Home Serve USA Review

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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.

About the Author

Jeff Hindenach

Jeff Hindenach is the co-founder of Versus Reviews. He graduated from Bowling Green State University with a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism. He has a long history of journalism, with a background writing for newspapers such as the San Jose Mercury News and San Francisco Examiner, as well as writing for The Huffington Post, New York Times, Business Insider, CNBC, Newsday and The Street. He believes in giving readers the tools they need to get out of debt.