Had American Home Shield home warranty for 15 months, and when I needed repair of my a/c unit there was no provider in my area. Big rip-off if you live in a rural area. I am in process of filing complaints.

We have been with AHS since 1996. The only reason we stayed with them was because they advertise a guarantee that they will repair/replace broken equipment. My washer/dryer is over 15 years old. They are constantly breaking down. AHS will not replace them. Instead, we have to pay $55 (now $60) fee per service and do without them for about 2 weeks while awaiting repairs. The latest repair man claimed there is an access issue and we need to pull the machine out from the wall in order for him to repair it. He was not our regular repairmen. When I asked for our regular repairman we were denied since the ticket was already open. This company is running a scam and are getting away with it. It cost $500 per year for the warranty, $60 for each service visit and a lot of time and aggravation fighting with the company to abide by their contract. There are several loop holes built into the contract. I have heard more "it's not covered" than anything else. All of my appliances are old now but I doubt that they will be replaced by AHS. They did replace my 2hp garbage disposal unit with a cheaper 1.5hp one.

I received information in the mail today about a lawsuit against AHS... they are requesting people who had service from 2001 till 2008 to participate in the settlement. This does not mean you will go to court, it means you will get a settlement for entering your side of your story (if wronged by AHS) and you will be entitled to any $$ compensation if they find them at fault. The following is a summary of my submission for the hearing. I hope they take this company down... although I would hate to see more people lose their jobs... They incompetence cost me well over $10, 000. If you would like to view the information about the hearing and or be a participant, here is the info site... http://www.edlesonclassaction.com/

We had AHS service from July 2004 to July 2007. They repeatedly sent out the same company to 'fix' our Dishwasher. After the 5th or 6th time paying the deductible, I asked that they send out a new company b/c obviously, this company and its workers did not know the first thing about repairing dishwashers. I was told, 'no' and that I had to use the company they recommended. I repeatedly asked them why I should keep paying someone to come and 'fix' something if they aren't fixing it... no answer. I asked the so-called manager in charge if he would continue to pay someone to fix his car, appliances, etc. only to find it is not fixed. He said no. I asked him why I should continue to do so then & he said, 'that is not my problem.' Within moments of that comment he said, 'Oh I see that you are up for renewal next month. Would you like to renew your policy.' I cannot repeat my response to him.

The same situation occurred with our sewer. We ended up paying a separate company to come out and actually fix it. The same thing also happened to our AC... it was from 1964 (again, this is 2007 when this occurred). They sent someone out to 'fix' it, only to have it break, again days later, mid summer when it was 98 degrees and I was 7 months pregnant... you get the picture. I called again & had to argue with them that I was calling again about the same thing. They kept telling me that they had already sent someone out that week. I repeatedly told them that they did, but he didn't fix it & that I needed someone else. Again, I was told that I could not get another company, but they offered to send someone out to look at it again & I would not get charged the deductible. They sent out the SAME idiot who poked, prodded and said, everything was fine. My house was 85 degrees when the thermostat was set at 60 degrees. We paid a separate company to come out and give us a second opinion. The AC needed to be replaced... again it was from 1964. When I called AHS and told them, they said, 'so... why should we believe someone else?' We didn't renew... obviously.

I have filed report with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and my local department of Consumer Affairs on AHS. This company is committing consumer fraud.

My hot water heater and furnace are both 16 years old. Recently they both went on the blink. AHS sent a technician to look at the furnace. He 'fixed' the auxiliary limit and told me my furance was in its 'senior year.' A few days later it is 18 degrees outside and my heat still was not working. AHS sends the technician back and he then says my evaporator coil is dirty and that is a maintenance issue. AHS refused service. I had an independent, well respected, accredited BBB company come out and look at my furnace. They said I need a new furnace.

I called AHS and they said they would send someone for a second opinion. I had to call back twice to see what happened. The first time, they said they canceled the request, and the second time they said the company didn't get my fax. Stall tactics, because they did not expect me to get a second outside opinion. Christmas is tomorrow. This company that is so 'caring' doesn't give a hoot about denying me heat. AHS says if the technician finds that it is a maintenance issue again, I have to pay another service fee. Over my dead body. I am not giving them a dime, and if they try to take it from my bank account they will be in big trouble.

