American Home Shield Reviews

I got the contractor back out here and they said, "Oh, okay. So here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna change your seal." So they changed the seal and they sent a different technician. They said, "Well, the door is not going to be very -- it's not going to be even. So you have to push it in from here. Alternate the way it's supposed to be." So I said, "Okay, that's a new seal. Maybe that's what needs to happen until it actually adjusts." It takes time for the seal to adjust.

The last time that the tech came out, he asked, "When did it last leak?" I said, "It was Friday night. And I was gonna reach out to you guys, but, of course, I could not because you guys were closed." They were out on Monday and he said, "Well, I can't really see anything. Everything is dry." I said, "Of course it's dry." So he said the only thing that he can do is just take a video. I took pictures of the water leaking. I'm not making it up. I look at the door and it is not even after installing the new gaskets in there and I'm baffled. Why does it keep doing that?

The technicians were really nice. It's just that having four service calls for something like that takes too long. That's way too long. My time is very valuable, and I have to be here when they come out. But they're polite. It's just that there are no solutions yet. Since they've been here, I've been monitoring it. It's just me and my wife. So there's not a lot of wear and tear on the dishwasher. But since they've been here, I have not noticed any leak.

I did everything online when I submitted the claim. I had American Home Shield for several years but back then, they did not have the nice technology. So I went with two different providers and I was not really impressed. The online experience with American Home Shield was really, really good. They did really well. I love that the technician is available where you can do a video. This way, you can eliminate an unnecessary service call. That was really good. So far, I'm really pleased with American Home Shield. Overall marketing, from the time I signed up with them until throughout, it's really successful. It's not pushy and everything is very, very clear. It might sound a little bit high on the deductibles, but they are customer-focused.

There were a couple times that we had some issues. I would call back and request for somebody else to come in and do what they needed to do because I didn't feel comfortable with them, and they didn't seem knowledgeable. At that time, my partner would stay there with them or talk to them, or come back and go, "No, you didn't do this. You skipped something.” That would be a call back to the company that was sent out, and back to AHS to go, “Hey, this person said they did this, and I went back and checked it, and they didn't.” One of us was always with the person that came in to service whatever we needed serviced.

The recent contractor just checked the unit. I was told when I first started with AHS to get my HVAC looked at every spring and every fall before summer and winter hits, and that's what I followed from what my dad told me. Unfortunately, we had somebody come out around the springtime, but that did not qualify to say that that was a spring tune-up. But it was because of the person that came out didn't know what they were doing.

They did not realize that the filter that went into the furnace is one of those removable, custom-made filters, and that you should vacuum it out first. I always had a vacuum cleaner that was down there because it was in all in the laundry room. But there was a Shop-Vac up there so they could suck that up quickly on both sides. And then they're supposed to go outside, spray it with a water hose and shake it out. You put it back into the HVAC unit, and the unit is turned on. And with the air coming the flow for it dries it out, and I would always go back down and double check it.

Unfortunately, in that time when that happened, it was off cycle at the time. I didn't get to do the regular spring one. So, when United Air Temp had to come back, but it’s trying to appease the Realtor that was helping the family get the house. They said, "You missed one.” I said, "Technically, no, we did not." They did what they were supposed to do, but the person didn't know what he was doing. I called back to AHS. I said, “I want somebody else back out here.” That was taken care of. They said, "We can send another one out at no cost where we're not gonna charge you for that fee.” That is what happened.

The refrigerator that we had was an LG. There was something with the compressor, but LG was aware of it. I called AHS because it stopped working. The only good thing about it at that time is we just had a massive snowstorm, and we still had a lot of snow on our deck and in our yard. We got out our water coolers and started packing that with the snow. We put everything frozen that we possibly could in there, and kept packing it because snow was still coming down. That was nothing that AHS could fix at the time because you couldn't even get into the subdivision. When that happened, we went about and just got our big coolers out and started packing everything in there. But they were able to get somebody within a reasonable amount of time.

