American Home Shield is a company that advertises a variety of home warranties to cover major appliances and systems in your home if they need repair or replacement. Here is a recent commercial:
Certain trusted websites like BobVilla.com, ThisOldHouse.com, ConsumerAffairs.com, and Forbes.com give the company good to great reviews.
“American Home Shield is a veteran in the home warranty industry and one of the best home warranty companies available to homeowners. … We rated American Home Shield a 94 out of 100 [emphasis added] and named it the best overall home warranty company. …”
Cons listed: ” ✘ Charges slightly higher monthly premiums than some providers: ✘ Guarantees repairs for only 30 days.”
“In general, American Home Shield home warranty reviews from existing customers are a mix of positive and negative reviews. Some customers are happy with quick fixes and an easy claims process, while some complain about denied claims and negative experiences with on-site technicians.”
“Our Verdict: American Home Shield offers well-rounded home warranty policies that will likely appeal to a wide variety of homeowners. … Every facet of the customer experience is competently executed, and there are no glaring drawbacks with its services that might raise a red flag for potential customers.” [emphasis added]
“Overall, we find that American Home Shield offers good coverage at a fair rate. Prices are on the higher end of average for the industry but still pretty competitive, considering the level of coverage provided. It’s an especially smart fit if you like the idea of managing everything online.”
Based on over 11,000 customer reviews, the company was given 4.2 stars out of five . Under “cons,” the site said “some customer service complaints.”
“Our Verdict: With decades of experience and multiple exceptionally comprehensive home warranty plans, American Home Shield is one of the top home warranty providers in the industry.”
Their editorial team gave the company 4.7 out of five stars but at the same time mentioned these CONS:
*MOUSE PRINT:
It should be noted that all the above sites earn a commission on the sale of American Home Shield policies, and have disclosures like this:
Affiliate Disclosure: This Old House‘s Reviews Team is committed to delivering honest, objective, and independent reviews on home products and services. To support this business model, This Old House may be compensated if you purchase through links on our website.
However, the “reviews” on their websites look more like detailed marketing material about the company and its warranty plans rather than objective evaluations.
On the other hand, if you look at websites that collect reviews, ratings, and complaints by customers, and don’t earn a commission on sales about the companies they list, a very different picture emerges.
The Better Business Bureau has closed 27,120 complaints against the company in just the past three years. The complaints are what you would expect: delays in getting repairs, repairs that did not fix the problem, delays in getting reimbursements, and difficulty getting refunds for contract cancellation, etc.
The BBB has over 11,000 customer reviews on its website that give the company an average of 2.25 stars out of five. Despite this, the BBB has given the company a “B” rating presumably because the company responds to 100-percent of BBB complaints and many consumers accept the settlements offered.
Reviews posted on other sites that don’t earn a commission from American Home Shield are similarly low. Trustpilot gives the company 1.8 stars. Those on ComplaintsBoard average one-star. Yelp reviews average one-star.
So, it appears on sites that make money by posting their own reviews, ratings of the company are significantly higher than on complaint and review sites that don’t earn revenue in that way. Which would you believe?
I contracted with American Home Shield for about six months. I did use the service for two appliances and was quite satisfied. Total cost was to repair the two appliances was almost 1000.00 and I had paid into the plan about 300.00. Then the AC went out. Since the house is in Florida and it was summer, I needed immediate service. However, the wait time was one week and even though they do offer you use a tech of your choosing, they would not in this case. I dropped the plan, called my own AC company and the AC was repaired that day. Since I was paying month to month, no problem canceling.
This is particularly egregious, especially for a company like Forbes that pretends to have integrity.
I would add to, for people to be aware that “ConsumerAffairs.com” is not the same as ConsumerReports.com. I’m a subscriber to Consumer Reports and their entire reputation is founded upon entirely unbiased reporting and grading of appliances and services. Home warranties in general aren’t a good product, so it should be no surprise that the industry is full of deception. Unlike places like Forbes and CA, CR relies on customer subscriptions and private donations. For the wary, here is their article on home warranties which basically says:
“You probably shouldn’t get one, but if you do, make sure you’re clear on the answers for these five questions first.”
https://www.consumerreports.org/buying-a-home/what-to-know-about-buying-home-warranty/
By now, it should be well known that these home and car warranties are all a scam, and the spokesclowns who tout them should all be called out for lying to people. Good job, Edgar
When my AHS covered A/C went out, they quoted $1345 in uncovered “upgrades”. These included things like “refrigerant recovery” specifically included in the plan. They refused to budge. I ended up taking the $519 cash-out and paid $1400 to a reputable company for the repair.
A similar pattern was found when a water heater went out.
I went to the BBB and no longer trust them. They give a company a good rating if they *respond* to a complaint… even if it’s an unreasonable response.
I found out later, I should have taken AHS to small claims court, but too much time has passed. These guys can’t be trusted and should be avoided.
I’m shocked, absolutely shocked! Dishonesty in advertising? Who’da thunk it?
Seriously, I would have suspected nothing different. They are all crooks.
HMMM just doing a google news search and this popped up
Why there aren’t more people suing American Home Shield, despite 26,000 BBB complaints
From kmph
It seems that local news network has done a lot of reporting in the past couple of months on this crappy company.