009, Shapiro came out to my house. The same technician walked into my house, looked at my refrigerator, and then said, “I need to get authorization from AHS to pull out your refrigerator.”

I said, “Why did you bother coming? You told me at your last visit and over the phone that you would need to pull out the refrigerator.” I spoke to AHS and they said I had to hire someone to move it. I paid someone $50 to pull it out; it took him 2 minutes. My refrigerator has now been sitting in the middle of my kitchen since June 24, 2009, waiting for someone to come and repair it. On June 25, 2009, you sent out Universal Appliance Service for second opinion. On July 1, 2009, you sent out Active Appliance for a third opinion. They both said that there is something wrong with the refrigerator - a leak in the system, pressure is too high. Neither one knew exactly what to do. As you can imagine, I am very frustrated with this experience.

Four different service companies and 8 service calls have not been able to fix my refrigerator. I continuously take off from work to wait for service technicians who give me 4 or 5-hour windows. This is inexcusable. I pay AHS to protect me from these types of losses. The few times I have used your service I have been happy with whom you sent out. I have even recommended your company. This time I feel like I am being taken advantage of. At this point, think I am entitled to a new refrigerator. Please contact me a soon as possible to get this resolved. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

After 2 more phone calls to AHS, they approved camera work, by a new company (Contractor Connection, no problems with them, their techs were great) to come and camera the property. We specifically told AHS that the problem was at a pipe junction that required a camera from a roof vent. The first tech from CC came out on 07/23, and we had the same problem. He did not have authorization from AHS to run a camera and could not do anything but stare at our floor. Again, I had to put calls into AHS to resolve the issue. We finally got the camera approved, again, and the next CC tech came out today, 08/05. This tech only had authorization to run a camera through our toilet pipes, 2ft. from the problem. Unfortunately, as we told AHS, it was not possible to find the crack with the camera from this location. CC sent this info to AHS immediately.

After now talking to AHS, they will approve another camera, through the roof, but, our warranty suddenly doesn't cover the roof access. The first company can come out to do the new roof-camera, at my expense ($375) to try and again diagnose the issue. Assuming I have them do the work, I will now be out $435, with no guarantee that AHS won't find an additional validation or loophole to charge me with. I hate to let them off the hook, but at this point the potential $565 ($1,000 max payout) we could save ($1,000 - $435 paid to date) is not worth the possibility of being out $565 and having to still pay for the work ourselves (since there is no guarantee they'll pay out on the work needed).

I am glad that this warranty was paid by the bank during closing, and not us. We will not be renewing with this company. 3 days off work, $60, and a month without one of our bathrooms functioning. I am now stuck paying the full cost of the repairs ($3,500), and out the $1,000 AHS should be paying out.

Again, we tried calling, only to be put on hold. We never can speak to anyone. Today, we sent registered letters to Mr. Dave Crawford at 860 Ridge Lake Rd, Memphis, TN 38120. So, they say that he is the president. I signed no contract and I refuse to pay them anymore. I am requesting my June payment be put back on my credit card, my checks returned as they said, and I hope for AHS that I don’t have anything on my credit rating. The best way to handle a scam is file a lawsuit, which I may do if I don’t hear pretty quickly.

After 5 hours and a trip to get some caulk grease which they sprayed on the components inside the house, they were getting ready to leave. I asked for a paper to document that they had replaced the compressor and this was written on plain paper without a company name and signed by one of the workers. By June 19, the unit was running continuously and the temperature inside my house was 88 degrees. I then made many calls to AHS and spent much time on hold waiting for the next available representative.

Finally, on June 22, I called my regular AC repairman and he found damage to the coils inside my house. AHS said they would replace the coils and would send their own repairman to do the work. AHS would not give me an estimate as to a date that the work would be completed and I was starting into the 3rd week without AC and temperatures still in the high 90's and low 100's. Also, I had become very leery of AHS and especially of the service people that they provide so I opted to cash out the claim and pay for a new AC unit myself. I feel that if I had not done this, I would probably still be sitting here in the heat attempting to get the problem solved through AHS.

I do not recommend American Home Shield and I will not be renewing my coverage with them. I prefer to save the $500 yearly premium and then, when problems occur, call service companies that I know to be competent and courteous.

Except for American Home Shield, I guess everyone else can realize how important the range is in your kitchen especially when kids are at home for holidays. I think I may need to seek some legal assistance.

When they did show up, they told me the unit was leaking freon and that the valves on the system would need to be repaired. However, they did not have the right equipment to fix the problem and would have to put in a work order to have someone else come back out. This was on a Saturday. I finally received a call from the service provider on Tuesday, and they told me that they could not come out until Thursday that week. I waited on Thursday until 6 pm when they finally showed up, etc. It took them 15 minutes to fix the problem supposedly. They did not ask for a service fee at that time.

Two weeks later, the system broke again, only, when I went to place another service request, AHS told me they could not place the request because I had not paid the 60 dollar service fee. After speaking with one of their many incompetent staff, I finally realized I was not going to get anywhere with this problem, and stupidly paid another 60 dollar service fee. However, I did request that I have another vendor do the work this time and was told that this was the only AC repair company available in my area. I live in Atlanta, and they are telling me this is the only AC repair company that can correct my AC problem.

I pay a great deal of money every year to AHS. When I first started working with them it was great. It was cheap, and the companies they sent out to repair my problems were good. Now the service stinks. You cannot speak with anyone at AHS that has a 5th grade education, and their prices and rules are ridiculous. After this year, I am looking for a new home warranty company.

The following morning, I called back to Air Doctor and made an appointment for a tech to come out between the hours of 2 and 4 pm on Wednesday. Mr. ** had contacted AHS that same morning and the customer service person called Air Doctor and informed him that they were scheduled to come out that day. Mr. ** was under the impression that AHS made the appointment but I made it. At 2 pm, I began to inquire if someone was going to actually come out or not. The receptionist at Air Doctor stated I was next to get service. I called again at 3, 3:30 and again at 4 when I got the answering machine. I was not aware that Mr. ** was also in communication but through AHS by having a customer service person there call Air Doctor at 3:30 where he was informed that as soon as the tech finishes with the job he is on, he will be to my resident. Mr. ** continued to communicate with AHS trying to get them to get in contact with the tech to expedite the order so we would not have to spend two nights in a house over 97 degrees.

At round 4:45, the technician showed up. He arrived, walked over to the outside unit and without touching it stated with stuff or some sort of tobacco in his lip, "The compressor is out." I asked if it could be fixed. The tech blasted me by saying, "You think I carry this type of equipment around with me? It will take at least two to three weeks before we will have it." The tech stated that Air Doctor was the one who installed the unit and that the previous customer was having problems with it. He began to write up the service receipt and then stated that will be $75. My thought was for what. He never took the unit apart, looked inside or nothing really. If he can provide a diagnosis without touching a unit, he is in the wrong profession. I refused to pay the service fee and gave him a few choice words as I sent him on his way.

I then went to the phone book to find a reputable company that was concerned about the customer and spoke with Pat with Air National. They immediately dispatched two techs out who took the unit apart and gave it a good diagnosis. They stated that they could do a temporary repair but in the next couple of months or more, it will go out. This was not new information to us because (as you will see with the attached document) Joe ** was dispatched out by AHS last year who told us the same thing when they replaced the compressor on 09-02-08.

In the mean time, Mr. ** is on the phone with AHS customer service attempting to get a diagnosis from the Air Doctor tech who ignored the emergency calls placed to him by three customer service persons and two by Mr. ** to contact AHS ASAP. One of the customer service reps did offer to compensate us with a room for a night at $60 per night rate but we would have to send in the receipt to get reimbursed. Another customer service person stated that if we went outside of our contract and used an outside vendor for the services, we would be liable for all expenses. By this time, the conclusion was pretty clear, that we needed to get air by any means necessary. So Air National installed a complete unit that evening. Their service techs did not leave our resident until 2:15. They returned the next evening and spent another three hours completing the task and insuring that it was operating properly.

On Thursday, I contacted AHS and inquired about the service from Air Doctor and was told that we needed to contact the vendor and to handle any complaints. After speaking with Air Doctor and to have them state that they are standing behind their employee and attempted to justify the reason why the diagnosis was not called in the prior evening, Mr. ** called again to AHS. The customer service person stated that the information was received and being processed as we where speaking. Mr. ** requested to speak with a supervisor and was refused. The customer service person stated that because my name was not on the account, I could not speak with anyone higher. After being told that Ms. ** would have to authorize his name being added to the policy and being put on hold, miraculously the CS person stated, "Your name has been added to the policy."

By this time, we were done with AHS and informed the CS person that we would be canceling our service. She stated that she would be informing the cancellation department and that within 48 hours, someone would be contacting us. Mr. ** called you on Monday after getting no response. Corey, we are depending on you to show us personally that American Home Shield does care about its customers, will stand by their customers and will insure that the service they receive is above and beyond their expectation or the companies that do not provide this will not be a member of AHS. Please keep both of us informed on all future aspects of this inquiry.

I had gotten home that evening and found out that the contractor had stated that my compressor had gone out due to the coils being 80% clogged and they could order a new part but they cannot do any work until I get the unit cleaned. He did mark off my paperwork that the deductible was paid. I called the contractor back the next morning to see about scheduling a cleaning and to see about ordering the compressor and I had left several messages that day with no return calls.

That afternoon, I got frustrated and called AHS back and tried to find out what was going on and make them aware of the company they sent out to my home and how they have not responded to me. The service representative at AHS then told me that they did call me to advise me that there was no coverage because this was a maintenance issue so if this contractor was not returning my calls, then I was free to use whoever I want.

I asked them what numbers they were using because I received no calls from them and it seems they still had my old home phone number that I have not used in like 5 years. I advised her I have given them my new number and also put that on the claim when I filed it with them and I know they have my work number because the contractor called me to schedule the initial appointment.

I ended up calling another A/C company and decided to upgrade my unit since it was an old unit and paid them $2900 instead of replacing a part that would have been about $900 (my choice). When the company proceeded to change my coils (since I had upgraded to a bigger unit), they advised me there was no way the other company had even pulled the coils out to see that it was clogged because it is at the bottom of the furnace and the screws and the cover had not even been touched. When they pulled the coils out, they had shown me that the coils were not even clogged. It had some dust on them but that would have covered maybe 5% on the very bottom if that. The compressor had gone out due to wear and tear of the age of the unit (which is what a home warranty covers). I had taken pictures of the coils and the contractor was so helpful that he said if I needed a statement from him, he would be happy to help me.

I called AHS and advised them of the situation and the gentleman I spoke to advised that I had the option to a second opinion if I did not agree with the denial of the claim. So, I explained to him what happened on my earlier call and that I was not given that option other than I was free to call whomever I choose now. He explained that the representative is only authorized to offer a second opinion if I am disputing the denial and I was not on that call, so she closed it out. I asked how was I supposed to know that there was a problem that I should have disputed it. I was told denial due to maintenance and I do not know anything about A/Cs. He spoke to his supervisor and gave me the option to write their disputing department a letter and forward them my pictures for review.

I just want to be reimbursed for the money they would have spent to replace the broken compressor, what I was apparently entitled to. I am in the process of sending that information to them so have not heard anything yet but I came across this complaint site and wanted to tell my story as well. I am still not happy with how the situation was handled. I have also since then received a bill from AHS for $60 to pay the deductible to the company they sent out, in which I have not yet called AHS to advise that the company was paid. I need to go and find my work order they signed off on so I can fax it to them so that may end up being another story but I am seriously considering dropping AHS now and maybe putting away the $32 or whatever monthly charge they have me on into an account for such future repairs.

They then charged me a restocking fee of just under $200 to return the GE oven they recommended. So now, after being into this almost $300, I will end up with a net replacement value of about $280.00 for a wall oven. Wall ovens actually cost at least $800 and up. Had we not wasted our money with American Home Shield, we could have purchased a state-of-the-art oven and still been ahead. American Home Shield say they offer replacement of appliances, but in my case, they just sent the least expensive unit they could find.

