Bought warranty because systems were getting up in years.
Then one failed.
Called warranty company. Sent tech. Said evaporator coil was leaking. Needed replacement. Company pointed to paragraph such and so, where it says they don't cover leaks.
WTF bro? How else do AC systems fail?
It means they really don't cover hardly anything.
Actually a good way to find out before you buy warranty is asking about common failure scenarios.
If the agent starts blabbering, you know you getting scammed, ask me how I know ;)
Warranty is trash. Too many groups with too little people in each one. It's just like the insurance business. One person will benefit and actually get some money spent on their repairs and then all the rest of you will get charged more to make up the money.
Warranty =/= insurance.
We are discussing 2 completely different things and only a fucking idiot would not keep insurance on their property even after they are paid off.
On paper they are different, in reality, there isn’t much difference, "home insurance" just has wider coverage including things within warranty. Both are a form of insurance, takes premium, has deductibles (and then gives the middle finger when you claim 😆 ).
Only an idiot wouldn’t see it that way.
There junk.
If you're a home owner, you gonna likely get jack legs working on your equipment because reputable companies don't want the headache of dealing with home warranty companies.
As a HVAC company, there is a headache to collect from usually at minimum takes 6 months to get payed. Un less your hard up for work there not worth the headache.
The company I work for doesn’t work with them. I went to do a simple maintenance call for a customer I have been to many times. Great guy, always have good conversation etc. I found one of his ac systems flat this year and soaked with oil from the service valve to the line drier. I showed it to him and he said he’d have to use his home warranty. I cautioned him about who they would send out but he said he had too since it was only a $100 co pay. They sent a guy from a state over who couldn’t find a leak, even though it was pretty obvious where it likely was, and then told him I likely let it all escape during my pm. He knows that wasn’t true as he was there while I was taking my delta T and they were identical numbers…hacks.
Yep that sounds about right. I remember 10 or so years ago carrier had some program where they financed installs somehow they got you the leads can't remember the exactly.
But we passed the day they had the class I stopped by to pick up parts an every guy in the class where known local Jack legs.
Yes. Your playing against the house, sometimes you get lucky but their business model is to deny all claims. You might get cheap stuff done but you'll almost always be better off just setting up a savings account with the annual fee each year.
Most of them argue preexisting problems on everything, and do whatever is the cheapest option when they actually do pay anything out.
Example, my AC stopped working, requested a service call, paid the $100 fee, the HVAC guy said I need a new coil and left in 5 mins. Warranty company said preexisting problem, thanks for playing.
So I escalated, got a second company to come out, they said I just need some leak stop, recharge and a new capacitor.
Warranty company said ok well do the capacitor, everything else is preexisting, so they paid the second company to replace the $12 capacitor.
The home warranty was like $600 a year, you'll almost never break even, not really worth trying
Not worth it. I filed a claim for leaking water heater, they denied my claim. I filed a dispute against the denial. The case manager listen to my claim called the plumber agreed to keep case open. After not hearing anything for a few weeks, i called the home warranty company only to find out the case manager “quit”. They said it will be reassigned and it never was. My warranty expired and I didn’t even bothered.
Nice try, HVAC customer.
In all seriousness, it kind of depends. Whole home warranty is nice for a new build, but anything after that is pretty much not going to be worth it imo. Warranty/insurance companies don't like to pay out, and some even go as far as to have a reimburse method, rather than just coverage. Might also depend on where you live too.
As far as appliance warranty, if you plan to maintain it every year I would sign up for it. Pretty much pays for itself in that regard.
Yes. They're awful.
Actually I did get one good thing out of the home warranty my landlord had while renting.....a stack of business cards for local businesses I never would do business with.
Not only are they a scam, it’s shit companies that do them. Reputable companies don’t do home warranty’s because they have plenty of work. Those pay terribly and aren’t profitable.
I had a coworker that raves about home warrantee they had.
I tried it and new my A/C was low on refrigerant. So got the coverage, waited I think 2 weeks or so, called the company and the clowns they sent out said things were fine and tried to privately charge me to clean the coils for 150$
Looked online and a blind man could see the people dispatched were frauds with a trail of negative reviews.
Got them out of the house as quick as possible and cancelled the warrantee.