Then it was the same day that he left that it was still leaking, and I called them back, and I said, "What's the deal? When is my air conditioning going to be repaired?" But they had already closed the claim with American Home Shield. I had to contact American Home Shield, which is always a nightmare. I've had a policy with American Home Shield since 1990-something. A very long time. When I first sent an email and then tried to get ahold of the chat function, I called their emergency contact line. The rep was very kind, but she said, "This isn't the number to get ahold of anybody. You have to call customer service." I was like, “Okay. Get me to who I need to talk to." She said, "I'm not allowed to do that."

It's like this great big hush-hush that you're not allowed to talk to anybody there. And you have to do it all through the portal. The portal doesn't allow you to do anything except pay another $100, and I wasn't going to do that. And I got a little crabby. So, they sent me to deal with a man. And he just abruptly cut me off every time I tried to explain to him where we were in the situation. That I'm medically fragile, and that's why I needed air conditioning. Finally, he sent me to somebody who would take the reorder. ServLegacy was the company that did the air conditioning and I asked them to come back out again. This was finally Friday afternoon.

Then my son had a huge heat-induced seizure on Saturday. It was bad. I contacted them on Monday morning, and I said, "Okay. What is the plan for getting somebody out here to fix the air conditioning?" I told them what happened. Finally, it dawned on them, "We have to do something." So, they got the air conditioning guy to come out on Tuesday late afternoon. They said that he'd be here between 3:00 and 8:00. I asked him to come as late as possible. He got here at 3:20. He was talking with my husband about what needed to happen.

The guy has no clue how to fix the air conditioner. He finally said, "We're gonna need to cut this off the condenser part of it and take it outside and power wash it, and then bring it back in and reattach it and re-weld it back together. And it'll cost you about $3,700." My husband said, "Okay. Yeah. So, why?" He said, “It might be dirty on the inside." My husband said, “How do you know if it's dirty on the inside?" He said, "Because you have dogs." My husband just looked at him and blinked, and he said, "Okay. I agree with you. It might be dirty on the inside because we have dogs, but how do you know exactly?" Then the guy left, and he left his little booties that covered his shoes on my driveway. And all I could do, because I was so pissed, was just take a picture of it, and say, "Okay. Maybe he has a colleague that he knows that is going to come and do the cleaning part for him. Maybe he just comes out and diagnoses things."

Then on the estimate for the repair, it was 3,700 and something. It said that they only cover 10 pounds of Freon, and that I would be responsible for the rest of it. I said, "I just put in $300 worth of Freon that has to be recaptured," because it can't be let off because we live in California. But now, I'm going to have to buy more Freon at a ridiculous price again, when it wasn't the problem of having Freon to begin with, because he misdiagnosed it. Also, on the first visit, he said that we needed to have an ultraviolet light in there in case any mold grows. It's raining five gallons of water a day. Of course, water and molds going to grow in there because it's wet.

We're looking at $4,500 so far. And what if that's not the problem? I could buy a whole new system for 4,000 more dollars. Then I just looked at the letter from American Home Shield that it's been denied. So I went and bought two portable air conditioners so that I could live.

One of the guys who came out recently was a big guy. I'm 5'11" and I was looking at this guy's chin. He's got me by 80 pounds and I'm 190. And he was laying on the floor. First thing he did was he put these little booties on and I told him that those were not necessary since we were going down into the basement. He apologized because he'd been working and it was late in the day. So he'd been in the heat and the ugly. His T-shirt had some dust on it from laying on floors and he also apologized for that. I told him there was no need because my floor is bare. So, we went down there, he wired in my condensation pump perfectly for me, and took care of the air conditioning. Roughly, he wasn't here 30 minutes before he had the AC up and running.

For this claim, the AC took a flying leap and it was on a Thursday, when I realized it was dead. I called American Home Shield early Friday morning and I got in touch with the vendors on both ends. I wasn't worried about the plumbing issues but the AC was getting ugly because we had that heat wave coming. But they got the guy out here that Monday. So we weren't hurting at all in that respect. To those who are considering getting American Home Shield, I'd encourage them to do it. I've been in the service business and the fire service all my life, and things are so gosh darn expensive now. If you pay for a home warranty through a year and you blow an air conditioner out, you're going to get your money back. Like any insurance, you're gambling. So it's a good gamble.

