Complaint Review: AMERICAN HOME SHIELD

FYI AHS is very scared of CA laws, which could be to your advantage.......I've seen this happen before & it should not have been denied if the tech that came out was still able to observe the old hwh to determine if the leak was just due to old age or some wierd, unnatural accident or something. As long as your hwh was leaking due to normal wear & tear then AHS still should have covered the cost of new hot water heater & labor to install. There is a great chance you would have still had some non covered cost for upgrades necessary to meet any new city codes that came about since your last hwh was installed, but the hwh, servc call & labor for replacement should have been covered.

I knows it highly unlikely you still have the hwh or pictures of the hwh's actual leak (but believe it or not I've overturned some denials because that h/o had pics/proof so I could cover my butt with my manager). No guarantee everyone would do what I did as it's possible someone could take pics of someone else's hwh that's leaking (God only knows who would go through that much trouble, but again possible)------I'm only stating this bizzare situation as some of the reps there do deny every chance they get (due to their improper training & them wanting/needing to keep their repair and replacement costs down for the month---to not get in trouble) and would justify their denial with a lame excuse as above.

By chance was it ARS/Rescue Rooter that came out? The reason I ask is because AHS bought them & all they want to do is deny calls because most of those co's were set up where they would make the same amount of money from AHS on each call no matter what they did (ex: denials, repairs, replacements, go to home & cust not there----all the same money for ARS). I've even argued with some ARS co's because I wanted them to do the work for the customer as it should have been covered, but the tech wants to do a dumb, bizarre denial. So if it's ARS you may not get to far. If by chance you had a licensed co do the new install & they will provide you documentation stating the previous unit started leaking due to age, n/w/t---a AHS rep can accept that as proof if the want. If by chance the co who replaced it wrote down the model or serial #'s of your old hwh AHS can verify the age & possibly that would be to your benefit & further justify replacement being covered.

If it wasn't ARS, did the AHS tech look at your hwh when he came out? If so it's possible you could speak to the customer relations dept & have them verify with the tech that he saw hwh was leaking due to n/w/t. If tech will verify this then the AHS rep can 1)do a reimbursement to you for the grand total we would have paid that co to do the work minus the co's hourly service call, 2)reimb you for the cost your receipt proves you paid for hwh (due to your inconvience) + the amount AHS's tech charges in labor to do a normal install, or 3)If the AHS rep is really nice or in a good mood they can do a reimb for your total cost you paid for replacement minus any upgrades needed to bring hwh up to current city codes. It's basically up to whoever you get on the phone & what they feel comfortable doing under their manager.

The service rep is also part of the blame as well because they are supposed to suggest you check the water supply pipe to hwh to see if there is a shut-off valve to cut water off & stop water from going into the hwh itself.......& then there is also a drain valve on most hwh's that looks like a outside hose faucet, this can be opened to slowly drain the rest of the water by buckets or hooking up a water hose & since water supply pipe is shut off once drained no more damage should incur.

I'm so sorry it seems as if I've got carried away here & I'm going on & on, but I know this can/should be overturned. I'm hoping to have provided you with some help/insight to persuade (ha,ha) AHS to see things your way. Like I said don't forget AHS is extremely afraid of the CA lawmakers & being fined again----we had several meetings on CA contracts/special laws. Oh & by the way if they didn't send you a written denial that's another law they can get in trouble for breaking. I hope you don't give up, but I certainly understand how frustrating it can be to deal with some AHS reps & why you may just want to be over it. I'd be interested to hear back from you & find out what happens if you feel like being hasseled with AHS again.

If your water heater "burst" the damage may be covered under your homeowner's insurance policy. My recollection is that they normally cover damage from plumbing that suddenly bursts but not from something that happened over a period of time, such as a dripping pipe.

Check with your claims rep to see if it is covered.