Complaint Review: American Home Shield - Carroll Iowa

Never buy these warranties, from any company. The whole concept is a rip-off. Even though you didn't purchase it yourself, you're still paying for it every month for the next 30 years. Collecting a claim is always like pulling teeth, only a succesful outcome is less likely. Tell the seller you'd like to forego the warranty if they take its cost off of the price of the house. Your real estate agent, if they're any good, will know exactly what the warranty costs. The seller nets the same money either way so they should have no problem. Meanwhile, inspect the house carefully. Most "home inspectors" aren't experts at mechanical systems. It's better to hire a contractor at your expense to examine the HVAC system. It's best to use a reputable contractor if you can find one, but even a disreputable one is OK here. If problems are found, use the contractor's opinion to negotiate a lower price from the seller. For example, if you paid the second guy $50 to look at the unit BEFORE you bought the house, you might have been able to use his sad report to get thousands off of the price. Later when it failed, you would hire the first guy to replace it. If the house is defective and the seller isn't going to budge on the price, don't hesitate to walk away. Do not let them try to sell you the warranty again. You now KNOW the AC is defective, and you've always KNOWN that the warranty won't pay.

Thanks for all of the advice. It has been a very frustrating ordeal. I finally called AHS and asked them to send me all information they had on my case. I asked for anything they had from both contractors and anything they had about trying to resolve this problem. I then told them I would be using the information to fill out paperwork from the Attorney General's Office. 3 days later the 1st contractor was replacing my AC unit. Apparently they decided that they did not want to deal with the Attorney General's Office. To the reader who suggested that I should have read the contract, I was told a home warranty was being purchesed for me by the seller. I was not given the opportunity to read it in advance or choose which company. I did read it completely after this happened and from what I see AHS could refuse to fix almost anything and that contract would back them up. I have since talked to other contractors and they say that they have no problem with AHS as long as it is a simple repair job. When it comes to actually replacing equipment there is usually trouble. I would never buy a home warranty after this and that is what I will tell my friends and family.

Well I can read my contract and I do understand it fully trust me, also american home sheild understands it now also, since in my contract it covers removal of freon up to 5 pounds just so happens half the folks I spoke to could not read.. now who"s fault is this? Also let me set u straight on what is hassardess A coil is not hassardess once the freon is removed if u think I am still wrong heres a suggested drag out ur phone book and call some ac companies. The county I live in states I can dispose of this part anyways i see fit actually I had other AC companies offering to come pick it up free of charge because they scrap them and make money. Well in my case in all fairness to ams. they were being taken for a ride as well as me by this company and trust me I will see to it this AC commpanie pays for thier underhandes practices. I am sure I am not the first person they tried to screw out of 75.00 but I am guessing from their reaction I am the first person to say nope I am not paying this. The company also tried to snow ball ams into making me pay this charge ok like that would happen!!! I am not a stupid woman by any means I can read and what i do not understand I get someone to explain it to me, so next time u wish to give some advice look up what u are giving first u will be surprised by what u learn.. thankyou for ur imput as lacking as it was...

Maybe in the future you should read the contract you are agreeing to prior to purchasing it...if you didn't purchase it, don't look a gift horse in the mouth. There is fine print, and non-covereds included with any home warranty, insurance, etc...you need to understand what it is you are getting... A warranty won't cover everything, but it will cover the repair or replacement, excluding any modifications, upgrades, etc. In response to the person who said that you can refuse to have the unit disposed of (hazardous materials)...that would be a code violation, and the contractor could/would lose his license if that really happened. Basically, what I am trying to say is, your buyout was $430+...isn't that more than what you paid for the coverage? You are already ahead of the game. In response to the 'satisfactory report even though they have dozens of complaints"...American home shield has over 1 million customers, most of whom do not read their contracts, then get upset about coverages...a few dozen complaints should warrant a satisfactory report.

ok first off u need to look online for ur comsumer complaints department. Then write them a detailed complaint also file a complaint with ur insurance commissioner. Ok not sure why they want you to pay such an out of pocket excepence except from what i researched today is it is probably part of the cost for parts.. they can say this is for removal of hazardess waster and materials well tell them u do not need them to remove the unit u will throw a table cloth on it and hve a new picnic table..one problem solved also ck with other air companies on what they do with their old parts cause trust me some of them are reused and the companies make money off of them. Ok and if this fails look up at a ripoff report the lady has the ceo's name and address and write him a nice little letter.. good luck cause i am fighting with them also and filed my own ripoff report regarding my ac and yea they use such honest stand up contractors.. haha nottttt...

The longer you haggle with AHS on your AC system the longer you will not have your AC..... Being in the AC & heating business for a long time, and reading your comments, I would be inclined to go with the 1st contractors opinion, based on what you have stated. With a old air handler, and depending on wether or not it has been serviced on a regulay basis, they will leak and need replacement due to the rusting conditions. As for your duct work, I have not seen any duct systems that cannot be adapted to a new air handler especially if the new air handler is going back into the same place the old one is comming out of. The second contractor working out of his house, and only spending 10 minutes at your place and telling you what the problem is..... I would be very skeptical of that. I spend at least 10 minutes talking with a customer building rapport and trust with them before I even start working. This is just good customer service. AHS just dosen't want to pay for the service you have been paying them for. Our company gets many calls from customers, who are finally fed up with AHS tired of waiting around in the heat, we can take care of them that same day or the next. Be careful what you decide, if the second contractor does the work and it is not installed properly, AHS will probably not warrenty the work stating inproper installation and it was their contractor who put it in..... My advice to you is get away from AHS and bite the bullet and get a reputable company to take care of your problem. good luck