Is American Home Shield Warranty Worth the Money?

American Home Shield is a home insurance company that provides coverage for a variety of household items that can cost quite a penny if they break at an inopportune time. Let’s dive deeper into what types of insurance they provide, what the benefits are, and whether their current customers think they are worth your while.

What American Home Shield Offers

American Home Shield offers a variety of home warranties and insurance plans you can choose from. Most of these are predefined packages that cover a certain set of appliances or systems, although you can also create a custom plan corresponding to various items that you own and actually want to be protected.

For instance, their “Systems” plan covers HVAC with ductwork, electrical systems, doorbells, smoke detectors, ceiling fans, and much more. Furthermore, this plan comes with no dollar coverage limit, so any repairs or replacements will be on the insurance plan’s dime, not your own, no matter how expensive things get.

Their other major offering is the “Appliances” plan, which of course covers various appliances ranging from refrigerators to dishwashers to ovens to trash compactors. This plan does have a dollar limit for up to $3000 per item, but that’s still pretty decent compared to other home insurance offerings.

Making a custom plan is a great way to personalize your home insurance based on what you actually need. Another big advantage that AHS offers is that it covers any damage due to neglect or miss repair. Many other home warranty providers do not do this.

American Home Shield Ratings and Reviews

Figuring out how American Home Shield is generally rated across the industry is easy when you look at several sources. The Better Business Bureau collects user reviews for various companies and has an overall general rating score of about 3 out of 5 stars. While this isn’t the best score for a home insurance company you can find, it is pretty decent overall, particularly when you consider that most people only bother leaving reviews in the first place if they have something to complain about.

But let’s take a look at another resource to be sure. Consumeraffairs.com also collects user reviews for the purpose of general comparison and company reputation. Based on 15,186 ratings in the last year, American Home Shield has an excellent overall score of about 4.2 stars out of 5. This definitely indicates general satisfaction and an overall good reputation.

Finally, let’s also look at a review from consumersadvocate.org, which reviews various services and products for better consumer knowledge and industry insight. They, too, give American Home Shield 4.9 out of 5 stars, indicating excellent performance across the board in terms of categories like transparency, coverage options, additional benefits, and customer experience.

American Home Shield Complaints

American Home Shield does seem to have a relatively solid reputation in most respects. Some customers have issues that are worth pointing out, however. For instance, it seems that American Home Shield isn’t immune to the customer service issues that apparently plagued bigger companies. A few customers have had issues with direct customer service representatives, particularly when it comes to unnecessary service fees that will supposedly be waived but never are.

Other customers have reported spotty service when it comes to actually fixing or replacing damaged appliances or systems that are covered under one of the insurance plans. For instance, one customer found that they had to call a few times to get a furnace fixed. When the appliance was eventually supposedly dealt with, the customer found that they had to schedule another appointment because the initial repair work wasn’t good enough to get the job done over the long-term.

However, even with these points, it seems that American Home Shield’s customer service team is particularly active on various forums and responds to complaints on sites like the BBB. This may be a way to get alternative customer service help if primary channels don’t work.

American Home Shield Lawsuits

2006 saw one of the first lawsuits against American Home Shield, and against their Texas branch in particular. The company was sued for fraud and deceit, and for unjust enrichment; essentially, the company got into trouble for misleading customers regarding what they covered and what prices they would ultimately pay for their services.

Other lawsuits have also been leveraged throughout the company’s history, including one in 2009.

All in all, it’s clear that American Home Shield can occasionally go too far and try to take advantage of its customers. In these cases, our team at Fairshake can always be of assistance. We have years of legal experience under our belts and are ready and willing to take your case. Independent arbitration through our services almost always results in a win for you.