Advise on home warranty companies; no where else to turn....
 

1 word: AVOID.

As you saw with AHS, they will send out the cheapest bidder they can get their hands on (which usually means you'll get a half-assed job). If you are buying a house, get a home warranty for a year or so, but beyond that, maintain your appliances yourself, or budget for replacements as they wear out. You get what you pay for.

It depends upon the state you are in, each is different.

They are in business to make money. They will keep throwing parts at worn out junk just to keep it going and not have to replace. I used to do contract work on water heaters for one of them, they did not like to replace them but basically if I told them it was too far gone to get it working they would agree to replace it with the cheapest one available. I must have replaced too many because they did not renew my contract.;)

^ Agree 100%. One of the challenges with buying a new or even slightly used home is the builder-grade appliances. Builders source the absolute lowest cost appliances they can find. And the appliance manufacturers are all to happy to cater to this market. Even the big "reputable" name brands produce a line of cheapo bottom dollar models just for the builders to install in bulk.

Coming from wrenching on a Mercedes though, you'll find appliances are fantastically simple machines to work on. Whether it's your central A/C, dishwasher, wash machine, oven, whatever. And there are a number of good parts web sites that have exploded diagrams and every repair part imaginable. You'll also discover that the manufacturers frequently release updated or revised parts that solve known issues (kind of like a car, hmmm) so when that pesky defrost coil for the freezer's evaporator burns out, you might find that GE makes an upgraded dual-element coil.

Anyhow, I'm rambling now, but you get the idea. Home warranty repair folks are like the minimum wage Jiffie Lube teenager changing your oil - they're barely qualified for the job, and they have no pride in their work.

I had AHS a year after I got my house. They replaced a furnace that had crapped out. The replacement was adequate...nothing fancy but it works. The installers were actually great. They did excellent work adapting the old ductwork to the new sizing and cleaned up the electrical going to it as well. I've heard a lot of horror stories, but my experience with the installers was great (the warranty only covered the replacement PART, not the install labor which may have made a difference). Biggest pain in the was was waiting on hold for 6 hours to put my claim in. They don't make it easy, but we got our money's worth. That said, take the amount you would put into a warranty and stick it in a rainy day account.

Sure thing.
 

Consider the top three home warranty companies, you may have to use the process of elimination to determine which are the top three. Average their monthly fees and start a savings account with a sum equal to the average of those fees.

If your cost for repairs/replacement of your home's systems then charge the difference between your savings and those cost to a credit card. Just make payments with future savings until it's paid back to normal.

The probability is high that you'll come out even or better the longer you continue to save instead of pay.

I had experience with one of them for 3 jobs and every job was not done.

1 was an electric oulet issue - the GFCI would indicate red and lock out, meaning wiring fault, the guy they sent couldnt identify the fault and took money from my mother, I later on drove to their local office and got my money back and asked them abt this job.

Their electric repair only covers changing wall sockets and plates (anyone can do that)

the next was an AC problem. the guy stuck gauges on a dirty condenser coil and adjusted the r22 charge, - cue next day, no worky.

comes back - says there is a leak in the evap and condenser, instead of supplying a whole new matched unit (which would have made sense) - they supplied an old stock r22 evap slab coil furnace and an R407 condenser unit. :confused:

if they can find its 5 cents cheaper to do it the wrong way - then the wrong way it will be done.

I agree with getting home warranty after getting a house, to cover items that wear out. This is true with houses that are older, or appliances which look older. Later on, save up and do it right. This way you won't get stuck with appliances you did not choose, but rather, the home warranty dept chose for you.

In our case, our 1981 house had its original water heater. Yes it made knocking sounds every time it was running. Called and $60 later, we have a brand new unit. Not bad, the guy did an amazing install. So far so good, it's been 4 years now.

As a general rule, only insure for things which would be a catastrophy. I don't put home appliances in that set. Better to invest the money you would spend on the insurance payments.

I recall that America Home Shield was the company which the seller paid for the warranty when we bought our current house in 2001. Our realtor pushed us to include that in the offer. I am guessing he got a finder's fee. The electric water heater failed within a year. AHS sent a plumbing company out to inspect, then claimed, "wasn't grounded per code, they wouldn't pay". I knew that was bogus (couldn't cause a failure), and it was wired per code when the house was built in 1972. I researched and found the plumbing company was actually owned by AHS, so expect all they did was write up bogus finds. I had to pursue a lawsuit before I got AHS to pay. Don't waste your money and sanity dealing with any of those warranty crooks. Their warranties are worth less than a degree from Trump U.

I am an HVAC contractor... I own my company, and I get a LOT of customers from home warranty rip off sequences...

See... hwc's pay the techs diddly... a job I would charge 3000 for, they allocate 600... so, the techs are motivated to "find" problems that aren't covered so they can make money.

My advice with someone that has the warranty... get the quote, then call your own tech to verify and quote repairs... get a check from the hwc, and use it like a coupon towards a real repair...

Certain things the hwc do well... water heaters (those are EXPENSIVE to replace nowadays!) but if you have an older ac... nope...