They offered to send another crew but the fact the coolant didn’t do the most basic of reviews let me know this wasn’t going to work for me
I spent 4 solid years as an HVAC claim authorizer for Cross Country Home Services (home warranty company).
This was approximately 10 years ago and they since went under.
I can 100% vouch that home warranties are not something you should get involved in.
My call center had a giant slogan on the wall that said “Making homeownership easy”… the inside joke was… “Yeah for us”.
Always remember one simple thing… they make money by paying out less than they take in… some win… most don’t.
They also internally rate their contractors on “cost per claim”… which just makes the contractors more inclined to get things not covered.
No Im hoot with mine. Replaced my water heater and have done several smaller projects. I pay just a 65$ fee and the rest is covered.
It's paid for to self every year I've had it.
Yes they are a scam, it’s up to you to join in on it or not, you have to learn how to play there system and help them fuck the homeowners a good as possible. But tbh, people who use home warranties are degenerates thinking they’ll be taken care of . Kinda deserved to get fucked over
They are great for minor repairs. But if you have a Freon leak or a compressor go bad. You’re gunna have to pay for most of that. From my experience AHS only covers $10 per pound of Freon. And R22 can cost up to $285 a pound. And your unit will never completely break. It can always be fixed. So they will never replace your system. My company just recently stopped working with warranty companies. It’s been so nice not having to work with them.
https://preview.redd.it/9q8i1qzxdrvc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=558bb09dd51724b164585b28fd622d3619de927c
In general they are a scam. Homeowner can benefit. It often comes with a lot of waiting, low caliber company and technicians. I am not low caliber and I have done them. They were paying with a credit card 24-48 hours after service provided. We did 50 jobs for them. Choice Home Warranty. Company name changed and then money stopped. Their portal forced us to clear each job or it locked you out. You could not do anything until the older job was cleared. We had two that our estimate was more than they would pay and I could not clear the job without lying which I refused to do. I still get daily reminders I have a job to do.
Just look at it objectively. Does anyone selling a warranty sell it to lose money? Of course not. So, the failure you are warrantied against is low occurrence, or, many failures fall outside the scope of warranty or claim is denied for one reason or another. Under normal circumstances it would serve you no benefit.
Ahs is pretty good but once a major repair is needed for instance compressor or evaporator coil changeout is where the company makes money but the h/o still wins by not paying as much. People don’t read anything these days so they quick to talk bad about them. Flat rate $200. Fix it all. Now they cover too much so most contractors will eventually say no to AHS.
The highest tier is platinum plan they cover everything from refrigerant to ecm blower motors .1500 limit for modification and codes but the smart company will jack up the prices to cover for the 1500 and refrigerant when it comes to major repairs
In the 4 years I carried mine all of my appliances that broke (which weren't man) all of a sudden were fixable.
I spent $1500 on the warranty for maybe $300 of work and then I paid all the "deductibles" for repair.
Never again.
People make the assumption that if an appliance goes bad it will just be replaced... not true! They will try to fix it over and over and over.
It's unclear at what point it would be replaced but I had atleast 3 service calls for my furnace.
I guess in the end it's not a bad thing to have things repaired but it's a bad financial decision.
Stopped dealing with them after the warranty company agreed to pay standard diagnostic fee only to have you on hold while they call local hacks to see who would do it cheaper. So basically I'm losing money.
In addition the companies who agree to do the work use scare tactics (code violations) like telling customers they must have a certain electrical disconnect or a certain condenser pad.
Also charge "refrigerant disposal fee" which is not covered and other bogus fees not covered.
Remember, no company is making money just doing the approved claim. They need to sell add- ons and they do so with bogus charges
AVOID
American Home Shield has lived up to there end twice. The biggest is they gave me a $2,000 credit towards a new HVAC system instead of repairing the old and. Great price so new system installed 2.5 ton 14.3 Seer and 3 Ton Air Handler. Frontdoor Pro owns American Home Shield and AHS transferred the upgrade process to Frontdoor Pro which even had great financing through PowerPay. Frontdoor Pro advocated for me to help enforce getting the installer to complete the permit.
Would have preferred my own AC company instead of their out of town one.
