Home Serve USA Versus American Home Shield
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Our Homeserve USA and American Home Shield reviews cover all of the bases, from cost to coverage and extra features. Read up on the pros and cons of each company to find out which home warranty service is right for you. Are varied plan options more important to you or low prices? How about contracting partners? Either way, you can get the down-low on what each business has to offer below. Explore our American Home Shield and Homeserve reviews today!
- The Good
- Service plans are affordable
- Flexible coverage
- Prompt response times
- Zero deductibles
- The Bad
- Limited choices in some pricing areas
- 30-day waiting period
- Limitations on some coverage details
Home Serve USA began in the United Kingdom in 1993 and grew from there to expand to the United States, France and Spain. They offer solutions for emergency repairs that homeowners are likely to face. They provide home warranties to over 3 million clients in the U.S. and Canada. You can start with a free quote here.
Other Home Warranty Reviews
- The Good
- Different plans to choose from
- Reasonable monthly pricing
- Long established business
- 24/7 customer support
- Boasts high-quality contractors
- The Bad
- Trade call service fees required
- Contractors available only during normal business hours
- Some contractors not highly rated by customers
- Inadequate service by some contractors
American Home Shield (AHS) offers home protection plans to cover frequently-occurring system breakdowns in your home. American Home Shield has been in business for 40 years. Such longevity tends to project stability but reviews of service don’t reflect a customer base that’s highly satisfied. You can get a free quote here.
Other Home Warranty Reviews
- Annual Premiums Range
- $239 to $379
Home Serve USA offers water line supply plans that include sewage and septic line plans with monthly premiums starting as low as $10. For electrical difficulties, they offer plans covering interior electrical wiring and exterior wiring. These plans start at prices as low as $6 per month. Under their heating and cooling coverage plans, they offer policies for water heater problems, heating and cooling systems and interior gas lines. These plans are available at starting prices of $11 per month.
- Annual Premiums Range
- $249 to $600
Annual premiums differ by the type of plan you choose and the Trade Service Call Fee. This is the deductible, or amount that you’re required to pay to the contractor who makes the service call to your home. These fees are set at $75, $100 and $125. You get to choose the fee price you want on your contract, and this will influence the final cost of your yearly premium.
- Coverage
- Offers 9 coverage plans
- 3 different categories of coverage
Home Serve USA offers repair plans as its primary products. They divide their plans into three different distinct categories: electrical, plumbing, and heating and cooling. It has recently expanded its operations to cover locksmith and boiler servicing, and you can now get appliance coverage. Home Serve USA advertises nationwide coverage.
- Coverage
- Build Your Own Plan to customize coverage
- Combo plan for max coverage
- Optional coverage for certain items
There is no payout limit for repairs or replacement for many of the items American Home Shield covers. Some items do have caps in place, however. These are reasonable and there is no yearly max on the cap. For example, appliances have a cap of $3,000, which is a generous limit. Some heating and cooling units have payout limits, as do obstructed plumbing and systems difficult to access.
- Partners
- AARP member advantages
- Florida Public Utilities
- EPCOR
- AEP Ohio
- Duke Energy
- Indiana / Michigan Power
- Numerous local and city water districts
Home Serve USA partners with energy companies and utility providers across the nation to provide affordable repairs for their customers. They have a scrolling list of their top partners displayed on their website. AARP appears to be the only current national organization in the scrolling list.
- Partners
- Over 13,000 independent contractors with 45,000 technicians
- Covers all makes/models of appliances and systems
- Sub-company of The ServiceMaster Company
American Home Shield states they will cover any make or model of appliance or system, regardless of the age of the unit. Customer reviews state that some of the contractors utilized by AHS are “second-tier” operations, while others state that AHS has sent contractors from reputable national companies such as Sears.
- Additional Features
- $0 deductible
- No trade service call fees
- 24/7 repair hotline
- Local, licensed, insured technicians
- Repair guarantee
Two features offered by Home Serve USA immediately draw attention to its plans: no deductible and no trade service call fees. Their repair guarantee is a part of their appliance plans and comes with a 60-day guarantee on repairs. For customers with their Surge plan coverage, there is a 90-day guarantee on repairs. While you can call for service repair 24/7, you will not get access to a technician during those hours. This is only for the reporting of needed service.
- Additional Features
- Flexible plans you can “build” yourself
- Short 15-day waiting period
- No home inspection required
- 24/7 service request
American Home Shield allows you to build your own plan, giving you options on out-of-pocket expenses. While most competitors require a home inspection and a 30-day waiting period, AHS proudly boasts it requires no home inspection. AHS also limits its waiting period to a simple 15 days. If you need a repair, you can put in a request 24/7. Repair contractors don’t come to your home on that time-table, however.