American Home Shield is there when you need them. They get back to you quickly or you get somebody right away, and it costs a bucket of quarters for the deductible. I had to pay two of that recently because I had a plumbing issue and an electronic issue with the furnace. But if I call a vendor on my own, there are some AC companies that charge what they call travel time, so they charge you from the time they leave their building to the time they get to your home. And that's a hit in the head in that respect. So, if you're going to call a vendor, it's going to cost you a lot more.

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

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

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

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

We have been members for almost 10 years, but I am canceling my contract after this latest debacle and I will never return. I tried several times to work with the company to explain to them why this offer was unjust and unreasonable, and did not fulfill their obligation set forth in their marketing, but they stubbornly refused to offer me anything close to reasonable. Beware. Stay far away, unless you want to lose money.

Without functioning A/C, I could not safely remain in my home. I had to stay with my mother, sleeping on her couch with my two cats. After an extended wait, the first refurbished compressor arrived faulty and could not be used. Even then, AHS did not authorize the reportedly available new compressor. Instead, another refurbished compressor was ordered, resulting in another lengthy delay. My A/C was finally restored on September 14—30 days after it failed.

During that month, I incurred additional expenses for meals, transportation, pet needs, and necessities. Temperatures inside my home exceeded 100°F for extended periods, and I also had food and household items that had to be discarded or replaced after prolonged exposure to the heat. In addition, I paid approximately $2,600 out of pocket for the A/C repair itself, despite having the AHS warranty.

I repeatedly contacted AHS trying to get assistance and initially had difficulty getting my concerns escalated. AHS later acknowledged that I was not offered the $780.75 cash-out option sooner. Had that option been explained when the compressor was originally diagnosed, I could have considered using those funds toward the new compressor the contractor said was readily available and potentially avoided weeks of displacement. AHS initially offered a $150 concession for the delay. After numerous calls, emails, and escalation attempts, AHS increased that amount to $600, which I accepted. I appreciate that they ultimately increased the concession, but it came only after extensive effort on my part.

My issue is not simply that AHS uses refurbished parts. My concern is how the circumstances were handled. A new compressor was reportedly available almost immediately, but a refurbished compressor was selected because of cost. When that compressor arrived faulty, another refurbished compressor was ordered rather than reconsidering the available new compressor. For an A/C failure in Phoenix during extreme summer temperatures, those decisions had serious practical consequences: I was unable to live in my home for 30 days.

AHS also should have explained the cash-out option at the beginning so I could make an informed decision about whether waiting for its selected part or arranging my own repair made more sense. I expected my home warranty to reduce the financial risk and disruption of a major home repair. Instead, I paid approximately $2,600 toward the repair, incurred additional expenses while displaced, and spent a month unable to live in my home. Based on my experience, I would encourage consumers—particularly those living in extremely hot climates—to understand how AHS handles parts sourcing, refurbished parts, non-covered costs, cash-out options, and repair delays before purchasing or renewing coverage.

The air conditioning company they use has employees who are on drugs and are thieves. I witnessed this first hand. I finally after a week of dealing with this company and AHS I paid out of my own pocket to have my air conditioner fixed they won't reimburse me. I am canceling my AHS as soon as my exhaust fan is fixed. Hopefully this will be a competent company.

Advanced Plumbing came out because there was an issue that was a two-time issue. There was a water thing that was happening. The tech that came out was one of the best I've ever had. He was so good. He was knowledgeable and courteous. He was on time and communicative. There was the one time that he came out for the garbage disposal. The other time, he came out when the hot water wasn't coming in. He explained everything that he was doing. He was excellent.

I was okay with Axis, 'cause they eventually got it fixed. But it was hard to schedule with them. They said that they ordered the part, and the part came in, and they scheduled the repair, but then they didn't show up. Then they told American Home Shield that the part hadn't come in yet. And it was like, "Wow, they told me it had." It just took a long time for them to finally show up and do the repair. But the water is not leaking now 'cause it has a new valve in there that's not leaking. So, it's working okay. AHS just needs to improve the total amount of time it takes to get something fixed.

