First American Home Warranty Reviews

The first two claims I had were taken care of pretty quickly; one involved a repair tech from a pest control company poking a hole in a water pipe (this kind of thing may not be covered by other home warranty companies so a good point for First American) and it (the repair) was done well. The next involved a contact switch in my a/c unit; again pretty quick service and the repair was done well and another good point for First American.

The next two not so good; refrigerator repair - took just under a month to get it fixed; seems to be working OK. Part of the problem here may be that First American seems to want to use Sears as a contractor - not prompt or responsive at all. After the refrigerator part arrived it took almost three weeks for the repair guy to come by. Perhaps First American should consider using another contractor and perhaps First American should consider finding another when the customer has to wait so long to get something fixed.

The last is one which is still unresolved; microwave died; it took a week for a contractor to come and make a diagnosis - he just read the info on the screen; I could have done that! Now two more weeks and no part; I did get an email with the part #, I looked it up on the internet and found at least two of them for sale; that took about 5 minutes and it has been two weeks and still no part. It is promised tomorrow. First American phone person will not tell me when someone will come out to fix the microwave until the part gets here; which may or may not be pretty soon. As a real estate professional I must tell clients of my experiences with this company. Those experiences are very very mixed. Perhaps other home warranty companies have faster service.

In Feb 2018 our Bradford White 50 gal hot water heater stopped working. The hot water heater would only produce 5 gallons of hot water. First contractor was the most unprofessional person I've ever met. He did say the water heater was not working to capacity and left. His report back to FAHW was that nothing was wrong with hot water heater. Had a second contractor out a day later, he also said the hot water heater was not working to capacity, yet FAHW says he reported no issues found. I spoke to contractor and he stated that his report read what we discussed. Hot water heater working at a diminished capacity. After our household was without hot water for 96 hours I had to replace it. Guess what. FAHW is denying reimbursement "because they said they didn't approve prior to replacing." I find it hard to believe that in this day & time someone can operate a business in this manner without recourse to the way they cheat the client.

When I didn't hear from him, I called back and he said he did his part and put the paperwork in. But he didn't know how the system worked and he didn't try to get me my parts on time. I had to call the company that made the parts and I found out that the parts weren't coming in for four to six weeks. I had to go back to the warranty people and said that that was not acceptable. After all that was done, I turned my heater on this winter and discovered that the tech did something wrong and didn't put the heater back in. So, I had no heater.

First American sent me another service person that I also didn't know and the repair took forever. I didn't get heat until it was already warm here. So I had a house with no heat full of kids for Christmas. But it wasn’t the fault of the service person. First American would only do business with Carrier which is out in Michigan and we were not high on their priority list. But we have people right here in Arizona who could have done it. Other than that bad service person, I also got a lady on the dishwasher who told my husband that if he knew how to load it, it wouldn't be a problem. Then she walked away and got her $75 from First American. But it turned out that I needed a whole new dishwasher.

If First American lets people choose, among the companies they've contracted with, the contractors that gave them good service, then First American would weed out the bad contractors because those companies wouldn't get any work. First American said that it would only lead to more people waiting for service which wouldn't make them happy. But I told them that if I didn't have a heater, I'd be unhappy, too. Nobody likes getting a person from out the country half the time.

So I'm not First American's biggest fan right now, but from my experience, they're still way better than anyone else as far as replacing stuff, being on time, and answering calls. I would recommend them. When I get a good person for repairing things, they give permission for the work. And if something has to be replaced, they’re the number one company for that, which is a very important thing because it took three summers for my air conditioner to completely go out. But every summer, they replaced whatever was broken at that time.

In this day and age, they have relatively good customer service, too. I call them when I have a claim and their automated system is pretty crappy. But that's just the way it is and it doesn't bother me at all since it's not as bad as others. They might have more than one call center because when I call them, sometimes I'd get someone from the United States and at other times, I wouldn't. But when I get to talk to those who aren't in the US, they speak good English. Sometimes their accent is really thick but I have found out if I told them I couldn't understand them, they'd get someone else to talk to me.

Compared with the ones that I've done business with, First American's reps try to do things for me to please me, they make things right, and they don't shut me off. One time, I called back and said that I was told I was going to get the heater money. The rep went off the line, came back, and said, "Evidently, the supervisor who looked at this does not understand the HE," which meant Personal Heater. It was a funny experience and I got my money within four days. The contractors came back, gave me $50 for a space heater, and did what they said they'd do. So, First American is set up correctly. It's just that they use bad contractors and it makes them look bad. But as far as I can tell, the first service person I got for the heater is no longer on their list.

The people I hired came to clean it took it out and they showed to me that the unit was shot. They said, "This is what's wrong with it. If he had taken anything apart, he would have seen it." But in the meantime, the guy came back after the people came and cleaned it. H told me he brought some fan and he said, "I'm not even supposed to be doing this. I'm eating this out of my own pocket. You got me in trouble with the warranty people." And I'm like, "You know what, you didn’t even look at the thing. You just kept guessing. You come in, you spend five minutes and you guessed at something. You never listen to me. I didn’t ask you to come here on your own dime or anything."

The other people put a new unit in for us because it was in the middle of summer and we were fighting with that guy. We ended up fighting with First American Home Warranty over paying for it. And the people that put in the new unit for us sent them First American a whole list of all the stuff that was wrong with the unit, and First concluded that they owed us $1,400 of the $7,000. We took it, but I have no use for them and we canceled the service. But they didn’t cancel it because we had just paid it for the year again.

We have used it since then when my ceiling fan wasn’t working and the garbage disposal has gotten something in it. The garbage disposal had to be reset and a guy came out to reset it and he was out in five minutes. As for the ceiling fan, he finally decided that some GFI had been thrown by it which didn’t make any sense to me. It was working when he left but this morning, it's not working again. I've gone and reset the breaker and the breaker was fine and it was just the fan was not working again.

First American just doesn’t listen. They send out people who wanted to get the work done in five minutes and whose job was to convince people that it was not their job if it involves anything. First American apparently doesn’t back them up if they find something was really wrong. There were a couple that does but for the most part, that was not what they send out. And to keep their contractor, that's what they have to do. When we had a leaking faucet and something else with the kitchen sink, a guy came and he was great. He stayed and took the time to fix it. There was some stuff that was not covered and we paid him the part we owed him. Other than that, I wouldn’t recommend them to anybody and I don't know that we'll redo it once it’s up this year.

Some techs were good. However, one or two folks were a little rude like one of the plumbers. He said that everything looked good but I told him that it doesn’t work. He asked me to prove it. The leakage means I could see that it is a wet floor. But he was not convinced with that as he doesn't see it on the pipe. Literally, he was arguing. He left and within a couple of hours, it started leaking again. When I called him back, he told us that he was done with the correct things and that I may have to call insurance again. That didn't look good. I explained it to First American and they sent another contact person. Overall, First American meets the requirement and I would recommend them.

But we had a plumbing claim a couple of years ago and that was terrible. There were issues around that claim and the problem wasn't fixed. They sent out the same person again and finally, I just gave up on that claim and stopped following up as fixing that problem wasn’t really a necessity. Our experience with First American has been okay so far, but their service is expensive. They've bumped the fees up to 80 bucks now for each service call. But I like it when they try to use contractors that are local to the area, within 20 miles or less.

The contractor did not provide any proof, didn't ask me anything (actually never even returned one of my phone calls), just stated his opinion and First American takes that and runs with it. Calling my claims specialist, I thought I would get somewhere with my disagreement with what the contractor said, but that was shot down repeatedly; I just got the same canned line from her about how the contractor stated it was rodent damage, therefore it's rodent damage, your policy doesn't cover that, your claim is closed, and thank you for the $75 service fee for doing absolutely nothing. The good news is, there are other home warranty companies out there and I will not be calling myself a First American customer for much longer. Very, very disappointed.

The work the techs have done has generally been good and there have been no repeat claims for the same issue. For some claims, they don’t have as much availability, so sometimes the schedule can get backed up. But they're good about following up and saying that they're going to be getting to it. They at least do a reach out call with the appointment scheduling happening a week or two out, depending on availability for the tradesmen.