When I asked for his name and name of his company, he jerked his clipboard away. He gave me the option of not paying the $60 service fee, but if I wanted the information, I would have to pay the $60. I paid him the fee, and wrote a rebuttal on the paper - a copy for me and one for him. I reported this to AHS, and after holding for 20 minutes, I was told that I could receive a second opinion. I am currently waiting for a second opinion. After the technician left, I went back to the sink with a digital camera and flashlight to take a picture of the evidence and it was no longer there. I should have never let this tech out of my sight. I believe AHS and this technician are fraudulent, and I intend to follow through on this.

Currently, they owe me a very large refund for what one of their robots called non-covered work. They said it was an improper installation. The joke is that AHS is the one who improperly installed the work and caused a fire! But AHS destroyed their internal records so they could not identify the previous repair. I had my proof, submitted it and was told I'd be reimbursed promptly. Three months later, numerous phone calls, excuses, more stupid phone people and nothing has been sent to me.

A friend told me her A/C guy told her he has not been paid by AHS for four months and won't do work. I asked AHS if they had financial problems and they denied it and said it is a contractor that apparently is mad about something. (Yeah, he has not been paid either!) I told them his story matches mine and all I know is three months later, many promises and lies and no money. So beware, the warranty does work, but it's not easy to use. My neighbor got cancelled from AHS for over usage, so don't think you can get a lot repaired on their nickel. They watch their own money closely and will cancel you if things go in the wrong direction for their company. Too bad they don't care as much for their customers' concerns.

We went without air conditioning for 5 days before we had to make other arrangements to get some relief. Not one single time did a representative from AHS call to advise us of times, dates, or decisions. I will not recommend this company to anyone thinking this is a safety net. AHS has been frustrating to work with and has no intention of compensating their customers in any way. We are in the 60+ age group and were not treated with any respect for the living conditions we were forced to endure. A 2-3 week time frame is unacceptable.

My warranty covers improper installation. We discovered that the gas piping for the house was incorrectly done in copper and is not safe. AHS sent plumbers out, the plumber said that the pipe was dangerous but AHS would not repair it because it was the whole house and would cost too much. One way or another, they have ripped me off.

A few days after AHS called me and told me that they did authorize the repairs, but since that collector pan was no longer manufactured, they would have to install a different one, and in order for it to fit, they would have to do some modifications, for which I would have to pay $725. I tried to explain to them that I did not request any modifications, and even if they are required to repair a leaking AC, they should not be my problem and responsibility. I bought a warranty, then my AC which is covered under that warranty started to leak, why do I have to worry about how they should fix the leak? If for some reason they cannot repair my AC, then they have to replace it. That's why it is called warranty! Why are they asking me to pay $725? What kind of peace of mind is that? Now I see that AHS is a rip off. People warned me, I should have listened.

As of today, I still don’t have my stove working. I called AHS again today because no one called me, so once again, I had to call them. AHS is telling me that Sears is not one of their providers and that I will have to pay upfront and they will reimburse me. I cannot just fax or email the invoice, but send in the original one if I want to get my money back. I have a problem with that because who is to say they lost the invoice. Once again, I'm at their mercy. I've asked for a refund but they will only refund me for this month.

However, this is not the same type of service that I received when my central air conditioner stopped cooling in a heat wave with temperatures in the high 90s and low 100s. I'm sharing my experience here to tell how I was treated as a policy holder of American Home Shield when a major appliance stopped working. Here's a summary of my experience:

On June 10, I requested service from AHS, because my air conditioner stopped working. It had been cooling fine until the compressor stopped running and would not come back on. On June 11, AHS sent a person from Company E to check my air conditioner. Company E is a local company I've never heard of before. Their name is not in the local phone book; there is no name on their well-used trucks. And when I asked for a document to show that the compressor had been installed, the document was written on plain paper without a company name and signed by the person who did the installation. This person checked the air conditioner, including the coils inside the house. His diagnosis was a new compressor was needed. There was no mention of a problem with the coils inside the house.

On June 15, two different men arrived from Company E with the compressor. They did a re-check on the system, including checking the coils inside the house. Again, there was no mention of a problem with the coils inside the house. After 5 hours, they finally got the compressor installed, but they had to make a trip to get cans of caulk grease, which they used to spray the coils inside the house. One of the men commented that the air coming from the vents didn't seem real cool, then they both left.

On June 19, with the thermostat on 78 and the compressor running continuously during the day and until around 3:30 AM, the inside temperature now would not go below 88. (On June 22, there was no cool air at all coming out of the ducts.) I called American Home Shield, and I was put on the emergency list and told that American Home Shield would attempt to get the owner of Company E out to my house within 24 hours to find the problem.

On June 20, it's now more than 24 hours and I had not heard from American Home Shield. I called AHS and told them I wanted another company to come out and fix my air conditioner problem. The representative said it would take some time to find a company and get them out. I asked her if a local company (Company A) was on the AHS list. She said they were and would contact them. I waited a while and then called Company A. The owner told me he had just gotten the message but would have to get paperwork done for AHS approval and would be back in touch. (This was around 4:30 on Saturday afternoon. Company A is also a local company but a very reliable and efficient one.)

On June 22, Company A owner came to my house and said he had not been able to get the approval from AHS. He had not been able to get American Home Shield on the phone, because he always got put on hold. He checked the system anyway and concluded that the system needed to be replaced because of the condition of the coils inside the house. The unit is located in a very small closet without room to work on coils.

I finally was able to get an American Home Shield representative and was told that company A could not do the work because A was not in their system. I then asked how it was that I was told on June 20 (Saturday late) that A was in the AHS system and that company A received a work order from AHS in the afternoon of June 20, and now on June 22 (Monday morning), AHS was telling me that company A is not in the AHS system. Finally, AHS got that straight, and company A was approved. Company A gave American Home Shield his opinion that a new system was needed.

On June 23, I called American Home Shield and they informed me that they would pay for new coils, but not a new system. They would order the part and send a repairman out to install it. They could not give me a guess as to the time it would take to have the installation complete. Since I was starting into the 3rd week of no air conditioning in very high temperatures, I was very leery of their selection of repairmen; and they could not give me an estimate of approximately how long it would take to replace the coils. I rejected their offer and settled for the "cash it out" plan, which I would not have known about if the owner of company A had not told me. AHS told me that it would take about 10 days for me to receive the "cash it out" check, after they received a copy of the statement from me for the new air conditioner.

On June 26, I sent a copy of the statement for the new air conditioner to AHS by certified mail and the receipt for the letter received by me about July 1. On July 13, I called AHS to check on the cash-out payment and was told the payment had been processed and I should receive the check on July 14 or July 15. On July 15, I called AHS to tell them I did not receive the check as promised on July 13. This time, I was told by AHS that my statement was not received by AHS until July 13 (Remember I sent it by certified mail on June 26 and got the return receipt around July 1.) and that it takes 10 days to process the claim. I mentioned that I had the certified return receipt, which I received about July 1. I was then told the claim was being processed and the check would be mailed on July 24.

On July 23, I received the check for the coil replacement, which is approximately 21% of the cost of the new unit. The new unit would not have been needed if AHS had sent a competent air conditioning technician to install the compressor. Since I'm a senior citizen, AHS also paid for a tiny window air conditioner, which was $105. They did tell me they would pay up to $120 for fans or an air conditioner. So if you're a senior, you may be interested should you have AC problems.

With AHS, getting a call through to a representative means having to hold for very long periods of time for the next available representative, sometimes being given the runaround and sometimes being put on hold for long periods of time. If you're not satisfied with the response of the next available representative and ask to speak to the person in charge of customer relations, then you'll have another very long on-hold waiting time. Since my portable phone often beeped for a recharge before my call was completed, I resorted to using only a phone plugged into the wall when I called AHS.

My honest opinion of this company is that they train their representatives to be very polite to policyholders while at the same time wearing the policyholder down completely so that the policyholder will eventually give up and pay for the work themselves. After more than 14 days of dealing with AHS with temperatures of high 90s and low 100s and no air conditioning, AHS beat me all the way down with their technique. I paid Company A, a reliable and honest company, to install a new air conditioning unit rather than have any more dealings with American Home Shield.

In my case, I would have been much better off without any AHS coverage, because I would have called a reliable company to replace the compressor. That would have taken a day or maybe two, and the coils would have remained in the original condition. I would not have wasted many hours on the phone with AHS, would not have had the expense of a new unit, would still have the $500 AHS premium, and would not have spent two+ weeks in the searing heat. My coverage expires at the end of 2009, and I will not renew it.

Finally, I contacted two separate companies referred to me by my realtor. They each one told me that our system (compressor) had gone bad. I contacted a third company and they told me the same thing. Lo and behold, we had a new system installed and used the filtrate filters and my dryer is still running on the unit and it is keeping the house at 74 degrees. Too bad I was not able to get AHS to help me with this issue before I had 78 people in my home for a baby shower. I do not advise the purchase of AHS. After further investigation, they contract with companies in our area that are below adequate; therefore, it is a waste of your money.

In 2008, my shower started leaking. I paid $60.00 for them to come out. They replaced the faucet. A month later, the shower was still leaking. They charged me another $60.00 and replaced the rest of the faucet. Why wasn't the whole faucet replaced at once? I also paid $60.00 service fee to have AHS replace a garbage disposal. In 2009, I called about the AC. I was charged $60.00 for the service call fee and told that the filter needed to be cleaned at a cost of $400.00 and AHS would not pay for it. In all, I have spent $2,000.00 in premiums, $300.00 in service cost fees and received approximately $500.00 worth of work - the faucet and the garbage disposal. Remember, however, that I paid $300.00 in fees for the $500.00 worth of work so I really only received $200.00 worth of work.

If I have been putting that money in savings, I could have paid for my own work and used the companies I wanted to use instead of the shady companies suggested by AHS. Sadly, I have decided not to use AHS anymore. If all their companies are going to say you have an uncovered problem, it is better just to put the $500.00 a year in a household savings account and pay for the repairs yourself. You also get to shop around and choose the company that you have heard good things about and does the work at the best price. AHS requires you to use their contracted companies.

AHS doesn't cover that since it's preventative maintenance. Fine, no problem, but it's been another week and I still can't get this company to make an appt. to fix our AC. We have called AHS to complain about the company that they have contracted to take care of our AC and they tell us there is nothing they can do because the diagnosis isn't covered. They tell us we have 2 choices, either keep trying to get an appt. scheduled or find another company on our own, which would charge us another service charge fee plus the fee to do the cleaning. Are you kidding me? So now, we're stuck having already paid our $60 service charge and our AC hasn't been fixed and the joke of a company that AHS sent out to us never returns our calls on a daily basis. So we are back at square one.

AHS is a crock. We pay several hundreds of dollars for the home warranty and this is the kind of service we get. Needless to say, I put in a request to cancel our contract with AHS and get a refund.

The tech said that he would inform AHS and they would contact us within the hour. 4 hours later, I called AHS to which they informed me that they are scheduling a second opinion based on the fact that within the past 8 years, we have had "4 electrical calls" and that no one has observed this before and that based upon the tech's diagnosis, this claim was initially denied due to overloading of the system. This is a 20-year old home and the system is original, 20 years ago was this system overloaded and if the previous technicians did not go into the service box for anything other than to shut on/off the service, how then would they have known there was or could have been a problem? A problem having more to do with oxidation due to age, which then would have led to integrity of the system which then would lead to overload.

Furthermore, the technician who came out on July 14, 2009 suggested that we turn the system off and go somewhere else because this a "very real fire hazard". That being said, to this point as of this writing (July 15), AHS placed an "emergency without" last evening at 8:00PM. Today, another company phoned stating that a tech would be at my house between 12:00 and 6:00PM this day. Question: If my house catches fire, who will be responsible? The original home builder, the inspector (for my home purchase), any one of the electricians that came to my house at anytime, American Home Shield for splitting hairs and not taking this or any situation like this any more seriously than they do or us, for assuming that most, if not all, the components in and around your home do for the most part operate the way in which they were designed or built and if in the event that they do not, that is exactly why we make "home warranty" purchases?

