American Home Shield [AHS]
Reviews and Complaints

For those of you considering this service do not, you will be sorry!

I signed up with american home shield (Herein also referred to as ahs) on 08/09/07 and my first payment was charged to my credit card on 08/15/07 as agreed, and every month thereafter on time every time, without fail.

On the evening of 04/09/08 our water heater began to leak from the top of the tank. By the morning of 04/10/08 it began also leaking from the bottom. This of course meant that we had to turn off all hot water to our home. I contacted ahs on 04/10/08 at 11:08am and they assigned a vendor (Ars rescue rooter) and I was contacted by ars rescue rooter within an hour and told they would have a technician come out between 1:00pm and 6:00pm the same day. The technician arrived at 2:15pm and I took him to our crawlspace to surmise the problem. Before even making it to the water heater he shook his head and blurted out code violations (Apparently the ars rescue rooter illicit m. O.). To my surprise because I had just purchased the home 2 years prior and we had the crawlspace area thoroughly inspected. He made a call to ahs for approval and I waited to hear about coverage information. I was contacted by ahs within about 30 minutes, approximately 2:55pm. The ahs rep. Told me that they would cover the water heater because the problem was due to normal wear but he said that he was informed by the vendor that there were code issues in relation to the water heater that would cost an additional $900.00 out of pocket. I spoke with the technician and he stated that he could not perform any work without doing all the work due to county laws and ars rescue rooter policy. I then asked the technician to provide me with a written copy of the estimate, to my shock he refused and stormed off (Right across our new sod, as a mention to his mindset in regard to respect for clientele).

The proper protocol ars rescue rooter (Herein also referred to as ars) should have followed as a professions is as follows; to resolved the water heater quandary; then the representative should have given me a detailed invoice (I was never given any detailed information in writing as requested) stating services performed by him/ars rescue rooter and listed any concerns he felt should be addressed. He then could have pulled a permit or I could have as the home owner and any alleged code violations found upon inspection are strictly the responsibility of the property owner, period. Certainly not a vendor hired to resolve an urgent situation issue by a home warranty company.in truth there were no code violations as confirmed by an authentic professional and an inspector. The only additional work possibly considered necessary, not under warranty by ahs, was the compression tank and that is only required if we upgrade the tank we currently had, not simply replace with a comparable item. By the way, the expansion tank is a $20.00 item retail if we had of requested a new one to be installed, and at no time did we request to have ars to remove our old unit.

A very long story shorter; I contacted ahs to inform them of the misconduct, attempted extortion and exploitation of a client in a vulnerable situation. I was informed by ahs that I could opt for the cash out option but I would have to wait. To add insult to injury ahs finally offered me a cash out offer of $165.00 to cover the cost of the water heater and the labor to repair it. I have since verified with the county and a legitimate plumber that the alleged code violation pointed out by the technician were in fact erroneous and I have had to have the problem repaired on my own at a total cost of $379.44 just for the water heater with labor, and this was at a substantially discounted price from a well known service provider. The lack of cooperation in resolving our issue from ahs is in direct violation of our agreement, resulting in our home having no hot water for four days due directly to the fact that we counted on ahs and as a direct result of providing a contractor (Ars rescue rooter) that practices illicit and unscrupulous business practices, preying on the vulnerable.

Please keep in mind that I am a ga state licensed master electrician and a ga state licensed residential real estate specialist. I deal with these types of situations daily with my clients as well as various trades and inspectors, including all local authorities. I have recommended american home shield many times in the past to clients because ahs paints such a convincing picture. American home shield - it seems like a good idea — prepaid home maintenance, basically a service contract or extended warranty on your house. The ahs booklet states, commitment to your total satisfaction, that is why we back every job we do with the unique money back guarantee shown on the back of your home warranty... Ahs guarantees that all approved covered service repairs will be completed to your satisfaction. If for any reason you are not satisfied with that service received, we will work with you until you are satisfied or we will refund the trade service fee. Unfortunately, I have found from many other consumers in researching ahs on the internet that too often ahs home warranty doesn't work out that way... And when it comes time to deliver; ahs does not even make an attempt at providing adequate, competent service to their clientele at a time of need. I am now doing as much damage control as I feasible can in regard to rescinding previous recommendations for american home shield I have made to my clients.

Bottom line, I have been in no way compensated for the four days we were forced to live with cold water only in our home due directly to negligence on the part of american home shield. Had I realized that we would be unable to count on american home shield I would have had a new water heater installed the same day as the problem occurred. I know several honest plumbing contractors due to my daily field activities.in addition, american home shield has fallen well short of proper compensation for our water heater quandary, even at a fundamental cost level, by any standard.