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First American was recommended by a realtor. Their warranty came with the purchase of our house and we've been with them for five years. My experience with them has been okay and I saw no reason to switch. I submit claims online, so it's convenient. Usually, they call back within 24 to 48 hours, then the contractor schedules an appointment. The initial call of the technician is usually just a diagnosis. But if something is broken, it takes a very long time to get it replaced. The techs have to wait three to six weeks before First American can order the part, since they won't buy the replacement part retail.

So far, the quality of the work that the techs have done has generally been good and there have been no repeat claims for the same issue. With some claims, though, First American doesn’t have as much availability of contractors, but they're good about following up and saying that they're going to be getting to it. At least, they do a reach-out call and schedule the service appointment a week or two out, depending on the availability of the trades people.

The frustration level you will experience will require therapy. It took them two months to replace the original contractor after multiple visits, delays in parts, and multiple no shows. This contractor left the water supply on and we have water damage to our kitchen floor as a result. The second contractor was late as well and did not call. They misdiagnosed the issue. Replaced a part and honestly do not think they know what the issue was. We cannot wait another two months and repeat of the first contractor. I have requested full refund of our contract as they do not have the ability or will to comply. Please do not be another victim of this company.

We had to wait for one more week and nobody turns out. All this time we had no fridge at home. And we have two small kids. Just imagine our plight. This guys turns up and says he got a wrong part and says, he needs to order a part that will take 3 weeks to get. At this frustrated, we call the customer care and the claims administrator (who never responds - Pierre **) and the agent tells us they will talk to the technician and make sure he turns up on the next Monday. Just imagine in a modern work, no fridge, two little children, taking time off from work waiting at home for the technician to turn out.

The guys come on Monday and says he is forced to come our home but doesn't has the part yet. With patience completely lost, I had to yell at a lot of careless people who read from a script and a Sr. Technician is promised to come that Friday. These guys turns up from the same company (Accord Appliances) and says all bad things about the previous guy and claims to be an expert. He doesn't replace anything but explains to me that that the phenomenon is like a computer heat up and tell me to turn off the fridge for 15 minutes and restart it. Voila.. the fridge works. We go to the shops, buy, milk and fruit and vegetables, still suspicious about the repair and the very next day it stops working again. I restart the fridge as suggested, nothing happens.

We throw away all the stuff and I call the customer care and they coach me, that I am not the only customer that Accord Appliance have to attend and I have to wait till the following Thursday. One of the agent even told me to go buy a fridge, if I cannot wait. Probably the call center is in Mexico or India or Philippines. By any means do these guys even deserve a single star. NOT AT ALL. Third grade, cheap horrible, unethical company, who take my money and cannot fix things. Shame on you. The other horrible thing, is that a lack of ombudsman or a complaining consumer affairs person outside of the company, like government appoint, who can help people like us who are troubled by these companies.

After that, I submitted a claim with them for my furnace. It just stopped working and it was the igniter or pilot problem. Then a guy came out, cleaned it off, and the furnace started working. Later, my hot water tank went out again so a tech came out. He said that the only thing he could think off was that someone got down in there, brought the flame out, and it hit the kill switch. He had to relate it and showed me where the kill switch was. I didn’t know there was one on there because I tried to relate it and follow the instructions but it wasn’t getting any gas because the kill switch needed to be reset. The guys from the two different companies that came were very professional and were here when they said they would be here. In fact, when my daughter who doesn’t have a homeowner's warranty needed a recommendation for her hot water tank, I gave her the name of one of the companies.

The service fee could go down a bit though. It’s $75 right now. They come out and they inspect the problem, then they charge $75 service fee and then if any parts and labor besides that, then that’s covered in the policy depending on the policy. I’m useless around the house, so I call them for everything and then it turns out it’s just a little thing I could have.

The last time that a technician came out was totally useless. We have a problem with the light in the stair wall. I wasn’t home and my wife dealt with it. The tech came out, looked at it and said, “It’s too high. I’m not going to get up there. This is your problem.” So, he left and that was it. How can he possibly know what’s wrong with it without testing anything? I’ve been fighting with them trying to figure out what is going on with that. I haven't even talked to the warranty people yet to let them know what's going on. It’s been two weeks and I’ve called four times, and the lady keeps saying, “I got to text the technician, I’ll get back to you." She never calls me back. So, it’s a very poor service. First American does a great job setting up the appointments, but they should find a new service person. If people need stuff done, they’re going to end up paying for it because First American is going to say it’s not covered anyway.

The technician was also bad and he never fixed it and every time, they would say that the part was in back order or wasn't back. I even had to go to get it because they told me it was a belt. The belt cost $10 and I told the gentleman I already have the belt because they kept insisting that there's probably been a back order. And I go, "Well, since I purchased the belt, can you just install it?" He goes, "No, we don't work like that." And I had already purchased the belt and I was without a dryer for a month. Then he came back and said that he found something else wrong with the dryer, another part he had to order. So at the end, because I was complaining and calling every single day, they sent a different company that fixed it right away.

I really trusted First American in regards to my claims because I've been with them for so long and I would hate to move. But there was nobody really trying to fix the issue. I didn't want anything free because I pay my fee every month and I was willing to pay my deductible. But for nobody or upper management to give me a call and say, "Hey, this is what's going on." I never had that. I had to call every single day in my break and I never got anybody, it was just voicemail. After the experience I had, I'd tell a friend to not go with them.

The problem I had with the appliance company was I was without a refrigerator for almost four weeks. It's a little bit ridiculous. I tried to call them after First American gave me the name of the company and their phone number and that they would be contacting me and set up a time. I had a doctor’s appointment so I kept trying to call them. But not once did I ever got to talk to the lady who owns the company. It goes straight to voicemail. I left a message saying, “I would love to talk to you. I’ve got doctor’s appointment so I need to know about what day you think you might be able to be here. Could you please return my call?” Every day I was making that same call to them. They never once returned my call and First American had to fax her to get a hold of her.

They finally got somebody out here to diagnose the problem. The guy said I needed a new compressor and a new filter. He called the lady because they got her personal cell phone number so they know now how to get a hold of her. So he talked to her and he came back in and said she was ordering the parts that day. And she would email or call me at the end of the day to let me know when the parts will be here and they can come out. But then I never heard from her. After about three days, I kept trying to call. She never would return my call.

On a Monday, her guy told me the parts would be in and the latest it would be should be Thursday. Two weeks later, it still wasn’t there. First American got a hold of her and she said they were waiting on one part and when it would get to them, then they would be scheduling. I was in the third week and that was the only time that I have ever talked to that lady. She said they have the parts and they'd be here. It was on a Wednesday and she said they would be here on a Saturday, between 10 and 2 to get our refrigerator working. I told her I had been waiting for three weeks and they were going to make me wait another week before they get somebody out here. And again, she said they would be here on Saturday, between 10 and 2, and she hung the phone up. I told First American about it and they asked if I would like to make a formal complaint and I said I would.

When the guy came out to fix the refrigerator, he carried all the parts in the house, put the refrigerator out and said the only problem I had was a hole in a specific pole. He cut it for about eight to ten inches long and said they just had to replace the line. He put the new line in, pulled the vacuum on it and serviced my refrigerator. He got me going and then he carried all the new parts back to his truck. I told him I would like to have a copy of the work order and he told me to let him go to his truck. So I looked after and he got on the phone in his truck. He came back in and said he didn't have the paperwork to leave me a copy of the work order, but Sarah, the owner, told him that she will send me a copy on email that day.

It has been over two weeks ago now, and I still haven’t got a copy of it. So I called First American and told them that the reason she doesn’t want me to have a copy of the work order is that she’s going to charge them for the compressor and coils. I wasn’t dissatisfied with First American at all but I felt like every day I was calling them on the refrigerator and they were not backing me up.

Overall we had to purchase a new furnace and our family went without heat for 7 days.