American Home Shield is a joke. They do not and will not take care of you, the customer, as they claim in their contract. They don’t care if you are out of heat or air for 2 months. This was a simple dishwasher. I learned a lot about them from this and I would not trust them to warranty my dog’s house much less than mine. I have a handicapped mother here with me and a new born. And I feel very upset about something so simple and they would not help or fix this issue. Now I have a dishwasher that the main panel is blinking with power to it that can’t be turned off due to Sears not knowing how to fix it and a dishwasher with a part on recall that could cause fire. And there’s no one to help. American Home Shield is a hoax! Save your money and go with a company that has been around awhile.

I informed them that the spa cannot work without chemicals. How can they cover a system that requires chemicals to work properly and then deny the claim for using the chemicals? Duh! The heater gave out due to wear and tear (which is what they do cover). This was also the diagnosis from the manufacturer. AHS denied the claim again. I informed them that they can only deny the claim once. They don't get multiple shots at me until they find something that suits them. If they deny it improperly on the first round and are found to be wrong, then they must cover the claim. If they do not, just mention bad faith!

I did not contact the California Department of Insurance because they cannot make AHS pay anything, they only look for infractions in the claims handling and do not care about the consumer. The cost to replace the system was approximately $3,000 and I sent them a demand to pay. They denied the demand. I then filed a claim in small claims court against AHS and they played the "name game". Just FYI, they are not actually "America Home Shield", each state is governed under a separate entity. I had to contact the president's office of AHS to determine the proper entity of AHS that my contract was written under. America Home Shield of California. I had to make the necessary corrections to the small claims court because America Home Shield is not a company in California without the "California" behind it.

All of this took time, which I don't have much of, but this was an injustice. Read the numerous complaints on the interest. I refused to be jerked around and am very aware of how to read a policy. I am a Claims Adjuster! My company would never think to act so irresponsibly. We try to cover claims, not look for excuses to deny. I filed the complaint and was looking forward to taking my turn in the court. Four days prior to the court date, AHS of California contacted me and wanted to settle the claim with a policyholder's release. They asked me how much I wanted. I included the cost for each time I was charged for their service call, my postage, copying costs, court costs and provided them with the actual cost of the spa heater and labor to install it. I signed that release and they paid every penny.

They also sent me a letter that they refused to cover the spa until the new one was replaced. I sent them a letter and said that I no longer needed coverage on the spa now and would like a refund of my premium. They refused and said I needed to pay for the coverage until the end of the policy period. I may still pursue that portion even though it is minimal. Then last week, I received a letter from AHS that they are going to cancel my policy at the end of the policy period. Wow, what a surprise!

I am writing this for all those individuals who just gave up. Read the AHS policy. They hire contractors who do not like dealing with them because they know what they do to their policyholders. Sometimes, it is not the contractor who is at fault. The second contractor said that he recommended that they replace the spa heater. Then the claims adjuster said that he told them it was the chemicals. I got them both on a conference call and they both hemmed and hawed. Finally, the claims adjuster said that it had to be reviewed by a higher power. I then got a letter saying that the damage was caused by chemicals. So it is not always the contractor.

By the way, I recorded every conversation and transcribed everything they told me. The recording is not admissible in court, but what they told me is. I no longer have AHS and am saving $50 per month. I want you to know that if you want something covered by their policy, find your own contractor to assess the problem and fight them. Take them to court. You can do all the paperwork online! It is more cost-effective for them to settle with you than to go to court and get another judgement against them. Don't just take no. Best of luck.

The repair person showed up on Saturday, June 27, and checked the system and indicated that he found the breaker was tripped. He said that he also found the unit needed a start kit. He installed and tested the kit and indicated that the test went well. He said leave the system running, so we continued to run the unit and we left the house for the day in anticipation that the house would be cool when we return. Upon our return, we found that the unit had been running the whole time we were away and the temperature in the house had continued to rise. Since it was 1:00 am in the morning, I waited to call the repair person the next morning on Sunday to let him know that the unit was not working and not cooling the house. He returned that same day and checked a few things and said it was running alright. I think he thought it was alright because he could hear the outside unit running, but it was not cooling the house. He said just let it run and it should start to cool.

Well, we did just that and the temperature continued to rise along with our cooling bill. I called him again and he did return and again said it's running. We indicated that it's not cooling. He then said, "You have a cheap unit and it's not like the one I have in my house.” I indicated to him that this unit is 20 years old, how long will this system last with these patches? He said, "I repaired this same problem with a neighbor of my mother's and it's been 19 years.” He also said that we could not keep coming out to our house on his dime and that I should call someone else to service the unit. The third time that he returned he had a black eye that was not there the day before. I only mention this because the first day that he came out, one of his workers did not report for work and he was upset that he had to do these repairs by himself that day. According to him, the worker didn't show because he went out and got drunk the night before. I heard him on the phone with the person and he told him, "Well, just don't come in today.” I did not realize that I should have called AHS each time before calling the repair person to return. Since the problem was never fixed in the first place, I thought that he needed to return to correct the problem.

We were away for several days and after returning, we found that the unit was still not cooling the house. We decided to have a reputable company come and check out the unit since it had not been fixed after the first company had already come out three times. They found that the compressor was shot and the contractor was also dead along with a few other problems. They also indicated that could be the cause of the breaker tripping and that it would continue to do so, unless the compressor was replaced and the proper problems were fixed.

I spoke with the AHS service representative (Sheila) and she indicated that I should have called AHS each time before calling the repair person to return. That means that they only received one call regarding the problem, not the three times that the repair person was called. After speaking with the representative, I asked to speak with a manager and she told me the manager would tell me the same thing she said and that nothing could be done at this time except to send the same company back out to fix the problem. I told her that was unacceptable and I was not comfortable with having that person return, so AHS told me today to contact the AHS legal department and that one of their attorneys would deal with the complaint.

After reading online all the issues that people are having with AHS and their service providers, and also the problems that people are having to pay additional costs for services that are inferior, perhaps I'm lucky that I didn't continue to pay the companies that AHS referred. I decided that it's not worth the stress and the elevation of my blood pressure to deal with the AHS attorneys. I am asking for an immediate cancellation of this service since it is obvious that the tactics that AHS uses is to find any way possible not to replace a unit that is 20 years old and continue to patch it and expect that it will work until the next time they come to patch it. I did not know when we signed up for this service that we would be dealing with service companies that were not professional or skilled enough to provide expert service for the $60.00 service fee that we are charged. I just wanted to add to the comments. Perhaps there are people that are satisfied with their AHS service, but we won't see them here.

After dealing with both the Warranty company and the service company for two days on multiple attempts (at least 4+ calls to each company) and getting nothing but the runaround from each company, we called a service guy of our own. As we have been in a heat wave for record consecutive days, we felt that this was an emergency, especially with the 4th of July holiday coming up. We had Paul's grandfather who is diagnosed with prostate cancer at our house and our 2-year old godchild was coming to visit as well.

It was very odd how their stories kept changing. First, we got told that they would be there Tuesday, Wednesday at the latest, then we got told by both companies they would call us back and never did; then we got told they would follow up and never did and then we were told this was not an emergency and many people are having a/c problems and we would just have to wait. Per the contract, the home warranty company is given 48 hours to have a service company set up an appointment and they did not meet this. In fact, they have still yet to call to follow up or get someone out to look at the unit.

Had we not called someone on our own (which was there the same day! ) we would have had more problems than just an A/C unit. We were not willing to jeopardize anyone's health or safety b/c of the home warranty. Anyway, the outside panel box and capacitor was damaged on our unit. This costs us $485 to fix. We have contacted AHS about the bill as we want to be reimbursed for the amount (minus the $60 service fee). They have told us that we have to write a letter posing our request.

We will do this, but feel it is a losing battle. This has been our one and only dealing with the warranty company and we are very displeased. As customers, we should not have been given the constant runaround or neglect. This issue was not a garbage disposal that went out or a window that wouldn't open. It was an air conditioning unit in South Louisiana during the summer of 100 degree heat. I wrote to my real estate agent in hopes that they knew a representative at American Home Shield that could pass our complaint to and hopefully help us get reimbursed. We have had our fill with the customer service reps at AHS and while we are prepared to fight this, we hope it does not get to that point.

As of today, we feel this warranty is a scam to take your money and do not feel it would be in our best interests to ever renew or recommend this service to our friends, family, co-workers, and acquaintances. In fact, when speaking with neighbors and co-workers about our issue, many of them did have dealings with AHS and had the same complaints. Many of them did not renew because of the hassles and the others have been getting the same treatment as us when it comes to getting a part serviced. While we did not get a choice of warranty companies when we purchased our home, we value the opinions of ERA Stirling and CJ Brown and thought that AHS would be an accredited company that would value the issues and concerns of their customers.

I filed a claim with AHS in October 2008 for a spa heater that was worn out and finally broke. The first person they sent out said that the spa was not to code and AHS denied the claim. The spa was almost 20 years old. I called the manufacturer, who inspected the unit, and they confirmed that the spa was properly built to code. They also provided a replacement cost for the unit.

I called AHS back and requested that they send someone else out to inspect the spa heater. This person stated that the spa broke due to age and wear and tear. AHS denied the claim because they said the damage was caused by chemicals. There were no bases for this determination except that their policy does not cover damage caused by chemicals. I informed them that the spa cannot work without chemicals. How can they cover a system that requires chemicals to work properly and then deny the claim for using the chemicals? Duh! The heater gave out due to wear and tear (which is what they do cover). This was also the diagnosis from the manufacturer. AHS denied the claim again. I did not contact the California Department of Insurance because they cannot make AHS pay anything; they only look for infractions in the claims handling and do not care about the consumer.

The cost to replace the system was approximately $3,000 and I sent them a demand to pay. They denied the demand. I then filed a claim in small claims court against AHS and they played the "name game". Just for your information, they are not actually "American Home Shield"; each state is governed under a separate entity. I had to contact the president's office of AHS to determine the proper entity of AHS that my contract was written under (American Home Shield of California). I had to make the necessary corrections to the small claims court because American Home Shield is not a company in California without the "California" behind it. All of this took time, which I don't have much of, but this was an injustice. Read the numerous complaints on the interest. I refused to be jerked around and am very aware of how to read a policy. I am a claims adjuster! My company would never think to act so irresponsibly. We try to cover claims, not look for excuses to deny.

I filed the complaint and was looking forward to taking my turn in the court. Four days prior to the court date, AHS of California contacted me and wanted to settle the claim with a policyholder's release. They asked me how much I wanted. I included the cost for each time I was charged for their service call, my postage, copying costs, court costs, and provided them with the actual cost of the spa heater and labor to install it. I signed that release and they paid every penny. They also sent me a letter that they refused to cover the spa until the new one was replaced. I sent them a letter and said that I no longer needed coverage on the spa now and would like a refund of my premium. They refused and said I needed to pay for the coverage until the end of the policy period. I may still pursue that portion even though it is minimal. Then last week, I received a letter from AHS that they are going to cancel my policy at the end of the policy period. Wow, what a surprise!

I am writing this for all those individuals who just give up. Read the AHS policy. They hire contractors who do not like dealing with them because they know what they do to their policyholders. Sometimes, it is not the contractor who is at fault. The second contractor said that he recommended that they replace the spa heater. Then the claims adjuster said that he told them it was the chemicals. I got them both on a conference call and they both hemmed and hawed. Finally, the claims adjuster said that it had to be reviewed by a higher power. I then got a letter saying that the damage was caused by chemicals. So it is not always the contractor.

By the way, I recorded every conversation and transcribed everything they told me. The recording is not admissible in court, but what they told me is. I no longer have AHS and am saving $50 per month. I want you to know that if you want something covered by their policy, find your own contractor to assess the problem and fight them. Take them to court. You can do all the paperwork online! It is more cost effective for them to settle with you than to go to court and get another judgment against them. Don't just take no.

