I know many people feel they're a ripoff and will use any loophole to get out of fixing stuff. But, TSM11 and I had one that recently expired. Maybe we were lucky but ours paid for itself. We would like to get a home warranty again.

Who do you recommend and why?

Who do you NOT recommend and why?

Thanks in advance for your help.

When we bought our current home the sellers included a one-year warranty with American Home Shield. Utterly and completely worthless.

The house was 70 years old when we bought it and we (correctly) assumed it would need some repairs.

The first thing to go out was the microwave. After some haggling, Am Home Shield finally provided us a comporable replacement. That was it.

When the fridge and the stove both died during the year, Am Home Shield found ways to deny both claims.

Then, just before the one-year mark, a pipe started leaking. They denied that too. When I challenged them, they said the pipe had been “installed improperly”.

I pushed back and noted that the pipe looked like part of the original construction, so how could it have been “improperly installed” if it had worked fine for 70+ years? No one at Am Home Shield could answer that, but they wouldn’t budge and denied the claim.

What was kind of humorous was that a week later they contacted me to let me know the coverage was ending, but I could extend their “high quality service” for just $52 a month!!

I do a lot of work for these companies. American Home Service, HSA (not sure what it stands for), HMS (again not sure what it stands for) Cross Country Home Services, and First American Home Buyer Protection.

From the person actually fixing your broken stuff, I'd go with AHS and I would make sure that fixture coverage. Improper install, and code violation coverage are included in whatever you select. My only experience is from the electrical side, but I'm sure it at least partially applies to other trades too.

Without going into detail all of the servicing companies are financially incentivized to do the minimum to fix problems. Also things like noisy appliances or equipment is not covered, in the case of ceiling fans wobbles are not covered.

Only normal wear and tear is covered. So if your kid, maid, friend or you accidentally breaks something, not covered. Example: basket ball into exterior fixture, or piece of furniture into switch or plug, water or animal damages are all not covered.

If I were to purchase one I'd select AHS, based on electrical coverage only. They seem to cover almost everything if you select it. Others will not cover improper install or fixtures/fan light kits. The one biggie about AHS is Freon, they will fix the problem that caused it to leak, but not the Freon itself, depending on age of system older Freon is very pricey.

I don't think they are a ripoff if you understand what you are buying. I fix 85%+ of things I get sent on. People do get mad at me when I tell them that physical damage, water damage, animal damage, or repairs requiring cutting into drywall are not covered. Just make sure you read contract when you sign up so you are not surprised when claim time comes.

I had AHS with my first home and they were a complete rip-off.

I would never recommend these to anyone unless you like wasting your money.

Realtors LOVE THEM because it looks good to list it in a house for sale but the reality is these companies will do everything in their power to avoid paying out.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
I had AHS with my first home and they were a complete rip-off.

I would never recommend these to anyone unless you like wasting your money.

Realtors LOVE THEM because it looks good to list it in a house for sale but the reality is these companies will do everything in their power to avoid paying out.

One thing to note about the Realtors is that they lie when selling. They will tell people if anything is wrong the warranty company will fix it. Not true. First bound by contract to only fix elected coverage, if you don't pay to cover everything, they won't fix everything. Second the even dirtier thing agents will do is say "don't worry about home inspection, the warranty will fix it." They won't, if it was unknown to you they will, if it's listed on home inspection, then you knew about it before buying, not covered.

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
I do a lot of work for these companies.

I do zero work for these pita companies.... my experience has been, all they care about is getting it 'patched' until next time. Not fixing it right the first time.

They rank right down their with 99% of the home inspectors.

quote:

Originally posted by Excam_Man:

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
I do a lot of work for these companies.

I do zero work for these pita companies.... my experience has been, all they care about is getting it 'patched' until next time. Not fixing it right the first time.

They rank right down their with 99% of the home inspectors.

I wouldn't want to do it either, they are truly a pain. Most companies that do work for them quit rather quickly. We have a good set up to deal with them with a person at our company that her primary job is just dealing with them. From servicing company side we don't make crap on them. We use them to make sure all employees are getting 40 hours and don't really profit from it much if at all.

