Best Home Warranty Company

[HMLRHT1]

Can everyone please give me your response on a home warranty company you specifically used and are happy with or not happy with. Please no hear says.
Thanks in advance.

[Chatbrat]

None of them, they're betting nothing goes wrong and you're betting something goes wrong--save the $$ you would pay them, and you will be $$ ahead, the same goes for all extended warranties--use your credit card and all factory warranties are doubled-check exceptions

[retiredguy123]

Home warranties are a waste of money. All of them.

[Wiotte]

Maybe Consumer Reports has written an article.


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[vintageogauge]

Home warranties are a waste of money. All of them.

That's not true. My son, over a 3 year period had replaced free of charge 2 hot water tanks, 1 furnace, 1 whole house air conditioning unit, numerous garage door opener repairs and finally 2 new door openers, and best of all he had a high end refrigerator that died, the policy had a $2,500 limit for those and that is what he received towards a new one. His premiums for those three years were just under $1,800.00. We had very good experiences also, 3 furnace repairs, micro-wave replaced, and garage door opener replaced. Not as good as our son but it paid for itself. We never had a problem with a claim with the exception of it takes up to 24 hours to get someone out to check the problem. Both ours and our sons home were built in the mid 90's so we felt a need to have the coverage. Here in TV the homes are newer and don't know if it would be worth it.

[Abby10]

That's not true. My son, over a 3 year period had replaced free of charge 2 hot water tanks, 1 furnace, 1 whole house air conditioning unit, numerous garage door opener repairs and finally 2 new door openers, and best of all he had a high end refrigerator that died, the policy had a $2,500 limit for those and that is what he received towards a new one. His premiums for those three years were just under $1,800.00. We had very good experiences also, 3 furnace repairs, micro-wave replaced, and garage door opener replaced. Not as good as our son but it paid for itself. We never had a problem with a claim with the exception of it takes up to 24 hours to get someone out to check the problem. Both ours and our sons home were built in the mid 90's so we felt a need to have the coverage. Here in TV the homes are newer and don't know if it would be worth it.

What company do you and your son use? We have Choice Warranty on one of our rentals. Although we only had one small incident so far, they were very easy to contact and communicate with, and prompt in their response. I saw an article in a real estate magazine not too long ago that listed the top 5 best warranty companies and Choice was one of the ones listed. Unfortunately, I don't remember who the other 4 were. I'll have to see if I can retrieve that article and report back.

[retiredguy123]

Choice Home Warranty is not BBB accredited and received over 900 negative customer reviews compared to only 100 positive reviews. The Internet is loaded with negative comments about the company.

[vintageogauge]

American Home Shield. You will notice that the more you want covered the more it costs. Our son has a 4 car garage, 2 furnaces and AC's, 2 hot water tanks, high end fridge, etc. so his was a little higher in premium cost than ours. Our premiums were in the $450.00 range his was about $600.00. They don't even come out and inspect anything, they send you a contract, you give them a credit card and your covered. If you need them, they don't deny it, someone will be there within 24 hours.

[Abby10]

Choice Home Warranty is not BBB acredited and received over 900 negative customer reviews compared to only 100 positive reviews. The Internet is loaded with negative comments about the company.

Thanks for your input. I'll take into consideration the customer reviews. As far as the BBB accreditation, I consider that a joke and never even bother to consider that when making a determination about an organization. That's just my own personal experience from knowing the inner workings of certain companies and the ratings placed on them by BBB. Not at all reliable in my book.

[Abby10]

American Home Shield. You will notice that the more you want covered the more it costs. Our son has a 4 car garage, 2 furnaces and AC's, 2 hot water tanks, high end fridge, etc. so his was a little higher in premium cost than ours. Our premiums were in the $450.00 range his was about $600.00. They don't even come out and inspect anything, they send you a contract, you give them a credit card and your covered. If you need them, they don't deny it, someone will be there within 24 hours.

Thank you. Will consider them in the future if our current warranty doesn't work out as expected, but so far so good.