Again, they were not able to come out until 3 days later. The technician did nothing to solve the problem, said I had an undersized unit for the sq. ft. of my house. Mind you, I have had this AC for 15 years and other than some minor maintenance, it has worked wonderful. All of a sudden they are telling me I have an undersized unit and AHS will not cover the cost of replacement. Estimate given by the crooks, errr... I mean Ace Comfort was $6000. I called AHS to protest the decision and they came out with they do not replace undersized units. I never had major problems. All of a sudden I'm undersized!

I asked for a second opinion and they granted it but I have to wait another 3 days. On my own I called a reputable company and they came out to diagnose the problem. The compressor needs replacement and the technician said that my unit is well within the tonnage needed for my house. I called AHS and they apologized but their "approved" company needs to come out and verify. So in the meantime I am waiting in a 105-degree temperature. I have decided to have it fixed and pay for it myself and will not renew AHS. AHS is real good about replacing ceiling fans, disposals, leaks but when it comes to high-end repairs, they all of a sudden decide that service is not covered. Crooks!

I am 67, and my husband is 73. Luckily, we have a small guest room and bath downstairs because we can't use our bedroom or bath or office. My computer is up there, and I fear for it. I'm using a laptop downstairs. The heat index for the next three days is predicted to be 105+. Two years ago, our oven went out in early November. They fixed it in mid January, after Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's, which is the birthday of one of our children. No Christmas cookies from grandma. No Thanksgiving pies, turkey, etc. either. AMS not only takes a very long time for service to be completed, but they seem to cause a great deal of inconvenience also. I don't know if there is a truly efficient home warranty plan. It all seems "take the money and stall!"

They came to look 2 days later. Then because it was a weekend, nothing could be done, as AHS and Wynne Air were closed and at home in their nice little air conditioned houses. It is now Monday morning, and I've been on the phone with a supervisor (Ron) at AHS, who told me the compressor has been ordered and was at the warehouse. Wynne Air said the warehouse doesn't have the compressor and it would have to be ordered from the factory. The technician who came to my house was the person answering the phones. If they are so busy, why was he not out doing repair calls?

If we could find a lawyer, I think another class action lawsuit against AHS might be in order. They have already lost one class action. Someone needs to stop people doing business like this.

I called back to AHS and spoke with two young ladies that were very professional and very helpful young ladies, Brittany ** and Tiffany **. They were very polite and performed their duties with great customer service. I called one of the contractors that service my area that contacted Brittany. She immediately contacted Steve Hester Air for verification while I was on the phone. This same service could have been taken care of on 10 July instead of giving the customers the runaround. I am a paying customer that is paying these employees salary. It is a shame to get this type of treatment when the weather is 98 plus degrees this weekend.

This is a library and my books are cooking in the heat and our wooden furniture is beginning to split. We cannot use the room. This is going on since June 19th. AHS said we would get a new unit. That was last week. Now, they are searching for the part. It is excessive and unnecessary. We want some action.

Will Fix-It was called and dispatched on Wednesday and determined that it was a control valve that was the problem which is covered under warranty. However, I did not find out that this was the problem until I called Fix-It later Wednesday afternoon. I was informed of the problem and a part had been ordered which would be in approximately five days from that conversation (We're now talking about at least 9 days without hot water due to: 1) AHS dispatching an unqualified or dishonest plumbing company to my home, 2) a system which requires the part to be ordered by AHS and shipped to the plumber.

When I contacted AHS, which is no small task, I was informed by a supervisor that I, like others don't read their contract, suggesting that if I had read the contract, I would realize that AHS could make me wait until they were ready to fix my hot water heater. I am going to cancel my contract with AHS and report them to the state of Texas and any other sanctioning body I can find. This is no way to treat people and I am certain that I am not the only one who has suffered at the hands of such an unethical company.

This morning, my unit was serviced again (twice in 3 months) by a local Virginia Beach contractor named David *. By the way, it took AHS one week to ship the parts. When the parts were replaced, the unit ran smooth and cool until last week. I took another day off work to wait for the contractor--from different a company, by the way. The tech opened the unit--and I'm next to him this time. The verdict: the last company (David **) who installed the compressor did not install a filter dryer, did not put the service caps back on (freon leaked because of it), they bypassed the high pressure switch and more.

The new service company did not fix my unit and called AHS to report their findings. It's 98 degrees inside my house with fans and windows open! AHS did not contact me. I called AHS three hours after and they told me that they are still trying to figure it out. Meanwhile, I'm sweating, lost my day at work and waiting for someone from AHS that is sitting in a cool office to call me.

I called AHS, foolishly thinking they would want to remedy this situation for me. I called and talked to Scott who tells me he's really sorry for all the delays, but the tech hasn't even called in a diagnosis yet! After a month! All of these "authorizations" that the tech said he's been waiting for are completely fabricated! So he calls Golden West and the tech says he'll phone in the diagnosis the next day, Tuesday. Well, Tuesday comes and goes - no diagnosis. So I called AHS again. They say they'll have someone from contractor relations call Golden West. So on Wednesday, I get a phone call stating that it's going to cost me an extra $500 out of pocket to fix the pool heater.

I'm a little shocked that he comes up with this diagnosis just now because he hasn't been to the property in weeks. What was the delay? They put me on a 3-way call with the tech who says he was here on Monday. I tell him, "Unless you came through a secret tunnel in an invisible car, no you weren't." The AHS lady tells me that I'm being rude and she doesn't have to listen to me talk to her vendor that way. I ask her whose side she's on; then she hangs up on me. Oh, I'm sorry. The call got mysteriously disconnected. Anyway, now I've called AHS 4 times. I've asked for an invoice of the repairs that need to be done they are claiming aren't covered by my policy. Their answer? "We don't give invoices." So I had Lutonya, a floor supervisor, call Golden West and asked them to email a list of these repairs. They cashed my $60 check. It's the least they could do, right? Nothing. I called them to tell them this and Valdivia, another supervisor, said, "Well, what do you want us to do?"

I tell them I want a trustworthy professional to come to my home in a timely manner and fix my pool heater. I tell them it shouldn't have taken a month to get a diagnosis. I tell them the tech they sent has consistently lied to me and I don't trust his work. I tell them if they want me to come up with $500 out of pocket, I want an invoice of these repairs so that I can get a second opinion. I've been hung up on and put on hold indefinitely. I've sent several emails - no response. I feel so frustrated that they blatantly don't care about me. They care enough when they are selling you the policy. They care when they are cashing your checks, but after that, you are nothing to them. After reading all these complaints about them, I see what a huge mistake I've made in trusting them with my first home and my money.

The A/C company that came to the house reported to American Home Shield that my inside system was dirty and the unit was too small for the square footage of the home. American Home Shield never called me to let me know that they had denied the service request. I called on Wednesday, June 23rd to inquire about my service request and that was when I was told that they would not fix the air conditioning due to the dirty inside unit, which allegedly caused the failure of the outside unit. I reported to American Home Shield rep that I had gotten the system cleaned yearly and that the inside system was working but not blowing cold air. The rep told me if I get the inside system thoroughly cleaned then they would repair the outside system.

I paid Charlie's A/C Services to pullout the entire inside system and clean it thoroughly and called back on Thursday to let American Home Shield know that I had done as they instructed. The rep stated to me that my claim had been denied and that they would not be repairing my system. I told them that I had been instructed by the company rep to clean the system and that she told me that they were going to repair the system. The rep I spoke with at that time told me the reason that they were not going to fix my system is because my outside unit was too small to accommodate my square footage and that the dirty inside unit caused the failure of the outside unit. I told them that the inside unit was continually working and never stopped working and that I had spent money to clean the inside on the word of their company that they would fix the outside.

In the meantime, American Home Shield sent out another A/C service worker who measured the square footage of my home and came up with a different square footage than the first A/C company assigned by American Home Shield. I also had Charlie's A/C Service measure the home and do a Manual J Load measurement on the home. He stated that the unit was adequate in size to cool the square footage of my home. I also went to the title company who did an official square footage of the living space and the reality company where I bought the house and they also gave square footage of the living space of the home and explained that the unit in and out of the home was adequate to cool the home and that all the homes in this area had the same size square footage and had the same A/C units.

I personally faxed this information to American Home Shield and they stated that they never received that information and my claim was still denied due to an inadequate size A/C unity and the dirty coil in the inside unit. They also said that they would not work on the unit because we did work on the unit before the second A/C person could come by to check the unit. We only did what we were told to do by American Home Shield. Because the realty company and title company provided the valid assessor's measurements on the home, American Home Shield is stating that we did not fax the papers to them although we faxed the papers to them twice with the numbers that they provided.

Fix our air conditioning unit as promised and paid for within the contract and by order of the service rep that requested that we do the inside unit and that American Home Shield would fix the outside unit. We would also like a portion of our money back that we paid to get the whole inside unit disassembled and Manual J Load measurement by Charlie's A/C Service by order of American Home Shield, by agreement to fix the outside unit after we extensively clean the inside unit. The system is 27 years old and we bought the house in 2002. We have had the unit cleaned annually and it was repaired several times by American Home Shield and never have they reported that our unit was too small.

Over two weeks living in the worse heat wave in Louisiana ever. Had to purchase a window unit and pay out of pocket for repair and cleaning of my inside unit. Constantly go back and forward to meet service persons and lose time off of work for nothing.

2 weeks went by and I had heard nothing, so I called AHS to secure the status of the cooktop order. At that time, they said that they had tried to contact me and left a message that it would not be covered because I must have dropped something on the cooktop to cause the damage even though the repairman stated that that never occurred.

I never received this call, so I called them back. I was passed along to the supposed "supervisor of authorization," L. **. She was less than accommodating. She told me that I must have dropped something on the cooktop to cause the damage. I again explained that I had not and that the serviceman clearly noticed no damage and that it was a manufacturer’s defect. I asked to speak to her supervisor. She told me that "She was it and made all final decisions regarding warranties and that AHS would not cover it." She told me to "take it up with DACOR" and if they said that it was a manufacturer’s defect then she would review it. I asked her how to contact DACOR and she said she didn't know and could no longer help me.

This is not the first time I have had difficulty with coverage from AHS. I am angry because I pay for AHS to warranty my home. I have already paid for a serviceman to come out that they provided. If he was not competent, then why send him out. He clearly stated and saw that there was no physical damage other than the crack through the stove top caused by a defect and heat. If something had been dropped, there would have been damage where it dropped. This stove top is glass.

I am tired of constantly having to hire outside companies to do the job that I am paying AHS to fulfill. I now have to hire a DACOR representative to come to my home to acknowledge that the damage is due to defect, prove my case and only then will AHS accept responsibility to take care of the problem. They are very unprofessional at best and I am not happy about basically being called a liar. If AHS is not going to accept responsibility to make repairs on household goods, then they need to quit taking our monthly fees and quit bragging that they will follow through, when they do not.

So, to make a long story short, AHS will not correct this mistake that they authorized their contractors to make. So in short, they approved a 2.5 ton unit to run with a 3.5 ton unit and now they won't fix the problem. They also acknowledge that after running 24/7, it will burn up and they will not be liable for those repairs because of the mix-matched units that they authorized. I'm confused on how any of this is my fault?

The information that I was provided by AHS was totally contradicted when I was penalized for cancelling a few days prior to my actual renewal date. Even though it was mutually agreed upon with AHS, we are making a military move, and the house has been sold, the AHS representative said it didn't matter because I was contractually committed to a year. I asked her, “If the house burned down, would that be an exception to cancel?” She said no! I find that to be absurd from a company who claims to be so customer-focused. I will never use them again. In the midst of not getting that money back, I am still battling them for charging me twice on the same day for the final month of my contract. They are slow to admit their wrongdoing and refund me that money as well. I now have to dispute that charge with my credit card company because they refuse to listen and handle it. They are polished professional scammers. I'm done with American Home Shield and will share this experience with anyone who will listen.