The HVAC servicing companies are the worst. They are slammed this time of year. 80% of the time they say it's an electrical problem it's not. They just want to leave and go do more profitable jobs for paying customers.

Just had a guy last week that HVAC company said furnace wasn't getting power and said customer had bad breaker. Gets transferred to us. Power good at breaker, good at disconnect, good in wiring compartment of furnace.

Found door safety kill switch had deteriorated from too much water in the furnace. Removed it, and bypassed. Poor guy had been without AC for almost two weeks. He was so happy I got it working he tipped me $75, the same amount he wasted on the HVAC deductible. I was quite happy about it.

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
Poor guy had been without AC for almost two weeks.

Typical, the warranty company doesn't care that you're without A/C, while they deal with incompetent companies. They don't care who shows up, as long as they are cheap and answer the phone to take the information.

If you have to wait two weeks for service, what good is the warranty?

In my experience, you only need one of these home warranties if you can’t afford to replace your HVAC system if it goes tits up. That’s just the truth.

Other than that, generally they are a waste of money and like third-party automobile extended warranty companies, they will do everything they can to get out of paying for repairs.

Exactly

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
I had AHS with my first home and they were a complete rip-off.

I would never recommend these to anyone unless you like wasting your money.

Realtors LOVE THEM because it looks good to list it in a house for sale but the reality is these companies will do everything in their power to avoid paying out.

One thing to note about the Realtors is that they lie when selling. They will tell people if anything is wrong the warranty company will fix it. Not true. First bound by contract to only fix elected coverage, if you don't pay to cover everything, they won't fix everything. Second the even dirtier thing agents will do is say "don't worry about home inspection, the warranty will fix it." They won't, if it was unknown to you they will, if it's listed on home inspection, then you knew about it before buying, not covered.

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
One thing to note about the Realtors is that they lie when selling.

Sure as hell will. They will tell a buyer anything to get them to sign on the line.

I had AHS included when I bought my property, and DEFINITELY got my money's worth out of them; to the point that they refused (in writing) to renew my policy. From there, I went to First American and have had good service from them, including two A/C repairs and new clothes washer. FA is a bit slow to send someone on a call, but the fact that I live in the boonies probably has something to do with it. All in, they've sent someone to do repairs seven times since I've been with them, and I've never had a problem.

Going out on a limb here but you probably didn't get your money's worth. If you did, the chance of lightning striking twice is off the scale bad.

They make their money by collecting their dues and making each service call the minimum effort. Most service calls incur a fee. You would, long term, without a doubt be better off financially by taking some amount of money that the warranty costs and investing it or setting it aside. It takes very little time for that set aside money to be more valuable than the warranty.

Honestly if you can't set the money aside without touching it, maybe the warranty is a good idea. lol. No, that is a joke, these warranties aren't a good deal.

Seriously not a good deal over the long haul. Looking short term anything can be made to look good but in the long run they will cost you money. It really is that simple.

These companies are selling PEACE OF MIND, not much else.

I'd be interested how yours basically paid for itself.
I've had them twice when they were thrown in with a home purchase. One of those referenced above.
Probably the most unethical and dishonesty companies I've had the displeasure of dealing with.
I'd never willingly get into an agreement with one of them.

quote:

Originally posted by Powers77:
I'd be interested how yours basically paid for itself.
I've had them twice when they were thrown in with a home purchase. One of those referenced above.
Probably the most unethical and dishonesty companies I've had the displeasure of dealing with.
I'd never willingly get into an agreement with one of them.

We paid about $600 for a 13 month contract. We had our a/c blowe motor go out. It was a new fangled pulse code modulated motor. The motor alone was $500+ and we had a small $50 co-pay for the service call. They repaired the microwave when the magnatron tube failed and had a refigerator fixed for a fan motor. Plus some plumbing issues. Overall it would've cost about 3 times what we paid for the contract.

quote:

Originally posted by Rotndad:
We paid about $600 for a 13 month contract. We had our a/c blowe motor go out. It was a new fangled pulse code modulated motor. The motor alone was $500+ and we had a small $50 co-pay for the service call. They repaired the microwave when the magnatron tube failed and had a refigerator fixed for a fan motor. Plus some plumbing issues. Overall it would've cost about 3 times what we paid for the contract.