The hold time was a little ridiculous, though. It was a bit much. Reaching to customer service was hard ‘cause I had to be on hold for an hour. I know I kept trying to put my number, and even at work, for them to reach back out to me. Never happened on the work line. But aside from the long hold time, trying to reach an agent has been my problem as well. But I could understand, because the weather and people are probably having the same issue.

The cost is also a little bit steep to me ‘cause, a year ago, they had me paying 35 monthly and then it went up to 55. So, the coverage is good that I can do up to three appliances or three things under the same umbrella, but it's a little bit steep, especially for these days. Then my situation now, my monthly fee is 50 something dollars, the service call, 125, and then an additional 300 and change for Freon. It's a little pricey for me. But my experience with AHS has been decent.

Whenever I had an issue, I call American Home Shield, and then I get charged some type of fee for the person to come out to assist or fix it. If it's covered, I don't have to pay anything else out of pocket. If it's not, I have to pay out of pocket. But for the most part, it has been good. I have updated my coverage because once upon a time, I didn't have garbage disposal added on my thing. So, now I do.

The customer service, for the most part, has been good. But I don't like the fact that they have agents who only work from Monday to Friday. I need people to be on call 24/7, especially when it comes to plumbing. It's almost like they need to get either some better agents who can do 24/7, because anything can happen within the week. If something happens on Friday morning, and now I'm waiting all week until Monday, and maybe Monday to Tuesday to get someone out there and assist on my stoppage. So, that's not cool. I would rather then have agents around the clock just in case of situations like that when it comes to a home. Because issues don't happen from Monday to Friday. It can happen Saturday and Sunday. But other than that, it's been pretty good.

Sears has been out here a couple of times. Most recently, they came out for the ice maker. It had a leak in it, and they immediately looked at what was going on. They send you a text and ask for serial and model numbers and the reason that you called the warranty company in the first place, so they have it firsthand. I'm not crazy about Sears’ 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM window that they give, but they're busy, and that has nothing to do with American Home Shield.

When it comes to appliance repairs, you've got three options: you pay the bill yourself, and that might be way out of the ballpark, or you pay $100 for a service call, which everybody charges it, whether you deal with Sears or anybody else, or you pay to cover each individual appliance through the place that you bought them from. Generally, for us, it's Lowe's ‘cause it's closest, and we've always found what we want. They're always trying to get you to insure the appliance through them. But I like the fact that American Home Shield not only covers my appliances, which includes the HVAC system, which is the most expensive of all of them, but you can also opt to cover your computers.

American Home Shield is also always volunteering, and next year, I'm taking advantage of it for my HVAC system before winter and before summer for them to come out and check the appliance. During summers we've had temperatures at 125 degrees, and the HVAC can use up all the freon then it would stop working, or it doesn't work as efficiently. We've run into that in the 20 years we've lived here.

I have complied with all requirements, paid the required fees, and done everything asked of me. The claim remains stalled due to what appears to be communication issues between American Home Shield and its contractor. Meanwhile, I am left without a functioning air conditioning system and no clear path to resolution. A home warranty is supposed to provide assistance when major systems fail. Unfortunately, my experience has been one of delays, poor communication, and a lack of accountability. I cannot recommend American Home Shield based on the way this claim has been handled.

For the replacement, American Home Shield gives you a selection of the closest to your make and model if they have some ones. If you wanted to upgrade it, you can pay a discounted rate for the upgrade. I got something that was similar to what I had. Overall, the monthly rate is a bit high with American Home Shield, but the service call is on the higher end of other services that I've had. American Home Shield gets pricey over time. When I started with them, I was paying about $40 a month, and then they shot up to $80 a month. When I expressed my concern about that, they did drop the rate to $60 for the next year. So that's what I got for the rest of this year.

I've had one bad experience with customer service. But overall, the customer service is pretty okay. I don't feel like I have to fuss at the people when I'm talking to them. Most of the time, they understand and they get what I need. They tell me the information that I need. The app is pretty good. I really like the app. It's pretty straightforward. Some of the times, it doesn't allow you to get the exact information across. But for the most part, once you put a general request in, you can give the details when someone gets in contact with you about your ticket.