American Home Shield ripoff dishonest fraudulent service saying that my furnace heat exchanger has a crack in the 2nd cell Caroll Iowa
To all that may come across this message. One thing I have to say is that, please don't buy A home warranty through this company.
I have sign up on 3/06 thru 10/06 until I had to cancell this piece of junk. Oh American Home Shield say that its a good thing to have in case something was to break down down within your home and don't worry we got you covered with all parts and labor. But this lying Rip off company try to take me for a ride.
On 03/06 I sign up with this crap off the road company. I had to cancel this home warranty on 10/06 from March 2006 thru Sept 2006. This company was debiting $31.25 from my checking account.
I never had any problems within my home not until Oct 11th 2006. It was a bit cold here in the state of michigan so I try to turn on my thermoset i waited like 10 mintues and my furance didn't come on, so I decided to give American Home Shield a call.
On 10-11-06 I call this number 1-800-776-4663 and a young lady answer the phone and had ask me what seems to be the problem. I had explain to her and she had Schedule me with a service call on 10-12-2006, with this company call Home Service Corp. This jack legged company went down to my basement where the furnace was and he had a flash light and he was just the looking from the inside out of my furance. This technican works for American Home Shield and do most of all there outside work.
The technican for Home Service Corp works for the customer behalf by telling them that there furnace is not any good and that the heat exchanger is cracked and the furnace must be replaced. He will then write you up an estimate for a new furnace and then he will tell you that other charges will apply. For non Coverage items like a Chimmy Liner. Well this tech from Service Corp this Is Lying all about everything all he wants is between $500 to $1,500 dollars to put in his pocket while American Home Shield buys there customers dirt cheap non brand furances.
I have spoken to many Managers, supervisor about this problem and they told me that they buy the furnaces at a whole sell price. To recap of what I am saying is that, American Home Shield will replace your furnace and the cost for it is only $600 if you want a cash out. They call this other options. We all know that furnaces cost much more then that price range vary, between $1,500 to $7,000.
All this is a scam. Both sides are making and taking your money. You pay for the home warranty for the whole year or you can pay monthly. American Home Shield and you pay there technican an additional $500 to $7,000 for installing the new furnace. Please do not trust this company if you have a home warranty through American Home Shield please cancell it A.S.A.P
This isn't worth it. You will be wasting your time aruging with theses peoples. To recap what I am saying I hire two highly qualified skilled technican that deals with the furnace it self and this has cause out of pocket expenses for me in the amount of over $300. Both of the two skilled technican I had hired found nothing wrong with my furnace. So again to those who have this warranty get rid of them Please.
Stephen
detroit, Michigan
U.S.A.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Michelle
Memphis,Tennessee,
U.S.A.
AHS knows they have the upperhand
#3UPDATE EX-employee responds
Thu, November 09, 2006
I'm actually suprised they offered you $600....... They are not lying when they state they would only be out approx $600 for covered repairs. The reason why is as follows the actual equip (which AHS gets a/c, f*g & hwh's) they do buy wholesale at extremely discounted prices as AHS has homeowners all over the USA & believe it or not they do replace allot of units (even though they may deny more work overall) so they have a deal with Janitrol/Goodman for discounted prices on HVAC equip.
The labor is discounted as well if done by AHS approved AAA rated vendor/co because in most cases that co has a contract with AHS to guarantee them so many jobs & in exchange that co gives AHS a discount on actual labor for service call & install of new unit---which varies per co & state but is usually 250 or 300 unless by some chance you have a rare unit or live in a rural/small area where AHS doesn't have a supply of vendors.
The co's AHS send out are also trained to go by the "Limitations of Liability" section of your contract which gives various ways AHS gets out of covering repairs. The co's techs are normally well trained to catch & look for non-covered work because if a tech does work by mistake which should have been denied, then AHS most of the time won't pay that co. No-one at AHS will admit to it but most co's charge you more for non covered portions of the repair because the 250/300 labor AHS pays is low & noncovered items gives that co a chance to make up for price reduction they gave AHS by charging you more then they would charge a non AHS or COD customer.
I'm very sorry for your experience & it's sad to say there are numerous people out there in your situation. AHS doesn't treat their call center employees well either & no it's not an excuse for them to provide subpar service to you but I think it just trickles down that way. AHS has a high turnover rate because they don't appreciate their employees.
The reps aren't being trained properly---they are given to much info to learn in training & after training they throw the reps out on the floor in a cubicle & they just have to hope they're working by someone who's been there long enough to help. Which isn't all the time possible either, because AHS has certain guidelines they expect the reps to adhere to---such as a certain amount of calls a day, an average time for each call, you only get a small amount of time per call to put notes in the system or they'll fuss for taking to long & then if you don't have time to put in all notes they fuss about that also. The reps loose either way, it is a very stressful job.
There are some legit reps who want to help, but they either aren't trained properly how to process your request or don't have the authorization from management----then if by chance they can get some1 to help them both reps are fussed at for not being on phone taking calls. They've even sent supv to restrooms looking for people because they thought they were gone to long.
The contract itself is ok & can be of value, but only if the buyer fulling understands what is covered & not covered (and in most states the problem can't be pre-existing)..... A major problem is most real estate agents don't know what the contract covers & misrepresents it---I was told by my realtor (who didn't realize at the time I worked for AHS) that AHS covers all parts & labor---you just pay a s/f-----this is very misleading!!!
Even on AHS covered repairs the customers can be out of lots of money for upgrades etc. It's all in how you look at it because that $600 furnace AHS pays would probably end up costing you $1500 minimum (if no code upgrades etc) so you are saving, but that's only good if you get lucky and don't have to go through allot of frustration & hard times to get work done.
FYI----AHS also bought some of their service co's & let them be run by the previous/original owner.......wouldn't that appear to be a conflict of interest for the homeowners/customers.....I wonder how much drama that would cause if more homeowners knew this??? I wish you the best & maybe I've helped give a little insight (sorry so long).
Stephen
detroit,Michigan,
U.S.A.
American Home Shield Lawsuit Filing
#3Author of original report
Sat, October 14, 2006
to all that had any problems with american home shield' please get in contact with me so that this class action lawsuit can start' i have spoken to my attorney this past friday- the date was 10-13-2006' i will meet with them on Oct 16th at 2:00 pm est.so please feel free if you want in' to contact me at my toll free number 1-(888)246-0154 please ask for stephen, i will then speak to you at that time givin' i will then give you my fax number' so that you can fax over to me what American Home Shield done' i will in return supply all this information to my attorney so that lawsuit papers can be file on this company'
Thank You' this company will be shut down' if you want them out and the doors padlock get in touch; this is very important, so please act'