I asked the technician if I could buy the replacement then he could come and install it. That way, it would be a win win situation for all of us. The technician agreed but when I found a faucet that was similar to what I had and called to setup an appointment, First American told me that all I'd be getting would be the $40 cash out. I don’t understand that because the $40 wouldn't pay for the technicians to come and install the faucet I bought. So now, we're fighting over this and I don't know where we're going to end up. In the meantime, I made multiple calls to the plumbing company but they're not calling me back. I also made multiple calls to the insurance company and they said they were going to take care of it but they aren't. So, it's a non-stop hassle with First American and I have the long laundry list of problems like that. If you're a working person like me, you'd just waste hours and hours doing this and it's really exasperating.

Original Review: Feb. 13, 2018

The handle to turn my main hot water line is broken off. Called to confirm that it was covered before requesting the service. It's located in my garage so they said it was covered. When they arrived to fix it they said it isn't covered because there isn't a handle... Exactly what I told them when I called, the handle is broken off. I explained to the plumbers why I needed to turn it off because I had a shower drip. Instead of spending an hour sitting in their van talking to First American they could have shut off the valve outside and fixed the drip. I had to pay another service call for someone to fix the drip. Just called to cancel my account and they automatically signed me up for another year a couple of months ago. So now I would have to pay a penalty for canceling and still pay for the service fee that they didn't complete. Very dissatisfied with this experience, but will pay the service fee and cancel when my contract is up and go with another company.

The technicians would take a really long time for them to get in touch with us. Then they wouldn't show up, so they would reschedule. And when they come out, they would just do a little patch job to get it through for a little while and then it would go out again. I told First American not to send them again but they said, "You just get whoever who comes out." It was very frustrating.

Eventually, we got a reputable company to come out who said it was not up to code. First American Home Warranty then said that they couldn't help us and would deny the claim even though it was their technicians that they've sent out that made it not up to code. I would not recommend them. And I'd tell my friends that First American doesn't use quality contractors and doesn't do anything to make sure their contractors are accountable.

Our heating system has been a nightmare. Paying the deductible rather than paying for a contractor out of pocket to come out has been a lifesaver. And also with just everyday things like our appliances like dishwasher breaking and getting a brand-new dishwasher that’s just been a really big help. We also at one point had to get a brand-new condenser for our AC unit and they covered that as well which saved us quite a bit of money.

I submit the claim online and the website is very user-friendly. I’ve had no issues with it. Usually I’ll get a confirmation email within an hour submitting the claim. And then the contractors will reach out to me within 48 hours. The quality of work that’s been performed has been fantastic. I’ve actually recommended First American to quite a few people when they’ve bought home saying that it’s a really good insurance policy.

So he left and then I called AHS back and they said, "He just took off. He didn’t tell us anything." And I called the agency and they said, “Well, we’re going to go ahead. He didn’t have the part. We’re going to have to order it and hopefully tomorrow at 6 o’clock in the morning, we’ll fix it. Is that fine with you?” Then I said, “Yeah. That’s fine.” And he didn’t come until 6:30 and I have to get ready at work so I ended up taking a shower in the dark. I spent the whole day without electricity. The agency didn’t even apologize and the technician didn’t even clean after himself. He left all the stuff behind. But everything's fixed now and that was only the first bad experience. Other than that First American has been okay.

About two weeks later, i called again and the person I got was very pleasant. Other than that, the techs who came out were really good and I didn't have any problems with their work. First American was supposed to look on my dishwasher and my fridge, too. But no one has come to check the fridge and it has been two weeks now.

By the way, no mention about intermittent issue in the contract. Do I have a coverage on outlets and plugs? YES. Do these GFCIs work properly? NO. So why I have to spend hours communicating with their customer service? Then they start to justify that there was an overload: many appliances plug into the line. What? No one appliance was connected! As soon as you plug one dry hair the GFCI trips! So many excuses, incredible unprofessional service, technical incompetence. 75$ fee paid for nothing as the issue was already described into the service request. Do NOT waste your money as if you have a problem you risk to be alone. My policy will end at the end of FEB. I am just starting to find out an alternative.

So we've had this house since 2001. We've been here 17 years, our pool equipment has been outside in the same spot for 17 years, as is everybody else's in the neighborhood and probably everywhere and this was the first time I've ever heard of such nonsense in my entire life. This was the first call back that I've got from First American about the situation. So, I was not told in any way, shape or form, I should be looking for a second opinion. Especially if I go through one with the company and then I get hit for another $75 charge. We're currently shopping for a new company. This is not the first instance where this has happened. Also, it is almost impossible to actually get through to a representative because the whole times are exorbitant. I've resorted to using their website interface instead. The website gives you the opportunity to put in what were the relevant information and such. But at the end of the day, it's the end result that counts. Look elsewhere.

The particular rep that I interacted with last time, I had a little difficulty understanding the name of the company she was referring me to. I had to have her repeat it several times but I couldn't get the name. She was saying 'Zeus' and I thought she was saying 'Boss' or something like that. But she had given me their phone number. The technician that came out was very personable. He did what he needed to do.

Another agent we spoke with stated that they were still waiting to obtain some information from the contractor before they could replace the microwave. No progress had been made within a week. After calling another 2-3 times and speaking with other agents, our agent called back to state that she was ordering a new microwave and that we would receive it soon. We are hopeful that we will receive it soon, but feel that the customer service was poor and that it is unreasonable to expect a customer to have to wait nearly 2 months for a microwave to be repaired/replaced. This home warranty was a waste of money as we could have purchased a microwave with the money spent on the warranty. I would not recommend this company to anyone.

And then I called First American HB Protection back and the rep tried to find somebody and then dispatched another person. That was a total and complete disaster. The technician said that First American HB Protection told them that the water was running out of the evaporative cooler and had flooded the backyard. He didn't even call and he just showed up at the house. My parents were home and they called me so I called him and said, “Why didn’t you call?” and told him the water's off. I have no idea how they got that kind of dispatch because that was never even relayed to First American HB Protection. Then, he said he would come back but they didn’t come back and then I called him to reschedule. He said he had a flat tire and then he called because he had a flu. Then they never bothered calling back. But his comment to me in there was, “Do you really even want it? Do you even use it?”

They never got that issue resolved at all. I had feedback thing come on the internet about how our service was and I said, "Terrible." It got escalated and the lady said she would find somebody that would service pump coolers or evaporative coolers. She said she would email me the information by the end of the business day. She couldn’t find anybody and then they gave me permission to dispatch my own company to get a quote on fixing it. And I manage commercial and residential properties so I have a bank of contractors. They came out and I was just waiting for their estimate to send it in.

I submit my claims on the phone because there are contractors I do not want on my property. They are horrific, rude, and accusational. If I submit online, they continue to send those contractors. I filed complaints which said, "Do not send back," but they say I’ve never submitted that. But the claims reps I spoke to was very good. She called me after I submit the ‘Not at all satisfied’ because it wasn’t completed. She called to find out what was going on and she was apologetic.

They go for the lowes paid contractor but they need to screen their contractors more. We had a hot water tank issue before Christmas and that contractor was unbelievably verbally abusive. It was horrific. She told me hot water was luxury, I didn’t need it replaced for over a week, they didn’t have any in stock and the lies that just kept coming out of her were unbelievable. I was unbelievably irate with this woman and I was irate with the warranty company because they wouldn’t believe me. So, we had to get it escalated through the real estate company my husband works for. They called and said they were sending out a second opinion and these guys came out and arrived with the hot water tank and it was within less than two hours.

Also, to work with this company, you need to have knowledge of what you requested to repair on. Because with the pool company who came out, they told me I wasn’t maintaining the pool and I wasn’t looking after it but I have years of record of everything we had done and we had a pool company every week. But the guy sat there and flat out accused me of awful things and my dad came out. He told the guy he should not be on the business to come out and accuse customers and make false accusations. The same thing happened with another contractor who told me I will never ever maintained my pump cooler but they had done maintenance on it and I have the record for eight years. People get set up, they just don’t say anything and because it happens over and over again. I’m lucky I know a lot about the items that I’m getting them to service.

