Home Warranty Companies
 

Our house in Fenney is 3 years old, and I am starting to think about whether I should think about protecting appliances and sysems in the house. Has anyone had any experience with companies such as Choice Home Warranty, Select Home Warranty, Complete Care Home Warranty, etc.?

Save your money and don't buy a home warranty. They will provide lousy service from substandard repair companies. A lot of times, an appliance needs to be replaced, not repaired, but if you have a home warranty, you won't have a choice. Also, you will sometimes need to wait several days to get a repair that you need immediately, like your HVAC in August.

Agreed
Not to mention look at cost of repairs with almost new appliances over say a ten year period. We have always been way ahead by self insuring.

When we first moved in we experienced EXACTLY THAT. We bought an AHS warranty just until we let things "wring out" for a couple months since it was a 9yr old pre-owned home. Had a A/C issue in Sept 2017 and had to wait 3 days for repairman because he had to come from 200 miles away as he was the only company that would deal with AHS. He replaced the compressor FAN (which I told him was NOT the problem) and it failed again. I called them back and they sent the same guy out 3 days later (who on a "recall" does NOT get paid) and he wasn't happy. He replaced the drain FLOAT (which I told him again was NOT the problem). A/C failed again, he refused to come back so I cancelled the policy and spent $12 on a capacitor and a relay and fixed it myself.

Moral of the story ... always keep a capacitor and relay "in stock" for a quick DIY repair or hire a local guy who will charge an understandable arm and a leg to do it for you on the same day if you're not comfortable doing it yourself. :D

Used American home warranty and they were terrible. Whenever a service person would show up they would do nothing but complain. Days of waiting to get them to show up

I agree with all of the above comments, self insure this way YOU are in control, YOU get to pick a suitable repair/replace company, etc.

We use Choice Home Warranty fast response ,good service , follow up to verify satisfaction .You can negotiate the price.

352-307-5100. BROWARD.
I have used this local company for 11 years in my first home and now going on 5 years in my second home to protect my appliances; stove, refrigerator,washer, dryer,hot water heater,A/C unit, garbage disposal, dish washer, etc.
If something goes wrong with above mentioned, they come to fix it quickly and if they can’t they will give you full replacement.
If appliances are over ten years they will not insure them. Since yours are only 3 years you have nothing to worry about.
They offer 3 different plans, FROM approximately $350- $550 yearly, I have always used the maximum plan, and have gotten my money’s worth over the years; and I have used them over the years multiple times and they have either fixed my problem or replaced an item, no hassle whatsoever. Good Luck !

We like Browards and they have been worth the money.

Broward
 

We did not renew Broward after one year because they wanted to replace a bronze finish plumbing part with a chrome finished part even though all of the plumbing fixtures in the house were bronze finish. They wanted to charge over $50 to order the matching handle on a commode.

Ok, first off how old are your appliances?? Appliances now a days if your lucky last 10 years. When a 10 year old appliance starts giving you a problem, unless its a cheap quick fix you can do yourself get rid of it and buy new. Most likely that new appliance will also save you money in your electric bill because it will be designed to use less energy. Second, save the annual money you might spend on those costly whole house warranties and put it towards buying a new appliance when needed.

Wow. It's a shame you all have had such bad experiences. We have a policy on our house in Maryland with our local utility (well actually a spin-off from the utility) but the same company that sells us the policy has their own technicians and dispatches them. I guess that is the main difference. And they always give priority service to those with the service contracts which is the ONLY reason I use them. We generally get a tech out by the next day. We have an extra policy on our generator which didn't kick in one night during a tropical storm so we had no AC in August (luckily it was about 10:00pm so wasn't scorching yet) We called their emergency number and got a call back from a tech 10 minutes later who was on call and working at another call and said he would be there in 2 hours. An hour later the power came back on and I called him and said I would I schedule a daytime appointment to have it looked at since the storm had passed as well.

Financially, most people will do better to self-insure in the long run. That's how the companies make money; they charge on average more than it takes to fix the appliances and they make money over their entire customer base. We had a chronic problem with our 18-19 year old A/C unit and had guys out there a few times either same day or next day until we replaced it. They also replaced our glass stove top free when we accidentally damaged it and the damage wasn't even covered by the policy. We have probably come close to breaking even financially but the priority service would keep us paying for the policy even if we virtually never used it. I NEED my A/C!

It sounds like I'll be disappointed when I get down there....sigh

Been using them since 2014 on two different houses. Quick response and quality repairs. My appliances are over 10 years old and they will fix them until they can't get parts. They are a LOCAL company and have been very pleased with cost/service. Even have emergency people working the weekends.

Home warranty
 

Go with Boward… We’ve have had them for the past 7yrs. Have had to call them on different things and they fixed what ever the problem was….. They also do Maintenance on our Air Condition. They come twice a yr. ( $149 ) Well worth having your appliances covered.

Had Choice Home Warranty for 6 years. Cost they paid for covered repairs was probably higher than the premium charged. But they were a pain in the a$$ to deal with. The repair technicians were less than sub-standard. The last claim, we went three weeks without a refrigerator hearing one excuse after another why the tech couldn't finish the repairs. Finally fired them and insisted Choice send a qualified tech out. They did the same day and that guy fixed the frig in 15 minutes. Avoid Choice at all cost.

