Complaint Review: American Home Shield

We had a severe winter storm hit our area on 27 November. Our home has 2 heat pumps. One for upstairs and one for downstairs. Our downstairs heat pump stopped working and the auxillery and emergency heat kicked in. On 28 November, I sent a workorder request to American Home Shield explaining the problem. I received a prompt email response stating that DUTIL would come and look at the heat pumps.

The only source of heat we had was a fireplace. We had to get up all night long so to ensure the pipes would not freeze and a fire did not start from the fireplace.

On 29 November, I called DUTIL and was told this was no longer a good number. Due to where I work, I could not use a phone. When I got home, I called American Home Shield and relayed the problems we were encountering with DUTIL. I asked the representative when the service personnel were to call us bac. She relayed within 2-4 hours. The representative but me on hold and came back and told me that DUTIL no longer does this type of service.

I was then referred to Art Plumbing and Heating. Again another night of no sleep due to below freezing conditions and no heat. I called Art Plumbing and Heating on 30 Nov. The service person told me he relayed to American Home Shield the night before that they could not do it as their heating technician had the flu.

I called American Home Shield again and talked to a supervisor by the name of Missy. She said they could not find a technician and I asked what were we supposed to do. She said there was nothing we could do. Missy called back at 2:15 p.m. and said another company accepted our work order. I called this company and made arrangements for them to come to the home. They were to be here at 5:00 p.m. I had to leave work early to ensure that I was here. It now is 6:45 p.m. and no one has shown up.

We have 4 kids and have had little sleep. We have had to use the majority of our firewood to keep the downstairs somewhat warm so our pipes would not freeze and we would not freeze.

This is the 5th time that we have had the same problem with our heat pumps. Everytime, we run into the same problems with American Home Shield. The customer service is a lot to be desired, and Missy acted as if she did us a favor! I am frustrated on getting on the phone with American Home Shield over the same problem. The waiting time is 20-30 minutes each time and get the same run around.