I don't understand why some people refuse to believe that sometimes, you come out on top with an extended warranty. While it's obviously not common, it happens. If it were common, the insurance companies would be out of business.

People always say "put the money aside that you would've paid for the premium." But when something catastrophic goes wrong, you're spending a hell of a lot more than the premium + co-pay. It's a gamble, that's for sure but if you come out on top, you're winning.

Have a buddy who bought a treadmill many years ago and bought the extended warranty. Thing is, he actually used the treadmill. A lot. They repaired that thing, or attempted to repair it so many times that they ended up replacing it instead of just trying to fix it. I think that $120 for the extended warranty more than paid for itself. For folks that don't use their treadmill like he did, if they bought the warranty I'm sure they didn't come out ahead.

A friend bought an extended warranty for $1,200 for a Dodge Charger she bought back in 2011. She sure as hell got more than $1,200 worth of work with that warranty. But being a Dodge, she knew she should've bought the extended.

quote:

Originally posted by Edmond:

quote:

Originally posted by Rotndad:
We paid about $600 for a 13 month contract. We had our a/c blowe motor go out. It was a new fangled pulse code modulated motor. The motor alone was $500+ and we had a small $50 co-pay for the service call. They repaired the microwave when the magnatron tube failed and had a refigerator fixed for a fan motor. Plus some plumbing issues. Overall it would've cost about 3 times what we paid for the contract.

I don't understand why some people refuse to believe that sometimes, you come out on top with an extended warranty. While it's obviously not common, it happens. If it were common, the insurance companies would be out of business.

People always say "put the money aside that you would've paid for the premium." But when something catastrophic goes wrong, you're spending a hell of a lot more than the premium + co-pay. It's a gamble, that's for sure but if you come out on top, you're winning.

Have a buddy who bought a treadmill many years ago and bought the extended warranty. Thing is, he actually used the treadmill. A lot. They repaired that thing, or attempted to repair it so many times that they ended up replacing it instead of just trying to fix it. I think that $120 for the extended warranty more than paid for itself. For folks that don't use their treadmill like he did, if they bought the warranty I'm sure they didn't come out ahead.

A friend bought an extended warranty for $1,200 for a Dodge Charger she bought back in 2011. She sure as hell got more than $1,200 worth of work with that warranty. But being a Dodge, she knew she should've bought the extended.

It's just a form of insurance. I've never made a claim on my homeowners insurance, not once, but I've wasted that premium year after year on that rip off homeowners insurance company. Those dirty bastards actually think it's OK to bring in more premiums than they pay out in claims! Can you believe those A-holes are doing that to people?

Other side of coin. Junior and senior year of college I had two claims within 11 months in a $77 per year renters policy totalling $34,000. How many 19 year olds buy renters insurance? The chances are so small, why bother, probably just pissing away your money anyways, I could have bought five cases of Milwaukee's Best instead. I'll trade cheap beer for $34k any day.

It's all a roll of the dice. The only reason I don't have one is I've replaced just about everything in my house with new and as an electrician I can fix 30% of anything they cover for free. If I owned a house with older equipment and appliances I'd buy one. If I decide to rent my house out I certainly buy one because renters destroy everything and for a rental all I care is that things work.

It's all a gamble. They exist for a reason, if they were actually a complete rip off they'd be out of business. Some people rather pay $50 a month for piece of mind, others are willing to roll the dice. I won't say either is making a mistake.

How do insurance companies make money? Deny claims. Let's not be surprised when they deny yours. So OP, answer to your question is, go ahead and get one if it makes you feel more secure, but dont have any expectation that it will be worth a damn.

I actually believe insurance companies serve a purpose. Heck, I've worked for a large P&C for 27 years.
I don't think you are going to find a home warranty company that will treat you any better than you describe OP. I'd go with them if you are sure you want one assuming it's not AHS.
With them it took 2 appointments over 2 months and the ripping out drywall in my basement (not repaired) to fix my AC. Also took probably 6 visits to convince them that my failed water heaters needed replaced. The two heaters still cost me $1000 because they had to be brought up to code and that wasn't covered.
That doesn't even begin to cover the level of frustration I've experienced just being on the phone and trying to get them to do what their contract calls for.