American Home Shield
Beware where you buy your Home Warranty. American Home Shield has the worst customer service I’ve run into in recent history.
Gather around children, and let Uncle Dave tell you about two companies you should stay far away from. They are America Home Shield – a home warranty company, and Houston Air Comfort – an alleged AC repair company. I say alleged, as in four days without air conditioning in 100+ degree Texas August weather, I’ve yet to see anyone from that company.
Facts:
- I have had AHS warranties at the house I just sold, my lake house, and a house in Beasley for years. The contract number for any fact checkers at AHS is 232251452, although I will be cancelling it. I pay about $60 month per property, and the contract auto renews year to year!
- While it was very easy to sign up, it is near impossible to get anyone on the line when there are problems, or you need to cancel. Last week I sold my house and it took 30 minutes to cancel.
- During the middle of the night Monday/Tuesday my ac crapped out. At around 9am Tuesday I went on line at AHS.com and requested service. I receive an email back saying the repair has been assigned to Houston Air Comfort, and that they will get back with me in “24 Business Hours”. What the Hell does that mean?
- Wednesday at 9am no one had called so I go on line to check status, and it has me as “unable to contact”. That is complete Bullshit as I had my phone all day waiting for their call, while dying from no AC, and there are no missed calls. I called Houston Air Comfort and asked who called and when, and she said they don’t have that information. I’m told that next appointment available is 9-1 Thursday! I told her to tell him to be sure to bring fan blades!
- At 1pm Thursday (Day three without AC), no one has shown and I have to be 80 miles away by 3. So I have an employee go to house and stay there. While on the way to my appointment I call AHS. I get caught in a loop from Hell asking for my contract number or phone number (which I’ve had since 1991) and zip code, then saying they no record of me – and loop to asking for that info again without any other option. I’m screaming customer service while punching 0, get a message to hold on while being transferred, and then get disconnected. I call back and go through the whole routine again, and get a complete moron girl. I explained the whole deal, she didn’t appear to be interested, and I’m “axed” if I wasn’t sure that the appointment wasn’t for NEXT Thursday. I say it better not be, and she says “Letme look”. (Maybe she should have done that first!) I’m then told that I have an appointment for 9-1 today. It’s 1:30, and I said “and well?”, and she then asks if he’s there. I said, “no, that’s why I’m calling”. She says “Hold on while I call them”. I intended to get a haircut on the way, so I pulled into the barbershop, waited for two cuts in front of me, and get my haircut – all while holding the phone on speaker telling the whole barbershop that my call was important, hold for next representative. The whole barbershop heard my story and the nasty synthesized hold noise. By the time my haircut was finished, I was still listening to hold noise. I drove another ten miles, got to my appointment and hung up. No one called me back.
- So after the appointment I call Houston Air Comfort, and was told I’m the next call he’ll go on. I told her that my employee leaves at 4 and she said he’ll be there before 4. I’ll assume that its an instant fix as they must. I’m betting he won’t have the parts I told the girl to have him bring. I asked if they don’t give a courtesy call when people wait four hours and there’s a no show, and she said no.
Conclusions
As I write this at 3:30 Thursday, no one has shown at my Beasley residence, and I’m at the lake for the weekend. This is the type of service you can expect if you sign up with AHS for a home warranty, or call Houston Air Comfort for AC repair. You will waste a lot of time and money! I’ll update as this saga plays itself out.
Meanwhile, I’ll tell my story to all who will listen (and post all over the Interweb) as I’m pissed and insulted from the piss poor customer service. The above is 100% factual!
Epilogue:
Thursday 4pm, no one has shown, no calls from anyone. I’m now paying overtime for employee to sit and wait. I have posted to both AHS and Houston Air’s Facebook page a link to this page, and have link to AHS via their chat.
Thursday 4:24pm – Tech calls to say that he’s 45 minutes away. So lady who told me he’d be there by 4 LIED, as did the one who said they’d be there between 9am-1pm. I asked if he had blades and he said no. He said he’d not have blades today, by MAYBE it would be fixed tomorrow. MAYBE! Would you believe these liars?
Thursday 5:25pm – Repair guy finally shows up for his 9am-1pm appointment, and in 30 seconds determines it needs fan blades! Well Duh, I told them that Tuesday morning. He doesn’t have so someone will be back tomorrow or Saturday. I’ll hold my breath. Stay tuned.
Friday 4:17 pm– No one came, no one called. I called Houston Air Comfort and they said the tech is off Fridays and they don’t know if he got blades or not, and won’t know until tomorrow. Great customer service. Waited all day, never so much as a call.
Saturday 8:57 am (Day Five in Texas August without AC) – Called AHS and went through the whole drill and was again transferred to a disconnect. I figure that’s what they mus do if no one is available to take call Called again, went through the drill and the call was answered by someone who couldn’t get her company name right. I explained my story more than once, and was put on hold for about 20 minutes. She came back and said Houston Air Comfort ordered blades and they won’t be in until Monday or Tuesday. I asked if she felt that was acceptable, and she said yes.
Monday 9:45 – Day 8 no AC. Couldn’t sleep last night. 9:45 am Call Houston Air Comfort, as they never call me when they 8 hours late don’t come Friday as promised, don’t come Saturday as promised. Lady says I’m not on any schedule. WHAAAT? She can put me on schedule for tomorrow 9-1. Last Tuesday they put me on schedule for 9-1 and he showed up a 5:30 pm, looked at unit for 30 seconds and said he be back in morning with parts. I’ve called Friday and was told he’d be here Saturday. I called AMS Saturday and told he’ll be here today. I call today, and told he’ll be here tomorrow. I post facts on American Home Shield;s page, an now banned for posting there.
Tuesday 2:45 pm – Yesterday I was given a 9 am-1 pm appointment for today, and told he’d be here at 9 for his first call. No one has come or called. I call Houston Air Comfort and told he broke down an hour and half ago. I said that wouldn’t have affected me if he’d been here at 9 am as promised. I asked why someone doesn’t ever call on the four times someone hasn’t shown up for appointments. She said she was the only person in the office, and was busy getting him a tow truck and and ride, but would have called me. I asked when someone was going to fix the AC and said needed to put me on hold to find out. Ten minutes later I got a dial tone.
Tuesday 3:00 Pm – I call Houston Home Air Comfort back, and a different lady answers. So much for the lie of being the only one there. I tell her I’m done with them, cancel the call, I’ll go buy the fan myself and fix. She says she wants to transfer me to yet another lady, and I said “Don’t Bother, cancel the call and watch for me blowing up the Internet about them”.
Tuesday 3:05 pm – The third lady calls me to say that someone was leaving then to come fix. I told her to not bother, I’m done with them. She said that they had already bought the part, and need to fix. I relented and told her to have him hurry.
Tuesday 4:15 pm – Tech calls to say he’s 15 minutes.
Tuesday 4:45 pm – Tech arrives and takes less than 5 minutes to put fan on.