We also had an issue with our glass top stove and they dispatched a guy. He told me that was the way the elements were supposed to work and I said the elements didn't have to be turned on high. The elements aren’t going to work. My sister owns a bakery and she’s a chef. She has a plain stove and she does not have that problem and we were just starting to have that problem. He flat out told me there was nothing he could do and there was nothing wrong with it. I had to pay for that and I just got frustrated. Then, months later, I told another guy out and he told me everything that was wrong with it. And I told him what the repairman said and he said that that was not true. He could have fixed that. The second person who came out is the person I request when I call back.

The first contractor that comes out often is not a good one and the second one that comes out, because we’ve escalated it and complained, does an excellent job. For as long as we’ve been with them, they should know and not dispatch the people that I’ve said aren’t even allowed to set foot on my property. If I ran the company, they would have been fired a long time ago because I think having contractors like that is a deterrent to the business. It’s time-consuming to get an issue resolved. You need to be there to watch the contractor and make sure they’re doing what they’re supposed to be doing.

First American also increased their fee. It used to be 60 and not 75, but it's still decent for the stuff that they come out for. I've had A/C work done and paid only $75. Everything's good on that part. I've recommended First American but a lot of my friends are unaware of it. They didn't know that something like that existed for the home. I told them to look them up on the website.

When I submit a claim, they always get back to me within 24 hours. I've had good experiences with their reps and I've only had one that was not. It was because I couldn't understand the rep. I don't know where he is but, obviously, he was not in the United States. Other than that, it's been easy to call them and though I had to get on hold, the longest time I had to wait was 10 minutes. They would prefer that you do it online but I don't want to as I want to speak to a live human being.

Usually, the person that First American send to me would try to give me a four-hour window. But I work so I can't always do that. Their people have been nice to try to work with me and get here when I can be here or have someone here. I've had several plumbing issues and I've had two terrible plumbers that First American have sent out. Both of these companies came in and had mud on their shoes. One of them left my bathroom filthy and the other one had a hand print on the wall. He also extracted some hair from my tub and just threw it in the toilet instead of disposing of it properly. One company's guy broke something, too, and tried to say that that was what I called for. But it wasn't and First American's people could tell because they record the calls. I complained with First American and requested them not to send those companies to me again. So far, they've listened, sent me someone else, and the last company I used was good.

I had a recent repair done on my house when the tank of my water heater unfortunately went out two days before New Year’s. Up until last week we were taking a bath with boiled water on the stove so I was really irritated it took that long to get that fixed. The contractor was full of shenanigans. I called my rep and told her it needed to stop. She took care of it and got it done.

The plumber replaced that hot water heater for me and that was a $1,800 hot water heater. But the plumber said the unit has to have straps and they had to change out some piping and exhaust systems to meet the new codes. Modifications are not covered under the home warranty and I could either pay that contractor or hire my own. I wanted my water heater so I gave him the $470. But I knew perfectly well that there were no modifications required. My water heater was installed by Noritz themselves in 2005 and I knew everything was to code. It didn’t need straps either because it was bolted to the wall. The plumber was just trying to basically steal $470. I asked my rep to send me the list of modifications. But I also took pictures of the water heater before they moved it and after they put the new one in. No modifications whatsoever were done. So my rep is now out there collecting the $470 back off the contractor to give it back to me.

Two months ago one of my chlorinators went out and the contractor came out. I walked away for five minutes and when I came back, he said it was all working again. I asked what was wrong and he said it was just a loose wire. But last week, my chlorinator went out again. I opened up the panel to check if that loose wire is loose again but nothing was loose. What he had done was he pulled out the 20 amp fuse and he wrapped a piece of hairline wire around it to connect both posts and stuck it back in. The circuit board is not covered under the home warranty. Only the cell is and he was lucky he didn’t burn out my whole circuit board. He could have cost me a thousand-dollar repair out of my pocket. I’ve actually turned that fuse over to my rep to let them know that their contractor has got his head up his butt. That’s the quality of the people they’re hiring and I’m not happy about that but they're learning.

I had the same problem with their contractors for pools and my claim took three months to get fixed because their pool contractor is a plumber, not a pool contractor. They came out and replumbed a two-inch line instead of one and a half. That over-pressurized the system and blew out the filter tank and the back flow valves. I contacted my rep and they let me hire my own pool contractor. It cost them $1,100 for him to go back out and fix all the damage.

The only problem with home warranty companies is they shop and try to get the cheapest deal but they’re not getting the greatest contractors unfortunately. That pool contractor who fixed the issues used to do First American HB Protection work. That was how I met him and he was an excellent pool guy. This next guy came in and underbid him, and he lost his contract. But now First American is finding out who is going to cost them more money. They would probably go back to professional pool services because you can’t have a general plumber work on a pool. They don’t understand what all those valves do.

In the case of First American HB Protection, they pay their contractor $250 to come out and if he can determine that the issue is not covered under the home warranty, they would there 10 minutes and collect their $250 then they’re out of there. I don’t put in a claim unless it’s legitimate and if it’s not covered under the home warranty, I would understand but contractors try to find a way to say it’s not covered so they can get that $250 and be gone really quick. But they’re fighting me and I don’t back down.

The rep is the key person at First American HB Protection. If they didn’t have a good rep who would back up their policies and fight their company to get things done then they would have a major problem. I’ve heard that in other areas, the reps aren’t as good but we have a very good rep. I give him 15 home warranty plans a year through my sales. I’m a real estate broker and I've been doing this for 39 years. I use First American HB Protection for my personal home, my rentals and all my clients.

I tell people whether their home is brand new or tract-built, there would be issues with it. I sold a property a couple of years ago and the contractors never hooked the water line up to the kitchen. And when you’re buying a resale, you use appliances differently than the previous owner did and those could break tomorrow because of that. This happens quite often. I also tell all my sellers they need a home warranty because we’re liable and I don’t want them or me getting a call in the first 12 months. The clients are going to call me and they’re going to have me try to track my sellers down.

I’ve only paid for one home warranty in my life and that was in 1988 when they first came out. The seller wouldn’t pay for the warranty and the buyer wouldn’t pay for it. The buyer never lived in a cold area where it freezes and they went on a two-month vacation without winterizing the house. They were unaware they were on septic and the system froze in the attic and thawed for two weeks. The pump was running 24/7 for two weeks and it finally burned out. The house and all their personal belongings were destroyed. Back then, the home warranties didn’t have any limit and they got their house rebuilt for $35. That was the best $350 I ever spent. So when my clients say they don't want to pay for home warranty, I tell them that story. That’s the risk they would be taking and they always buy it.

Also, he messed up my toilet. I had an expensive toilet equipment inside, but he changed the pump with a cheap one. It wasn’t fitting into my toilet size and he just literally broke it off the pipe. It's not even sharp cut. I don't know what kind of equipment he used with it. After he was done, it made noise and when I cleaned them, my toilet has a crack. But he looked at the toilet and said, "It's okay. It won't leak because the crack is outside not the inside the toilet." After he left, the next day his office called me and asked me to either pay $100 to them and they will put a new toilet in for me, or I buy my own toilet and pay them $100, so they will put it in for me. I told them, "Let's forget about it." That was a bad experience for my plumbing.

I had another problem with an electrician. The exhaust fan in the bathroom was brand new. It's $15.99 in Home Depot. But my house is 20 years old, and it was never changed. The electrician came, removed it, took them to his place, and tried to fix it. It took him two weeks to fix it. Then he came back, put it in, and it didn’t work. I had to call several times to let my insurance agent know what's going on. After two to three weeks, they hired another electrical company. They bought brand new and put it in for me. So, those were my two bad experiences. Other than those, I was very happy. I used First American several other occasions. I liked my experience with them and it is valuable to have a warranty on our house.

First American Home Warranty will not replace your equipment with "like" equipment. They will shop it around and install the least expensive piece of equipment they can find. First American Home Warranty sent me a check for 50% of what it cost me to get a new a/c installed. They debited my account for over $7200 dollars during the 12 years I did business with them. I would have been better off putting $50 per month in the bank during those 12 years. I would have come out in much better shape. Review any company you plan to buy a Home Warranty with BEFORE you sign on the dotted line. Do not rely on your Real Estate Agent either, do your homework and research all warranty firms. I canceled my contract with First American Home Warranty after this experience.

