First American Home Warranty

Yes CEO of InternetSafe LLC has determined homewarranty.firstam.com online or by phone is a total ripoff scam. You will pay your premiums for near a year, then when you need an appliance repair they will drag their feet, send out unqualified idiots, delay fake repairs with fake parts back order.
Signed: Brett Paulson CEO of InternetSafe LLC SafeVerify.com SafeVerified.com SafeCertified.com SafeWebsites.com SafeShopping.com

I would have given this only two stars. But I have to say it's "average" when compared_among_ home warranties. That's because on_average_ as far as I can tell home warranties are all not very good for most people most of the time. Among other exclusions, they exclude pre-existing conditions. Although this is understandable and reasonable, the problem is you don't know when you later have a service issue if they going to weasel out of it saying it is related to a pre-existing condition.
I was also disappointed and surprised when was getting water dripping from freezer into fridge. Turned out the drain line was clogged... a simple cheap service repair... but it was not covered by some sort of weasel exclusion. So was charged $65 to have them have a guy come out just to_tell_ me it was not covered. Could have just called any local service and had them actually unclog the line for $65.
Finally they had poor and flawed communication when they set me up for a service call from Sears. Their note to me indicated I should call Sears and set up the appointment. The Sears rep told me, "no"... that know the appointment have to be set up by the rep at the home warranty. It took about 10 days to straighten out this snafu. Fortunately the refrigerator was not totally nonfunctional. If it had been totally down we we would've been without a refrigerator and a fridge full of spoiled food for 10 days while they looked were straightening out their miscommunication. One other thing: When I filed a complaint at the Better Business Bureau I got a call from one of the higher-level reps saying they would give me a $65, courtesy credit service call. Three months later I'm still waiting..

I wish I could leave negative stars. I have had FAHW for many years, and have rarely used them. When my a/c went out, they sent a technician out who reported to them that the problem was the touch pad, which was a non-covered part. So I called someone to come and do the repairs. When it was completed and they gave me the itemized bill for their services, it turned out that none of the repairs had anything to do with the touch pad. I sent all of the proof to FAHW, and they denied the claim on the basis that I did not get pre-approval prior to the repairs. Of course I didn't! I was not aware that it should have been covered until after the repairs were completed. This made absolutely no difference to them. I called to try to talk to someone about it, and was not allowed to speak to anyone with any authority. So I cancelled my contract, and I will never use them again. Don't waste your money! You are better off saving the premium you would pay to cover any repairs that might be needed in the future.

Don't Get Scammed into FAHW policy - After paying for the Policy + $75 Service Fee and awaiting repairs and resend a board out for Board repairs there's still literally a 'Blinking Light' - so I cancelled - too tired working with FAHW from October to end December 2020. In my opinion 'Forget FAHW'.

Sad sketchy company. To save money they hire the bottom feeding contractors who don't know what they are doing. If you like to waste time waiting for people who no show or can't diagnose your problem, this is the company for you. I have struggled through this with several repairs. The latest was a dishwasher that has not worked in over a month. Had a "virtual visit" by the repairman who ordered parts based on my photos. They then no-showed to the install appointment but labeled the job as done with FAHW. When I called them they said I needed an electrician, not them. Then the story changed - they needed to wait for more parts. They wanted me to wait another couple of weeks for the next install appointment. Infuriated I called FAHW. No remedy there. I was told my complaint went to the TOP and I would get called in a couple of hours. 2 DAYS later and no call. 4 more phone calls to FAHW, they rescheduled me with the SAME lowlife contractor. When I went ballistic they said maybe they would give me a cash credit, they would have to talk to the TOP again and get back to me. I have gotten the run around one too many times, broken promises. Any company that hires contractors who tell bald faced lies - to them as well as myself - is too scummy for me. I am done. Cancelled today.

Beware of artificial reviews - sort by most recent. I work in real estate and big players are moving away from this company and their shady tactics. It started when I had no water to my home for over 72 hours (with an open claim for a covered issue) and I had to get approval for an out of pocket reimbursement as a result of finding a vendor (for cheaper) on standby that could immediately repair. Their hold time is always 45 minutes or more, the agents are rude and unhelpful, and they don't get anything done. I had to make my own calls and do my own due diligence to get water running back to my property and am now waiting over 30 days for a refund because they claim I never sent receipts which have been emailed multiple times. The incompetence is intentional to leave people stuck with the bill or blow people off so they have to get their own service.