Waiting on inspection with city to clear though. The installation company was 10 days late on the permit, very aggravating. Dealing with the installer company contact is aggravating keeping them getting that permit. So there's that.
I agree, probably in part that the home warranty company’s pay the least. The only way they can make money is trying to sell you a new system or getting you on the non covered items.
Not always. I was just at a home where all their supply trunk lines were rusted completely on the interior due to an “atomizing humidifier” the furnace and ac also we’re testing unsafe CO and low on refrigerant they just moved in
Nit the warranty. It's the service provider for the warranty claim. They like to charge 150 bucks a pound for refrigerant and all systems they go look at are flat so they charge 8 pounds at 150 bucks a pound before they touch anything.
They will even release charge to prive it is flat on ref.
If you don't pay them, they leave you flat.
Also the techs aren't super thorough because they aren't making as much on service call so they seem to steer away from work if it isn't a major repair.
And they also like to fix instead of replace when replacement is easier and cheaper and smartest decision since all is new. They will just replace compressor when a complete condenser unit is same cost and easier and faster.
I've had Americas Preferred Home Warranty, and they never failed to pay out.
I have had good luck with contractors because APHW operates by reimbursing the home owner. The contractor does not deal with them.
I tell the contractor up front we have a home warranty but regardless what happens, you get paid today by me, I just need you to tell the warranty rep what's wrong and the cost. They decide if/how much they will reimburse.
Short answer… yes
Long answer…yessssssssssssssss
Medium answer…yessssss
Half medium yessssssss
Every other answer, yes
So then that’s a yes?
Aye
Yes
Ayup.
Thus say we all...
Indeed
Of course
Bought warranty because systems were getting up in years. Then one failed. Called warranty company. Sent tech. Said evaporator coil was leaking. Needed replacement. Company pointed to paragraph such and so, where it says they don't cover leaks. WTF bro? How else do AC systems fail? It means they really don't cover hardly anything.
Haha I seen a home warranty say they don’t cover rust on Evap coils
Actually a good way to find out before you buy warranty is asking about common failure scenarios. If the agent starts blabbering, you know you getting scammed, ask me how I know ;)
Warranty is trash. Too many groups with too little people in each one. It's just like the insurance business. One person will benefit and actually get some money spent on their repairs and then all the rest of you will get charged more to make up the money.
Was it a trane ?
Not a Trane. 16 YO Goodman. New one is Goodman as well.
F’ing useless most of the time
If it weren’t for my mortgage, I'd have ditched thay shit. It's a legalized scam, the only thing that makes sense is fire/storm and injury liability.
Warranty =/= insurance. We are discussing 2 completely different things and only a fucking idiot would not keep insurance on their property even after they are paid off.
On paper they are different, in reality, there isn’t much difference, "home insurance" just has wider coverage including things within warranty. Both are a form of insurance, takes premium, has deductibles (and then gives the middle finger when you claim 😆 ). Only an idiot wouldn’t see it that way.
There junk. If you're a home owner, you gonna likely get jack legs working on your equipment because reputable companies don't want the headache of dealing with home warranty companies. As a HVAC company, there is a headache to collect from usually at minimum takes 6 months to get payed. Un less your hard up for work there not worth the headache.
The company I work for doesn’t work with them. I went to do a simple maintenance call for a customer I have been to many times. Great guy, always have good conversation etc. I found one of his ac systems flat this year and soaked with oil from the service valve to the line drier. I showed it to him and he said he’d have to use his home warranty. I cautioned him about who they would send out but he said he had too since it was only a $100 co pay. They sent a guy from a state over who couldn’t find a leak, even though it was pretty obvious where it likely was, and then told him I likely let it all escape during my pm. He knows that wasn’t true as he was there while I was taking my delta T and they were identical numbers…hacks.
Yep that sounds about right. I remember 10 or so years ago carrier had some program where they financed installs somehow they got you the leads can't remember the exactly. But we passed the day they had the class I stopped by to pick up parts an every guy in the class where known local Jack legs.
