Since signing up for the home insurance with AHS I have called them about 8 problems and only one of them was approved, the rest denied. It seems like every time one of their contractors comes out to your house, they seem to have a lengthy reason for denying/not covering the claim.
One of the problems that truly got me upset was when our 20 year old water heater started leaking in early March. I put in a ticket with American Home Shield and they sent out one of their contracting companies BK pluming in Charlotte, NC. The plumber said that the leak was caused because of the water pressure fluctuations caused by the City of Charlotte and therefore AHS would not cover the problem. Needless to say that the quote provided by BK Plumbing to fix the problem independently was outrageous!!! I had a tenant in the house so I had to have the water heater repaired ASAP.
I called another plumbing company and they told me that the house had a water pressure regulator installed and that the reason BK Pluming and AHS had provided sounded like a bunch of you know what. The plumber who fixed the problem said that the heater was 20 years old and just had to be replaced due to normal wear and tear. After paying $900 for the repair I submitted the independent contractor's conclusion and the bill to American Home Shield's Inspection Services on 3/12/08 to see if they would overturn the denial.
One of their researchers called me back, asked multiple questions and said that they would refund me $500 and that I should receive a check in 14-21 business days. When I tried asking why $500 and not the full amount, she said that $500 is the amount it'd have cost AHS to replace the water heater and that I should be happy that I'm getting anything. Needless to say that if they had approved the claim in the first place I wouldn't be out $900. But as I have learned after multiple encounters with AHS reps, there's no reasoning with them. OK, I was happily waiting for my check, at least something.
A month later, the second part of April was approaching and still no check. I called American Home Shield to see what's going on. After multiple transfers and explanations on my part, one of their reps told me that the case wasn't closed out and the check, of course, hasn't been sent. They had to look into the situation. Called back the next business day and was told that it was now processed with the date of 4/18/08 and that I would have to wait up to another 30 days to get the check. Nobody would admit that they messed up the processing of the case and there was no way to expedite the check because that's handled by a different dept. Waiting again
Here it is May 15 and still nothing. I called American Home Shield again. I'm already so used to the wait, multiple transfers, having to explain the situation to several reps, it feels like I have another job on the side - dealing with AHS. The last rep that I speak to is in the pay out dept and she'll contact the cash out dept to see if they can expedite them mailing a check since it hasn't been mailed yet. The rep asked me to check the status of the case in a week from now if I still haven't received the check. So here I am, 2 months after submitting the review documentation to the AHS Inspection Services and still awaiting for the promised check.
I'm starting to wonder how many people go through this and if this is a standard occurrence/practice with American Home Shield, promising to overturn the denial and refunding some of the money and then relying on people not having enough time and patience to follow up and deal with this mess.
I can't believe that a national company can treat people like this and still be in business
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