re: Home Warranty Services

I had the same experience as Oweo when the warranty was provided by seller with a house I purchased. No way was I letting the child they sent (one a/c and one plumber) fix a problem he couldn't diagnose. I cancelled them and called my own guy.

I just bought my first house in South Carolina that came with a $500/year home warranty. A week after we moved in, the HVAC stopped working because water was filling the secondary drip pan. We called the home warranty company to come out to do the necessary repairs and they said via text they would come two days later. No time was given as to when they would show up. Two days rolls around and that morning we try to get them on the phone. Goes straight to voicemail three times before we leave a voicemail and text message wondering when they’re going to show up. Instead, person on the other end proceeds to text us instructions on how to fix the system. Mind you, I didn’t own a shop vac yet so this was pretty irritating. Said HVAC repair company that was texting us instructions never showed up that day and never answered a phone call. I learned way more about air handlers that day than i knew before pumping the water out. Needless to say, we will not be renewing the home warranty next year.

I used my Old Republic HOW so many times they canceled me. Two pump, filter and heater for the pool, the entire inside portion of one of my HVAC units. Repairmen they sent were likely otherwise unemployable-if I added up the teeth of all the guys that came out, I MIGHT get a full set. I did catch a break on the AC repair, the first guy out was too fat to do the work and the second company in actually had a clue and fixed it right. In no case did they make it out quickly, and I always had to pull citations out of my contract to get them to cover the repairs.

I got a year’s coverage with AHS through my purchase of my current home from the sellers, and for the 2 years since it expired they have filled up my snail mail and e-mail boxes with pleas to renew.

Was paying for a home warranty until I found out if my entire house decided to shite the bed, AC goes out, fridge, stove, pipe burst, etc, I would only be covered for $11,000. I was PayiNG $500 a year. That is a terrible investment in my mind.

And the most likely one to go out, the AC, was only covered for $2,000. And that doesn’t include the $150 deductible for any claim.

DId your cousin not glance through the long arse exception list that you have to sign with these stupid warranties?
They cover nothing basically.
Most warranties, or insurance, works by making their money on the majority of customers, and they will lose on some. That's just the nature of insurance.
With home warranties, they make sure they don't lose on any individual contract. They win all of them.

As everyone who's dealt with them knows, they are a scam that only still exist b/c stupid real estate people "gift" them when they assist in buying a house for you.

He must not have read the fine print. I had a warranty included on a house I bought in 2014. After they didn’t want to cover a plumbing issue b/c a toilet had to be removed, which took 2 minutes, I decided not to renew after it expired. Plus the company they sent had terrible reviews.

From what I’ve been hearing, the warranties don’t cover. You would better off saving that money separately in an emergency account and use cash.

You are using the wrong company

My parents just replaced their AC unit. Cost around $4k. Depends on the house, I guess.

They are scams. About six years ago I did work fir Old Republic and American Home Shield.
They made me wait for approval to repair. So customers would often go two weeks between diagnosis and repair. Then of course I got the blame. Then AHS would find a reason to disqualify a claim. All BS.
Then it took me 90 days to get paid back sometimes.

I hated it
Most companies will only sees out the low rung techs, and many more companies won't do the warranties at all.

Better to just put what you would pay a month into savings.
Then pay to fix or replace machine.
The only time it makes sense is if you have a house with a lot of Sweedish, German or New Zealand appliances no one works on. (Asko, Miele, Fisher/Paykel) or have Sub Zero or Viking.

I recently fixed a Viking oven and the part alone (control) was $500.