They were very helpful especially when called in recently because my washing machine stopped. My husband has Alzheimer’s and I take care of him and we need the washer every day to do the bedding. I explained that to the gentleman who I was talking to and he gave me this one company. I waited for an hour and then called them back because I always do that so I can hopefully set something up quickly. They said they hadn’t gotten the order yet and so I called First American HB back. The guy said they were going to see what was going on and he said it’d take a few minutes. He called them back and said that they couldn’t come until the following Thursday. I told him we couldn’t afford to wait and he found me somebody who can come sooner which was wonderful. It’s such a big help so I’m very pleased.

Also, I've never had any problems with the technicians and they seem to know what they were doing. I had just one guy who was maybe a new plumber and kind of new in the business. He didn’t quite know what to look for and I was not satisfied with him. I called the company back and they sent somebody else out and he discovered right away what the problem was and got someone do the fix-up. Other than that, they’ve all been good and it’s very easy for me because they just take the payment out of my account. They helped me tremendously and I have saved a lot of money on things that go wrong. I have never heard them say they can't do something and I'd recommend them to anybody who might need their kind of service.

Agent arrived at 4 PM and assessed the situation. He decided that the proper equipment -to clear drain- would be Hydro-Jet and he stated that he would have someone out by Saturday with proper Equipment. I waited but no response from contractor. FAHW was called and I was informed to contact the contractor. Called Contractor and was told they needed a new work order. Thus, I called FAWH and reported about new work order. They responded that they had issued one and the Contractor had two days to respond. I am still waiting to hear from a contractor. Please respond ASAP. How much longer should I have to be without the use of a kitchen sink?

I spent over 3 hours on the phone with First American. Over 14 days later I have no water heater. Both plumbers they sent out were not honest. I asked First American for a check so I can have my own plumber do the work. They said they will give me $450 which won't cover the cost of a water heater. I still don't have a water heater for 18 days. This company is the worst!

We also had a plumbing drain issue. Because the shower could not drain the way it was constructed, the fitting sampler was fairly tight. The technician that was sent out to do it couldn't unclog the drain without going underneath the house. It'd a big waste of money if they were not going to clear the drains because of the thickness. I also wish the delivery time would be better.

My last claim, the people they sent out the last couple of times out for my pool has been the same company, Backyard Pools, and they're really good. I would recommend that company to other people if they didn't have First American. They have done good except a couple of times. They sent me a plumber and I didn't like him. I had a leak with the water heater last summer, and the plumber they sent out said "We could fix the leak if it was in the wall, but we don't move water heaters". I went like, "What the heck!? You guys are plumbers right?" and he said "Yeah", but they wouldn't move the water heater to get to the leak. That's the only problem I had with them. All the other companies I dealt with have been pretty good, but I looked up this plumbing company and they have a half- star rating. I told those people to leave and I end up calling my own plumber and paying for it myself.

Years ago, I had trouble with my air conditioning, and they sent out technicians. The only thing I really don't like is that they came out here just to fix the problem right then, even though the problem is bigger. It took me about four or five years for a guy to come out and say, "This whole thing needs to be replaced" on my air conditioning heater. First American approved it and they changed it out, but I just don't see why they didn't do that in the very first place. I guess they have to go through their steps too. I have a daughter who is going to be looking for a home pretty soon, and I would recommend First American. My daughter had a company in a different state and that company didn't seem to want to help her out.

The interactions with the claims reps have been in a professional manner, but there have been mixed feelings about submitting a claim. There have been a couple of things which seem to be complicated. There's something short of communication in what needs to be fixed or understanding what the problem is. It could be because I'm Australian and I'm talking to somebody who doesn’t understand what I'm talking about.

There was an electrical problem on my well pump, but they wanted to send a plumber out. And, I said, "I don't need a plumber. I need a well person, someone that will work with electrical as well as the well. It's not a plumbing problem." So, I went for a day or so waiting for a plumber to come, and then I finally rang a well person myself. But because the warranty didn't deal with people who are local to me, I had to wait for them to get someone from miles away to visit me. In the end, they sent that guy to me. We could have gotten the job done quicker by ringing the person myself and getting him to come to do the job.

There was one time a plumber came out, and it was the same story. They sent a plumber instead of sending the septic people. At that point, the plumber just said, "No, you need a septic guy," so First American had to send out two contractors instead of just one. The negative thing about that is that contractor went on and had to do some extra work that needed to be done. The warranty wasn’t going to pay for that and when I got the bill, it was more than what they quoted. Having this insurance has saved me money and probably not.

A few of those negative things made me think about looking at some other companies to see how they're run. There were a couple of times I got a bit annoyed with what was going on. My family had to shower and go to the bathroom with a bucket in the backyard because when the well didn't work, we couldn't use water. We couldn't flush the toilet, we couldn't have a shower, we couldn't do anything. We were lucky we had a rent house that was open at that time. We could shower there. But it took a long time for that well and septic person to get to their job.

Other people that have come to do the job have all been knowledgeable and have done the work to satisfactory requirements. First American could get a few more contractors on board so they could have more of reliability for them to get somebody to the job. I had to wait for a few days for Sears to come and fix the fridge. But when they got there, they couldn’t fix the fridge. First American had to get someone else, and he turned up the next day.

I’m also a little disappointed right now. They couldn’t find the dishwasher to fit on my counters with my previous claim. I would have had to do some arrangements for my counters before they can put anything there but I didn’t have the money to do those repairs. They gave the option to cash-out and there was nothing I could do so I did that. But then I also wanted to upgrade the coverage and they told me I could until the end of the year. When I opened that this year with them they told me I could pay the whole year and save a little bit of money. If I decide to cancel the coverage, they would give me the months that I didn’t use and I could cancel it. When I wanted to cancel, they asked me why and told me that they needed the cancellation on writing. I did that and they said they received it. I spoke with Joseph and he said I would receive my check for the difference in 7 to 10 days.

That was more than a month ago so I called to see what was going on and they said they couldn’t cancel it because I did a cash-out. They didn’t even tell me that in the beginning. But what I’m mad about is that they didn’t call or email me. They didn’t get back to me to say they were not going to do this. They waited a month until I called back and it takes them forever on the phone. They wasted my time. Putting a claim in is easy but when you call to find out about existing claims or things like that, you always stay on the phone for more than an hour. It’s been very frustrating that I’m thinking of cancelling the other insurance that I have with them for my other house too.

The next thing I had to have done was my oven as it was not keeping the right temperature. I called First American and then they sent somebody out. He started taking pictures and said he had to order a part and that I should think about replacing the oven. I said there was nothing wrong with it other than it was not keeping temperature, which just started recently. He came back two days later with a tiny, little piece that he screwed in. Then he said it was all fixed.

At the beginning when I had First American, it was a $60 service fee. Strangely enough, once my year was up in August, it went to $75. I asked the rep and she said they had to hire a lot of people. That shouldn’t be my problem. The other company did the exact same thing. The first year, they got me in a fixed $60, and then the second year was $75. They’re all in cahoots with each other.

Last August, I went to the Premier package. I have a hot tub in the back and the motor went, and I called First American up. I asked if they would replace the motor, and they answered that I didn’t take the pool/sauna package, which again I didn't know about. So, whoever’s going to get these home warranties better ask what the packages are so that they’re not surprised later on when something goes.

First American Home Warranty refused to give me a invoice with the uncovered charges. I asked to speak with a supervisor and never got a phone call. We then found out that because the AC unit was "not broken" just not working because the heater was broken it would not be covered for replacement. So we would have to replace the AC unit if they replaced our heater. We have been without heat for almost two months now and they refuse to budge on sending us a contract as well as a invoice for the uncovered costs.