Once again, the air conditioning company was horrible to deal with, delaying the repair nearly two weeks as temperatures stayed over 90-degrees. Once again, I had to rely on AHS to get them to set an appointment. The compressor was replaced yesterday. I had paid a $60 service fee when the problem was diagnosed. There was no charge for the replacement, which took over five hours. I was charged $75 to dispose of the old compressor. So far, so good. I have lots of complaints about the A/C company, but I have to say that AHS held up their end of the bargain. I figure the replacement saved me about three years of premium costs for the warranty.

I called this morning and they gave me a name of a contractor they said they called. I called him, he never heard of me and said that at the earliest some time tomorrow afternoon because he was swamped. I called American Home Service again and told them that (after a return call, he said he received a fax) they said we have a 24-hour turnaround time on emergencies. I said yes, that means today. They said "no, 24 hours from the time the contractor got the ticket". Apparently, if they called someone last night, no one bothered and that's considered a 24-hour time span.

Today, the second contractor gets another 24 hours and if he can't do it, another contractor, another 24 hours! How many 24 hour periods do they get! Am I supposed to die in my home of heat stroke? I want this on record as this is ludicrous! How can anyone sell a warranty that means nothing! This needs to be replaced, a whole new unit. Dishonesty at its best!

By this time, it was too late. The house was hot and I had my elderly parents with me, so I called a company that could give me instant service. That company came out and checked out everything. I was told the reason I had no air is that the compressor was a 2-ton compressor and I needed a 3 quarter ton to match with the inside unit. I don't think AHS is a good investment at all. It always takes several days to get an appointment and a week and a half to get the problem fixed. I would like to know why I received a 2-ton compressor when I needed a 3 quarter ton. I agree with the rest of the clients. I think AHS is a fraud. I don't want your attorney to contact me, I am going to contact my own attorney.

I then called an independent plumber to come out and give me his estimate. It only includes one of the upgrades to meet current code and was approximately $125, which I would gladly pay. I then called AHS and their brother-in-law plumber and pleaded my case to no avail. It was pay their contractor the padded $800 or they would offer me a cash settlement, for which I am still waiting for a phone call!

It is an outrage that my wife and I have had no A/C for seven days now. I pay AHS for insurance, not for inconvenience. Had I known this, I would have contacted a real A/C repair company and had the job done within 24 hours. This is my foolish mistake as I have had a previous unsatisfactory service from AHS in the Spring of 2007 when they sent an incompetent vendor who almost burned our home down and never completed the job satisfactorily. Everyone needs to be aware of this company's poor customer service.

On Wednesday, June 17 at 11am, my AC unit stopped working. And I called AHS requesting to fix the problem and they send Holland AC technician. He said that the compressor had to be change. He told AHS so they could order the part and they never did. On Friday 19, I called AHS and they told me that I should call Holland AC so they can pick the part up. The supply store told Holland AC that about five minutes ago had barely called AHS so they could order the part. And those six days, the temperature was over 100 degrees. I have a little girl of 4 years. I also told AHS, however, they did not care. They only want to collect money and avoid the responsibility.

I went to Home Depot and paid $287 around there for a Window unit. Today, June 22, Holland AC came to my house and fixed the problem. I had already paid my $60 deductible, plus, $100 for the disposal and today AHS asked me for another $100 and AHS really couldn't explain why they tried to collect more money. AHS is a fraud and I will look for another warranty company for my home. The thing that most frustrates me is that even though we're paying, I have to pay someone else to come and fix my bathroom.

I also had a plumbing issue; I had the seller purchase a new hot water heater and move the unit from inside the kitchen to outside the bathroom area prior to closing. A licensed plumber did the work but he did not put sheetrock over the old plumbing and you could see the capped-off pipes. The plumber, same distance as the electrician, refused to even look at my plumbing problem because of the exposed pipe, yet tried to charge me $65. When I called AHS to complain, the rep was very rude and told me that for both the electrical and the plumbing I would have known there were issues if I 'was smart or had hired a man to look at it' (I am female).

When I asked to speak to his supervisor, he refused, telling me, “This ain't a supervisor issue.” I explained that as a customer, I had the right to speak to a supervisor. He laughed and told me I did not have that right unless he said I did. I asked his name; he refused to give it and hung up on me. I called back and asked for a supervisor. I was told there were none available. I had to pay almost $12,000 out of pocket for new plumbing. A pipe break in one of the bathrooms flooded the floor. I now have to tear up the entire thing and replace the subfloor, cabinets, and part of the wall (when I can afford it). My electrical issues are still unsolved since I cannot afford to address them at this time.

I called them at 5PM and the same thing, and again at 7PM. They said they have 24 hours to service your items. I called again at 9PM and the same spill, so I talked to a manager and they told me that I can call someone myself, but if they don't meet Home Shield standard, I will pay for it myself. This was all on Friday. It is Sunday and they still have not had someone call me.

I got involved three days ago when this event still had not happened. I have yet to receive a truthful answer from them. I was told yesterday that my mother was on the schedule for today if the compressor arrived this morning. That sounded great so I agreed. This morning rolls around and I finally hear from Angie, Certified’s office person. She claimed the part did not arrive and the job would need to be moved to next week. I asked for the shipping information so I could look into it myself.

After a lengthy discussion on how she never receives accurate tracking numbers from this company and calling them would do me no good. She finally agreed to give me the distributer's number. The only catch was she needed to find their number and would call me “right” back. That was 10 hours ago and I still have not heard from her. I tracked down the distributer on my own and had no trouble getting an accurate tracking number from them. In fact, I found out the part was delivered this morning and Angie had flat out lied to me. Needless to say, I never heard back from her again. To make matters worse, I started calling AHS for assistance. Their solution was to call the same number I was calling for Certified Air Systems and leave a voice message for them.

After several hours of this and many, many phone calls to AHS, I finally reached a young woman who told me not only could they not hold Certified to their original installation schedule but they also could not replace Certified as the subcontractor because they have a contract. They went on to say the only way Certified would be released from the contract was if Certified called stating they would not do the job. My question is who is working for whom and are the AHS attorney's so bad they cannot right a contract with a viable release clause.

I was further told by the AHS representative they could not risk the liability of changing installers but that they could risk the liability of having two senior citizens without AC for a weekend. Talk about priorities! It registered 101 degrees in my mother’s house today and the only consolation AHS offered was a $75 rebate on a room fan. My mother, in an attempt to solve the problem herself, went to Certified's office today to talk to them in person. When she arrived she found an abandoned building with several past due notices on the door, some dating back as far as six months. When she asked one of the neighboring businesses about them she was told Certified filed bankruptcy six month ago and had not been back since. I notified AHS of this and was told they still could not void the contract with Certified and that we would have to wait until Certified fixed the problem. AHS now claims the AC will be fixed Monday. I don't think I will hold my breath for this one.

I have waited from June 2 up to June 19, and I have not received a phone call or anything in regards to the pending repairs. Anytime an order is placed online, customers are required to list an email address. I called American Home Shield on June 19 to be informed that the repairs would not be made because of the location of the refrigerator.

I was furious, because no one had the gall to call and tell me that the claim was denied. I spoke with another person that was quite uninformative as to the rules of my contract. I have read my contract, and I have paid my premium; so to deny my claim because I have two refrigerators is absurd. There is nothing stated in my contract about two refrigerators. I am requesting immediate cancellation and an immediate refund of any premium.

I called AHS back and said my water heater was still leaking. I called a plumber myself and they came out, I paid $85.00. This plumber said I had a leak and the heater needs to be replaced. I called AHS again and had them to send another plumber out. This was within a week’s time. What would I have done had the heater been in the attic? Florida Home came out and said I have a leak. They replaced the heater and I called AHS, to ask about the drip pan and they said if it is broken to replace it.

I ended up paying Florida Home an additional $300.00. This was for $200.00 to bring the water heater up to code and $100.00 for building permit. Give me a break. Drip pan was broken and they wanted me to pay an additional $100.00 for the pan. I now have a hold on my AHS account and cannot use it. I cannot believe that AHS can get away with treating their clients like this. I have continually had problems with AHS not complying with the warranty work. I had to fight with them about my air conditioner too. Every time I have to have any work done, I always have to bring in another contractor to get them to do any of my home repairs and when they do, they seem to argue with me the entire time.

This company should be put out of business. The stress they put on the homeowner on top of the issue at hand is hard to comprehend. They get paid $800.00 a year, plus $60.00 every service call.

After two weeks of back and forth with AHS and pool technicians, AHS called to inform that they denied the claim. The reason was because wires seem to have been altered and not setup as they are supposed to be. I had this electric box for 8 years and was installed by the pool company that built my pool. I did not hire anyone to fix any problem with my pool electrical box. This was the first time that it was ever been opened. I even have the manual of the box that shows diagram wiring to be exactly as it is wired. AHS did not give details except for the fact that they believe setup was not proper. That's when I realized that this company can claim anything not setup properly and deny all claims and no one can do a thing about it.

After several discussions with company managers, I decided that I had to cancel contract. AHS is there to take your money for useless warranty. All what I can do is write about it here and BBB to damage AHS reputation and hope that you don't sign up with them.

He walked away without taking my coupon when it was offered. I thought that was the end of it. I was busy and didn't have a chance to call AHS. Then, when I call back about an appliance repair, I am told that they will not place a repair order for me until I pay the $60 for the service call. That goes to the company, not the service man; therefore, I have to pay it. Today, I got a bill in the mail for that $60. I talked to lower level people and a supervisor. All insisted that I had to pay the bill no matter what my complaint might be. I didn't call them within 10 days, so I am out of luck just because it says so in their contract. I have been paying my monthly payments for years now. I will be writing to their headquarters—without a check included.

Initially, the claim was denied almost out of hand, claiming the damage to the unit must have been pre-existing, in spite of an operating inspection and several days of operation. After much fighting on the phone, AHS finally relented to getting a second opinion. The second opinion was the same as the first--a blown compressor that had caused some secondary damage. Both service companies concluded that a new unit would probably be less expensive than a repair. Neither service company, according to what they told us, felt that the damage was pre-existing.

We received a phone message from AHS denying the claim after the second inspection, sticking to the original pre-existing condition. Again, after several attempts to reach claims, being cut off three times in the attempts to switch me to claims, and the subsequent conversation, AHS has not only denied the claim, but now states that since they've reviewed this twice, they will no longer consider any further discussion on this claim.

We are extremely dissatisfied with not only the denial, but the way the process was handled from the first phone call. We are without an A/C unit, looking at a couple of thousand to fix or replace, and still out the several hundred dollars we paid to purchase the insurance for exactly this type of situation!

I have no way to check the veracity of this, as I am not an electrician. I just don't get a good sense from this company--the vendors they contract with do not seem to be terribly reliable (I've been waiting for 10 days for a part to come for my latest repair, something that, of course, isn't covered). This company seems to prey on people who know little about their appliances, since if we knew anything about them, we would be able to at least ascertain the cause of the problem, in order to figure out whether it's covered or not.

Finally, the company "did not receive" my renewal request, but charged my credit card for an incorrect amount. And for at least a year, whenever I called for service, they were unable to locate my contract number. I'm quite dissatisfied with my experience with AHS.

On 6/10, I received a letter that told me the ceiling fan would be excluded from service. I called to find out where my check is and I was told it was to be mailed today, 6/11. I do not know how AHS can judge if something is installed incorrectly without looking at it. I just think that they are being mean. I pay for this warranty each year without delay, yet I get this run-around. They should honor their agreement and not act so disrespectful of loyal customers.

They made me chase them for two weeks that the pool could not be run in the heat of Las Vegas. Their computers were down, you could never talk to the same person twice when you call, and I pay for a warranty that they chose not to replace any expensive item. If it is an inexpensive item, they authorize it right away. I also had an issue with a microwave that is 3 years old that has an installation trim kit by Jenn-Air and the tech they sent out stripped the screws and could not remove the panel to access the microwave. The second time to complete the repair, because he stripped the screws, it became my responsibility to get the manufacturer’s trim kit off. I am waiting for their repair person to put in the new part. They use inferior techs and accept no responsibility for damages they create. I paid $850.00 to replace the filter unit.

