Homeowners - Do you have Home Warranty?

[DaveJ]

When my parents bought their latest house 18 months ago, they got one... MAN did they get screwed... A/C went out three days after they moved in. They fought with the warranty company (American Home Shield) for two months, and never got reimbursed for anything. AHS sent out three different companies to repair it, but they were all morons who had no clue what they were doing.

In the end AHS flat out denied the claim, saying that the unit had been improperly installed in the first place... my parents ended up having to replace the entire system at their expense. 😛

Dave

 

[kt]

Originally posted by: Roger

For those who so quickly said "NO", mind giving us an explanation as to why? Although I don't claim myself to be a home self-repairman, I do know a thing or two. But when it comes to major stuff, I would rather pass the work to real professionals. And as you know, finding a reliable and trustworthy contractors is a job in itself. I bought my home in May of last year and a home protection plan (home warranty, whatever you want to call it) came with it. I made some good use of it (replaced a faulty circuit breaker to the extended room built after the construction of the house and a couple of plumbing problems). Each time I paid $45 only. Now, my home protection plan is expiring soon and I am planning to renew it.

I have no reason to, I can repair anything in my home for much less money than is paid out for this insurance.
I wouldn't trust the average contractor to work on my residence ever, there are way too many rip off artists around.

Probably not worth it for a handy man like yourself. But what about people who don't have a clue where to begin or in my case the time to do it myself. I rather make the phone call than put on the tool belt and act as if I know what I am doing. It is just in MY opinion that the $400/year is totally worth it for me knowing that I won't have to spend a weekend or two out of the year trying to fix a leak or plumbing problems.

 

[kt]

Originally posted by: Roger
By reading this thread, you can tell who is good with thier hands and who are not 😉

Yeah, too bad most thinking are done with the heads.. either one. 😀

 

Probably not worth it for a handy man like yourself. But what about people who don't have a clue where to begin or in my case the time to do it myself. I rather make the phone call than put on the tool belt and act as if I know what I am doing. It is just in MY opinion that the $400/year is totally worth it for me knowing that I won't have to spend a weekend or two out of the year trying to fix a leak or plumbing problems.

You are absolutely correct, reread the thread, I am not putting anyone down, I was just answering the question ;

For those who so quickly said "NO", mind giving us an explanation as to why? Although I don't claim myself to be a home self-repairman, I do know a thing or two. But when it comes to major stuff, I would rather pass the work to real professionals. And as you know, finding a reliable and trustworthy contractors is a job in itself. I bought my home in May of last year and a home protection plan (home warranty, whatever you want to call it) came with it. I made some good use of it (replaced a faulty circuit breaker to the extended room built after the construction of the house and a couple of plumbing problems). Each time I paid $45 only. Now, my home protection plan is expiring soon and I am planning to renew it.

🙂

 

[StageLeft]

When we get a house we won't pay extra for a warranty. Insurance yes, because a house fire and you're screwed, but my take on things like warranties is statistically speaking you're losing money, and worse case scenario can you afford it? That's the diff between insurance and a warranty. House fire: can't afford. Dead AC unit: Can afford.

Take that $450/year and invest it instead.

 

[Eli]

Wow, Cool.. 1850.. :Q

I bet there were some treasures to be found when the house was gutted.

They used to use newspapers and magazines for insulation, and a lot of time.. much of it is still intact .. if not a bit yellow.

 

[flot]

I'm looking at buying a house now (Actually just made my 2nd offer on it) and a home warranty never even crossed my mind...

What exactly do these warranties cover? As far as appliances are concerned, I factored the condition and age of the existing ones into my offer. Also I figure I'm handy enough to repair anything that isn't refrigerant-based (and sometimes those) so minor failures don't bother me. Major plumbing and Electrical work could be an issue; but in all honesty I'm hard pressed to imagine a scenario where the warranty company wouldn't do everything possible NOT to pay out a claim. That's always been my experience with extended warranties and IMO a house just gives them so many more opportunities to claim its not their fault.

I mean, sure, if your washing machine explodes, I can see them fixing it without too much hassle. But a $75 deductable goes a LONG way towards the purchase of a brand new washing machine.

Looking at the houses my parents have owned, none of them were in fantastic shape when we bought them, yet I'm hard pressed to think of any real failures they had.

I MAYBE remember an A/C repairman showing up once or twice, and definitely remember a hot water heater leaking (new hot water heater, $150) and another that just died (new element, $40). Most recently my parents swimming pool pump had issues, which I think my dad of all people repaired (trust me, that's scary). My friends who are recent homeowners that have had issues have mostly had them because they are utterly clueless about things. I had one friend who ended up paying $200 to have an A/C guy come out and use a hose to blow out his drain line. And the scary thing is, even after seeing what he did, the guy still thinks the money was well spent!