They have called and emailed daily to ask us to cash out, which we obviously did not want to do. The original contractor quoted 10-13k in uncovered costs and First American Home Warranty is trying to cut a check for 660 because they get everything at cost. I wish I never picked this home warranty company. They do not care about their customers and are unprofessional in every way. STAY AWAY.

First, they tried to fix something and it wasn’t the issue and then they came back another week after and then finally another week. So, it took four weeks to fix whatever the problem was and it went to malfunction to non-function to no pump at all and then they replaced it at the end, but I had to pay a high-rate bill and then had my water clean all. And I wasn’t happy that every time that they didn’t fix something, they had to give me a new schedule based on their availability, but it wasn’t my fault. And we are non-priority. I even called First American and I wanted to be with another provider and they said it will backtrack everything because they would give it to somebody new. First American also increased the monthly prices and the service fee. But I will still recommend them. And hopefully, they don’t call the same people that we complained about.

They are good about getting someone lined up and sometimes they’re not good at all. You just never quite know what will happen. This last the contractor was just rude. I haven’t had an opportunity to call and talk to the warranty company about him. It has been a few weeks and then I had one particular pool company that was just unresponsive. But for the most part they’ve been decent. I’ve gotten my money’s worth out of the deal so I went ahead and renewed.

The only trouble I ever had was with the company that they sent to fix my washing machine. It was a very long process, which I found very frustrating. First, they came to look at it. Then, they said they needed to order a part. And then, time went by until the part came. But when they put the part in, it didn't work. It took a couple of months before I ended up with a new washing machine. Maybe the process that they have to go through lengthens the ability to get the job done. Nevertheless, First American replaced my washing machine at the cost when I bought it, which was $1000. And when they sent me a check for a new washing machine, I bought a washing machine that cost only $600 or $700. I actually saved some money. I had this one issue, but I felt the issue was more with the company that they chose to work with that took its time delivering a part.

So far, everybody's been cool. That was the one experience that wasn't good. And although I don't have very many things that are gone wrong at my other two houses, I continue to pay for it because of the peace of mind. Recently, their contract in one of my houses went out and I had decided not to renew to save a bit of money. They were called me and they tried to get me to renew but I told them no and they weren't very pushy about it. They did follow up for a while and when my other contract came up for renewal, I decided to try to re-up the house that had fallen out of contract and they agreed to do that. In fact, because I had three houses, there was a small discount. But they didn't give me any grief about adding the house that was falling out. The company itself has been great. There may be better companies but I personally haven't had a bad experience with them. So, I would certainly recommend them.

First American decided that was the breaking point and contacted their legal department who motivated Direct Connect Plumbing to patch the tub. The tub however still has the original issue of leaking. So I was assigned a claims evaluation rep by the name of Carlotta ** to handle the issue. I attempted to contact her several times to schedule a fix for the tub, but alas she does not answer her phone or return voicemails.

I was luck enough to get a hold of one of her supervisors who is a personal friend of hers in November 2017. That supervisor told me Carlotta is aware that I have been calling and will call me back since she is busy with another customer. 2 months pass by and I call Carlotta every day, but she does not answer, nor does she return my daily voicemails. The company says she is the only rep that can handle the issue since it went through the legal department. I called again today and spoke with a Brandon **, another supervisor who told me Carlotta was in yesterday and he does not know why she is not answering. So basically this company took my $75.00 and didn't fix anything at all. Apparently there is no oversight on employees and I have to file a civil lawsuit for them breaching their own contract all because they cannot manage an employee. Very unprofessional.

A couple of my appliances have gone out. Normally they come and fix the problem. I don't have to be calling them back and forth except for this refrigerator. I have had three appliance people come and look at my refrigerator and the first one came out twice but just looked. With this last call I was kind of disappointed because it seems like they all just came and looked. They didn't even look at the motor. They just touched it and they said, "Well, it's cooling." But it was not enough to put the food in there and the ice was melting. They just told me, "You need to clean it at the bottom, the top and this." My refrigerator is still not working.

I have had to pay the $25 call because I have let it go longer than 30 days to come back and complain. So it has to be a new call. I have had to call three times, they give you 30 days. If you call within the 30 days they don't charge you again. The second contractor did order a part. But then the refrigerator started failing again. Other warranties do help you. If they cannot fix it they give you money so you can go ahead and purchase a new appliance.

But that company put a band-aid on the problem and they didn't submit paperwork back to First American. They also didn't submit the payment when I already paid the $75 one time payment. So First American sent me to collection because they hadn't received their $75. But I got it all straightened out because I still had the work order. I sent First American a picture of that, then they had to check it, and eventually, they rectified that problem.

For my second claim, I went to their website and put in my information. Within 15-20 minutes, the company that was going to handle the work called me. They gave me a window between 10 and 12, and the tech was there at 10 o'clock. He was a nice fella and his job was done at probably 10:35-10:40. His work was good quality, too. So on this particular event, my problem was fixed was very quickly and it was hassle-free.

I called First American and said I wished somebody would've told me that that wasn't covered before the gentleman came out because I paid $75 and my faucet was still dripping. I had to hire a plumber to come and do it, so that wasn't fun. They said they would put in my request and see if I could get a refund, which I think I'm due one because they didn't tell me it wasn't covered and I told them exactly what was wrong. I'll be happy if they refund me, and if they don't, it'll be the last time I use them.

I called in the claim for the faucets, though it would probably be easier in the future to do it online. I'm usually not the best online person, but I went on First American's website and it looked simple and self-explanatory. I had put in another claim before I left because my garage door wasn't opening, but I had to leave and they couldn't send somebody out for four to five days and I would be gone. I went online and set it up and that was real easy.

The last one they actually came out a lot quicker than expected. We had a plumbing issue and I was able to get the name of the actual company that was going to be contracted to come out so I contacted them directly. And they were able to send somebody out within a couple of hours. So that was greatly appreciated. Then they were able to clear up the situation within less than an hour and were on their way.

For instance, the dishwasher went off and there was no one in the area who could repair it. We tried everything. They said, "You need to call on and see if you can find anybody." We go round and round and round and they were looking and looking. And this was at our home in Houston and I'm not in Houston I'm in Florida. We're only there a couple of weeks at that time. This thing that could absorb the entire two weeks and we never got the thing fixed. We worked back for a month, we started again and they said, "Oh, well this has to be a new claim. It's more than 30 days." So it starts with the whole rhythm all over again. I kept demanding, which was not easy. They will not escalate to someone who actually has decision making power. They were trying to give me the same five steps we have already done.

Finally I found someone who could actually make a decision and we ended up getting the dishwasher replaced because there was no one who would even come to look at it. It was the same exact problem when our sink stopped up in the kitchen. Roto-Rooter came out. It was great until they were ready to leave. The sink stopped up again so I called them. Some neighbors came over and walked them through it. They said they had it all fine. Next time we were back we have three, four days and it stopped up again. And they said, "It's been more than 30 days."

During summer when we have problems with the air conditioning or the refrigerator, sometimes, it can be really slow, but hopefully they’re working on that. We’ve had to wait weeks for them to come do our refrigerator, and then another week to get the parts out of the refrigerator, for two weeks at one point, so that was really hard. But they haven’t been slow on these recent claims.

Also, all the technicians we've had come out have been great. They have been very polite, knowledgeable, and understanding as well. If they need clarification, they ask for it or they ask to make sure that they fully understand the problem so that they can have it resolved in the first go. We had one come out who fixed one thing but in the process found another issue and they fixed that right there on the spot with no problem. I’ve actually recommended them to several friends of mine who bought homes recently. I told them what we paid a month for our house, that they've saved us a ton of money from having to replace or fix things, and that they’ve been timely, get out to our house and detect issues quickly. Overall, it’s just been great.

It also wound up causing $4500 worth of damage to my house at the end of the day because I had a water leak. I had to go through my home insurance company, and I'm not looking forward to an increase in my insurance premium now. Had Sears fixed the problem or if the insurance company had just let me get a new refrigerator, I would have avoided that. Other than that, I've had very good service from First American. When I worked through their phone system, I find that a little frustrating because I have to keep repeating myself. But when I get a hold of a person, all the agents I've spoken to have been very helpful, with the exception of my refrigerator issue.

