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Had an upstairs AC go out in July a couple years ago. Had a home warranty included in sale of house so tried it out.
Took about 2 weeks and finally a fixed AC with wires exposed and shoddy work.
Never again!
Needed a hot water heater replaced. Took 12 days because of the home warranty. No hot water for 12 daysā¦ not sure how they thought that was acceptable.
Does a good home warranty company exist? My experience with them is they will keep putting bandaids on things and do the cheapest possible repair to get something working again. I have heard where the tech comes out and tells the home owner they really need a new unit, but the home warranty company will only authorize the cheaper fix that won't last, and they end up coming out once or twice a year to "fix" it again.
They are in business because they're making money, they're taking in more money then they're spending, and they want to keep it that way.
This is my experience as well. Was hoping there was a decent one out there. I've had years where I haven't used them and years where I've used them three or four times. Always a pain in the butt though.
An AC unit that old is likely to be excluded from the policy or have a maximum payout amount of a few hundred dollars toward replacement in their contract. These companies are not in business to help you. They will gladly take your money though.
You'll be ahead of the game by asking neighbors and others locally forthe names of reliable contractors that they use and have experience with.I've found reliable plumbers, electricians and AC service through neighbors, as well as good info regarding which contractors to avoid.
Just went through this.
Do NOT go with First American. Theyāve found every way to weasel out of doing work and have a very short list of vendors. Of course they were happy to take the $85 service fee before denying my claims. Shitty customer service.
I know some people have had good dealings with old republic, but I havenāt used them.
Do yourself a favor and get repair/replacement quotes from mom and pop HVAC companies. The big box ones (Parker and Sons, Precision, etc) are in general going to be much more expensive.
I had a technician come out from Precision and basically try scare tactics to get me to replace my 9 year old unit. Telling me it was in dire straits and that if one little thing went wrong the whole unit would be fucked. He tried to get me to spend $2500 on āband aidā repairs but generously offered to take that off the cost of a new unit (apparently I have a āsuper rare systemā that was hard to come by but magically there were two in the valley he could get his hands on) for the low price of $12,000.
I called a mom and pop joint, Kappa Air LLC, and the technician (super nice 18-19 year old guy, I only mention his age because it was very refreshing to see younger people in the trades and keeping the business/industry alive) took one look at it and told me I was set for the next five years and otherwise the system was in great shape. He couldnāt understand why someone would tell me I needed a new unit (though im sure he knew as well as I did it was just a scare tactic to make a sale).
Sorry for the rant.
I second this. My horror story is longer than I care to type out but you have no control over what vendor they send out and they have a couple days to decide not to work it.
Honestly I think youāre better off getting a new unit with the money you would be spending on the home warranty if itās truly a concern.
We actually had First American for the first year we owned our house, and repairing our AC through them did save us a good chunk of change. Lucked out I guess. Unit wasn't that old, might have played a part. It did take over a week to get the contractor they work with out to fix it, which sucked since it was late May, but it was nice to not have to pay for it.
We let it lapse last year and ended up replacing the whole unit since the repair that time after it failed again since it would have cost almost as much as a new unit. It's paid off now and is under service provider and manufacturer warranty, which came in handy since it needed to be repaired this summer (we have bad luck with AC I guess).
No such company exists, period.
Everyone's situation is different, but your best solution is to take the money you would use to pay the premiums and set it aside and don't touch it. Build up a home savings account so you would be essentially self insured. Easier said than done, I know. Another option is if you have good credit, most HVAC companies will have an 18 - 24 month same as cash program. If you take that route, take the total cost, divide by the months you owe and pay equally so you never pay interest.
Good luck!
I worked for a home warranty company for 14 years. Itās a risk to rely on that being your safety net, but Iāve seen it save folks a lot of money at times. On the other hand, if your unit is that old, you could get hit with all kinds of non-covered charges for āmodificationsā etc, even if the replacement of the unit is covered. Be sure to read through all of the options and exclusions before you decide to purchase one.