Then a few hours later, they called me back and said that there was nothing wrong with the AC, that no part was leaking, no part was ever on order, and that Bissett had got the house mixed up with another house. Nothing was wrong with my AC even though I have had 5 service calls to add Freon in it. I had repeated emails to and from Bissett stating they could not find a part and that the coil was bad in the AC. AHS said none of this ever happened, and Bissett just got the wrong house. I have several rental properties and all with AHS warranties. I will never use them again. AHS is a worthless company that takes your money and will not back up any coverage you might need. I am now in the process of filing a complaint with the BBB.

i spoke to a manager, and they said that the THI would have to hit 104 degrees before they could rush someone out there. They have very blatantly chosen profit over human condition. i went to the service master company website (their parent company) and read their code of conduct. it does not come anywhere close to the service i have received. "To honor God in all that we do" is about the 3rd line in. if they are Christians, they have a very unique way of caring for their "neighbor." I now have the CEO of American Home Warranty and will be calling him 2-3 times a day until this issue gets resolved to my satisfaction.

I am cancelling my policy, and I'm going to send a complaint to the BBB also. It cost me $60.00 for the plumber who did not know the code from 6-7 years ago when the water heater was installed and another $285 to get another plumber out there to change out fittings and valves that were leaking. These people need to be put out of business!

Now, in May, 2009, pool heater went out. AHS claims improper installation of gas lines and denied replacement. Go figure, this same pool heater was serviced twice over the last three years by AHS contractors and at no time did they ever say the unit was improperly installed. Now that it needs replacing, AHS is using their obvious strategy of "improper installation".

The first time the water heater was a necessity and I had to do something quickly, this time the pool heater can wait. Luckily Las Vegas in the summer does not necessitate a heated pool. I have contacted city inspectors, original pool contractor; second and third estimates on the repair/replacement and all of them acknowledge that the unit was properly installed. AHS and their contractors use deceptive practices in the hope that people will just take the loss and move on. Any time there is a replacement situation, they will claim code violations and/or improper installation. You have already spent a $60 deductible and to get a second opinion will cost you another $60 from another one of their contractors who will of course, state the same diagnosis. They will not cancel your contract without you completing the financial obligation and they hope that you miss the renewal date at which time they automatically will renew the contract and continue to deduct their monthly premium.

At this time, the BBB has received a response from AHS that they will cash out $287.00 for my water heater and will reconsider the pool heater if I supply a detailed estimate. They use the term "settle this amicably". I will only take the full amount that I paid for the water heater replacement. I am now waiting on their response to the estimate on the pool heater and I expect payment for that also. If not, I will take them to small claims court. I truly believe that they make money off of the 9 out of 10 people to cut their losses and move on. We need to make sure that there is more than 1 in 10 that fight. Right now, if they only have to compensate the 1 out of 10 that complain, they are still making money. The BBB website complaint form only takes 10 minutes. Stop spending precious time arguing with AHS and complete the BBB complaint form, it’s easy!

United AirTemp came and looked at it on Friday May 8th. I talked to their representative and he said clearly that weed cutter has nothing to do with this damage and it is an old unit and because of its age, compressor went bad (should be under AHS coverage). Therefore, they told me that they would not charge me $60 service fee. On the same day, I received a phone call from AHS stating that second company had made the same statement as first company and my unit was not covered again. I asked for a written report from AHS proving this assessment, but they said there was no report. This was verbal phone call statement between AHS and United Air Temp.

In the same day, I talked to the mechanic from United Air Temp telling me clearly the unit went bad because of its age, and AHS telling me differently. I sent them a letter attaching the reports from both my HVAC contractor and United Air Temp with their assessments. I will have my mechanical service contractor to do the repair at my own cost. I asked for cancellation of my policy, they told me that they would get back to me and never called me back. They do not have little respect to what they do. They need to reduce the negative feedbacks about their company. I have lawyer lined up, consumer report agencies to be applied. This has happened before but this time I will not let this go.

This merry go round went on until the repair company closed and the answering machine came on closed until Monday. AHS went on to state that they were having problems with their e-mails system. Now imagine that. Well, I stated why didn’t we utilize the fax machine? We are now experiencing problems with that, too. Now, 6-01-09, at approximately 5:45 pm I received a call from the repair company stating that they can come out on Friday, 6-5-09, between 1-8 pm. I requested a return call from the supervisor I'm still waiting. Maybe she will call by Friday. Let me add I have been paying on this warranty for approximately 4 years and 4 months with no claims.

Thus, Warren's Heating & Air is a fraud. They told me that I needed to replace a $4,000 furnace in order to make room for the leaky condensate pan to my air conditioner when it wasn't true. I had to come up with $1,300 in addition to my $60 warranty co payment, and I am currently battling it out with my home warranty co to get reimbursed in full.

On Thursday, I called them at 9 am to confirm the appointment; the contracting company stated they never received a work order from AHS. I called them. They informed me that the contracting company’s email was not working properly and they were going to manually email the company. At 2pm I called to AHS to ask when they were coming out. They stated there was no work order. Frustrated and extremely hot, I explained to them I just got out of hospital from surgery the day before and my son has asthma and I needed to have someone out today. They apologized and offered me a $100.00 voucher for a hotel stay or towards a window unit until Friday when the contracting company could come out. I accepted this voucher and called my friend and hired his company to come out and fix the problem. It cost me $204.00 to fix the leak in the unit, clean the outside, and fill it with 3 lbs. of freon.

On Friday, no one from AHS or the contracting company called me. At 8pm, I called to AHS to ask them when the contracting company was coming out. They explained to me that the contracting company stated they called me Friday and I claimed that their services were unprofessional and I did not want them back at my home, which was an utter lie! They never called me. My father and daughter were at the house all day! No one called the house! Now, I am beyond furious. While on hold with rep, she explained she was going to try to get another company emergency to come out and fix my problem. I did not tell her at this time my friend’s company had already been out. I wanted to see what they were going to do. Needless to say, she hung up on me.

I called back and received Rob on the line. I explained to him that previous rep hung up on me; I had to re-explain the whole situation again. He placed me on hold for about 20 minutes to come back and tell me that the contracting company was closed for the weekend and there only would be a recall for them to come out on Monday, June 1, 2009! I went off! I told him, “So you’re telling me I put in a work order a week ago to have my AC unit fixed, and my contract states I have 24-48 hours to be repaired for outages.” He agreed. I also explained to him the medical conditions of my son. He had no restitution for me.

I finally told him that I was so glad I already had another company come out and complete the work! And that I wanted reimbursement for the $204.00 that I paid this company. If the contracted company had done this on Monday as I asked them to do, then I wouldn't be going through this today. He gave me a secondary toll-free number to call on Monday, June 1, 2009, which I intend to call. Needless to say, I will be cancelling my services with AHS that I have paid for since 2006 and will be finding an alternative warranty company!

Our past experience has convinced us that AHS will use some excuse not to honor the contract, so we are cutting our losses and ending our contract. I recommend that homeowners save the monthly fee that they would pay AHS in a savings account that they can tap for home repair. That's what we will be doing.

So I called out Killeen Heating and Air and they cleaned it for me even though they said it did not need any cleaning. They also said the unit maintenance on my unit was fine and that would not have shorted the compressor. So I sent AHS my proof of repair and they got back with me a week and a half later. Remember, I have no air and have a three year old in my home and we are so miserable. They said you had the unit cleaned but you were supposed to get the compressor replaced? Ok this is crazy. They keep giving me the runaround. I have spent my money on different technicians with no hope of my AC being fixed. Now I am without air, not even just the air, but the heat won’t work either. And every time that these technicians have come out, not one said anything about maintenance or wrote anything on my repair receipt about it at all. Please someone help me, I am a single parent and me and my child cannot live in these conditions. This is so wrong and this company does not care about their customers.

Well, this is really where the dilemma began between me, contacting the company and also American Home Shield over and over again to get the inspection work completed. Each time I tried to contact Residential Home Services, they would not answer the phone. I attempted numerous times to get AHS to get the company here to do the work and they could not get them to answer the phone. On May 18, 2009, I received a call from Residential Home Services stating that they would send someone out on Friday, May 22, 2009 at 9 am. Well no one showed up from Residential, and I placed numerous calls to them. I also place numerous calls to AHS who made numerous attempts to contact Residential and once again, no one answered the phone.

On May 22, 2009, after complaining once again about not getting anywhere with Residential Home Services, I was finally able to convince the AHS representative to get another company to attempt to complete the work. I also inform AHS that this was my first time using the maintenance service, which I had paid in full for 1 year. After going through all this, I would not be renewing the contract.

I had the electrician and the air conditioner guy out within two days. The electrician told me that the problem with the panel box probably caused the problem with the air conditioner. He also told me this particular panel box was a known fire hazard. He assured me he would report this. He did not. I called the electric company when I found out he hadn't. They never called me back.

The air conditioning guy said I needed a new compressor. I told him about what the electrician said. The air conditioning guy said the power box probably caused the power surge. I asked if he would be sure to tell you that. He didn't. He simply said probably a power surge caused the compressor to go out. American Home shield declined to cover it.

Your folks then told me you would cover nothing. When I told your guy what happened, he said there was nothing he could do. Since I get no return calls, there is nothing I can do. This is going to set me back close to $3,000... which you don't have to pay. Needless to say, I will not be renewing and I will be warning everyone I can that it would be better to save these several hundred dollars a year in a safe place.

I think American Home Shield should outsource their service contractors to India. Maybe all contract holders could then get a service call and the repairs made. Yes India, they could take the next flight, make the repair and return to India in a shorter period of time than it takes an American Service provider to pickup the phone and talk to a customer. I look forward to the day I so not have to renew the contract and pay someone that has pride and accountability for what they do. Unfortunately the real estate brokers already have their kickback for getting me to sign up and will continue leading home buyers down the wrong track. What a scheme to make money!

I am complaining because on this 70+ degree day, the technician called American Home Shield and said the damage was due to ice. It couldn't be plastic pipe becoming brittle due to age and heat. No, it was damage due to freezing and surprise of surprises, AHS does not cover repairs for this type of damage. I called AHS to find I have no say in the matter. What the tech tells them is what they go by and they will not hear any other possibility. If there were visible ice I would have no issue. If this leakage occurred as ice was melting, I would have no question. But it was nearly the end of May and in New Jersey, the ice has long since melted. No, this pipe leaked the second time we turned the A/C on this season. I do not believe ice is the only possibility. I do very much believe ice is a convenient way in which AHS can get their $95.00 fee, and the technician can get paid out-of-pocket for the repair. It is a win-win for the insurance company and the repair people but a losing proposition for me, the policyholder. I essentially have no rights. This, I have a problem with, a very big problem with.

Frankly, I am at a loss, both literally and figuratively. Do I continue to carry this insurance and believe in the future they will do the right thing, or am I correct in feeling that they have the means in place to deny any claim I might have as they did this one? In addition, some of these companies (not Jayme’s) have an extremely narrow window of time they devote to AHS inspections. If the policyholder cannot work with these times, the companies are very quick to add an additional $150-$195 fee of their own on top of the $95.00 AHS fee. Am I wrong or is there something very wrong with this entire means of conducting business?

On May 2, 2009, I noticed water seeping from the exterior wall where the pipe was located. I called American Home Shield. They said they were waiting for an estimate from Union Plumbing. On May 7, 2009, Jeremiah from American Home Shield called me and said they would fix the pipe but I would have to pay $470.00 to have a clean-out installed. I explained that there was a clean-out there and offered to send a picture of the existing clean-out. They said they did not want to see the picture and could only go by what the technician from Union Plumbing said. I said fine, I need my drain fixed so I would pay for it. American Home Shield said someone would be in contact with me to set up an appointment to complete the repair.

