Complaint Review: American Home Shield - Memphis TN

This company denied a claim and, when requested, would not provide contact information for someone who could actually help with the situation. On Saturday, March 13, 2021, I found that my central air conditioning was not working. The inside unit was on and the fan blowing, but the house was hot. Upon further investigation, I found that the outside unit was not working and, when I checked the breaker box, discovered that the breaker to the outside unit had tripped. I also discovered that the breaker would not stay on as long as the inside unit was running despite multiple attempts to turn on the breaker.

Although American Home Shield has been good about taking care of my needs in the past, I have found that they can sometimes have trouble finding a contractor to come out to my house immediately. In some cases, I have had to wait several days before a contractor could get to the house. With that in mind and considering that my last air conditioning issue was a simple repair, I felt that it would be best to call a contractor who I knew and trusted. I didn't want to have to wait until after the weekend to get air conditioning if possible (I live in Texas and, although it isn't all that hot yet, it is very humid).

The technician came out and looked at the unit, conducted some tests, and determined that the issue was that the compressor was not working. Apparently, in doing that, he did not reconnect some of the parts and wires. Since this was more than a routine kind of issue that could be easily fixed, I decided to go ahead and make a claim through AHS. The technician came out on Monday, March 15, spent just a few minutes outside, brought in an invoice and told me that the compressor was out. He said he would make a report.

On Tuesday, March 16, I found out that the claim would be denied because some of the parts were not connected and, until I was able to get the unit working so that they could test it, AHS would not honor the claim. This seems a bit silly since the whole problem rests in the fact that the unit does not work and, thus, the reason for my reaching out to AHS. In relation to your website and in the section that begins with these words, "All home warranties are not created equal. Our American Home Shield Assurances are always included, even in our base plans. This means you'll get coverage for:," the list of items covered include (in the words on the website): "Improper installations, repairs or modifications."

I can't help but feel that this would be covered under such a provision since, although an outside contractor attempted the repairs improperly, there is nothing else written in that section about excluding improper installations, repairs or modifications by an outside contractor who is not affiliated with American Home Shield. I spoke with several customer service agents and supervisors who told me there was nothing that they could do about the decision and, when I asked for someone who did have the authority to make decisions, they refused to give me that information. I found the emails for several executives including Chelsea Sumrow, Jonathan Herman, and Scott Brown, but, when I attempted to contact them, my emails were blocked and would not go through.

The same happened when I attempted to contact the CEO of the company. This company seems to be a company that seeks to find loopholes, especially in relation to expensive repairs, to get out of paying for the services even when I have been a loyal customer and have paid them hundreds (possibly thousands) of dollars for their warranty.