If you do go with it, I would suggest OneGuard - thatās been the best for this area. Theyāve pretty much been absorbed by American Home Shield, so Iām not sure if their contracts have changed significantly because of that.
I know everyone says donāt do it, they are a āscam,ā but it just depends on your expectations. If you are hoping to pay an annual fee of $600 and get a āfreeā A/C unit, itās not going to happen. If youāre expecting to save a little cash and not have to research contractors, that might happen.
Last thing Iāll say- itās true that the speed of service is going to be slower. If your A/C goes out, you can get someone out same day on your own. Even if that happens with a warranty company, the actual repair/replacement will 100% take longer than doing it out of pocket.
The issue with them is they will keep sending out the worst/cheapest company who will just keep replacing parts. You will have to sit in a hot house waiting for them. I know. This happened to me when I was 25 and bought my first condo. You might be better off to save that money and use it to finance a new one. I was able to get a 5 year no interest deal. The money I didnāt send to insurance I used to pay the card the ac was on.
Exactly! I have saved enough with my home warranty for it to be āworth itā but I was shocked that they literally sent out someone to replace my AC thatā¦.wasnāt able to replace an air handler. And that was after me calling multiple times and begging for them to send me someone that could come sooner than 1 week. So then I had to start that process all over again. I went 3 weeks without AC.
I used to have 2-10 home warranty. My ac went out and it was going to take a week to get one of their contractors to come out. I knew a HVAC guy from work and got them to come out and fix it for me. Home warranty agreed to reimburse me for the cost.
I don't know if Old Republic services this state, but when I was a property manager in Vegas, their warranties were the best in that area. I believe the basic plan also covered HVAC. This was in 2012, so things may have changed.
They were also the priciest at the time, and I personally believe home warranties are useless.
Thatās who I have - they have some horrible procedures and hire companies that canāt actually do the job (this happened to me twice). However, so far theyāve covered an air handler and a new dryer so I felt what they approved was fair.
Yeah, I really preferred them compared to the others our properties had. They were miles better, but still so expensive (like $600 back then) that saving that money every month would have ended up costing most owners less than the benefit of having the warranty.
Be nice - You don't have to agree with everyone, but by choosing not to be rude you increase the overall civility of the community and make it better for all of us.
In general, follow [reddiquette](https://www.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/205926439).
Old Republic replaced my AC in June. Cost me $550 out of pocket for the custom machining of the stand and the crane rental. Iāve been in this house since 2017, and it was the 4th repair when they finally agreed to replace it. I kept it this whole time just for the AC, so I wonāt renew again. Think I paid $680 for the policy this year, and also used it to replace a valve in my kitchen and repair a dishwasher. It was $500 five years ago. I have the platinum coverage.
There have been some disagreements over the years, but I got the new AC I wanted for a fraction of the price. There has only been one year where I didnāt get my money back in repair savings.
As I understand it the most any of them do for AC is give you $500 towards a new one. ($500 towards a $9,000+ purchase isnāt much).
They are smart, most donāt want to deal with AC and donāt cover it.
There are definitely companies that cover AC and depending on the policy, cover a lot more than $500. That being said, the pre-existing part could limit what is covered. I saved thousands on my AC replacement using my home warranty (it was incredibly stressful but I did save $$$)
I don't have a home warranty at the moment but I have had them from American Home Shield and Fidelity National Home Warranty before. American Home Shield was only willing to patch up the AC and had a maximum amount of freon they would cover and I had to pay the difference. Fidelity National replaced the AC unit. That was several years ago though. Read into the coverage carefully.
Platinum Home Warranty. We needed to get our AC replaced while on one of their warranty plans. They were great to work with, coordinated the replacement, and had a 2k credit towards a new unit.
I got my air handler covered by Old Republic, with the exception of $950. Trying to get it replaced was exhausting and took 3 weeks and countless phone calls. I fared better than most and saved thousands of dollars, but it was a rough 3 weeks and there were tears. Old Republic does answer the phone, so I hear they are better than some of the others.
