Anyone has a GOOD experience with a home warranty company?

[tvguy]

My Facebook page the past month has been filled with friends across the nation with home warranties, and air conditioning issues. The common problem, a 2 week wait for the warranty company's approved service company to come out.
Anyone else having issues?
One friend in Pennsylvania waited the two weeks, and when the contractor arrived he said it would take a week to get the part, and that the repair would require $300 in modifications to the duct work that would not be covered by the warranty. She called another HVAC company who came out the next day (granted at 6 am), had the part on the truck, and said the duct work didn't require modifications. Now she is trying to get reimbursed.
I understand that the warranty companies would go bankrupt if they didn't know that the premiums for most folks will be more than they will pay out, but this just seems crazy.

 

[barkley]

when we lived in your neck of the woods we had american home shield for both our homes. they were great. with the older home they had some custom parts made for the hvac system that kept it going for as long as we owned the place. very quick and responsive.

THAT SAID-when we moved to our current location we experienced problems b/c they didn't have enough contracted vendors so there were long waits for what they deemed as 'non emergent services'. we ended up canceling with them.

 

[mnrose]

I will tell you that even without trying to do it through a home warranty company, getting an AC repaired in the middle of summer is an exercise in waiting and patience. We had a minor issue with our AC in mid-May when we had our first 90+ degree day (wouldn't run), and I called around to various contractors. The EARLIEST I could get someone out to take a look was 11 days into the future. For real. (Fortunately, this was a problem easily solved because it was the result of our siding contractors forgetting tor replace the circuit breaker when they redid the siding....husband found the problem and solved it in less than 10 minutes for free...LOL). Second story: the AC went out on a rental we had in July. Painfully hot weather, and I felt terrible for the tenant. Took close to two weeks before our AC guy could get to it. There simply are not enough of these kind of contractors anymore. Sad but true.

 

[tvguy]

I will tell you that even without trying to do it through a home warranty company, getting an AC repaired in the middle of summer is an exercise in waiting and patience. We had a minor issue with our AC in mid-May when we had our first 90+ degree day (wouldn't run), and I called around to various contractors. The EARLIEST I could get someone out to take a look was 11 days into the future. For real. (Fortunately, this was a problem easily solved because it was the result of our siding contractors forgetting tor replace the circuit breaker when they redid the siding....husband found the problem and solved it in less than 10 minutes for free...LOL). Second story: the AC went out on a rental we had in July. Painfully hot weather, and I felt terrible for the tenant. Took close to two weeks before our AC guy could get to it. There simply are not enough of these kind of contractors anymore. Sad but true.

We may have more AC repair places here since it is regularly so hot here. You might pay extra for an early morning or evening or weekend service call, but usually the wait is only a couple of days. And as I mentioned, my friend in Pennsylvania waited 2 weeks for the insurance company's HVAC company, when another company was able to come out the next day.

 

[dotfurio]

We are usually over 100 in the summers. My friend has a home warranty and when her ac went out in the middle of summer it was almost a 2 week wait just to have someone come look at it, then another week before it was fixed. We've had 3 ac issues in the middle of summers (not all the same summer) and when we call someone they are out the same day or first thing the next morning. We've used 2 different companies. So I imagine in our area they do not have enough home warranty contractors. In the meantime, the money my friend "saved" by having her ac on home warranty she ended up spending on hotel rooms and then a portable ac so she could get through the 3 weeks with a broken ac.

 

[barkley]

I will tell you that even without trying to do it through a home warranty company, getting an AC repaired in the middle of summer is an exercise in waiting and patience. We had a minor issue with our AC in mid-May when we had our first 90+ degree day (wouldn't run), and I called around to various contractors. The EARLIEST I could get someone out to take a look was 11 days into the future. For real. (Fortunately, this was a problem easily solved because it was the result of our siding contractors forgetting tor replace the circuit breaker when they redid the siding....husband found the problem and solved it in less than 10 minutes for free...LOL). Second story: the AC went out on a rental we had in July. Painfully hot weather, and I felt terrible for the tenant. Took close to two weeks before our AC guy could get to it. There simply are not enough of these kind of contractors anymore. Sad but true.