Home Serve USA: User Reviews
American Home Shield: User Reviews
Home Serve USA: Comments
American Home Shield: Comments
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Home Serve USA offers home warranty plans designed to help customers with the costs of home repairs. Home Serve’s policies provide coverage in areas where typical homeowners insurance policies or your local utility companies and townships don’t provide coverage. The company’s plans help homeowners cover the high costs of deductibles, repair parts and labor or replacement of appliances or systems.
Home Serve USA offers customers a choice between fixed-price repairs and comprehensive insurance coverage. Their plans strive to fit the needs and preferences of their consumers. The company affiliates with a network of professional contractors and local licensed contractors to ensure quality work. Home Serve USA boasts a team of approved engineers who work with the company to provide the best service and to assist clients with any concerns they may have about their repairs.
At times, Home Serve USA offers promotional deals as a way to show appreciation for the loyalty of their clients. These promotions are open to any clients, new or established, who meet the terms and conditions as stated in the promotional material.
Home Serve USA enjoys an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau. There is a notation in the BBB file that indicates they filed an “Assurance of Discontinuance” governmental action with the “Consumer Protection Divisions of the Offices of the Attorneys General for Maryland (May 2015) and New York (October 2015).”
These assurances were “in no way an admission of guilt or a finding of violation of law.” They were “for settlement purposes only for allegations that date back to January 2010.” According to the BBB, this was in response to Home Serve USA’s solicitation on behalf of their water line and exterior electrical protection coverage. A number of these complaints were against the company over a letter campaign that implied the company was acting “on behalf of the customer’s utility company or a government authority.”
Based on current reviews of Home Serve USA, it appears these difficulties are behind the company now.
How Does Home Serve USA Work?
Home Serve USA allows customers to sign up and manage their customer accounts online through their website. In order to see what pricing is like in your area and what coverage is available, you must enter your ZIP code.
You’ll need to enter the usual information and create your online account. You’ll have an opportunity to read the terms and conditions of service and the contract for service. Once you agree to accept these legal requirements, you can select the plan you want.
There is a 30-day waiting period before the company honors any requests for repairs or replacements. Once you make your first premium payment and pass this initial waiting period, your coverage will begin. Should you then have an issue requiring a service call, you notify Home Serve USA through their 24/7 customer repair hotline. They will register your problem and a service contractor will get back in touch with you.
Note that a service technician is not going to come to your house at two in the morning to fix your air conditioner unit. While the customer repair line is there 24/7, technicians are not on call on odd hours.
Home Serve USA will send one of their local, licensed technicians to your home to inspect your problem and offer recommendations for repair or replacement. There are no trade service call fees to pay to the technician, and there are zero deductibles advertised on their plans, so you should not have to pay out any cash to the technician. However, there are limits on the amount that repairs will cover and the replacement amount reimbursed to you.
What Makes Home Serve USA Stand Out?
Home Serve USA is unique in that it offers a $0 deductible and doesn’t require policyholders to pay technicians a Trade Service Call fee.
Home Serve USA offers coverage in a wide variety of areas, including plumbing, electrical, heating and cooling, and appliances. Their coverage in most areas is comprehensive and covers major sources of common problems, both in interior and exterior locations. They have recently extended their service to include appliances. They have these plans grouped into specific categories, as well.
Home Serve USA also offers policies for landlords to insure their rental properties against emergency breakdowns. Home Serve USA has policies geared toward making sure landlords meet their legal gas safety obligations. The company offers gas safety inspection services to rental property owners. This service can accompany other service offers to combine policies for comprehensive property owner coverage.
Common Reviews of Home Serve USA
The most notable feature to stand out when going over online reviews for Home Serve USA is the extraordinary number of negative reviews. Digging a bit deeper shows that the majority of these reviews revolve around an apparent advertising campaign by Home Serve USA that confused many customers. There were complaints filed with the BBB and some states’ Attorneys General, resulting in Home Serve USA’s issuance of its “Assurance of Discontinuance” in 2015.
Later reviews seem to indicate a resolution on this issue.
More current customer reviews (for 2016 and 2017) find the usual complaints about customer service leaving a caller on hold for longer than the customer felt he should have been there. This tends to be a common theme in any business with a customer service call center.
There are negative reviews referencing the quality of the work done by technicians sent to homes on behalf of Home Serve USA. But there are also positive reviews about technician work and professionalism, so the two tend to balance each other out.
On the positive side, one customer reported a mix-up between her HOA and Home Serve USA’s technician. The customer ended up fixing the leak out of pocket but happily reported that Home Serve USA reimbursed her for the cost of the repair.
Multiple customers from several states related their experiences with Home Serve USA electrical technicians. All were pleased with the quality of the work done, the rapid response of the technicians making the repairs, and the professionalism of the servicemen sent to do the work. Terms such as “great work” and “great service” are commonly mentioned.