After I filed a complaint with the better business bureau ahs did send another check for an additional $150.00.

To sum up, service was never provided nor was adequate compensation; which is in direction violation of our agreement. This act by ahs and failure to react responsibly when required nullifies any and all agreements that may have been in effect prior to the morning of 04/10/08 leaving a full amount still due of $312.00.

This is the complaint I just sent to the bbb:

on 06/26/08 ahs sent out pipe down services to my home to repair my water heater and leaking faucet in my master bath tub. The service tech "Rick" looked at the water heater and the faucet and came back with a list of "extra" charges that ahs doesn't cover. He said as soon as I wrote him a check for $675.00 he could get started on the job. In 2000 I had the water heater replaced. I paid the tech the $35.00 house call fee and the water heater was replaced. Rick said I had to bring the water heater up to building code. I understood this and told him I would get back to him. After spending the afternoon doing some research I found that pipe down services was a little pricey on their extra charges. Even if I needed some of these extras, I found these parts and permits for $98.22. This was if I purchased the most expensive parts that Lowes and home depot had to offer. What I found most interesting was that by just looking at the master bath faucet, he determined that the valves had to be replaced. I guess Rick has x-ray vision.

While Rick was in my home, ahs called me to go over the extra charges. I told them I thought that the extra charges were over inflated. I was then referred to the buy out department and they said someone would get back to me in 24 hours. Several days later someone from the buy out department called me and offered me less than $250 to replace the cost of the heater. After checking at Lowes and home depot I knew the cost would be between $239 and $350 and this would not include parts and labour. I was told this was my only option. I then called your customer service department and asked for a different service company to come out to my house. I was refused. They said my only options were to pay $675 to pipe down services to do the work or take the money that the buy out department offered me. I then spoke to the customer service manager who would only tell me his name was “Ed T” and he said the same thing.

I do not want pipe down services in my home again. This man displayed his plumber’s crack proudly each time he bent over. While I was on the phone with ahs he stood by me reading sensitive papers on my desk. I will purchase the parts out of my own pocket to bring the water heater up to building code although I don’t believe half of them are necessary. After speaking with several plumbing companies, I was told that unless the leak was coming from the top of the tank, they would not have to be replaced. I also found out that unless the tech had looked behind the bathroom tile, there is no way he could have known that the valves had to be replaced. Please contact me immediately so that we may resolve this ongoing issue.

AHS was going to have to replace a blown A/C compressor at my house. The tech inspected it, agreed it had just failed under normal operation, and left.

An hour later, we get a call from a rude AHS rep telling us that the repair was denied due to a couple of dented fins on the compressor. This is a large unit with close to 40 square feet of heat exchanger. When the rep contradicted himself about the diagnoses a minute into the call, he cursed and hung up on us.

This company seems to make money on the idea that when something big breaks, you need it repaired. They'll string you along with "we'll get back to you tomorrow", until you get tired of having no heat in the winter, and your pipes burst, or no AC in the summer or your stove catches fire.

So you'll end up paying full retail for the repair and having to go through the aggravation of waiting - and you'll still have spent worthless money for their "coverage".

In December of 2007 I purchased a home in Henderson, Nevada, and paid an additional $600.00 for the home warranty by American Home Shield.

I purchased the so called "INSURANCE" because I was buying an older home. Upon going through the house, I noticed water damage: the roof had leaked during a recent rain, something I did not know was going to happen. I called the realtor I went through to buy the house, and asked about how to file a claim as I had not received anything from American Home Shield. She was shocked to learn they had not sent anything in line of policy information. So she contacted them to have them contact me. No one contacted me. Under my policy, the roof, the electrical, heating, air conditioner, water heater, all major appliances are covered as well as all plumbing issues are covered, or so I thought.

I never heard anything nor did I receive anything, as a result I shelled out $7500.00 to have the roof replaced, a roof that is covered under my policy. So I think all is well and I go to move a few things in and stay there over night. The outlet in the bathroom was hot.. Turns out the electrical/wiring needed to be redone. So once again I called to get the information on the policy, again nothing, so there goes $2500.00 out of my pocket to fix the electrical issues. All this was in January of 2008.

