Has anyone ever gotten good fast service via a home warranty? (sales, apartment)

[eileenkeeney]

Based on everything I am reading, these warranties are all more trouble than they are worth (all of them, not only one specific company).

Has anyone ever had something major, like a hot water heater, or an AC unit, replaced quickly, when having it done through a home warranty company?

Most of the complaints are related to the companies taking a very long time to diagnose, and/or refusing to fix/replace the major expensive items.

I have read multiple responses by actual contractors (who have been contracted by these companies) that working with these warranty companies is difficult, and the real goal is to find a reason to deny a claim.

If my hot water heater or AC unit quits, I am much better off just paying for someone competent, who has no incentive to find a reason to not fix it.

So I am wondering why Realtors tend to have a Seller purchased home warranty put into sales contracts.

OR am I wrong.
Has anyone actually had a major item replaced via their home warranty.
If yes, how long did it take, and how hard did you have to fight for it?

[neddy]

We did though American Home Shield. Last house about 4 years ago had ac go out in Aug. they had ac company out there that day and then the ac company can and replaced next day.

[verybadgnome]

I think financially they don't make sense akin to the way extended warranties don't make sense in a payouts vs. premiums POV. I think with older homes it is a way the seller can reassure the buyer that if something does go wrong they may be covered for out of pocket expenses.

I had a good experience with Old Republic. Called on a Friday morning and set up a Monday morning appointment (I wasn't in a huge hurry) to fix the ignitor on my stove. I paid the 50 (or 60?) dollar call fee and it was done.

I'll never use AHS. They hounded me constantly, and borderline rudely, trying to get me to renew the plan for the home I purchased in '00.

[eileenkeeney]

If it were my money, I would not buy one.
I do not know why Realtors put these into salese contracts, where the seller buys the warranty.
I think if Realtors did not put this in contracts, many fewer warranties would be purchased (so this practice is helping the warranty companies a lot).
Most of the questions I read online, where people were trying to select a plan, were due to having this clause in their sales contract.

I didn't realize how little these things cover (based on exclusions and limits) until I started looking for one to buy.

I read some interesting responses to a few questions on Yahoo Answers, from actual contractors who provide services for these warranty companies. The warranty companies are hard to work with, and want more effort put into finding a reason to not cover the repair, than fixing the issue.

Trying to pick based on reviews is futile. They all have many bad reviews and a few good reviews.

But it is good to hear that someone did did get an AC unit replaced. AHS may just have more bad reviews than the others, because it sells more contracts than the others.

I think I will pick one that has the option of submitting the request online.

[centralaustinite]

We had one when we bought our first home, I forget the company, but they came out promptly to fix the AC when it went out a few weeks after our purchase and I think that they repaired the hot water heater too.

It was a fairly simply process. Remember, people who have a bad experience are motivated to post reviews, folks who have a good experience are less likely to post to yahoo, city-data or anywhere else.

[Cardiff Giant]

We had AHS when we moved here 5 years ago with mixed results. If somehting was broken, like inoperable, they could fix it. If it was a borderline issue they are hapless.

One example was our HVAC system. When we used the heat, the temp in the house wouldn't go above 68 deg in the winter. We had AHS come out and they explained to us that that's just how a heat pump works and it was normal operation. Now I grew up where they use oil burners for heat and I was accustomed to some toasty heat when we needed it. We had them out a few more times for issues that they deemed "normal" with no resoultion so we canned them.

They tried to get us to renew and I told them that I wanted a $50 credit (or 2) for wasting my time and money. When they said that wasn't going to happen I told them not to call me again. That worked.

One other thing is that they use the cheapest possible replacement parts. They replaced one of our AC condensers once (cost about $450 overall) and the thing died again within 2 years. We had a Trane system and the replacement part that they used rhymed with Trane (like Crain or Payne lol).

We've since had our whole HVAC system replaced and it works great now.

