I know it’s shocking to say that salesmen aren’t honest, but the representatives of three large home warranty companies tell the same lie: “everything” covered that is malfunctioning will be immediately fixed or replaced.
There are scores of home warranty companies doing business and I decided to contact three of the bigger players in the industry: American Home Shield, Choice Home Warranty, and Select Home Warranty. I told their salesmen and a saleswoman that I’m a homeowner but did not disclose that I’m a journalist.
Each one insisted that except for cosmetic issues, everything under warranty would be quickly repaired or replaced if there is a problem.
They all wanted immediate access to my credit card – promising that I can cancel within 30 days.
They all refused to provide a sample contract until I gave them my credit card information.
They all assured me that they had plenty of service companies who would help me within 24 hours.
And they all insisted they were the largest warranty company in the country, until you pressed them and then they rephrased it to say they were “one” of the largest.
The companies cover everything from appliances to garbage disposals to roofs to hot water heaters, depending on your plan. Most charge a deductible of between $60 and $100 for each issue and the insurance kicks in after 30 days.
Annual costs are about $600 a year, but the more you say you’ll “think about it” the more discounts are offered. Of course, just like auto salesmen, they first have to “check” with their managers.
The Select Home Warranty salesman tried to talk me into a five-year contract for $2,250 upfront, with a sixth year kicked in for free.
We first wrote about these companies, 10 years ago and warned readers about complaints, including the fact that many good technicians didn’t want to work for them. We wanted to revisit the industry to see if the companies cleaned up their acts. They didn’t.
The Better Business Bureau rates American Home Shield as a B despite the fact that there were more than 15,000 complaints against it over the past three years. However, “that doesn’t include all the complaints: some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB’s standards for publication,” says the bureau.
This is one of the latest complaints dated March 8:
“Promised on March 8, 2021 by email that we would be reimbursed for purchase of new refrigerator. Payment not received. Multiple calls, Many promises to research and get back to us. Nothing. Today told that we would have to wait another 21 days – no email or any other confirmation of this. People we speak to will not/cannot give us a supervisor or their last names or how to contact them.”
The company did respond to the BBB, as it apparently does in all cases.
On April 13, American Shield wrote to the BBB that the customer did request payment of $1,171, the replace cost of a new refrigerator but it would not pay that amount.
Instead, the Claims Resolution Department said it had offered the client an unspecified smaller amount of money per Section D.2 of the contract – which “states: HSA reserves the right to offer cash in lieu of repair or replacement based on what HSA can expect to pay to repair the failure (parts and labor); this amount may be less than retail or less than your actual cost.”
Choice Home Warranty also has a B rating with the BBB despite the fact that its had more than 7,800 complaints closed in three years, but more importantly the BBB notes that in October 2019 the Arizona Attorney General filed a fraud complaint claiming that:
The AG was seeking up to $10,000 for each violation of Arizona Consumer Fraud Act. That lawsuit is ongoing.
Attorney General Mark Brnovich more recently filed a similar lawsuit against Amazon Home Warranty. Among other things, the suit claims that the company tried to hide its true identify and it used positive comments from another BBB website claiming to have been made about AHW.
In a third action earlier this year the Attorney General “obtained a consent agreement against Landmark Home Warranty, securing up to $1,000,000 in restitution for 26,000 Arizona consumers after the company failed to provide promised expedited services during heat emergencies.”
I also contacted Select Home Warranty which also has a B rating from the BBB despite more than 4.400 closed complaints during the past three years.
The most recent complaint was filed on April 20 accusing the company of refusing to replace the motor on a broken garage door motor, which with labor cost $525.
The company agreed that the complaint was accurate but said that under “section 8.3 of its agreement, it did not have to replace the motor. The company said it takes into consideration the “depreciated value” of the item.
It initially offered the customer $175 but – after the complaint was filed – as a “show of goodwill” the company offered to pay $300.
So read the fine print before getting locked into a contract – especially ANY warranty insurance.
Hey dinosaur, they have “Saleswomen” also!
you are right, it was just awkward to use both, let me look at in again
George,
Have you already reviewed Car Shield? I called to inquire about their protection plan for my 2016 Mazda X5 just to see what it would cost. They used very high pressure, argumentative, and used that “let me talk to the manager” spiel as they went down from $ 79/month to 69 to 59 and tried to shame me into taking that and providing my credit card.
I don’t know how well perform for the poor souls who end up paying them.
Regards,
Jim M.
CHW could not fix my refrigerator and would not replace it. After calling in to complain, they sent me $200 when my refrigerator cost over $1,100. They are the worst.