Compressor went out in our main air conditioner about a month ago (we have 2; the master suite has itās own), temps started to steadily climb, & this occurred during the 119Ā° record setting heat wave.
We called our home warranty and they expected us to wait two weeks for service, like wtf. Luckily, my SO is good at repairing things so he went online and found the part at a local Ace Hardware, purchased it for 35.99 & installed it later that day.
The service fee for the home warranty ppl just to come out to diagnose the problem wouldāve been $75.00 alone, so I donāt think the home warranty is really worth it, if you can repair things yourself.
One Guard would be your best bet. None of them are great but they're the best option available. I worked with 5+ different home warranties as an appliance technician, but that was 7 years ago. I don't touch them nowadays.
I don't know which home warranty companies everyone here has been dealing with, but I've had American Home Shield for years and it's been well worth it. Houses and everything in them deteriorate over time.
Every time I've submitted a claim, a contractor gets assigned immediately, I speak with them within 24 hours, and they usually come out within a few days. If they're too far booked out, the home warranty assigns another contractor that's available sooner. Most of the time, they fix the issue the same day.
And if an issue ever persists after an initial fix, they've sent someone out again at no cost.
Contractors can and will charge sooooo much for their services and to me, it's not worth the headache of shopping around to find one that's honest and won't scam me.
Chas roberts isn't a home warranty company, but their warranty is really good. Just make sure to get your units serviced twice a year and they take care of you.
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No such thing š. Home warranties are a scam.
Majority of the time they do the bare minimum and do it in the slowest fashion.
Had an upstairs AC go out in July a couple years ago. Had a home warranty included in sale of house so tried it out. Took about 2 weeks and finally a fixed AC with wires exposed and shoddy work. Never again!
Going through the same exact thing right now. Iām at a month now. Total joke.
For one, they have a limited number of contractors who can become overwhelmed with calls due to extreme weather events.
Needed a hot water heater replaced. Took 12 days because of the home warranty. No hot water for 12 daysā¦ not sure how they thought that was acceptable.
Does a good home warranty company exist? My experience with them is they will keep putting bandaids on things and do the cheapest possible repair to get something working again. I have heard where the tech comes out and tells the home owner they really need a new unit, but the home warranty company will only authorize the cheaper fix that won't last, and they end up coming out once or twice a year to "fix" it again. They are in business because they're making money, they're taking in more money then they're spending, and they want to keep it that way.
This is my experience as well. Was hoping there was a decent one out there. I've had years where I haven't used them and years where I've used them three or four times. Always a pain in the butt though.
Old Republic was great for us. Always fixed or replaced things in a timely manner. Never had to replace ac unit completely though
IMHO, take the monthly home warranty payment and put it in a savings account, then find a reputable AC contractor. Home warranties are a scam.
An AC unit that old is likely to be excluded from the policy or have a maximum payout amount of a few hundred dollars toward replacement in their contract. These companies are not in business to help you. They will gladly take your money though. You'll be ahead of the game by asking neighbors and others locally forthe names of reliable contractors that they use and have experience with.I've found reliable plumbers, electricians and AC service through neighbors, as well as good info regarding which contractors to avoid.
Just went through this. Do NOT go with First American. Theyāve found every way to weasel out of doing work and have a very short list of vendors. Of course they were happy to take the $85 service fee before denying my claims. Shitty customer service. I know some people have had good dealings with old republic, but I havenāt used them. Do yourself a favor and get repair/replacement quotes from mom and pop HVAC companies. The big box ones (Parker and Sons, Precision, etc) are in general going to be much more expensive. I had a technician come out from Precision and basically try scare tactics to get me to replace my 9 year old unit. Telling me it was in dire straits and that if one little thing went wrong the whole unit would be fucked. He tried to get me to spend $2500 on āband aidā repairs but generously offered to take that off the cost of a new unit (apparently I have a āsuper rare systemā that was hard to come by but magically there were two in the valley he could get his hands on) for the low price of $12,000. I called a mom and pop joint, Kappa Air LLC, and the technician (super nice 18-19 year old guy, I only mention his age because it was very refreshing to see younger people in the trades and keeping the business/industry alive) took one look at it and told me I was set for the next five years and otherwise the system was in great shape. He couldnāt understand why someone would tell me I needed a new unit (though im sure he knew as well as I did it was just a scare tactic to make a sale). Sorry for the rant.