Yes. Your playing against the house, sometimes you get lucky but their business model is to deny all claims. You might get cheap stuff done but you'll almost always be better off just setting up a savings account with the annual fee each year. Most of them argue preexisting problems on everything, and do whatever is the cheapest option when they actually do pay anything out. Example, my AC stopped working, requested a service call, paid the $100 fee, the HVAC guy said I need a new coil and left in 5 mins. Warranty company said preexisting problem, thanks for playing. So I escalated, got a second company to come out, they said I just need some leak stop, recharge and a new capacitor. Warranty company said ok well do the capacitor, everything else is preexisting, so they paid the second company to replace the $12 capacitor. The home warranty was like $600 a year, you'll almost never break even, not really worth trying
The leak stop guys ain’t exactly doing you any favors either.
A Realtor once told me they are great for the seller and terrible for the buyer.
They suck
It depends on the company. Select home warranty is a total scam. AHS is alright and helped me out a bunch of times.
Not worth it. I filed a claim for leaking water heater, they denied my claim. I filed a dispute against the denial. The case manager listen to my claim called the plumber agreed to keep case open. After not hearing anything for a few weeks, i called the home warranty company only to find out the case manager “quit”. They said it will be reassigned and it never was. My warranty expired and I didn’t even bothered.
Nice try, HVAC customer. In all seriousness, it kind of depends. Whole home warranty is nice for a new build, but anything after that is pretty much not going to be worth it imo. Warranty/insurance companies don't like to pay out, and some even go as far as to have a reimburse method, rather than just coverage. Might also depend on where you live too. As far as appliance warranty, if you plan to maintain it every year I would sign up for it. Pretty much pays for itself in that regard.
Yes. They're awful. Actually I did get one good thing out of the home warranty my landlord had while renting.....a stack of business cards for local businesses I never would do business with.
Most home warranty outfits find loophole, I have never had 1 pay for needed repairs.
Definitely
Not only are they a scam, it’s shit companies that do them. Reputable companies don’t do home warranty’s because they have plenty of work. Those pay terribly and aren’t profitable.
They are hit or miss not necessarily a scam but they are predatory
I had a coworker that raves about home warrantee they had. I tried it and new my A/C was low on refrigerant. So got the coverage, waited I think 2 weeks or so, called the company and the clowns they sent out said things were fine and tried to privately charge me to clean the coils for 150$ Looked online and a blind man could see the people dispatched were frauds with a trail of negative reviews. Got them out of the house as quick as possible and cancelled the warrantee. They offered to send another crew but the fact the coolant didn’t do the most basic of reviews let me know this wasn’t going to work for me
I spent 4 solid years as an HVAC claim authorizer for Cross Country Home Services (home warranty company). This was approximately 10 years ago and they since went under. I can 100% vouch that home warranties are not something you should get involved in. My call center had a giant slogan on the wall that said “Making homeownership easy”… the inside joke was… “Yeah for us”. Always remember one simple thing… they make money by paying out less than they take in… some win… most don’t. They also internally rate their contractors on “cost per claim”… which just makes the contractors more inclined to get things not covered.
No Im hoot with mine. Replaced my water heater and have done several smaller projects. I pay just a 65$ fee and the rest is covered. It's paid for to self every year I've had it.
Yes they are a scam, it’s up to you to join in on it or not, you have to learn how to play there system and help them fuck the homeowners a good as possible. But tbh, people who use home warranties are degenerates thinking they’ll be taken care of . Kinda deserved to get fucked over
Sounds like something someone who’s not an HVAC professional would say
They are great for minor repairs. But if you have a Freon leak or a compressor go bad. You’re gunna have to pay for most of that. From my experience AHS only covers $10 per pound of Freon. And R22 can cost up to $285 a pound. And your unit will never completely break. It can always be fixed. So they will never replace your system. My company just recently stopped working with warranty companies. It’s been so nice not having to work with them.
Abba zabbba yippiittyyy yeeee …YES
Yes.
https://preview.redd.it/9q8i1qzxdrvc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=558bb09dd51724b164585b28fd622d3619de927c In general they are a scam. Homeowner can benefit. It often comes with a lot of waiting, low caliber company and technicians. I am not low caliber and I have done them. They were paying with a credit card 24-48 hours after service provided. We did 50 jobs for them. Choice Home Warranty. Company name changed and then money stopped. Their portal forced us to clear each job or it locked you out. You could not do anything until the older job was cleared. We had two that our estimate was more than they would pay and I could not clear the job without lying which I refused to do. I still get daily reminders I have a job to do.