Then the locks jammed. A third call goes to try to get policy and contract information. Once again nothing, so that was yet more money, $700.00 to fix all the locks on house. THEN a plumbing issue came up, I FINALLY got a hold of someone from the American Home Shield. What happened was when I was doing a small load of laundry my mother went to use the bathroom and water backed up into the toilets, bath tubs, and in the laundry room, so I am telling the gal this, and I tell her, I am still in California, being unable to move into the home due to all of these issues and would not be in town until a few days later, and this is the beginning of May! I also inform her that at this time I had STILL not received any sort of policy related information. She sent the plumber out that day, and I received a nasty message on my voice mail from him asking why the ***
did I call for service if I had no plan to be present. I called back and tried to explain that the phone operator from American Home Shield knew that I was not there and I apologized for him being sent out like that. He snapped at me that he would have the receptionist call me back on Monday to schedule an appointment. The lady did call Monday, and was very rude, so I just scheduled for the Thursday coming up. I get to Henderson on Wednesday evening, and wake up early Thursday morning, even though the "TECHNICIAN" was not going to be there until noon. Noon rolls around, no show... so I call around 12:30 and they call the technician and he claims he called my cell phone to say he was running late but in truth, he never called because I used my cell phone to call them. SO I got mad and said why he didn’t leave a message, this is unprofessional on his part. So them I am told he is on his way and he will show in 5-10 minutes. 45 minutes go by, again nothing, so by this time I am furious and I call the plumbing company to cancel the appointment because my time may not be precious to them, but it is to me. So I am outside having a smoke when I call, and they claim the guy was at the end of the street when I called. SO I just blew up. I said really, my house IS at the end of the street and considering I was outdoors when I called and did not see him. I was basically called a liar by the company and they hung up on me.

So I called American Home Shield and basically told them that so far this policy has not paid for itself and that I refuse to deal with a company that treats their clients with so much disrespect. To this day, the middle of June, the plumbing issue has not been fixed, yet I am being charged a $50.00 service fee when their guy did not even show up! And I have been told that unless I PAY the fee, additional fees will be added. Here it is June, and I am just now moving into a home I purchased in December of 2007, and because of American Home Shields failure to provide policy information, I am out over $10, 000.00 on repairs that are covered under the policy I purchased. Look into your options, there are other companies out there that provide the same coverage's for sometimes less money and they are considerably more reliable.

Shaddy contractor was sent out, won't refund the full amount I paid for the warranty even though I cancelled before the 30 days citing incurring charges, won't refund the amount I had to pay for a window unit (had to buy a window unit cause my family and I was sitting in 90 degree heat in our house for 8 days) and won't refund the money I paid to my own independent contractor that fixed the problem in 3 hours versus their 16 days to make a decision on my claim. American Home Shield is a crock!

American Home Shield LIES. My AC compressor blew up on Sunday. The unit is 16 years old - my husband is disabled and undergoing radiation now - we live in Florida and it's hot and humid. They sent a man on Mon. - he had 48 hours to put in just a new motor - not a whole new compressor. We were dying of the heat - knew we needed a whole new complete unit - they refused. We had the serviceman come back and we had to pay the entire amount ($2600.00) - but he had us cool on Tuesday.

AHS is terrible - cancel them if you can.

This company should not exist. it is nothing but a fooling. For small things such as gas leak, which normally cost you 75 dollars a service call, they, you have to pay 50 dollars. for anything more then 100, they require second opinion, which normally concludes with' your problem was inporperly installed'. After you wasted a lot of time on first opinion, second opinion, you still have to pay for total cost yourself. Forget about you big appliance, your heating system or AC, they will not send you a cent cover your repair.

You will be a lot better off without this company. Talk to your neighbors or coworkers or anyone, do not get anywhere close to this company.

American Home Shield of Carroll, Iowa is clearly taking advantage of its customers and avoiding paying claims by having its service agents file false reports.

My AHS coverage came with the purchase of my home. About six months after moving in, the dishwasher stopped working. AHS sent a technician, who spent about five minutes reviewing the unit. He concluded that the initial installation was faulty -- that is, that the unit have been installed with the polarity reversed and without a ground. The result, he claimed, was that the control board had burned out, even though he never removed the top panel to inspect the control board. Moreover, because the unit was improperly installed the warrant coverage would be denied. He advised that it would cost about $300 to replace the control board.

After he left I decided to look over the dishwasher myself. I did remove the bottom and top panels. I found that the unit was properly grounded and I tested the polarity, which was similarly fine. However, when I inspected the control board I found that the adjacent "thermal cutoff" fuse was not functioning. I ordered a new fuse from an online distributor for $7.00. I arrived the next business day and I replaced it in five minutes. The dishwasher resumed functioning perfectly.

The report submitted by AHS's service agent was clearly fraudulent. The intention was to have AHS deny service and then have the service agent take the job of repairing the unit for $300 (and no doubt pocketing the new control board). I called the service agent's company to complain and they seemed genuinely upset by their employee's conduct. However, AHS took the position that their agent's report was their final work and that they would not refund my $55.00 service fee.

I strongly believe that what AHS and their service agents are doing is wrong and illegal. I have sent a demand letter to the AHS legal department and a copy to the California Dept. of Insurance. Avoid these guys at all costs!