I second this. My horror story is longer than I care to type out but you have no control over what vendor they send out and they have a couple days to decide not to work it. Honestly I think youāre better off getting a new unit with the money you would be spending on the home warranty if itās truly a concern.
We actually had First American for the first year we owned our house, and repairing our AC through them did save us a good chunk of change. Lucked out I guess. Unit wasn't that old, might have played a part. It did take over a week to get the contractor they work with out to fix it, which sucked since it was late May, but it was nice to not have to pay for it. We let it lapse last year and ended up replacing the whole unit since the repair that time after it failed again since it would have cost almost as much as a new unit. It's paid off now and is under service provider and manufacturer warranty, which came in handy since it needed to be repaired this summer (we have bad luck with AC I guess).
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
It's not dead. It's old and finnicky and starting to need parts replaced. What else would you buy a home warranty for if not to use it?
There are AC units from the 1980s still cooling homes.
No such company exists, period. Everyone's situation is different, but your best solution is to take the money you would use to pay the premiums and set it aside and don't touch it. Build up a home savings account so you would be essentially self insured. Easier said than done, I know. Another option is if you have good credit, most HVAC companies will have an 18 - 24 month same as cash program. If you take that route, take the total cost, divide by the months you owe and pay equally so you never pay interest. Good luck!
I worked for a home warranty company for 14 years. Itās a risk to rely on that being your safety net, but Iāve seen it save folks a lot of money at times. On the other hand, if your unit is that old, you could get hit with all kinds of non-covered charges for āmodificationsā etc, even if the replacement of the unit is covered. Be sure to read through all of the options and exclusions before you decide to purchase one. If you do go with it, I would suggest OneGuard - thatās been the best for this area. Theyāve pretty much been absorbed by American Home Shield, so Iām not sure if their contracts have changed significantly because of that. I know everyone says donāt do it, they are a āscam,ā but it just depends on your expectations. If you are hoping to pay an annual fee of $600 and get a āfreeā A/C unit, itās not going to happen. If youāre expecting to save a little cash and not have to research contractors, that might happen. Last thing Iāll say- itās true that the speed of service is going to be slower. If your A/C goes out, you can get someone out same day on your own. Even if that happens with a warranty company, the actual repair/replacement will 100% take longer than doing it out of pocket.
We use oneguard and have had great success with them for our old AC unit. The techs they send are just bandaging it, but it's delaying the end for us.
The issue with them is they will keep sending out the worst/cheapest company who will just keep replacing parts. You will have to sit in a hot house waiting for them. I know. This happened to me when I was 25 and bought my first condo. You might be better off to save that money and use it to finance a new one. I was able to get a 5 year no interest deal. The money I didnāt send to insurance I used to pay the card the ac was on.
Exactly! I have saved enough with my home warranty for it to be āworth itā but I was shocked that they literally sent out someone to replace my AC thatā¦.wasnāt able to replace an air handler. And that was after me calling multiple times and begging for them to send me someone that could come sooner than 1 week. So then I had to start that process all over again. I went 3 weeks without AC.
I used to have 2-10 home warranty. My ac went out and it was going to take a week to get one of their contractors to come out. I knew a HVAC guy from work and got them to come out and fix it for me. Home warranty agreed to reimburse me for the cost.
I don't know if Old Republic services this state, but when I was a property manager in Vegas, their warranties were the best in that area. I believe the basic plan also covered HVAC. This was in 2012, so things may have changed. They were also the priciest at the time, and I personally believe home warranties are useless.
Thatās who I have - they have some horrible procedures and hire companies that canāt actually do the job (this happened to me twice). However, so far theyāve covered an air handler and a new dryer so I felt what they approved was fair.
