We do have one. Got it when we bought the house and we have kept it since because the furnace in our house is rather old - we plan on putting on an addition at some point, so we're keeping the old furnace until then.

We've had two occasions to use it in the time that we've had it.

Once when the water heater (also older) died. We had considered going with a tankless system, but the insurance would only allow us to go with their approved company for it and the price difference between going with them for the tankless and others that we had done some quick research about was too much. So, we had them put in another tank system. We paid the service call fee. They replaced the tank...if we wanted anything different than what was "approved replacement", we could do it and pay the difference.

And then once when we had a water leak that we found pretty quickly. The structural damage was less than would have made it practical to try to turn into homeowners insurance - water came down into the kitchen area from the bathroom...it was a plaster ceiling and all it really did was bubble the "wallpaper" coat that had been up there from the prior owner. Our cost was to pay the flat fee service call. They cut into the plaster wall in the one bedroom and replaced the faulty pipe. The insurance company would have sent another person to "repair" the plaster...but they do it with drywall and would have only took it back to mudding. We would have been responsible for matching the swirl texture, painting, etc. We managed to get them to cut us a check instead for the amount that they would have paid their contracted party and we were able to get our own person in to make the wall repair. But, it sounds like they don't normally do that.

All in all, I have mixed feelings about it. And it's likely once we get the addition on and we replace the furnace, we won't keep the warranty any longer.

Total crap shoot. We've moved often and have used a couple of different companies as the warranties were part of the house sales.

You have to use their contractors and the people they send are often not very good. If you get a good contractor, you will not be a priority because their reimbursement from the warranty company isn't worth their while.

Our current company, Old Republic, is horrible to deal with. We recently got a 50% reimbursement for dead air conditioner. Sounds great but If I monetized the aggravation of dealing with the smarmy contractor and the countless hours on the phone with their combative phone reps the reimbursement is probably a wash. Plus additional malarkey which I won't bore you with.

We've had American Home Shield for a large number of years. We've had several large scale and small scale repairs done and have to say that we've been very happy with every one of "their" contractors - local people who we've requested over again. For the price of the service call I've had my central air repaired, my hot water furnace refurbished, my fridge repaired several times (it's an LG, never again!), disposer repaired, microwave repaired, etc. I think we've had a good deal. Yes, there are some years when we don't need to have anything repaired, but it's rare.

My daughter also has had AHS and after LG replaced her first fridge under warranty (one of those which caught on fire with the bulbs burning), her second LG needed a control board replaced after the warranty period ended but there were none to be found-on a 3 year old fridge-AHS replaced the fridge. She did, however, have one negative experience with an a/c contracted which went on overlong. Once AHS was finally made aware of what was going on, they bent over backwards to correct the situation.

We have been very satisfied with our experiences

We also had an AHS policy the first year in our house (gift from our realtor). We used it that year so it would have paid for itself that year, but chose not to renew it, and have not had an issue it would have covered in the six years since then. (It was a $500 policy with a service call cost--maybe $50 or $100?) The major issue we had with it was that we did not get to choose the contractor--they send out who they send out, and in our case it was not a very good contractor for the repair. I'm sure that varies by region (and type of repair) too. As someone else said, you do have to read the fine print--there's a lot it doesn't cover (e.g., our garage door opener mechanism broke a month after we moved in, and that turned out to be excluded; luckily it turned out the seller had just put it in and the installer had a 90-day warranty!) The repair we had that was covered was a pipe leak under slab, and I remember thinking it was crazy (but fortuitous) that it was covered because it was under the slab, but had the same pipe been leaking above ground, it was excluded for some reason. No clue why that was the case. A lot of our appliances were also excluded for various reasons. I would just be sure to read the fine print and talk to local people with policies from whatever company you consider--not necessarily a bad idea, but often not a particularly money-saving one either. Just depends.

5 houses / 5 warranties. Zero paid for themselves. On one house that needed a repair with the a/c disconnect panel, the actual cost of the repair was under half the cost of the actual warranty (also under the deductible). For future purchases I plan on just lowering the sale price by the cost of the warranty.

We had one for a while and never needed it. We chose not to renew mainly because of not being able to chose the repair contractor if we did need it.

With newer appliances being so problematic I did buy an extended warranty on a KA dishwasher a few years ago. Shortly after the regular warranty expired the top shelf kept falling because the plastic parts that hold it in the track had failed. When I called about having it repaired under the extended warranty I was told they only cover the mechanical parts, this was not disclosed on the application. I complained and most of our $ was refunded. Our appliance store does not recommend warranties anymore, they said they were more trouble than they were worth.

