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American Home Shield Home Warranty Review
By Scott Nevil MONEY RESEARCH COLLECTIVE
Home warranties can be helpful if you own or purchase a home. They help to cover the repair and replacement costs of expensive items like broken refrigerators and air conditioners that your homeowner’s insurance policy won’t reimburse.
If you’re researching the best home warranties, you may come across American Home Shield Home Warranty. Read on to learn whether this company’s offerings might be worth considering for your home and budget.
American Home Shield Home Warranty Overview
American Home Shield is a pioneering company that offered its first – and, the company claims, the first-ever – home warranty in 1971. The American Home Shield Home Warranty is a purchase to help cover the costs of repairing a home or replacing items damaged by regular wear and tear.
An American Shield home warranty is designed to help you pay for heating and cooling systems, kitchen and laundry appliances, roof leaks and more. American Home Shield also offers additional coverage for items you have in your homes like electronic components, a pool, a spa or a septic pump.
Here are some of the pros and cons of American Home Shield Warranty plans:
- Long experience and a generally good reputation
- Does not require that maintenance records be kept, as some companies demand
- Allows you to choose a service fee between $75 and $125
- Premiums are on the high side, including for add-on coverage
- Coverage caps that are higher than many other warranty companies
- Repairs guaranteed for only 30 days, less than many competitors offer
American Home Shield Home Warranty coverage
American Home Shield warranty plans cover a wide range of items not covered by traditional insurance policies. For example, plumbing, electrical and heating and cooling systems within your home are included in each American Home Shield protection plan.
What it offers
American Home Shield offers three plan levels. As you move up in the plan categories, you get more coverage for more items and systems within your home.
Standard in each plan is coverage for normal wear and tear on:
- Heating and cooling: Air conditioners, heating units and ductwork.
- Electrical: Attic exhaust, venting and fans, main breakers and fuses, doorbells, interior electrical lines, ceiling fans and garage door openers.
- Plumbing: Water heaters, interior plumbing, toilets, faucets, whirlpool tub motor and parts.
What it doesn’t offer
While the services and repairs American Home Shield offers are comprehensive, some items are not covered by any of its plans or add-ons. Home items or issues not eligible for coverage are:
- Floors
- Walls
- Windows
- Sprinkler systems
- Home exterior items
- Mold
- Pest damage
- Home management systems
- Routine maintenance
American Home Shield also doesn’t cover unknown pre-existing conditions. For example, if you had a cracked water line under your house you didn’t know about and purchased a warranty after it occurred, the warranty would not cover it.
Warranty coverage types
The three coverage plans are Shield Silver, Shield Gold and Shield Platinum. Silver is the lowest tier, so it has less coverage than the other two plans, while each plan adds more as you go up a tier.
Appliances that are add-ons for the lowest tier include all kitchen and laundry appliances. If you want to cover them, you’ll need to purchase an add-on that covers them or choose one of the higher-tier plans.
Additionally, kitchen and laundry appliances have a $3,000 per-item limit. While that may not cover all such items, that limit (like others from American Home Shield) are actually more generous than those of some competitors. Still, if you prefer to have more expensive appliances in your home, you should expect to cover any amount over the repair limit.
The items that need to have coverage purchased as an add-on for all tiers are:
- Pool/spa
- Guest units
- Septic tank and pump
- Well pump
- Roof leak repair (included in the highest tier)
Through American Home Shield, you can also purchase discounted maintenance services for door rekeys, heat and air conditioning tuneup discounts and air filters.
Shield Silver
The lowest tier of warranty, the Shield Silver plan, covers 14 items and systems in your home:
- Air conditioners
- Heating Units
- Ductwork
- Attic exhaust
- Attic Venting
- Attic fans
- Main breakers, boxes and fuses
- Doorbells
- Interior electrical lines
- Ceiling fans
- Garage door opener
- Water heater
- Interior plumbing
- Toilets
- Faucets
- Whirlpool tub motor and parts
Shield Gold
The second tier plan adds these kitchen and laundry appliances to the list of covered items:
- Refrigerators
- Ranges/cooktops
- Ovens
- Dishwashers
- Mounted microwaves
- Garbage disposals
- Hot and cold water dispensers
- Washers
- Dryers
Shield Platinum
Platinum is American Home Shield’s top-tier plan and adds still more coverage. In addition to all items covered by the Silver and Gold plans, the Platinum plan covers/provides the following:
- Roof leak repairs
- HVAC tune-ups
- Unlimited air conditioning refrigerant
- Code violations and permits
Customer reviews of American Home Warranty
Customer opinions of American Home Shield, as posted on review sites, are a mixed bag. Some are quite positive while others voice considerable concern and dissatisfaction.
More than 3,000 pages of reviews and more than 11,000 yearly ratings about American Home Shield’s warranty service have been filed on ConsumerAffairs.com. The reviewers and raters average a combined 4.2 out of 5 stars.