we have a 'guardian plan' through one of the local hvac companies. the price is'nt bad (about $250) per year to cover the hvac and includes a yearly inspection, labor costs in emergencies, most parts in emergency repairs AND (this was the big selling point for us) PRIORITY repair appointments.

when we signed up for it last year i wondered how much of a priority we would get-found out when our a/c went on the fritz during a heatwave a couple of months ago. local news was reporting people waiting 2 or more weeks with all the companies but when we called we were scheduled next day if that wasn't great in itself the repair ended up with us paying zero out of pocket on a repair that would have cost a hundred or more than the yearly premium.

it's well worth it to see if a local company offers something like this.

 

[lorijohnhill]

In my experience, home warranty companies contract with the worst repair people. I ended up with a plumber that spent more time using the bathroom than he spent “fixing” our problem. Our kitchen sink was backing up into the shower and other sinks in the house. He eventually pulled a towel out of the main out front, charged us a $50 service fee and left. I then had to go unclog the toilet he used. The sinks never did drain properly. The warranty was not worth the hassle.

 

[mamamary]

when we lived in your neck of the woods we had american home shield for both our homes. they were great. with the older home they had some custom parts made for the hvac system that kept it going for as long as we owned the place. very quick and responsive.

THAT SAID-when we moved to our current location we experienced problems b/c they didn't have enough contracted vendors so there were long waits for what they deemed as 'non emergent services'. we ended up canceling with them.

My in laws have had American Home Shield as long as I can remember. My next door neighbor has had them about ten years now and my brother in law just got them last month when he bought a house. They seem very popular around here and people are happy with them from what they tell me.

 

[rwdavis2]

I would google for opinions on various warranty companies. American Home Shield seems to be iffy at best. We pay about $20 per month for BGE Home here in Maryland. Any heating/cooling/water heater problems are covered and they do installations for new equipment. We have been very happy with the service.

 

[china mom]

We have had a one year home warranty on each house we have purchased included in the sales contract and had never ended up calling then until our current house.

Boy did we get our money's worth out of that one. It was a neglected foreclosure. Literally the day of settlement, we called for the heat being stuck on high. It was about 100 degrees i the house. We could only turn the heat off by turning off the breaker for the boiler but then if we wanted hot water, we had to turn the breaker back on.

The sent and HVAC guy to make the repair but it took 8 days.

Then, the dishwasher broke. It took almost a month for the repair but they made it. Then the microwave - same repair guy so fixed it on the same visit (only cost one $75 co-pay).

Two dryers wouldn't dry but the repairman said it was the vents so not covered.

One ice maker - repaired

The dishwasher died again so they gave us money to replace it because the repair was more than thing was worth.

Range died, again, they gave us money to replace it.

Then the upstairs HVAC died. The first guy who came out knocked on my door, said "i remember this house" and left. The second Company came out and said the entire until had to be replaced, there was nothing they could do. The warranty company sent a third company out for a second opinion. They concurred that the until had to be replaced. In the meant time, the entire summer passed with the warranty company stalling replacing the unit or making a settlement. They put comments in the file that I didn't make indicating that I refused repairs and such. I ended up threatening legal action to get them to do anything.

In the end, they gave us about $5,000 to replace the unit but the replacement cost $15,000.

We did not renew when the warranty expired. It was a long ugly fight but by the time all was said and done, we did come out way ahead.

BTW, one of the repairmen did tell us that the warranty company compensates them so poorly that you usually only get either very new/inexperienced tradesmen or low quality tradesmen. He was trying to get himself established so he accepted the work but didn't plan on doing it much longer.

 

[rwdavis2]

"BTW, one of the repairmen did tell us that the warranty company compensates them so poorly that you usually only get either very new/inexperienced tradesmen or low quality tradesmen. He was trying to get himself established so he accepted the work but didn't plan on doing it much longer."

That's how Lowes works based on our experience. Took 3 months and 4 companies to finish a flooring install. We got half off due to the labor problems. This is one reason we would never buy a warranty of this type.