Any homeowners out there?

If so, what do you think about AHS? Are they- in your opinion, worth the $400.00/year?

I've had them for 5, going on 6 years (Mainly because of my AC), but I can tell you- I haven't been very impressed because there is always some BS loophole that ends up costing the consumer more money...

I don't know if it's AHS that's full of bovine fecal-matter, or if it's the sub-contractors that they send to your residence...

Everytime I've had a plumbing problem, I call them up; hoping it'll only cost me the $45.00 and sure enough, the SOB contractor will find "something" that's not covered by homeshield, and I'll end up forking over $200 - $300 for what was supposed to be a $45.00 visit. The catch phrase being "Improper Installation". Who's freakin fault is that?

Case in point, my toilet stopped toileting a year or two ago. I called up AHS, they sent out a plumber. At first he said it's a stoppage "Not covered by AHS". Then I said- Well, when it flushes- the water goes down- the tank just isn't filling (Who's the plumber anyway? Right?) Then, he takes the lid off and says- "Ah yes, it's the flapper mechanism-thingy (Thingy is my word). This was improperly installed, so that won't be covered by AHS. Tired of teh BS Rhetoric, I told him to just fix my blooming toilet- which he did...

Do you know that thing (Which is all of $14.00 at Home Depot) costed me $221.00 to get repaired...

The last time my AC went on the blink, my "coil" was dirty. They cleaned the coil and $272.00 (Out of an expected $45) my AC was pumping cold air. The time before that it was "You have a leak, and it seems that all your Freon is gone, so I'll have to add more. That'll cost you $190.00, and that's not covered by the warranty." He had already ticked me off- so after I paid him; I called their office and spoke to the boss (Not AHS, but the sub-contractor). He said- "Was it a short, fat, Italian guy? I said yes- it was. His boss said; "I'll send someone else to your house within the hour." They sent another guy out, and that guy (Get a load of this) told me the tech before him has a string of complaints against him for doing things the consumers felt was dishonest...

He went on to say AC's don't leak a "little bit" of freon. He said it's either all there, or all gone. Freon doesn't get low, because the system recaptures it. He said if there is a leak, you'll be calling in another day or so, because your Freon will be gone again. That never happened.

So, I just wonder if anyone else uses AHS, and if you do- do you think they're worth the money. Service guys- Man, you gotta watch those SOB's, because when you don't have a clue- they will take you to the cleaners...

Oh yeah, the boss sent the other guy back to my house with a check for $110 dollars; so- I actually only lost $80.00.. I didn't argue about not getting the full $190 because he didn't have to give me anything, and I could not prove he hadn't added Freon...

 

We use it.

OUTSTANDING ! ! !

I haven't had a single problem with them yet. We have been with them for about 4 years, and have gotten a new Oven, stove, and Air Conditioner. had to pay a service fee, that's it. I would recommend to anyone.

 

I've never heard of it. Maybe I'll look into it once I get my maid service setup.

 

BTW, CIA....if your having trouble, its gotta be the sub-contractors. They're customer service is always nice and usually (usually) can get someone out to the house in about 3 days.

Guys come out, service or replace, and that's that.

 

So, whatever happened to fixing your own problems? I mean, Christ, if you can plug a lamp into a wall socket, you can replace/replace the flush mechanism for a toilet. Why are people so freakin' helpless these days? Don't dads teach their sons anything about taking care of a house? What do you do if a breaker trips? Call this home repair dude? Sorry, but all this stuff is in home repair manuals, or online. You can seldom screw it up any worse by trying to fix it yourself.

Jim

 

Oh, hell, I agree 100%, BUT...

What about money?

A new air conditioner can cost a lot of cash. With this, they replace the A/C and you just pay a service fee. 1,000's saved.

 

I do all my work myself but look at it this way. I've never lived in a house. Over the past 6 months, I've taught myself a lot of things. Take mowing the lawn for example, I barely know what I'm doing. A lesser man would need help. So I'm not a good example but there's an argument here somewhere.

 

Someone is losing money as a consumer or else the service would lose money and I promise you that is not happening. I guess you are saying that you use it as insurance, but you would probably be better off saving your monthly or yearly fee in an account to use for such emergencies.

 

Your Better Off Puting The Money In The Bank

 

I agree lrhogfan (somewhat).

You never know when an appliance is gonna go "bellyup", if you dont have the cash saved, your in trouble. It can get pretty hot in Texas. If we didn't have this, we would have been in some serious trouble last summer. So, yes, it's like an insurance on your appliances in your home. From the fridge to a ceiling fan. Now, you can pick up a nice ceiling fan from Lowes or Home Depot and have it installed in a few minutes. But if your fridge or deep freeze goes out....it's always nice to have some type of insurance. We dont use it for everything, but just the major stuff.

Also, our house is as old as dirt, and most of the appliances (hot water heater, A/C, Stove top, Oven, Dish washer, etc) were old, old, old. They were gonna go out sooner or later, and $400 a year, ytou bet I'd go for it.

 

Let's just say my home's previous owner must have been a do it yourselfer because our house was jacked- the-***-up. Stuff we didn't notice on a casual walk through, and stuff that our obviously equally un-enducated Home Inspector didn't notice either; have either been repaired by us, replaced by us, or serviced by Homeshield. Everything from leaky roof, to water seeping in under the doorsill, to a prior termite infestation- which was not disclosed when we bought the home...

In short, we got screwed.

So, we have replaced the water heater, and bought new washer, dryer, fridge, freezer. All we need is for the AC to go ***** up, and we'll get a new one of those, and our house will be back up to snuff.

I'm not a handy-man, and I don't pretend to be. I can do light-weight work (Swapping out light switches, lawn-mowing, land-scaping, filter replacements, light bulbs. Before becoming a manager I was a telephone installer, so I can do all of that wiring, I can install cable in every room *no different that telephony, really- just a thicker, more durable coaxial cable, rather than drop wire & 4-wire twisted pairs.* I can install toilet fixtures, but I won't after AHS touched it- so, if it fails again- I'm not trying to hear it; it's their turn to fix it, and a lot of other stuff- but certain things are code-worthy, and I don't mess with electrical wiring, and I don't mess with heavy-duty plumbing, roofing, or HVAC... Those all require code-inspections after repair (As did my hot water heater) so yes, sometimes having someone do the work is the only sensible way to do things...

No, my daddy didn't teach me Jack... Daddy wasn't there- I learned on my own.

Any more questions?

 

HA!

I had the same experience. Fortunately the home inspector I used pointed it all out to me. Some people just shouldn't do things themselves. Nothing major but a lot of poor workmanship.

 

You cant expect to use it for maintenance issues.

Freon in an older AC unit is maintenance, yes it can leak out a little at a time

The flapper in a toilet is maintenance - they go out every few years

The coil in the AC does need to be cleaned - especially if you dont clean your filters on schedule - the condenser needs to be cleaned as well.

Warranty's are typically designed for defect in materials. Not for maintenance

Doug

 

CIA,

I got your back bro. Next time something "screws up", jump on here. We'll get it fixed.

~I PROMISE~

I am not "Mr. Handyman" himself, but I can usually fix things. If it's "broken" thats a different story. That's why I have AHS. I dont make much money, but my kids are fed, and we have a roof over out heads. If the A/C takes a nose dive, thank goodness for AHC.

Now...If a breaker flips, I flip it back on, and try to figure out why. If the Garbage disposal screws up, I take it out to the shop clean it up and see if I can get it fixed...if not, I replace it.