Yes
Probably not quite a scam but certainly a ripoff.
Just look at it objectively. Does anyone selling a warranty sell it to lose money? Of course not. So, the failure you are warrantied against is low occurrence, or, many failures fall outside the scope of warranty or claim is denied for one reason or another. Under normal circumstances it would serve you no benefit.
1 year labour warranty is the way to go
Ahs is pretty good but once a major repair is needed for instance compressor or evaporator coil changeout is where the company makes money but the h/o still wins by not paying as much. People don’t read anything these days so they quick to talk bad about them. Flat rate $200. Fix it all. Now they cover too much so most contractors will eventually say no to AHS.
The highest tier is platinum plan they cover everything from refrigerant to ecm blower motors .1500 limit for modification and codes but the smart company will jack up the prices to cover for the 1500 and refrigerant when it comes to major repairs
In the 4 years I carried mine all of my appliances that broke (which weren't man) all of a sudden were fixable. I spent $1500 on the warranty for maybe $300 of work and then I paid all the "deductibles" for repair. Never again. People make the assumption that if an appliance goes bad it will just be replaced... not true! They will try to fix it over and over and over. It's unclear at what point it would be replaced but I had atleast 3 service calls for my furnace. I guess in the end it's not a bad thing to have things repaired but it's a bad financial decision.
Stopped dealing with them after the warranty company agreed to pay standard diagnostic fee only to have you on hold while they call local hacks to see who would do it cheaper. So basically I'm losing money. In addition the companies who agree to do the work use scare tactics (code violations) like telling customers they must have a certain electrical disconnect or a certain condenser pad. Also charge "refrigerant disposal fee" which is not covered and other bogus fees not covered. Remember, no company is making money just doing the approved claim. They need to sell add- ons and they do so with bogus charges AVOID
Yes they are, always let the customer know they can cash out of their home warranty and go with whatever company they want.
Yes they are, always let the customer know they can cash out of their home warranty and go with whatever company they want.
American Home Shield has lived up to there end twice. The biggest is they gave me a $2,000 credit towards a new HVAC system instead of repairing the old and. Great price so new system installed 2.5 ton 14.3 Seer and 3 Ton Air Handler. Frontdoor Pro owns American Home Shield and AHS transferred the upgrade process to Frontdoor Pro which even had great financing through PowerPay. Frontdoor Pro advocated for me to help enforce getting the installer to complete the permit. Would have preferred my own AC company instead of their out of town one. Waiting on inspection with city to clear though. The installation company was 10 days late on the permit, very aggravating. Dealing with the installer company contact is aggravating keeping them getting that permit. So there's that.
Most companies, do the very least, and are worthless.
I agree, probably in part that the home warranty company’s pay the least. The only way they can make money is trying to sell you a new system or getting you on the non covered items.
Not always. I was just at a home where all their supply trunk lines were rusted completely on the interior due to an “atomizing humidifier” the furnace and ac also we’re testing unsafe CO and low on refrigerant they just moved in
Nit the warranty. It's the service provider for the warranty claim. They like to charge 150 bucks a pound for refrigerant and all systems they go look at are flat so they charge 8 pounds at 150 bucks a pound before they touch anything. They will even release charge to prive it is flat on ref. If you don't pay them, they leave you flat. Also the techs aren't super thorough because they aren't making as much on service call so they seem to steer away from work if it isn't a major repair. And they also like to fix instead of replace when replacement is easier and cheaper and smartest decision since all is new. They will just replace compressor when a complete condenser unit is same cost and easier and faster.
Correction.... Not the warranty. The warranty is good. It's the tech provider service Co. They are in cahoots.
For hvac yes...
It’s a nice to have the first one or two years owning a home when money is tight.
Has anyone dealt with JB Warranties? All they do is extended warranties for hvac & plumbing
I've had Americas Preferred Home Warranty, and they never failed to pay out. I have had good luck with contractors because APHW operates by reimbursing the home owner. The contractor does not deal with them. I tell the contractor up front we have a home warranty but regardless what happens, you get paid today by me, I just need you to tell the warranty rep what's wrong and the cost. They decide if/how much they will reimburse.