They are a waste of money and it's usually easier and cheaper to pay for repairs on your own. Many of the warranty companies will do everything in their power to deny legitimate claims. They also use delay tactics to get you to hire your own contractor and then refuse to reimburse you. Most of the ones I've used have forced me to use incompetent contractors that show up hours late or never even arrive.

Case in point: Our bathroom tub stopped draining in our old house a couple years ago. The day the problem arose, I called our warranty company, First American. The next day, they sent out a plumber. He took one look at the problem and told me he was not authorized to fix it because he was only allowed to fix "stoppages" with his contract with First American. I paid him a $75 service fee for nothing. He told me to call First American the next day and they would put me in touch with another plumber. On Friday, I called the plumber assigned by First American who was not available until Monday.

On Monday, the next plumber showed up over two hours late. I had taken the day off work to meet him. He took one look at the tub and said he would have to contact the company to get "authorization" to fix it. He said that I would have to contact the company. I called First American and they claimed they hadn't received the plumbers report yet. They tell me to call back. Another day passes.

Finally, I call First American and demand that they send the plumber back to fix the problem. They transfer me over to a supervisor who is totally unhelpful. She informs me that my claim has now been denied. She claims that the plumber's report references a "missing part" in the faucet causing the stoppage, which triggers an exclusion in my policy. After nearly 30 minutes of back and forth and her being unable to identify the missing part, I insist that she send out another plumber to re-assess.

At this point, we haven't been able to use the tub for a week. We can't give our kids a bath; I was bathing my infant in our kitchen sink.

The next day (a week after I initially reported the claim), Plumber Number Three shows up. He told me that there was no "missing part." He wouldn't fix it though, saying he had to get authorization from First American. After about a half hour, he tried to leave, saying he would be back "in a few days" after he gets the requisite approval. I told him I wanted to contact First American while he was here. He waits while I call. It takes First American nearly two hours to route me to the right person so I can get the proper "approval". Finally....after over a week, nearly 10 phone calls, over 2 hours on the phone, after the company improperly denied our claim, we got authorization to fix the drain. It takes about 15-20 minutes to fix the problem.

That's just one experience we had. We recently had a similar situation when our hot water heater pooped out. When I called the warranty company, they assigned a company that had across the board 1 stars on yelp. The appointment came and went and no one ever showed up. The plumbing company was based over 2 hours from our home and the warranty company refused to assign one that was closer. We couldn't take showers in the meantime. We ended up just hiring a plumber on our own to fix it. It wasn't worth the headache or the delay.

We have a warranty through Fidelity that came with the house we purchased 7 months ago. The first 3 months we called them out seven times for different things (a/c, bad salt cell in pool equipment, and multiple leaks. One leak cost them over $1k). They have been easy to deal with and I even requested what plumber I wanted last time I called them. Every person I've talked to in the trades says Fidelity has the best reputation in home warranties. I will probably renew again since we have a 30 year old a/c that I'm hoping will die on their watch. :)

Pipdog, I feel your pain. The sellers purchased a warranty from First American, which at the time I thought would be wonderful, especially since this was the first time I was buying a resale.

Every single time I contacted them it was a hassle. Told me a ceiling fan that stopped working was a pre-existing condition, even though it showed in the inspection report that it was working fine.

Next time it was because the upstairs a/c stopped working. When the weather was nearing 100, we had to wait 3 days until their guy (I think he was called Express Service or something ironic like that) showed up, and he was having me hand him tools like I was his helper. Blown fuse, broken thermostat & chewed wires fixed only cost us the $60 deductible.

Last time it was a plumbing issue. The guy came late, had an attitude. My shower upstairs was making a banging, shaking noise, and I was worried there was a leak in the wall. He blamed it on the cheap home depot faucet that was installed. For the noise that started with the downstairs toilet, he said it meant there was a loose pipe somewhere - but there was no way of knowing where the pipe was, and I wouldn't want him busting up all the walls in my house to find it, wouldn't I? The visit was all of 5 minutes and I refused to pay him. I let them try to take me to collections before I paid the deductible to First American. They said the deductible was a dispatch fee, didn't matter if there was anything done.

These people are crooks. They called constantly at the end of the contract to try to get us to renew, but after our experience, there was no way we would even think about renewing or signing on with another company. Save your money.