[10scoachrick]

We've come out a little 'behind' in our two years with Old Republic. No fault of theirs, we've only had two minor claims and both were repaired right zippy...no problems, contractors came out quickly and our cost was limited to the deductible.

THIS year is the question...Do we continue to pay for this 'insurance' and leave $300+/year 'on the table' for peace of mind? OR do we set that money aside to cover any problems in our 6 year-old house? It's basically a gamble. The HVAC system would be the main concern--the technicians who service our units vote in favor of coverage(they are actually NOT on the contractor list for O-R) to avoid the 'big hit', should one of our units experience a catastrophic failure. I figured the first year premium was 'included' in the home price, the second year gave us coverage while we 'got familiar' with the various systems in the house. Do we gamble another $4-500 for this year or take the chance? That's where WE stand in this discussion.

Of course, the discussion changes when considering the 'difficulty' of making a claim of significant size(like a water-heater or HVAC failure) and getting an adequate response from the warranty company. Hmmmm.....

[Jennibc]

AHS improperly refused a claim before we got our paperwork in the mail. When we got the paperwork a couple of months after we moved in, we found a clause that said they covered the issue in question, they insisted we never called so they would not reimburse us. I would never buy one of these things, because if something breaks, they replace with builder grade, which isn't the highest quality and you have to use their contractors.

[motherofthree]

I decided not to renew the AHS contract after reading what is excluded from the contract. It's a lot of things so look at it before you commit.

My oven went Stephen King on me - lights would go on and off for no reason and when I turned it on to bake it, it locked the door and go up to 500 degrees like it was cleaning. I had a frozen pizza in it - wasn't pretty. I had to turn off the breaker.

I called AHS and the guy that came really didn't know what to. He replaced the control panel and everything seemed fine at first but then it started again. It was a months after my contract expired to I called a very good repair guy and he told me the AHS guy replaced the wrong component. He said they work for very little and the guys that accept the AHS contracts are companies that don't have enough business to stay afloat without them.

I would rather have the ability to choose my contractor than AHS.

[eileenkeeney]

Since the Warranty is included with the home purchase, my risk is more limited to:

- the cost of the visit.
I pay them $60 and they come and tell me that the item is not covered, my $60 is wasted. Since there is no way for me to know if the part that is causing the problem, is not covered, I still am stuck paying the $60 to find out. I realize that often stuff really is not covered, but there is no way for me to know which part failed until it is looked at.

- The risk of it costing me $60 to have a cheap part (that will just fail and cost me more money later) used to fix the problem.

- The waste of time, as I deal with them

One reason for my buying a house is I am tired of dealing with the maintenance issues in a rental.
I have seen what happens when as-cheap-as-possible is the motive.
Waiting for parts to arrive, that can be picked up at home depot. Replacing the minimal necessary to fix the main immediate problem, while ignoring the corroding plumbing around the immediate problem.

The things people describe, when dealing with home warranty companies, correlate very closely with what I experience in my apartment. (Like being told it is unreasonable to expect my AC to cool below 78, and that was when it was in the low 90s outside).

It seems to me that a better home warranty model, would be one where the company issuing the warranty did
- Initial inspection (this way they know the condition of what they are covering)
- on going maintenance during the warranty period (this way they know that proper maintenance is being done)
- Replacement and repair
- no exclusions ( except external events, like fire, flood, mis-use )
They could even base the price of the warranty on the condition they discover when doing the inspection.

Instead we get these companies just offering a set price, and mitigating their own risk with so many exclusions as to make the policies almost worthless.

I will probably go with Old Republic (since they let me submit requests on line, saving me a phone call).
But I have not ruled out, just letting the Seller keep the $500, and not making them buy the warranty as per the contract.

I am still curious what the reason is, that Realtors write into sales contracts, that the seller will purchase a warranty.
Would they not serve their buyer better if they wrote in that same $500 toward closing costs?

Do any of the Realtors that recommend these home warranties, actually carry them on their own homes?