[CFrance]

American Home Shield. You will notice that the more you want covered the more it costs. Our son has a 4 car garage, 2 furnaces and AC's, 2 hot water tanks, high end fridge, etc. so his was a little higher in premium cost than ours. Our premiums were in the $450.00 range his was about $600.00. They don't even come out and inspect anything, they send you a contract, you give them a credit card and your covered. If you need them, they don't deny it, someone will be there within 24 hours.
Is that a yearly fee?
When you say your son paid $1800 and the refrigerator was $2500, what does that mean, exactly? Did he pay $1800 to cover the fridge alone, or was that his total bill for insurance? Which is more than $600, so I'm a little confused.
Do they cover everything at replacement cost?

[vintageogauge]

Is that a yearly fee?
When you say your son paid $1800 and the refrigerator was $2500, what does that mean, exactly? Did he pay $1800 to cover the fridge alone, or was that his total bill for insurance? Which is more than $600, so I'm a little confused.
Do they cover everything at replacement cost?

I stated that his premium cost over that 3 year period was $1,800 the $600 and $450 figure is annual and is based on the coverage you choose.

[CathyandJohn]

We have American Home Shield. We had 3 claims last year all on new appliances. They replaced our washer, our heating and air conditioning (after 13 service calls) we were allotted $1000 toward a new unit and they replaced a water heater. They refused to replace our refrigerator (high end only 2 yrs old) as they said the problem was a design flaw. It was the ice maker. We ended up purchasing a new one. They raised our fee from $600 to $1400 a year due to our claim referrals. We are looking...

[retiredguy123]

We have American Home Shield. We had 3 claims last year all on new appliances. They replaced our washer, our heating and air conditioning (after 13 service calls) we were allotted $1000 toward a new unit and they replaced a water heater. They refused to replace our refrigerator (high end only 2 yrs old) as they said the problem was a design flaw. It was the ice maker. We ended up purchasing a new one. They raised our fee from $600 to $1400 a year due to our claim referrals. We are looking...
This just proves my point that these home warranties are not worth buying. If you own a house, you should be prepared to pay out of pocket for the repair and replacement of the appliances when they break down. That way, you have complete flexibility to hire who you want to do the work. A home warranty locks you in to dealing with one company that is not in the business of fixing things. They are in the business of selling warranties and making money by denying claims.

[vintageogauge]

This just proves my point that these home warranties are not worth buying. If you own a house, you should be prepared to pay out of pocket for the repair and replacement of the appliances when they break down. That way, you have complete flexibility to hire who you want to do the work. A home warranty locks you in to dealing with one company that is not in the business of fixing things. They are in the business of selling warranties and making money by denying claims.

How does that prove your point? We never had a problem with a claim nor did our son. It might make a difference where you live. Our repair people were all local to the town in which we lived, quality people in all cases.

[Brandigirl]

I have used American Home Shield living in California, Wisconsin and WPB, Florida. Great for older homes. About 500/year. Worth every penny and always recouped our money and then some. . Brand new hot water heater, garbage disposal repair, furnace repair, microwave repaired and then replaced when they couldn't fix it, refrigerator repairs, electrical, garage door motor replaced with brand new one, pipe burst in ceiling repaired (this would have been very expensive). All for just a $70.00 deductible. Very easy to submit work order. Doesn't matter how old appliances are. If they can't repair it , they will replace it.

[jerseyvillager]

Broward Factory Service. Great service and great piece of mind.

[PoolBrews]

I have never had good experiences with home warranty companies. My last two homes (not my current home - it's brand new :)) each came with a seller purchased home warranty. The 1st was with Choice - the first time we had to use the warranty I was asked to produce records showing that the furnace had been serviced EVERY YEAR. Of course I didn't have any receipts for this - I had just bought the home. They wouldn't pay. If you read the fine print, it states that you need to have all appliances serviced and inspected every year and keep records - otherwise they can deny any claim. At this point it depends on how hardball your local rep is.

My next home came with American Home Shield (I told them in the purchase agreement I didn't want Choice). Same issue arose again. After 2 years the A/C unit went out. Do you have records showing inspections and regular maintenance since the units were put in? No? So sorry, that is not covered.

It will cost you more to have everything inspected and maintained every year than the warranty itself to ensure coverage.