I've had a couple of experiences with First American where I waited a lengthy time, but I chalk that up to my being a little impatient. One time I wound up abandoning the call, and another time was more than 20 minutes. And another time, they kept routing me to nowhere and disconnecting me. Someone routed me to some corporate office and when I called back, the lady that answered the phone wound up yelling at me, so I wound up losing my cool. At that point, I was trying to talk about cashing out, but I wound up abandoning that thought and dealt more and more with Sears. Before purchasing a policy, people should understand what is, what isn't covered and to what value so that they can make better decisions about when to opt out of something.

I would recommend First American. I’m glad that I re-upped with them because living in an older place, I plan on probably using these guys pretty soon for snaking pipes and things like that. They seem to be quick on responding and wanting to get my problem resolved. Also, if they say they’re going to call back, they will. I’ve only had to call them a couple of times. It’s a good comfort to know that the service is available should I have any other issues covered under my warranty.

Aside from that, the technicians who came out have been great and everyone has been super friendly and professional. They answered any questions that we had and they gave us ideas on how to prevent further issues. If they could see something that might happen, they'd tell us what to do to prevent that from happening. So, it's been amazing. The work they've done were of excellent quality, too. So far, everything's been done in a timely manner and I haven't had any issues with First American. Having them has also been convenient for us. Being a military family, my husband's not always here, so it's super helpful for me to be able to go online and not have to deal with anything.

The process of submitting a claim is simple. You just go online and enter what you're having a problem with. And then they assign it to someone. Then those people call me and schedule a time to come take care of it. The technicians come and they knew exactly what they're doing. The stuff they fixed still works. If you don't have a lot of older appliances it may not be worth it because you're going to spend over $600 a year paying for it. I've got probably $1800 invested and I doubt that I've spent $1800 in stuff. But I had a hot water heater go out this year so I caught up.

One of the reasons that we use First American Home Warranty is because we keep paying the monthly fees for the big-ticket items that we feel like going to be replaced such as our hot water heater and things like that. So even for $75 a claim I could just call a plumber and have them come up with the same price, but we keep it up for the day the dishwasher goes or the day the hot water heater goes. And they always offer us to replace the base model, and if we want to get a higher model, we just pay for the extra, which is a nice option.

Having a First American Home Warranty is really good for peace of mind for those big-ticket items. Although I did have one negative thing that they did do. We told them we had a freezer in the garage and we added the extra freezer in the garage claim to it. And when our freezer crapped out, they refused to do anything about it because the damage to the freezer didn't fit in the very tight parameters of things they would do to fix our freezer. Had it been just like, "Sorry, it's not included", that would have been a different story. But because we went and added it and we were paying for it, it was frustrating.

First American switched plumbers this year. And I got a feeling that the technician who came out recently likes to take advantage if you’re not very knowledgeable about the situation. I also found that out by talking to another plumber that he overcharges if he does the work on a Saturday.

They came in last week and apologized. However, I didn't want the three guys that came back at my house. One guy dropped the valve and said that somebody else was going to get the screw. I told them I’d pay them for it. They wanted me to pay 30 dollars for a small screw but they didn’t give me a receipt and said that they don't give one. Then the other people came and they called some more people to come out to put the dishwasher in. They didn’t even need any screws. So, I had to call First American to tell them to send somebody else. They were really respectful and nice about it. If they have something fixed and got messed up the following week, they still come out and I don't have to pay for it. Overall they’ve been okay and I’d recommend First American.

Second issue, ever since I moved in my fridge was leaking water within the fridge and it would just collect at the bottom. I kept having to soak it up with a towel every week or so. I finally got fed up and called First American. I unplugged the refrigerator in preparation for the technician's arrive. The first thing the technician looked at was the coils, and said per my contract he can't work on the unit until he cleans the coils and Home Warranty doesn't cover that. I ended up plugging the refrigerator back in so my food didn't go bad. Well, while it was unplugged, some ice that was covering the drain hole melted. That is what fixed the draining issue. But, I had to pay $75 for the guy to walk in my house and turn around and walk back out.

The final issue that broke the camel's back was my heater. My boyfriend had bought me a wifi thermostat for Christmas and turned the power off to install it. When we turned the power back on, we noticed the air blowing out on heat mode was cold air. I called First American and the contractor set up an appointment. The contractor never arrived for the appointment, and I contacted First American and they advised me it would be better to just wait to hear from the contractor than find me a new one.

Meanwhile, it was 48 degrees in my house. I finally got ahold of the contractor the next day, they wouldn't come that day because it was raining. They finally showed up the next day. The contractor reported that my gas valve was bad on my unit. Well, First American found a way to not cover that, due to a sediment trap not being installed on the unit. I have never heard of a sediment trap before, and how would anyone know when they sign up for coverage if their unit has a sediment trap or not.

The customer service agents on the phone in almost every instance was rude and snarky. I understand dealing with upset customers can be difficult, but they had no sense of empathy whatsoever. I cancelled my coverage with First American Home Warranty immediately after I was told my gas valve on my heater wouldn't be covered. What you pay in a year isn't worth the coverage when First American Home Warranty will find a way out of covering anything of value.

Last week, I submitted a claim for the third time for my garage door. The contractor called me that night and was right on top of it. The plumbers that I’ve had were spot on as well. On the other hand, the AC contractor always takes about a day to call. I’ve dealt with him enough now to know that if I don’t hear from someone the next day, I’m calling them. They have some good techs and some that are not so strong. Doing the math, if I have two or three things go wrong with the house a year, I'd end up saving money. But the longer I stay with them, the more expensive it becomes ‘cause each year they go up on service fees and monthly payments. I’m probably going to let it go after this year because they’re up to 75 bucks now and after a while, I'm going to end up on the wrong side.

The Hot Water heater makes a really loud boom; I called First American; they sent someone out and he said; the loud boom is not a safety issue (the manufacturer disagrees!!). When I called First American, they said; "we don't cover noise." I guess I need to wait to the gas water heater explodes? What a terrible company. In summary: 1/2 of the contractors they sent out were good; the other half were terrible and clearly don't care. I would cannot recommend First American. Note: When I decided to not renew; I got a pushy sales call from them; telling me how much value I got from my home warranty; and that "sometimes contractors have a bad day." They clearly don't understand the main issue; their contractors often don't care unless they can fix the problem immediately; they are not interested in doing a complete diagnostic, and thus waste your time and money; and time being more valuable than money in my case.

I called First American again, and was instructed to call a technician of my choice to come out and diagnose the furnace, and to get authorization from them prior to doing any repairs. My technician comes (keep in mind this is the HVAC company who we have a yearly maintenance contract with), he says that the safety switch should not have been disabled. The furnace was getting so hot, that the glass piece where you can see the furnace flames started to melt, in addition to the manufacturer labels on the furnace were starting to melt.

I called in to the First American Authorizations department as instructed, and put the service tech on speakerphone. He informed the rep that his recommendation was for our furnace to be replaced, and he provided the cost and serial and model number of our furnace, which is a Carrier. The First American rep told me that a decision would be made within the hour, this was at approximately 11:50 AM. Close of business, I still did not hear from FAHW, and I called in that the representative who I spoke with practically laughed out loud over the phone telling me that my claim would likely be denied.

I call in to FAHW today, and am told that they will be sending another company out for a second opinion. I look up this company on Yelp, and again, approximately 29 review with 28 of them being bad (Ecco Tec Home Services). And even though my claim was given "Emergency" priority, the soonest this company can come out is two days between 12-4.

It's all I can do to not have an anxiety attack of the pure incompetence of their service partner, and the fact that they have denied authorization for my furnace to be replaced. The unit is 15 years old, and it was diagnosed by a knowledgeable technician from a local, reputable company. I challenge anyone to look up these two companies on Yelp and read the reviews, and ask yourself why First American would do business with them. As a Realtor, I will never, ever, recommend First American Home Warranty to another client again. I am outraged at the service that I have received, and am thrilled to take my business elsewhere, and will gladly share my experience with anyone who asks. This has been a horrible experience, and I would not recommend any homeowner to trust First American Home Warranty to cover their home warranty needs.

