Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
harrietv_gw

My home warranty AHS found a loophole

harrietv
15 years ago

My husband and I live in California and have kept active our home warranty contract with AHS since we purchased our home 16 years ago (1992)....Our SEARS BRAND forced heat gas furnace located in the attic has just died....It was very old but always worked well until I started to hear sonic booms in my attic this week!!

Of course I shut off my thermostat and called my heating repairman...He said it was dangerous not to be used.I immediately called home warranty who sent out their contractor and he said the very same thing...needs to be replaced. I was totally shocked when AHS called the next day and informed me that my claim was denied because there was a recall on this furnace in Sept 2000...therefore it was faulty construction , poor design ( nox Rods made for California) which caused overheating of the heat exchanger ( My repairman said fire box was rusted out)

Were they justified??? Do I have any recourse?? Has anyone experienced something similar...How would you go about fighting this injustice??

I have scheduled an appointment with the Gas Company...they will be able to determine if my furnace was part of this recall...but even if it was how can I prove that it died from old age...normal wear and tear ??

Any suggestions??

Comments (16)

  • GammyT
    15 years ago

    Too late but if you put that money in the bank for 16 years...

    My only guess is look at your original papers and/or any paperwork they gave you if they came back out for an inspection.

    On those papers is your furnace brand named complete with model number?

    If so, you might have some recourse IF you really want to fight it (it would cost less to just replace it) and they knew you had this furnace.

  • lucy
    15 years ago

    I can't imagine trying to enforce a 16 year old (or obviously close to) warranty on anything at all! Imagine if it was a car - who would do anything about that? There comes a time for everything, and your furnace's time has come.

  • fandlil
    15 years ago

    All insurance companies do this when you submit a claim: They try to figure out how not to honor it. Maintenance contracts always have small print legalese designed to protect not you but the insurance company. That's how they make money. Now you are left in the inconvenient position of having to figure out if you have recourse. I experienced a similar thing when I spent big bucks on a service policy for a brand new car to extend the warranty period. When I submitted a claim I learned that the policy was worthless. I'll never, never do that again.

  • izzie
    15 years ago

    I don't understand how they deny a claim.Since the recall was in 2000 and was no longer "covered" have you been paying coverage on it all along. You should ask for a refund from when it was no longer covered until present day. Maybe I am mistaken about how the insurance works, were you billed yearly?

  • trapped_in_amber
    15 years ago

    I don't know if this will help you, but I just had my furnace replaced a little over a year ago- it had also been under a recall for many years unknown to us. The company that manufactured the furnace (lennox) was offering FREE replacements so I ended up getting a brand new high efficiency furnace to replace the one that was at the end of it's life span anyway. I only had to pay for installation.

    I also had an AHS home warranty when I first bought this house.....don't even get me started on them. I feel after my dealings with them that they are nothing but a scam. I am sorry you have paid into them for so long. My advice to you would be to find out if Sears is offering replacements of their faulty furnaces.

  • Linda
    15 years ago

    As a realtor, I recently was investigating AHS to buy a home warranty package for one of my clients. I talked to the girl on the phone, asked a bunch of questions, what if the boiler goes after a month in the house? Her reply, if we can't fix it, we replace it, its covered, what if the oven goes after a month in the house? If we can't fix it, its covered. Hummm, maybe I should have one of these on my own home. She emailed me the paperwork, as I started to read thru this, I realized it was a scam. The parts that they would replace on things seemed vague. I don't recall specifically the heating section but I do remember that with every system or appliance I read it seemed the same. Under appliances, it said "oven", covered part: handles, knobs, clocks. I emailed her back and said, Im not really worried about the clock on the oven breaking, as people can cook without a clock. What about if the heating element goes, nothing mentions that? Her reply was, please call or refer to the pamphlet I sent you as nothing can be said via email. HA! My immediate thought was they dont want to put anything in writing. Needless to say, I didnt purchase the contract. I think its less of a loophole and more of the way they do business. Sorry and Good Luck with it.

  • bdpeck-charlotte
    15 years ago

    I had one with Old Republic. I did manage to get the AC Compressor replaced under the warranty, but it took me 3 months to get their contractor to get a permit and inspection done. Currently, you can only sell 13 SEER or higher equipment in the US, they installed a 10 SEER. Why? Because they aren't selling it, they bought out all the 10 SEER units and keep them around to replace broken units.