Ideal Services (License Numbers 66194, 52151A & 68097) called and said American Home Shield had assigned the job to them and someone would be at my house by 6:00 PM on Friday, May 8, 2009. They never showed up. I called American Home Shield on the evening of Friday, May 8, 2009, and they said that someone would be out on Monday, May 11, 2009. The plumber from Ideal Services finally showed up on Monday, May 11, 2009. He said there was no clean-out so I showed him the clean-out. He said it was not up to code and it would cost $400.00 to install a new one. I said fine, I just need to use my kitchen. The plumber returned on Tuesday, May 12, 2009. He proceeded to knock a hole in my exterior wall and completely broke off the pipe and existing clean-out. He said he would return on Thursday, May 14, 2009 to finish the job.

In the meantime, I called the City of Las Vegas Development Services Center to inquire about the plumbing code. The inspector told me that the only requirement is that the clean-out be accessible without opening a wall, which it was. On Wednesday, May 13, 2009, I received a call from Matthew of American Home Shield who stated that they were going to send me a check for $1,365.00 and that I would have to find my own plumber - that was all they would do.

I called Ideal Services on Wednesday, May 13, 2009 to confirm the appointment for Thursday, May 14, 2009. They said I was "good to go" and they would be at my house to complete the repair on Thursday, May 14, 2009. By 10:30 AM, no one had showed up. I called Ideal Services who said that since I had taken the cash out from American Home Shield, the job would cost at least $1,200.00. They did not want to complete the work and suggested that I call another plumber.

As of this writing on May 14, 2009 I have a hole in the side of my house and cannot use my kitchen. I feel that American Home Shield should be required to pay for the actual cost of the repair in full since their technician made simple drain stoppage into a major plumbing problem. I should be compensated for not being able to use my kitchen since April 30, 2009 at $500.00. I should be reimbursed for having to dine at restaurants during a swine flu epidemic which as of May 14, 2009 has cost approximately $500.00. Furthermore, Air Pro Masters, Union Plumbing and Ideal Services should have their contractor's license revoked due to attempted fraud for requiring unnecessary work to be performed, gross negligence, and abandonment of work.

We also called about some outside plumbing that needed to be fixed. They told us that the warranty does not cover outside work, but we explained that because of the outside problem, the inside plumbing was affected also (the water line was leaking inside and causing the water to run down from the plumbing and down the walls of our basement - in two rooms). We thought there was nothing we can do about it after our warranty was expired and did not want to renew our insurance because we felt like it was a complete and utter ripoff. We still need to have the work done on our house. What do we need to do in order to get American Home Shied to fix this problem?

This was Monday and now it is Wednesday afternoon and I still don’t have a working AC. Burlesons and AHM have both given me the runaround. The AC repair guy didn’t even show up yesterday for my appt. and then lied and said he did call me and I told him not to come. Please tell me what sane person, living in Florida, who works out of the home and has 2 small infants in the home 24 hours a day, would not want their AC fixed? Oh, and it turned out they didn’t send it as an emergency, too, which upsets me to no end.

I called AHM to report the company and to literally beg them to send the service request to another business. They said no, and didn’t seem to care that I was still without AC. Chris and I are having to leave our home tonight for a hotel, because Addy has had 5 asthma attacks because of the heat in the house, and we don’t want to risk anymore. I have been hung up on 5 times by the AC repair people, and called AHS 4 times, and still have not gotten anything good from this. I will be canceling our coverage with them, as soon as we can afford to find another company.

I can’t even explain how upsetting this is. How I am in tears about my amazing house basically being as hot as a sauna, and regretting that we ever got into something like this. This is our first home, and now I regret ever buying it, because of AHS!

I placed a call to other A/C companies and the average total price is around $225. I asked American Home Shield if I could have this done on my own and settle on the difference. They would not approve. The other complaint is their inconsistent answers to questions, response to return calls and extremely longer than normal hold times. I was told by one operator on 5/5 that I would have an answer on the cash out option in 24 hours. I called back on 5/6 for a status and was told 48-72 hours, for an answer date of as late as 5/12. I am beginning to think I am being given false answers and told something in error just to try to buy time. I would like to express my extreme frustration with this company. I would like to see their practice of misleading clients investigated. Thank you.

I called AHS today (the AC was fixed yesterday) to ask them what they are going to do about this. Of course, you know the answer to that question - not a thing! And then I found out that I have to actually send them the invoice from the AC company that fixed the AC to provide that the unit is back in working order or they will not cover it in the future.

Beware, please make sure that you read all the complaints against this company before you purchase the warranty!

My complaint is probably similar to many out there who have had to deal with AHS. I have decided to do my part to help stop this raping of the American public. When we bought our house in 2007, it came with an AHS warranty contract. During the first year, the garbage disposal stopped working and we made a service request to AHS. They sent out a repair service who informed us that the garbage disposal was not covered under the warranty because it had been improperly used! I am not sure how you improperly use a garbage disposal; AHS could not tell me either, but because of improper use, I was responsible for the repair. Because it was not that expensive, it was not worth the hassles that I would have had to go through to get AHS to pay for it.

We renewed the warranty contract in 2008 because we had a Sub-Zero refrigerator that came with the house. We were somewhat worried about the Sub-Zero because it was 11 years old and were aware of the repair costs of the refrigerators. In June 2008, we started having problems with the refrigerator defrost system. Ice was forming on the back wall of the refrigerator. At this time, we thought it was a good thing that we had extended the warranty. We placed a service call with AHS to report the problem. AHS set up an appointment with NuAir Cooling, Heating, & Appliances based in the Conroe, TX area. NuAir called to confirm an appointment towards the end of June only to inform me that the cold control switch (aka thermostat) needed to be replaced.

Several weeks went by with no response from AHS or NuAir. Towards the end of July (07/31/08), I called NuAir for status and no one returned my calls at all. I finally called AHS to get them involved only to be told that the problem was that the part was not available from anywhere. At that point, I started looking for the part myself and was able to locate several within a week. Finally, NuAir installed the thermostat on 08/22/08.

Since I had done a full defrost to replace the part, it appeared that the refrigerator was working properly. By mid-October (10/21/08), the same defrosting problem was back. I called AHS to inform them that the refrigerator still had a problem. They again went down the path of having NuAir investigate the problem. A week went by and still nothing from NuAir (no phone calls, nothing). I left them several messages to return my call to no avail. On 10/29/08, I called AHS back to inform them I was displeased with NuAir's service and that I needed a different repair service. AHS set up an appointment with Texas Gulf Coast Repairs.

On 10/31/08, Texas Gulf Coast Repairs called me to set up an appointment for 11/01/08. The date/time for the appointment came and went. Texas Gulf Coast Repairs was a no show and would not return any of my calls. I called AHS to complain and they basically gave me the runaround.

On 11/03/08, the original company, NuAir, called to verify an appointment for 11/05/08. Now by this time (4 months after the original service call), I just wanted my refrigerator fixed. NuAir came out on 11/05/08 and informed me that the defrost control board was faulty. Knowing what NuAir had done the last time they had to order a part, I immediately called AHS and told them that they needed to be more proactive about finding the part this time because I was not willing to wait another month.

On 11/06/08, NuAir called to say that AHS was taking care of locating the part and that it should be available by 11/11/08. NuAir returned on 11/11/08 to replace the defrost control board. The refrigerator seemed to work for the remainder of November 2008 through March 2009. Due to the frustration of dealing with AHS and their service repair companies, I opted to not renew the warranty contract for the next year.

In April 2009, the refrigerator started acting up again. I think this was partly due to the fact that it was starting to get warmer and the colder winter months were behind us. I started checking around to see if I could find a reputable Sub-Zero appliance repair company. After checking the Sub-Zero website for authorized service companies, I found that NuAir is not a licensed authorized service company for Sub-Zero appliance. I was able to find one that came out to inspect the refrigerator. The company determined that the work done by NuAir was insufficient to repair the problem. The problem was that the compressor needed to be replaced (a $1500 repair) and should have been done the first time. The fix that NuAir provided was a temporary fix that would not last very long. It basically masked the real problem.

As a consumer, I feel that AHS and NuAir are both responsible for not repairing the Sub-Zero refrigerator the first time. Since I no longer have a contract with them, AHS was quick to inform me that they are not liable for past work that they authorized. I feel that both AHS and NuAir were working in coordination to mask the problem long enough so that AHS would not be responsible for the repair.

It is time that the American public stopped taking this! I think that Real Estate companies also need to be held accountable for this since they seem to be involved in pushing the home warranties.

After speaking with several different reps, I am told that I can go out and purchase my own hot water heater and they will have a company come out and install it between 7-9pm. So.. I go out and get my own hot water heater and wait. The new company calls me at 8:30 and tells me that AHS cancelled them because the original company would be able to come out the next day to fix the problem between 11-2. Now, after taking off work, I am telling them that I am not able to continue to take off work because a company they want to use is could not find a hot water heater in 5 days. They tell me that if I want the problem fixed, I can pay for it out of pocket and they will no longer be responsible. After I spoke to the third supervisor, and informing them that their employee told me to go and get my own hot water heater and it would be installed, and that I up-held my end of the contract why would they not pay for a company to come out and install it. I was told that I would get a phone call back and they had to check to see if they could authorize the company.

I am still waiting for the supervisor to give me a call back. So I end up calling them back for the sixth time after running out and purchasing my own hot water heater. They said that they could have the original company come out and fix the problem and that they did not authorize me to go out and get a hot water heater. I in turn give them the name of the rep I spoke to, the authorization number, the fax number that the claim was to be sent to and I am informed that the rep did not have the authority to give me that information and that I could pay for everything out of pocket unless I wanted to wait. So by 10pm I am stuck without hot water and hoping that the company will show up today as they scheduled. I am still waiting to see if they will show up today. Hopefully I will not be without hot water for any more time; however whenever you try to talk to someone there you are put on hold for endless amounts of time and no one seems to want to fix the problem. I WILL NEVER recommend them or renew my contract!

The service man was very nice and called a plumber who could come out and said they would call me. After about 15 minutes, I called the plumber and explained that my father was dying and we needed hot water to take care of him. I was told they would send one out as soon as he finished the call he was on. They assured me he carried a 40- and 50-gallon unit with him and if he determined it needed replacement, he would call, get approval, and replace it.

After about 90 minutes, I called them again and was then told we were on the list and as soon as he finished the other two calls, they would call me. About 5 minutes later, they called back and said he could check the unit but not replace it because he did not have one and we would have to wait until Monday. I asked why we were told we would be the next stop and that he had 2 units with him.

I called AHS again and after the usual 20 minutes trying to get to a person, their rep called several people, then said, "No one had one in stock," and they would have to get one on Monday. I again explained that because my father was dying and bedridden, we needed hot water to care of him in his last hours. They said, "Even if we could, they could not replace it without a permit." So on a Saturday, I managed to get a waiver for the permit to install one and called them to inform them and asked, "If I went and bought one, could they install it?" Nobody knew and I would have to wait for their guy to come check it, then go buy one, have their guy come back to install it. When I asked to speak to a supervisor, I was again placed on hold, then told they would not speak to me because I was not on the plan. I said that I would have my mother give her permission for them to talk with me and I was told they could not accept that because they would have to add me on the policy first.

This all took about 5-6 hours of waiting and arguing with AHS instead of spending quality time with my family as our father was dying. Finally, we paid another plumber almost $1,000 to install a new water heater. I really thought that under the circumstance, they would be a bit more compassionate.

To make things worse, this same kind of problem happened right after the purchase of the warranty. The person who came made the air conditioning unit work, but I just knew something wasn't right. I know nothing about air conditioners but I shouldn't have to know. I should, however, be able to trust in the companies of which I have business. Our economy is pretty bad and all business, especially small businesses, needs our support. It doesn't help when we're trying to be supportive consumers, and yet, companies like this take advantage of you and make businesses look bad. Is this what we've come to expect in the US? I hope not.