To be clear, First American deflects all blame and mishandling even when in breach of contract. Following my BBB review, they advised I didn't provide the required documents, which is false and this company profits off of misconstruing their coverage and holding out on assistance. A paid invoice, original bid invoice, and w9 were provided a total of 18 times to *******@firstam.com with myself CCD to confirm delivery. I had to send 27 emails, spend over 26 hours on hold, and escalate a BBB complaint to get a solidified response from a manager, Sandra T, who would not hold any accountability other than claiming "I didn't provide the necessary documents" that me self, a third party, and the sales manager all confirmed receipt of. As of today 02/02/2021, over thirty days later, Sandra T confirmed all items were received (after a manager already confirmed this on 01/27/2021 - before their BBB response 02/02/2021). She promised an overnight with tracking for tomorrow 02/03/2021. The negligence in communication and breach of contract surrounding timeline to return funds is appalling.

Additional red flag, FOLLOWING my BBB complaint, my previously "fully covered" furnace repair is NOW being communicated as $2500 OOP (which sounds lot like extortion). My furnace was inspected and covered when I moved in, and now that I'm raising complaints, they want to charge me. It's a disgusting business model and I recommend everyone looks elsewhere.

USE ANY OTHER COMPANY

They don't accept half the claims and then send the cheapest most useless contractors who can't repair anything. The contractor makes a claim they have been but done nothing to fix the issue.
Three claims we had, and none of them fixed. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY

Customer for 14 years will not be renewing. First American have worked on my A/C several times including replacing the compressor within the past few years,
I noticed that it was making a noise as it did a couple of years ago so I notified warranty.

Contractor was sent to look at the condenser. The contractor listened and his words verbatim is it's the compressor and the coils are old. He then stated, "the condenser needs replaced and First American will not warranty as the coils are old". I said well what do you expect the unit is over 20 plus years. He took a picture and sent to FAHW. Then tells me we can replace tomorrow for $$$$. With the temps we have in Nevada, we replaced it. I reached out to FAHW requesting to be reimbursed for the condenser.

Well, you guessed it they denied the claim. FAHW stated the contractor reported due to an accident the coils are bent that was a downright lie. There were no accidents. The only people that worked on the condenser were the contractors that FAHW sent.

My contract will end in December and will not be renewing. In 14 years I will have paid them $9,912.00.

Shame on them. Do yourself a favor and do not use FAHW.

Yelp
No N. Wanted to share a review of First American Home Warranty
I put in a request to have my oven repaired, the first technician (Tri-Valley Repair), scheduled an appointment a week out. Exactly at the appointment time, he called and said his truck broke down. He set another appointment further out and by then I got COVID. I called well in advance that morning to inform and request a return call. I called several times and texted to avoid him wasting time to get here. I was so upset because I was so very ill and calling this guy to get a new appointment was just hard. He never returned my calls and texts. I wanted to set up an appointment because his appointments are booked so far out.

I called First American Home Warranty (FHA) and complained, because by then it had been about 2 weeks. First American reassigned another company. The second technician walked in and took five minutes to tell me nothing was wrong and began to explain to me how an oven works and how to use my appliance! I was in shock since I am a 58 year old woman. He spoke down to me and treated me as a "dumb woman". He was sexist, rude and discriminating. I called First American again and told them my experience and they let it go into one ear and out the other. No apology for my bad experience and no mention as to any follow-up with this discriminating contractor.

They sent out a third company and it was determined I needed a new sensor. By then, I had a broken oven for at least 6 weeks after my initial repair request.

Well, now my refrigerator ice maker broke and they assigned to me the first guy who didn't show up (Tri-Valley Repair). He called set an appointment and never put it in the system. Fearing the same no show again and without putting the date in the system, no one would know he failed to appear. I called to request a different company and I was told that I can't request a different company and the service agent denied my request. I had asked to speak to a manager. "Manny" the manager, proceeded to tell me that only that assigned technician can request it to be reassigned. For the fact that I have previously asked him to be replaced, that I can't ask again. My prior request was a one-time courtesy. This guy doesn't show or return calls or put appointments in the system, what makes me think he will request a reassignment. However, I called the technician to request he do that and as expected, he ignored me.

I called FAW again because it usually takes several calls to get the right thing to be done, magically I was reassigned to a different company. My original claim form had the make, model and serial number on it. The newly assigned technician arrived (now it's been 8 days since my claim). The guy walks in, looks at the refrigerator by opening the door and taking a picture of the model number went to his truck and gave me a service bulletin. He claimed he can't work on it because it's involved in a class action case in court. This technician should have looked at his work order (since he knew about the class action) and said that he receives several calls a month about these units. He should have informed FAW that he can't touch the unit prior to arrival. In fact, since FAW is a warranty company, they should have records of systems that can't be worked on.