Reviewers on that site, then, are generally satisfied with the support, service, maintenance and replacements they receive from American Home Shield. There are instances of problems with particular technicians and repairs, but those are more an issue with the contractors American Home Shield selects than with the warranty company itself.
Several consumer reviews mention maintenance, repair and replacement turnaround times as problem areas. A number of warranty holders report that getting one of American Home Shield’s technicians to their home was significantly slower than the typical time when you engage your own repairperson, without a warranty.
Reviews and comments on the Better Business Bureau website are even more negative overall. The BBB has given a decent accreditation rating of “B” to AHS. There are, however, more than 27,000 complaints filed against the company. Upwards of 11,000 customer reviews are present on the site, and they collectively rate the company at a mediocre 2.25 out of 5 stars on average.
To American Home Shield’s credit, they have responded and worked to solve every complaint on the Better Business Bureaus website within the confines of the customer’s policies.
In California, complaints against American Home Shield have prompted the Department of Insurance to open an inquiry. Besides ongoing complaints, the department has raised concern that the company has offered kickbacks to real estate brokerages to encourage new homebuyers to purchase plans from AHS Home Warranty.
The number of complaints filed, and the response and care (or not) accorded to each one, suggest that American Home Shield has work to do. It may need to overhaul the internal processes it uses to receive, track, process, resolve and close claims.
American Home Shield Warranty FAQ
How does the claims process work?
The claims process using the American Home Shield Warranty is pretty straightforward. You log in to your American Home Shield account and select the items you need to have repaired or replaced. Next, you pay your trade service call fee, ensure your contact info is current, and receive a confirmation.
Unlike some competitors, American Home Shield does not demand that you keep maintenance records for all appliances and systems covered under their warranty. Those other companies may use those to deny coverage due to late or improper maintenance.
You can also contact American Home Shield directly if you have any problems with your claim. Representatives can help you with any issues that arise.
Are there service call fees?
Yes. As is the case with most home warranty companies. American Home Shield requires its customers to pay for each service call. After that visit, the company assesses (and very often approves) the needed repair. The warranty owner is nor reimbursed for the service fee, but will have the repair covered, if it's approved.
How much is American Home Shield Home Warranty coverage?
The cost of American Home Shield Warranty plans vary by location. But they start at a relatively high $39.99 per month. Several variables will determine how much you pay per year, starting with the particular plan you choose, and any add-ons you elect. Also, unlike some companies, American Home Shield allows you to select a service all fee of either $75, $100 or $125; the higher the fee, as a rule, the lower your premium will be.
How long is American Home Shield Warranty good for?
The standard term for an American Home Shield Warranty is one year. You pay monthly premiums for coverage, but the warranty lasts for the entire year as long as you keep up with your payments. The coverage is renewable every year, so the warranty will be good for as long as you continue renewing and paying your premiums.
Is American Home Shield a good investment?
Like other home warranties, American Home Shield Home Warranty has the potential to cover repair or even replacement to many items and appliances not covered in a homeowners insurance policy. You pay only a $100 service charge for repairs that could cost many times that much.
But there are downsides to consider, for this and all other home warranties. These begin with the premiums, which are somewhat higher for American Home Shield than some other companies on the market. Consider, too, that paying (and waiting) for a service call does not guarantee that a repair will be approved, nor that it will be completed quickly. And if the company deems your appliance or system to be too old to repair, you will be paid only for the depreciated value for the item. That figure might fall hundreds or even thousands of dollars short of the cost of replacement, and especially of a new replacement.
Remember, too, that (like many other home warranty companies) AHS has been experiencing problems resolving claims to the satisfaction of some of its customers. Make sure you learn as much as possible about home warranties before deciding which, if any, to choose.
How we evaluated American Home Warranty plans
American Home Shield plans were evaluated based on what each plan included or excluded, and at what cost. We also considered the volume and flavor of consumer reviews and other reported experiences for the company. We looked at how often company representatives responded to customer reviews, including whether they offered assistance to the reviewer, along with gratitude for leaving a review.
American Home Shield Warranty Summary
The American Home Shield Home Warranty is backed by a company with more than 50 years of experience in coverage for homes. The company offers warranty packages that cover most of the issues that arise during home ownership, at reasonable prices. The Silver package is reasonably-priced and covers all of the basics. The Gold package adds laundry and kitchen appliances. And the Platinum package covers everything from roof leaks to plumbing line failures under the house.
All that said, American Home Shield, like some other home-warranty companies, has a patchy record when it comes to customer service ands honoring its obligations in a timely way. Based on its online reviews, it needs to overhaul its processes and work on resolving claims promptly before a hearty recommendation of the company is merited.
Scott Nevil is a freelance writer and editor creating expert content about all things investing, corporate and personal finance, crypto, and economics. Scott has been writing for more than three years and has been featured on GoBankingRates and Investopedia. He has a Master of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Science in Management from the University of Phoenix.