With regard to my hot water heater, I contacted AOSmith the company that makes the heater. They said the life span of my heater is 7-13 years. At 16 mine has done its job. Why would I be maintaining something beyond its service life?

AHS hires low grade service companies. Their MO is to say it is a maintenance issue, and even if your item has been maintained, they say your service company was incompetent or did the work wrong. Anything to get out of replacing the item.

I bought my first place three months ago. Pretty much all of the major appliances were new with the exception of the furnace (18 years old). I tried to get the seller to replace, but they refused, so we compromised with a 1 year homeowners warranty.

Luckily or unluckily last Tuesday I came home to a 40 degree home. The furnace had blown. Everything I read in AHS's warranty said they would service within normal business hours - I was worried I would not get my heat turned on that night, so I called the company that the seller had used to service the unit prior to me moving in. He came that evening and told me I needed a new furnace, which would cost $2400. He reset my furnace, and said that would give me heat temporarily, but it was only a matter of time before it stopped working again. (It shut-off within the hour).

I then called AHS, they said I should have called them first and they needed one of their vendors to come look at it. The next day was Christmas Eve - so I set up the appointment for Friday (3 days later). Their vendor showed up, did the same thing the initial company had done (reset the furnace), and said the internal temperature was 20 degrees to high and that's what was causing the problem. Well, surprise, surprise, the furnace stopped working again shortly after he left.

I was given a 30 day warranty on his work, so the same guy came back the next day. He looked at my furnace for 30 mins. before telling me that now he thought the problem was that all of the units in my building were sharing the same chimney - and it wasn't big enough and that was causing a backdraft.

First of all, why hasn't that been an issue for 18 years? Second of all, I live on the first floor, warm air rises, wouldn't that create the biggest problem for the top floor unit? He said he couldn't verify if that in fact was the cause, so he would need a service manager with more experience to come out and verify.

This was Saturday afternoon, his service manager couldn't come out until Monday afternoon. (Keep in mind I still don't have heat in December in Chicago). I made the service tech stay with me while I called AHS customer service and had them attempt to explain to me why it was acceptable to go 48 more hours without heat and even the potential for a proper diagnosis. They gave me the run around about the vendor needing to report it to authorization before anyone could move forward. Finally, I let the service guy go.

Immediately after he left I returned a call I had from the previous day (800.469.0892) where AHS had asked me to answer a satisfaction survey for my service call. I spoke with someone else who I notified that I was extremely dissatisfied with their service thus far. A. I already had a technician tell me I needed a new furnace. B. They were making me wait 48 more hours before they would diagnose, etc. etc. I asked if I could be transferred to a different vendor since I was clearly making no progress with the current one. Ultimately she asked to put me on hold while she spoke with her manager. Her manager agreed to allow my service request to be transferred to a new vendor, that would come see me that night!

He arrived, and after less than 5 mins. said 'well the good news is you're getting a new furnace'. But he told me not to get too excited b/c it still needed to be authorized from AHS. His boss came out the next morning, confirmed what the other guy had found, and said he would do his best to get AHS to authorize.

Luckily I got a call later that day that authorized replacing my furnace. the owner of the heating company said he was surprised it was authorized so quickly. I told him I had been very persistent with AHS on my side. And he said sometimes it helps to have people coming at them from both sides. As of right now it is supposed to be installed tomorrow morning. I will let you know how that goes.

Honestly, I trust AHS 0% - Given all I have read I think it was a case of me getting lucky, persistence, the squeaky wheel getting the grease, and the fact that I already had a second opinion saying I needed a new furnace.

I'm sure the furnace AHS will give me tomorrow is a piece of crap, but it will be better than no heat, and hopefully last me a few years. My advice to anyone out there that is already stuck with an AHS warranty is get all of your transactions in writing, call AHS frequently, I've probably called them 15 times since this started, and if your claim is ultimately denied contact a lawyer.