Put the money in a separate account, and use the money when something does actually break - you're better off.

[EdFNJ]

Problem here is, since we are "sort of" in the sticks the warranty company only has one company willing to deal with them and the drive from wherever to here. We had a warranty and around 40 days in we had an A/C problem. They sent out some jamoke from Ocala who didn't know his butt from his elbow. When he failed TWICE to fix the problem just throwing all but the correct part at it (A/C randomly not cooling) I called the warranty company and asked for someone else. They said there was no one else covering this area so I cancelled my policy as 99% of what I cared about was A/C coverage. I went on Google and googled "a/c randomly not cooling." $12 overnight from Amazon later I fixed it myself ... a simple fix ..... contactor relay. He says they only get paid for the initial call and if they have to go back they are on their own and they aren't happy about that.

[retiredguy123]

Problem here is, since we are "sort of" in the sticks the warranty company only has one company willing to deal with them and the drive from wherever to here. We had a warranty and around 40 days in we had an A/C problem. They sent out some jamoke from Ocala who didn't know his butt from his elbow. When he failed TWICE to fix the problem just throwing all but the correct part at it (A/C randomly not cooling) I called the warranty company and asked for someone else. They said there was no one else covering this area so I cancelled my policy as 99% of what I cared about was A/C coverage. I went on Google and googled "a/c randomly not cooling." $12 overnight from Amazon later I fixed it myself ... a simple fix ..... contactor relay. He says they only get paid for the initial call and if they have to go back they are on their own and they aren't happy about that.
That is the problem with home warranties. If you were paying out of pocket for the repair, there are at least five A/C companies who would have come to your house within a few hours and fixed the problem.

[Chellybean]

Problem here is, since we are "sort of" in the sticks the warranty company only has one company willing to deal with them and the drive from wherever to here. We had a warranty and around 40 days in we had an A/C problem. They sent out some jamoke from Ocala who didn't know his butt from his elbow. When he failed TWICE to fix the problem just throwing all but the correct part at it (A/C randomly not cooling) I called the warranty company and asked for someone else. They said there was no one else covering this area so I cancelled my policy as 99% of what I cared about was A/C coverage. I went on Google and googled "a/c randomly not cooling." $12 overnight from Amazon later I fixed it myself ... a simple fix ..... contactor relay. He says they only get paid for the initial call and if they have to go back they are on their own and they aren't happy about that.

Just a FYI my husband was a HVAC contractor for 40 years and had an impeccable reputation and would never work for any of the warranty company's you folks are speaking of.
They pay a cut rate hourly rate and if the problem is intermittent they will not pay for a return call, The only contractors that will work for them are the ones that are starting off and couldn't find there fanny in a room full of mirrors.
STAY AWAY!!!! MHO

[Challenger]

Just a FYI my husband was a HVAC contractor for 40 years and had an impeccable reputation and would never work for any of the warranty company's you folks are speaking of.
They pay a cut rate hourly rate and if the problem is intermittent they will not pay for a return call, The only contractors that will work for them are the ones that are starting off and couldn't find there fanny in a room full of mirrors.
STAY AWAY!!!! MHO

This type of insurance is a bad idea for homeowners. Almost no corporation buys insurance on small appliances or household type systems. Bank the $450+ per year (don't forget that there are deductibles usually). Insurance should be considered for catastrophic losses not everyday type maintenance or foreseeable wear and tear. JMHO ( and the opinion of most small business managers.)

[EdFNJ]

How does that prove your point? We never had a problem with a claim nor did our son. It might make a difference where you live. Our repair people were all local to the town in which we lived, quality people in all cases.


That is exactly the problem around here. The service people these warranty companies usually contract with and dispatch are often in Ocala, Orlando or even further away. They get very ****y when they have to drive an hour on a re-call and not get paid for it. Back up north it was different as there were many locals doing the service.

The Villages is a large place in itself it's pretty much isolated for these folks out in "the big cities." :)

[Kfrgolf]

Verry happy with Choice. I'm a big believer. **** happens..plumbing, garbage disposals, water heaters, appliances etc.