    The warranty paid off for me, but only cause I was flipping and didn't care about the 10 vs 13 SEER. I was still upset by the deceit.

  • ravencajun Zone 8b TX
    15 years ago

    When we purchased this house in Texas the home warranty was all the rage and everyone HAD to have one. We had never heard of such a thing. The sellers had one on the house from AHS which was also to include the pool and all the pool equipment which meant it cost much more than a standard one. So we inherited this thing, which was supposed to be so great, at purchase. The only thing that they ever did for us was replace the clock timer on the oven which was broken when we bought the house and that had been set up for replacement with the previous owner! I called them every time something went out on the pool NO WE DO NOT COVER that after we had spent the money to have one of their special companies come out to do the inspection. Over and over no matter what it was we called about NOTHING was ever covered. We dropped that thing after the first year and never looked back. I can not even believe those companies are still in business scamming people this way. We saved our money and when we need repairs we call REAL repair companies that know what they are doing and come do the repairs.

  • cearbhaill (zone 6b Eastern Kentucky)
    15 years ago

    My heating system went completely out two months after I moved into my home. AHS denied the claim 100% because the system had not been maintained 'to their standards'.

    That's a pretty loose interpretation of a home warranty.

  • bmmalone
    15 years ago

    i must be one of the few that AHS worked for! WE bought a house about ten years ago. In the first two years they repaired many things - leaking faucets, leaking toilet, refrigerator, plumbing, hot tub, and they also replaced, the a/c unit, the heater for the hot tub, the range, the refrigerator and part of the heating unit. sorry no one else had the same service from this company. FYI we no longer have the warranty, because most of our appliances etc are new following a remodel and are under manufacturers warranty

  • sparksals
    15 years ago

    We have AHS and shortly after moving into the house, the halogen burner died. I called AHS, they gave me the name of the company to call, they came and replaced it. No problems. I also used them in our Tucson house and had no problems.

  • jaknirk
    13 years ago

    Home Security of America - DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY EITHER
    We used this company for our home warranty when we bought our new house. Part of the septic system quit working on day 20 of owning the house and we called them to find out if it was covered. Amanda L., our adjustor, informed us that it wasn't covered because the failure had occurred in the first 30 days of the contract. It turns out this was in tiny print in the contract. She then informed us that if we had waited 10 more days to report it, it would have been covered, but we couldn't just refile the claim in 10 days because they already knew about the failure. What kind of nonsense is this??? We are being informed that if we had waited 10 days and called and lied about the failure date, it would have been covered, but since we were being honest they won't cover it. We then asked to cancel our home warranty and get a refund so that we could go with a better company, and were then informed that the contract is non-cancellable. I then asked to speak with a supervisor, but apparently there were no supervisors of any kind avaiable to speak with (at 3PM on a Tuesday afternoon). DO NOT GO WITH THIS COMPANY... Find a company that doesn't have ridiculous ways to avoid paying for anything, and will allow you to cancel your contract.

  • homewarrantyprograms_gmail_com
    13 years ago

    Home warranties are a great idea especially for first time home buyers. But be careful not to over insure yourself. if you have just purchased a new washer and dryer, it may not be necessary to have those covered under a home warranty.
    I personally have held a home warranty from AHS for about 5 years now. I have only filed one claim and they promptly sent someone out to fix a plumbing issue. Home warranties are a great idea especially for first time home buyers. But be careful not to over insure yourself. if you have just purchased a new washer and dryer, it may not be necessary to have those covered under a home warranty.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Home warranty programs

  • brickeyee
    13 years ago

    "home warranty is just like the maintenance contracts Sears tries to sell."

    A 'hoome waranty' from a third party is EXACTLY like the maintanance contract Sears sells.

    It IS a maintenance contract, not an actual warranty.

  • iggie
    13 years ago

    All these type deals are strictly slick hustles, thefollow the law enough to be legal and that,s it any loop hole will be used. This is especially true with automobile warranty things. Put the premium they want in the bank, you will comeout ahead.