AHS American Home Shield. Anyone ever have or use them?
Comments and thoughts please.
AHS American Home Shield. Anyone ever have or use them?
Comments and thoughts please.
AHS makes a first visit repair nearly impossible. From AC to water heater to anything that requires a part. Their process is 1. Assess and report 2.Order parts 3 Reschedule for repair.
When your AC is out for 3 weeks in July, waiting for AHS to ship a part that the installer can pick up same day from the local supply store, it will fuel your hate fire.
I had a water heater go TU a month ago. Water dripping into the wall. On a Saturday morning. AHS assigned the call to a company that didn't work weekends. The old cutoff was not able to shut down the water to the tank, so, I was forced to uninstall it and cap it to stop the water leaking. The AHS sub showed up Monday afternoon and AHS denied the claim because they "could not troubleshoot the uninstalled unit". I had to bring in my own plumber and pay out of pocket.
I eventually was made whole after reaching out to the president of the company that owns AHS. So, I got my money's worth out of the contract but paid with a lot of grief on top of the contract price.
I'm waiting for a check from them for a separate shit show. Once that clears the bank, I plan on canceling my contract and putting the monthly vig into a house repair savings account.
If you can find a company that allows their subs to source parts on their own, let me know. I like the convenience of making a call and having it handled. AHS was like that many years ago, but no longer.
"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." - Thomas Jefferson, Virginia Constitution, Draft 1, 1776
I have zero experience with home warranties however your experiences are exactly what I imagined having home warranty would be like. The providers are not in the business of repairing anything they are in the money collecting business.Originally Posted by RoyGBiv
My two home warranty experiences left me with the impression they are worthless.
Current house the dishwasher was DOA when we moved in. Warranty denied the claim saying had it worked once and died it would have been covered but since it had never worked it wasn't covered and we were on our own.
Previous house, the HVAC went out after a thunderstorm. Turned out to be a half tripped breaker when my guy checked it, but prior to that their guy checked it and rhey denied the claim for "improper maintenance" and other contrived excuses. We'd only been in the house a couple months and had no work done to the unit in that time. I explained the unit was as it was when we moved in and asked if they had inspected it's condition prior to warranting it as per the verbiage in the warranty contract and they hung up on me.
At least one of these companies was AHS but I can't recall which and its been at least 14 years.
Essentially a legal scam in the same way a roulette wheel is, but with worse odds.
The only "corporate" job I ever had was in IT/BPM (Business Process Management) for an extended warranty administration company. I got to see way more behind the curtain then I wanted to. The cost of underwriting (the expected cost of repairs) is well under 10% of the retail cost of a warranty, usually well under. Consumer electronics is the best bet for the company, worst for you.
When you pay for repairs, you are only paying for repairs. You may not get the same pricing, but you do have the flexibility of choosing your provider.
When you pay for a warranty, you are paying for:
underwriting costs (expected cost of repairs per actuarial data)
Underwriter's profit
Administration cost
Administrator's profit
Retail/marketing costs
Retail profit
Again, consumer electronics is the best bet. Figure if the underwriter thinks repairs will be $3 a unit they'll charge $5 a unit, the administrator charges $50, the retailer will charge you $99. That's why they push warranties so hard, it's pure profit for them and cost them nothing but the sales clerks' time. Same for kickbacks on financing.
Sorta around sometimes for some of your shitty mod needs.
Having been on the service end of dealing with warranty companies, I won’t have one. I was an appliance tech for GE and at the time they would not accept AHS warranties due to difficulty in getting reimbursed. I had to tell many customers over the years they had to pay us and then go to AHS for reimbursement.
I also had to have the “you can authorize this repair or you can explain to the homeowner why I’m packing up and leaving without repairing XYZ. Ball’s in your court.” conversation several times with the service reps too. I had fun with those calls.
Nothing so needs reforming as other people's habits - Mark Twain
Tact is the knack of making a point without making an enemy / Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Always looked at home warranties as a home sales aid for those who are looking for "peace of mind". Personally, I would not pay my money to get one. See stories above.
"Specialization is for insects." -Robert A. Heinlein
Definitely...
We moved to TX, bought a house and had zero references for trades. It was great to be able to call one number, get someone out to the house relatively quickly without having to flip pages in the phone book (remember those?). And back then the repair techs could source their own parts. On the phone arranging the visit, I could describe the problem, have some back and forth and the service tech had a decent chance of bringing the right part with them for a first-visit repair. I was happy to pay for that level of service. With zero chance of first-visit repair now, it's time to part ways.
Nextdoor has been a solid source for trades recommendations.
"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." - Thomas Jefferson, Virginia Constitution, Draft 1, 1776
I had to look at the author of this to make sure I did not write it. Our policy came with the 8 year old house we bought. The compressor in the AC unit failed 3 minutes later later July early August during a heat wave where we saw 100+ for 10 consecutive days. I’m exaggerating because a couple of those days were 99.
While the policy was included, we paid extra to upgrade to a higher sear AC unit if it failed.
After several excuses, the technician arrived on the 5 day, determined it was the compressor, and said he would turn it in to be ordered. AHS had to supply the part, a rebuilt compressor that was getting shipped from about as far as you couple across the country. I offered to go buy a brand new condenser unit out of my pocket, but they would not allow it. We were pretty strapped for $$ since we had not closed on the former house yet or I would have said F’ it and called a local company to replace it.
The upgrade policy was a joke as they were not going to condemn the unit regardless.
It was put 18 days. It was pretty rough.
When they called to renew…….
That's not been my experience with AHS at all. I've had them fix things on the first visit with parts off their truck or after running to a hardware store multiple times.
My biggest issue with them is the fact that the guy they have on contract in this area to do heat pump work never shows when he says he will, won't return phone calls, and constantly makes excuses. I've complained to AHS and they won't send anyone else. I'll be switching to a different home warranty company when my contract runs up simply because of that.
Reply With Quote