As of today, 4/21/09, I called AHS to inform them that I had not had a call from the plumbing company they use. I was told the plumber had the wrong phone number. There was no attempt on the plumber's part or AHS to call me. The supervisor I spoke to, of course, blamed me for the poor service. The consequence of this experience is that poor service from this company is a huge problem. I urge anyone not to waste their money with a contract with AHS.

Once I talked to a rep, she first said the dispatch number I was given was not from their company. Then she proceeded to tell me that they do not approve of Roto Rooter and then proceeded to call me a liar because I was given a list of companies I was able to call. When I protested this, they insisted on talking to the plumber again and finding out exactly what was wrong. They then told me that they do not cover any plumbing that involves the main house. Back in August, we had a leak in our sprinkler. They told me they only cover indoors - not outside.

This was mid-week, and at 9:00 at night. I personally spoke to the contact above who said no several times to my request. My tenants had to use the outdoors to relieve themselves until help arrived. The out-of-pocket expense of $235 is all I seek to collect, and I have all statements to prove that it had been done. Can you help me? This economic setback has taken food off our table, and AHS couldn't care less as they hide behind these so-called policies and procedures.

AHS then sent another company and this company agreed that it was the cracked heat exchanger and inducer motor, and said they'd order the part. I kept calling them and they said the part was on order. It was now in the middle of the winter with 20* temperatures and no heater in part of my house! In February, I called again and he said the part was coming in “soon,” and that I didn’t need to be home when it came in and that he could just come and install it. I never did hear from him and I called numerous times to follow up. Finally in April (remember, this goes back to December, when the first call was made!), I called AHS and asked what the problem was. They contacted the company via conference call with me. The company said the part was in and they tried to call me but didn’t get an answer back in February!

This is hard for me to believe because 1) I have a cell phone that is on at all times; 2) he told me I didn’t have to be home anyway; and 3) if he couldn’t reach me, he knew where my house was, why didn’t he just come by - knowing we were without heat! So he said that he'd be there the next morning - bright and early. Sure enough, he never showed up. I called again today and he said he had a technician that's been sick and that's why they didn’t come when they said they would. Then why, if he knew all the problems we've been having with AHS and his company, did he not come himself or even just call me?

The bottom line is, AHS seems to have sent 2 incompetent companies out to do repair work. I am a bit concerned to even allow this company to do any work on my gas heater, as this is not something to be taken lightly or worked on by a substandard company. It involved gas/carbon monoxide, so I do not want to put my family at risk by a company that doesn’t seem to have its act together. I seriously doubt I will renew my AHS contract again, or ever suggest that anyone else fall for this home warranty scheme.

So we paid $505.00 for one year and when we need the warranty, they told us nothing is covered. So now we paid $505.00 out of pocket to have it replaced. Why have a warranty, especially with AHS, if they don't cover what they say they do?

I contacted the former AHS plumber that installed the pipe and sent pictures. The former plumber confirmed that all pipes installed were correct and up to code. This confirmed my belief that today's plumber was wrong in his assessment of the cause of the stoppage and really just wanted to collect his $60 and leave. AHS informed me that they will send out another plumber for a second opinion, but that I would have to pay him $60, too. For $120, I should have had a regular Rooter company fix the problem. I stopped payment on the $60 check and cancelled my AHS contract. Do not purchase an AHS contract. You'll be sorry.

So now, AHS has refused to change our box. They state that there's nothing they can do and the only way it can be changed is if we pay the $2,200 out of pocket. After 7 years, we've paid over $3,800 in annual dues. It is more than enough to cover the replacement. I will never use this company again. Consumer beware! This is a total rip off!

In the meantime, my husband had already called Homeshield to report the problems Greg had pointed out and requested service. The spa continued to drain. Water was entering the spa, but not as quickly as water was draining. That occurred on Thursday, March 26, 2009. On Friday, we called We Fix Ugly Pools and told them that the spa was still not working properly and they said they were really busy, but would try to get someone out that afternoon. No one came and no one called. The problem continued. On Sunday morning, March 29, 2009, the filter on the pool exploded. It blew a huge crack in the filter casing and blew apart some of the PVC pipe connections. We immediately called and reported this to Homeshield. We were told that Ugly Pools had been contacted and there was nothing further they could do since it was the weekend. We turned off the power to the pool and turned valves until we could get the water to quit flooding out of the cracked filter since we did not want the pool to drain.

Monday morning, we called Ugly Pools and Homeshield again. Greg, the tech from Ugly Pools, called back, requested the make, model and size of the filter and said he would be out on Tuesday to make repairs. He arrived Tuesday afternoon, March 31, looked at the filter and said we had shut down some valve and that caused the pressure to build and the filter to blow. He said all the valves were in the wrong positions. I explained that we had to move the valves to stop the water flow, and I also showed him a diagram I have taped to the pool equip., showing the correct positions for all the valves. I told him that we did not change any valve position from the way he had placed them, until the filter exploded. He got on the phone with his company and with Homeshield. He told me he could not do anything till I talked with Homeshield and they would be calling me. He left.

We finally made a call to Homeshield and were told that the problem was due to us "doing something" and they were not responsible for the repair. If the tech from Ugly Pools did something, we would have to follow up with them to get the filter replaced. We placed numerous calls to the We Fix Ugly Pools franchise in Weatherford, TX. We always got voice mail and left messages for Glen, the mgr. Our calls were never returned. We contacted the home corp. for Ugly Pools, which is in Phoenix and spoke with "Sam". He was very rude and arrogant and of no help. He asked us to send pictures of the filter, which we did, and said he would be in touch. We are still waiting to hear from him!

Today, Monday April 6, we finally heard back from Deb with Am. Homeshield, who is in customer complaint resolution. She said Homeshield was not responsible and they also would not do anything to act a liaison between us and Ugly Pools. We were on our own. We asked about speaking to someone higher and told it would do no good. This was their final determination and they were not responsible for acts of repairmen they sent out and our pool filter was not covered. My pool is no longer operational. I'm checking with other companies to see what a new filter will cost. The estimated cost is $1000, not including labor. Until the filter is fixed, I cannot determine if any other parts of the pool system were damaged.

Within two hours (you get the idea), the pilot light was out again. I contacted AHS on Friday evening and was told since it was an emergency, they would contact a plumber and have someone out as soon as possible. AHS claims to have contacted over 20 plumbers in the Philadelphia area and have found none that are available for a service call to my home. After a heated discussion with a customer service manager, he informed me I can use an outside plumber and they will pay the bill.

I contacted Roto Rooter and they had a plumber at my home within an hour of the same day. He informed me that I need a new water heater but AHS has to approve the cost. We called AHS and they claim to know nothing about approving me contacting an outside plumber. I had to pay the $85 service fee and I am still waiting to hear what AHS will do. At this point, I am going to have the water heater replaced and looked at to break my contract with AHS. They are a joke and they only look to provide patch work services while not eliminating the problem. I will never use AHS again and suggest the same to anyone else.

That very afternoon, there were 2 phone messages from Ms. ** asking me to call her. We spoke on the phone the next morning and she said she didn't care what proof I had about proper maintenance or what the other lady from AHS said. Now she claims that I never gave them a chance to look over the old AC (actually they did & I have that receipt to prove it!). The monetary damages were a little over $5500. Since I'd owned the home since 1994 and had used AHS Service a few times for nothing major, I was shocked when I was talked to so rudely. Ms. ** did offer me 2 coupons for $60 to go away. I turned her down.

I'd had the AC for 13 years. I called AHS again and said I had my receipts for maintenance and other repairs. The woman on the phone was helpful and she told me to hold onto the receipts as they are good proof that I did take care of the AC. That very afternoon, there were two phone messages from Ms. ** asking me to call her. We spoke on the phone the next morning and she said she didn't care what proof I had about proper maintenance or what the other lady from AHS said. Now she claims that I never gave them a chance to look over the old AC (actually, they did and I have that receipt to prove it!).

I had the AC for 13 years. I called AHS again and said I had my receipts for maintenance and other repairs. The woman on the phone was helpful, and she told me to hold onto the receipts as they are good proof that you did take care of the AC. That very afternoon, there were 2 phone messages from Ms. Jensen asking me to call her. We spoke on the phone the next morning, and she said she didn't care what proof I had about proper maintenance or what the other lady from AHS said. Now she claims that I never gave them a chance to look over the old AC (actually, they did and I have that receipt to prove it!).

In the past two months, our dishwasher failed. It is a listed item, and American Home Shield took the claim when we filed it, and they assigned a contractor to fix the problem. A contractor contacted us one day later, came the following day and after spending 10 minutes diagnosed that the clasp required to hold the door shut on the dishwasher was defective. He needed to 'order the part,' which was a simple metal bracket. He required that we pay the contractual $60.00 for his visit, and he made an appointment with me to come one week later with the part and replace it. He stated it was a simple repair and should take 10 minutes.

I took a 1/2 day off from work to be at home when he agreed, but to my surprise - no contractor arrived. I could not reach him at his 'work' number and when I called AHS, they could only leave a message. To make a long story short, this pattern I described above repeated itself TWO more times where AHS stated they reached the contractor and he had to order the part. He made an appointment with me and then did not show for it. I've missed three 1/2 days of work as a result, and still have a broken dishwasher.

I have spent hours on the phone with AHS (I have kept a log - if you DO sign up with them, I highly recommend you keep a log). This contractor has never shown up again, but AHS will not assign a new contractor to me because he has spent money ordering a part and so he is now committed to the repair. I have demanded that they send a new repair person to complete the work, only to get the run around. I have moved up the chain of command at AHS, only to be told we are sorry, but all we can do is call the contractor and 'remind' him that he has an appointment with you. American Home Shield even refused to refund my $60.00 I paid for the lack of service I was to receive.

A word of advice to those thinking of buying an American Home Shield policy, don't do it. From an actuarial standpoint, they are in a winning position - much like the way a casino operates. They bid out jobs to the lowest bidder, and then they do not represent the interest of the homeowner when the service call goes bad. Instead, they put up an impenetrable smokescreen and you are left with absolutely NO recourse. You are out your $500 policy and your $60 for the visit. You would be MUCH better off placing $500 a year in a CD. If you have a catastrophic failure once every 3-5 years, you will have already saved $1500 to $2500 PLUS interest towards the repair. And most repairs, such as this one for our dishwasher, would have cost AT MOST $150 if we had hired a private repair person on our own.

I can't emphasize it enough. This company does a great job of presenting themselves as your GUARDIANS against failure, safeguarding you against the terrible unknowns which are lurking in your home just waiting to wreak havoc on your critical cash flow. They are charlatans, bordering on criminal in how they misrepresent their intent to protect you. They are in business to spend as little of the $500 you send them, and with you paying $60 every time you request a service call, they make off like bandits with exactly that - most of your hard earned money. Save, invest safely, and build your own protective cushion. But whatever you do, if I can offer you any unsolicited but sincere advice, DON'T trust this company and don't sign up and give them any of your money. You are getting ripped off and they are getting rich.

I received a bill from American Home Shield for the sixty dollars. I called and discussed this with a rude customer representative by the name of Andrea. I told her it was not fair for me to pay sixty dollars when I was not told the leaking kitchen faucet was not covered. I owe a sixty dollar service fee plus I had to purchase my own faucet and pay a plumber to install it.

I got 10 minutes of waiting for sixty dollars. The representative told me to read my contract. My contract says plumbing, which this was plumbing to me. I asked her when I stated leaking kitchen faucet how was that confusing to the person scheduling the service when there is no kitchen faucet under your sink with the plumbing. This was a mistake on their part and I have to pay for it.

Acme has lied & said it was the toilet to cover themselves. It was not the toilet... Yesterday, March 25th, I spoke to Andrea in the legal dept, as I sent the estimate for repairs to her along with damage photos to get my home fixed. She stated, "Denied, no coverage due to secondary damage as stated in our contract." I told her that I have secondary damage due to the fact that neither plumber contracted through AHS found the real & original problem, source of the leak, the refrigerator valve. I just want my home repaired!! Thank you.