But then I just had a service call a couple of days ago and that was fine. They came out within the next day. So my last experience was good but a couple before that were not. But the contractors were always professional and courteous. I have never had any bad interactions with the contractors. First American is a good service. But I would tell others to expect sometimes the service is not consistent.

They eventually figured out that they could get the parts, it was something that off the cost. Like, new water heater versus that part, if it was worth it or not. So, they figured out that they could just do the part. And it has been fine ever since. But recently my pipe got stuck up. And they send somebody out like first thing in the morning. And it has gotten really cold here and so the pipes, like the grease and stuff had frozen or whatever. So, they just came and flushed the pipes, or whatever they do, the snake thing, and it was fine. My real estate agent just gave me the paperwork and we put it as an agreement when I bought the house that the sellers paid for a year of it. So, I mean, I just set it up in my name but I never had to talk to anybody.

The online claim system was very easy to use. I did do a claim because my garbage disposal was not working. Normally, I YouTube everything to see if I can fix it or what is going on. And apparently, on the bottom of the garbage disposal, there’s like a little screw thing, and there’s this little wrench that you can buy at Lowe’s or Home Depot. And if your garbage disposals like the blades aren’t moving, but you can hear the motor. You have to go get this little screw thing, and like get the wrench, and like jiggle the bottom of that little screw. And basically, it makes the blades not caught up anymore or whatever it is. So, the only thing that’s frustrated me and I don’t think this is even the warranty company, but when the plumbing company talked to me, I told them what the problem was. They sent somebody out. It’s a $75 fee to have somebody come out and I could have easily fixed that myself.

When they finally got a replacement for my stove, they sent somebody out and he didn’t know how to do his job. He took the stove back and they didn’t release it to me again, so they had to cash me out for the stove. The stove thing was a total fiasco, but other than that people have been very helpful. I've had mostly good subcontractors, too. Usually they know what they're talking about and I'm satisfied with their work. I would recommend having a home warranty and I'm glad I have First American.

I called the company to tell them I haven't heard from contractor, they then told me I had an appointment for Saturday between 9am and 1pm. I informed them this contractor never called me to set up this time, I work on the weekend. They told me they would contact the contractor and let him know I would not be there and to reschedule. I then messaged the company online notifying them of the situation in writing from my portal account. The contractor never called or messaged me to reschedule, I got another service to fix my heater. This is the second year I have paid for this company and this was my first claim, and it was ignored. I highly recommend using another company due to the inept people they work with to service their claims.

When I submitted the claim they gave me a claim number, and the process seemed to go okay. However, I'm very questioning the service level of the people that they sent. I'm not sure if they have the top quality people and then I won't get any hassle with this furnace. I’m very leery of the whole process, and it’s coming up a renewal pretty soon because Dana bought the house. The interaction on the phone has been good though. It takes a while to get to a person, but then when you get to them they are pretty helpful.

If I have problems, I can also give feedback. There was only one service company that I didn’t like mainly because I'm asking this guy questions and I was getting no responses. He seemed to be a little bit offended too, so the next time I had a problem I told First American that I didn’t want that company back because I felt like he didn’t give me the feedback that I was looking for. He just said I need to have somebody to come back out.

The only thing I would say when they swap out a stuff, just make sure it's compatible with what you're replacing. I had one incident when they swapped out my cooktop and the tech swapped out the cooktop with a different model. I had a hard time getting them to replace that model because I accepted it. What was wrong is I have a glass top and the glass top he’s replaced it with, the size of it was just a little bit smaller so it would not fit my big pot. There was no way for me to know that until I set that big pot back on that eye and that’s when I noticed that it was slightly different than the one that he replaced. It took me a while but one of the managers got on board on what I was saying, escalated a few times and they replaced it again with the same model.

I would still refer First American to anybody that I know. I've heard some horror stories from other people about other services like they won't replace things. I've had to have three items replaced. Aside from the cooktop, I had to have the dishwasher replaced, and in 17 years and they did it with no issues. In all the years everybody has been pretty professional. They put on the booties when they come in, let me know what they're fixing, and what the problem is. If there's any additional fees for me like sometimes when the air conditioning unit break down if it's stuff like Freon or maintenance type stuff, I may have to cover that cost so they’ll let you know ahead of time. As soon as they know what it is, they’ll let you know what that cost is and if I want to accrue that cost and pay for the finishing services, so I've never had any major surprises.

However, they should improve on the contractors that they have, especially with The Honest Plumber and Hero Plumbing. I don't want them on my property again. They're not honest. They would do a very poor quality of work that has to be redone. And of course, that's an inconvenience to me. So, once they sent me the Alpha Omega Plumbing, I told them, "Don't send me anybody at all" because Alpha Omega has to come in and do rework for those other plumbing companies. They should really make Alpha Omega their primary plumbing company to use. They're really good.

In the last two claims I've done, it took them a long time to get me a new appliance. Both times, both of my appliances were irreparable and they just took so long because their staff was going and forth with the appliance people. And then, they bluntly were telling me, "There's no way we can fix this because it's going to cost twice if we fix it." But that was the only bad thing about it. Once they have assigned my claim to a resolutionist and get it done, it's great.

Also, we have filed multiple claims because we have some rentals units and my clients have had a lot of difficulty with them as well. There are a lot of little loopholes that they put in the fine print, so it's not a full protection policy. It's extremely frustrating. Even though this is a trend with all the home warranty companies, they need to cover more issues as far as covering the whole item versus little parts on the item. If they cover a ceiling fan, they should also cover the light fixture in it. The whole item should be covered and not only minimal items within the actual fixture. Give me worth the price.

The contractor was paid by me, the $75.00 fee. I was then told that I would need to pay an additional $75.00 fee and plug the dryer back up, if I wanted the contractor to conduct the repairs. The contractor could have told me that while he was at my home. First American is a joke and a bunch of scam artists. I recently cancelled my contract and will be switching vendors. I just thought EVERYONE should know about this company!!! I asked several times to speak with a supervisor, to no avail. I have since cancelled my contract and switched. Hopefully, Home Shield is better! It is extremely difficult to receive the service(s) paid for with these major companies.

I've been in business for years and when the owners of the property we manage ask us who we have good service with we're not going to say First American. With the people that we talked to on the phone it was just a repeated, “I'm sorry that you're experiencing this.” We don’t have time to listen to that. We don’t want to hear a memorized script and I have nothing but issues with their people.

They have to be more proactive in trying to take care of the situation rather than give us a script. They say they are going to call back and they don't. And then we have to be on hold for a day and a half. It's ridiculous. Every time I hear First American, I'm like, “Are you kidding me?” I want to say, “Why do you think we're not renewing?” We're still having this issue now.

The company continues to attempt to place the blame elsewhere or claim they are "waiting on information" or "following internal processes." Do NOT spend money on a company whose internal processes are to leave you without heat for weeks during the cold winter. Additionally, the customer service is absolutely terrible. They assigned a claims specialist who claimed to be my "contact" and has not answered her phone one time. They claim they are following internal processes and cannot do anything more. I have been unable to speak with anyone who has the authority to actually handle my claim. Do not waste your money or your time with this company.

I have one claim for the dishwasher that still has not been resolved. The contractors sent by First American shipped the parts and never sent anybody to install them. They've been here at least three times and it's still not fixed. The last claim was with the air conditioner and when the technician came out, he said the unit had to be cleaned before he would work on it. But First American had already charged me to clean it a year before, so that was above this charge. I had to hire someone else to come fix it.

There was another claim I have that I haven't paid the $75 charge because the man came out and did nothing. I shouldn’t have to pay if they're just going to come out and say there are bogus charges that they have to do first before they even repair anything. They should go ahead and look at the unit and see what's wrong with it. That happens every time with the same company, and I wish I didn't use that company anymore. I would not recommend First American's service to anyone. They need more help, and I wish somebody would do something about the issues.