As I read other responses I just wanted to chime in. DO NOT USE AHS (American Home Shield). Terrible wait times since they only use certain repair companies to help and then once diagnosed the repair is usually only covered by a certain amount. Save your money and put a little bit aside each month for a repair if needed. You will get better service and a better value when needed. DO not use a warranty company.

We recently had a $300 repair[ took 15 minutes] because the central half of the electric stove heating element burned out after 6 years. We did get it done because the rest of the stove/oven works ok. But what galls me is WHIRLPOOL then sent a 3 year offer for$1000 to cover it further. My GE appliances in my first house seemed far better than the Whirlpool in this one.

i wouldn't spend $$ on any of those companies-posters above state wait until it breaks down then replace. even clark howard warns against them:icon_wink:

Had choice home warranty and it was the biggest waste of money. They charged an enormous sum for limited on appliances and home systems coverage. Stove broke down and it took weeks to show up, had to pay a deductible and a portion of the visit. The repair lasted a few months. They do not replace anything that breaks down each item has a deductible and they contract out. They are being sued in many states for non service resulting in larger damage. The entire industry is riddled with fraud.

Put aside an emergency fund instead.

You will be disappointed on much more than you never - now and later. This is not the friendliest home town it is now a corporate planned senior shelter. In 2-5 years most folks won’t recognize this place.

Home Warranty
 

I have paid Broward almost $800 per year. I find them to be stingy in the repairs I’ve needed. I feel I would be ahead of the game if I put the money in a savings account. If you have a three year old home, chances are you will have a bundle of money in the bank before you need new appliances etc..

I knew a person many years ago that worked from home selling extended warranties on appliances for Sears. Her cut was 50% of the sale. Go figure.

Yes Choice Home Warranty has worked well for us too.

According to Clark Howard, warranty companies spend an average of 8 percent of the premiums they collect on claims.

Broward is the best option for home warranty, we and many of our friends have them. Very reasonable and they do what they say!
Broward Factory Service 352-307-5100

complete and utter scams. they sound great, but good luck getting a claim paid out

Self Insure
 

We have a separate savings account that we “pay” every month. We transfer 1/12th of the cost of home and appliance insurance into that account. In addition, we save the points on our credit cards to use toward repairs/new appliance purchase. We charge all purchases possible (we don’t charge more than we can pay in one month) and have been able to purchase new kitchen appliances “for free”.

I also have Boward and they have been great. Problem with our ice maker and they were out within a couple of days. Fixed now and all good.

Not defending Sears or the person you knew or know. Most people work for a company, government etc. They do not realize, her cut was 50% that is with zero benefits. The biggest tax most people pay is social security it is roughly 7%. For self employed it is 13%.
Few realize you employer pays the same as you do to social security for you Benefits are worth at least 40% of what you are paid and it is tax free income.
Opportunities like that are a dime a dozen. Presentation to an employee goes and you make 50% on every sale. How many sales do you make? Your not good enough we have
Ken Jones he makes a week. Ken Jones? OOPs the person distributing the leads is his cousin or he is buying her gifts etc.

Check out the company with the BBB. Then make a decision.

Skip

Exactly right. Happened to us. Paid $40+/mo for over 2 years. A/C went out and their repair guy could not get their for several days. Had to have a new system installed (installed within 24 hours). Warranty company (American Home Shield) refused to pay a dime. These people are crooks and shysters.

Those ice makers are probably the biggest service problem on a refrigerator. We do not have any of the warranties. It is a replacement part. We had it replaced cost was if, I recall was about $300.

When your air conditioning fails in the summer, there are several highly qualified companies who will come to your house the same day and repair it. But, these companies do not work for a home warranty company because they have plenty of business and are not going to share their profits with a warranty company. So, the warranty company needs to hire a substandard repair company and they have no interest in showing up the same day because you have already paid for the home warranty. You need to wait several days or longer with no air conditioning. And, when they do show up, they are going to do the cheapest possible repair, even if the best option is to buy a new HVAC system. That is precisely why you should not buy a home warranty.

Home Warranty
 

Thank you all for your very helpful comments. I will avoid home service contracts and look to local service companies like Broward.

Not true. We had Broward for 15 years and they gave us wonderful Service

home warranty
 

We had Broward Factory Service for 15 years and they gave us great Service . We highly recommend them. Get all the bells and whistles with them. We got a new dishwasher when ours was unrepairable

I agree and Thursday am -noon or 1 they have a luncheon at Panera’s in Sumpter. Where they will explain the program and sign you up if you decide to join. I have had Choice #Warranty in previous years and find Broward much better. Full and quick replacements for A/C and air if the go down with Broward

Self insure. You are in control. Have done this since we moved here and I've come out way ahead.

Doesn't seem like a house only 3 years old would need anything. It is still brand new.

If they can't fix your A/C anymore and it's 10 - 15 years old, they actually will replace it for you for free? That can run into thousands of dollars for Broward. I don't see how they would do that.