Is Home Serve USA for Me?
If you are looking for a comprehensive home warranty plan, Home Serve USA offers some tempting enticements, starting with the zero deductible and the lack of trade service call fees. As with any service, do your homework and read the fine print before making a decision.
American Home Shield has a customer base of over 1.5 million customers and is the largest home warranty provider in the U.S. AHS has been in the home warranty services business since 1971; in fact, they spearheaded the development of the industry.
This company specializes in coverage for repair or replacement of all the standard household systems and appliances. To sweeten the pot, AHS offers a “build your own plan” option that lets the homeowner select the items they want covered instead of signing up for a predetermined list of appliances and systems.
American Home Shield ranks high when measuring customer experience and plan value but it really tops its competitors with the size and depth of its contractor network. Although there is a plethora of customer reviews and even complaints to the Better Business Bureau about sub-par service from repair contractors, AHS offers one of the least restrictive contracts in the industry.
The contract required by American Home Shield is available for download online. There are stipulations included in the “fine print” that place limits on when the coverage applies. The wording of the contract takes certain decisions out of the hands of the customer, such as the color of replacement appliances. It is important for potential customers to get their homework done before signing up for any home warranty service to avoid surprises that may pop up when a repair need comes along.
How Does American Home Shield Work?
American Home Shield offers contracts on a 12-month basis. First, you choose the protection plan you want, including the amount you’re willing to pay as a Trade Call Service Fee each time a contractor or technician comes to your home. You pay your first month’s premium, and this triggers your 15-day waiting period.
Once you’ve cleared the waiting period hurtle, your home warranty coverage is active. You can get any covered system or appliance that breaks down repaired or replaced by contacting American Home Shield through their website or via phone, 24-hours per day, seven days a week.
If you have an AHS policy and move into a new home during your policy period, your protection plan may be transferable. If your new location is not something that is specifically excluded by the contract, your policy will likely transfer.
When a covered system or appliance breaks down, you contact American Home Shield to speak to a service representative, who will schedule a contractor to come look at your problem. Here is where there seems to be some serious contention among customers: you can contact a service representative 24/7 but your contractor will only contact you during normal business hours. Apparently, based on reviews, a lot of people neglect to read this part of the contract.
You will need to pay your Trade Call Service Fee directly to your contractor upon arrival. Once you’ve paid the agreed-upon fee, they will begin diagnosing your problem. The contractor must contact AHS to verify that your policy covers the identified problem. If the policy covers the appliance or system, the contractor will begin work.
What Makes American Home Shield Stand Out?
American Home Shield has been around since 1971; the longevity of the company in a rather volatile business market has to say something about it. It is available in all 50 states and boasts a massive stable of contractors and technicians it calls on to service the needs of its customers.
Another point that places American Home Shield apart from its competitors is its short waiting period after the initial payment of your premium. Most companies require a 30-day waiting period, while AHS has shortened that to a mere 15-days. And there is no home inspection required before you’re approved for a policy. These two points alone make it a sweeter deal than most others in the field.
Common Reviews of American Home Shield
American Home Shield currently holds a “B” rating from the Better Business Bureau, mostly due to an onslaught of complaints about contractors performing subpar work or not completing repairs at all. This sort of consumer complaint is a running theme through most reviews with a negative bent.
There are not a lot of positive reviews out there for American Home Shield, but there are some. One review stated the customer reported a problem with his water heater. He received an email within a few hours with the name of a contractor who would be doing the covered repair work. The contractor called the next day to schedule a repair date.
The customer continued, relating how the contractor called to ask permission to come earlier than originally scheduled. The contractor came and got the job fixed in no time. The customer reported the contractor was professional, courteous and thorough.
Other reviews related incidences of customers buying homes that came with an AHS warranty attached. There were no issues in getting a contractor to fix problems under the transferred policy. Others related just the opposite, complaining about multiple contractors showing up, each diagnosing a different problem and each requiring the policyholder to pay out the Trade Call Service Fee. These payments can quickly add up.
Another reported buying an older home with a current AHS warranty in place. Within a few months of moving in, the oven failed. The homeowner called AHS and a repairman showed up the next day, looked at the oven and informed the homeowner that parts were no longer available for that model. It took a little over a week but the homeowner received a check for $550 toward the purchase of a new oven.
On the other end of the spectrum, those who post negative reviews are very negative. There are many one-star ratings out there for American Home Shield. To be fair, many of the complaints were avoidable had the customer simply understood what they were buying.
Is American Home Shield for Me?
The experience you may have with American Home Shield could vary depending on your location. It seems to have better luck satisfying customers in certain regions and not others.
AHS seems as solid as any other company offering a similar policy. As with any contract, however, reading the entire contract before agreeing to it is highly recommended, and get any questions clarified before you sign on the dotted line.
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