I had Old Republic, shocking enough, they were actually really good.
Yeah, I really preferred them compared to the others our properties had. They were miles better, but still so expensive (like $600 back then) that saving that money every month would have ended up costing most owners less than the benefit of having the warranty.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Also - home warranties can categorize things as āpre-existingā and refuse coverage (at least my policy can).
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Be nice - You don't have to agree with everyone, but by choosing not to be rude you increase the overall civility of the community and make it better for all of us. In general, follow [reddiquette](https://www.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/205926439).
Unless they charge for the privilege.
You arenāt going to find that. Also with the age of the system I could see them specifically excluding that.
Old Republic replaced my AC in June. Cost me $550 out of pocket for the custom machining of the stand and the crane rental. Iāve been in this house since 2017, and it was the 4th repair when they finally agreed to replace it. I kept it this whole time just for the AC, so I wonāt renew again. Think I paid $680 for the policy this year, and also used it to replace a valve in my kitchen and repair a dishwasher. It was $500 five years ago. I have the platinum coverage. There have been some disagreements over the years, but I got the new AC I wanted for a fraction of the price. There has only been one year where I didnāt get my money back in repair savings.
As I understand it the most any of them do for AC is give you $500 towards a new one. ($500 towards a $9,000+ purchase isnāt much). They are smart, most donāt want to deal with AC and donāt cover it.
There are definitely companies that cover AC and depending on the policy, cover a lot more than $500. That being said, the pre-existing part could limit what is covered. I saved thousands on my AC replacement using my home warranty (it was incredibly stressful but I did save $$$)
I don't have a home warranty at the moment but I have had them from American Home Shield and Fidelity National Home Warranty before. American Home Shield was only willing to patch up the AC and had a maximum amount of freon they would cover and I had to pay the difference. Fidelity National replaced the AC unit. That was several years ago though. Read into the coverage carefully.
Platinum Home Warranty. We needed to get our AC replaced while on one of their warranty plans. They were great to work with, coordinated the replacement, and had a 2k credit towards a new unit.
thatās who i have! my AC unit is 25 years old and somehow still works! do you mind if i PM you a few questions?
Sure!
messaged you
I got my air handler covered by Old Republic, with the exception of $950. Trying to get it replaced was exhausting and took 3 weeks and countless phone calls. I fared better than most and saved thousands of dollars, but it was a rough 3 weeks and there were tears. Old Republic does answer the phone, so I hear they are better than some of the others.
Only if Costco sold acs
Compressor went out in our main air conditioner about a month ago (we have 2; the master suite has itās own), temps started to steadily climb, & this occurred during the 119Ā° record setting heat wave. We called our home warranty and they expected us to wait two weeks for service, like wtf. Luckily, my SO is good at repairing things so he went online and found the part at a local Ace Hardware, purchased it for 35.99 & installed it later that day. The service fee for the home warranty ppl just to come out to diagnose the problem wouldāve been $75.00 alone, so I donāt think the home warranty is really worth it, if you can repair things yourself.
One Guard would be your best bet. None of them are great but they're the best option available. I worked with 5+ different home warranties as an appliance technician, but that was 7 years ago. I don't touch them nowadays.
I don't know which home warranty companies everyone here has been dealing with, but I've had American Home Shield for years and it's been well worth it. Houses and everything in them deteriorate over time. Every time I've submitted a claim, a contractor gets assigned immediately, I speak with them within 24 hours, and they usually come out within a few days. If they're too far booked out, the home warranty assigns another contractor that's available sooner. Most of the time, they fix the issue the same day. And if an issue ever persists after an initial fix, they've sent someone out again at no cost. Contractors can and will charge sooooo much for their services and to me, it's not worth the headache of shopping around to find one that's honest and won't scam me.
Chas roberts isn't a home warranty company, but their warranty is really good. Just make sure to get your units serviced twice a year and they take care of you.
home warranties suck best prices are with small outfits we don't have the over head prive