I called FAW and requested a refund of my $85 deductible and was immediately denied because he "showed up". He showed up to tell me he can't work on it. He knew it because he had the service bulletin on hand. I explained all the facts and was asked to email a copy of the notice that I was provided, which I did and was still denied. I hang up and call again,because it takes several calls to get the right thing done. I spoke to (Airo) and he denied my request and proceed to say that he "showed up". He proceeded to talk over me and I had requested to speak to a supervisor. He responded that he will talk to his co-workers and I said no, I have already spoken to your co-workers. I asked him to transfer me, and he just spoke over me, ignoring my request. I asked him to just transfer me. He asked why and I said because I want you too and as a customer, I had that right. He told me that I had no reason to speak to a supervisor. I told him he doesn't have the right to determine that I have no right and that he needs to transfer me. I hung up and called again. I spoke to a manager and explained the situation. No apology for the treatment I had been given by (Airo) and how the tech knew about the class action and my work order had all the relevant information and they should have known as well. She said that the document I emailed was not even in my file. She proceeded to tell me she will call the tech and ask. Of course he will make an excuse because he wanted to get paid for his trip in spite of his knowledge of not being able to work on the unit.

Needless to say, I filed a BBB complaint and have posted my story on every site I can find

Do NOT purchase the First American Home Warranty. They left my wife, four CHILDREN, and 2 pets for over a week in the summer heat! A huge health concern. After being with this company for EIGHT years, they did an awful job taking care of our issue with our air conditioner. We called Sunday night around 8 pm, had the first contractor out the next afternoon. He sabotaged our air conditioner, the warranty company DENIED the claim and after many attempts to contact the first contractor (with no answer) and getting the full story from us, the warranty company told us they would get a 2nd contractor out after the first contractor would put in the part he left with. He told us he was not driving to our house to put in the part! After 5 days of no air conditioner and 10+ calls to First American Warranty, and my wife calling they put in an "emergency work order." That did nothing. They told us it would be another 3 days. Ridiculous! Not only that, 2 supervisors, a few agents, and the Contract & Management Team didn't return our call when they said they would. Needless to say, this matter is absurd. We called our realtor and others to spread the word. We are filing a claim with this company due to the lack of integrity. I'm appalled they would allow a faithful customer of eight years who has 4 children and animals who stay home to live in a home with no air conditioning for over a week.

First, this company charges $50 admin fee to cancel a contract. WHAT? Just like a lot of other insurance companies they hide behind the fact that it is stated so in the contract booklet. Guess what, my car insurance company does not change me to terminate my contract. Maybe these geniuses are so confident in their superior service that they need to make money when customers request a cancellation. Hmmm, a brilliant, but very telling move. Also, I requested a cancellation 3-4 months ago and assumed it was handled however, the CSR was obviously not on the ball and failed to mention that I could only cancel via email, fax or paper letter (plus the $50 cancellation fee of course). Shame on me for not reviewing my VISA card statement more diligently.

Second, as we live in a higher end home, every service request required multiple contractors to come out in order to say they could not handle the work and we'd be back to square one. On numerous occasions we requested FAHW never to send certain contractors without any results. We finally instructed our gate guards not to let certain contractors in, if they were coming to our address. On the average (and i am ball parking the results) the lapse time from filing the request until resolution was two to three weeks. Furthermore, approximately 25% - 30% of service request were denied. Again, shame on me for paying for something and not reading the fine print.

My advice is to stay away from this outfit. If you are stuck with them at least spend the time upfront and read the fine print.

Pathetic is how i would describe them.

The only reason they get a 1 star is that I cant give them a lower rating. I have a son with Leukemia and keeping him in a temperature conorolled enviornment is essential to his ability stay live with his chemotherapy. On 12/23/18 our heat went out. I called First American and was told that due to the holiday, they couldnt get anyone out, but would call me 1/26. No call. I called them and was told they were working on it and would call me back as they had to authorize going outside my service area for a technician. No call. I called back and got authorization to find one on my own and was given the perameters for repayment. I got a technician who came out and needed a part, but I paid him the service call and the service was authorized. The technician came back on 1/9 and installed the part and I paid him the $285 for the work done. I sent by email with a BCC of myself on 1/1019 to their claims review dept. No call. On 1/16/19 I called and spoke with a Mr. Benevides who claims they didnt receive the docs. (nothing bounced back.) I resent the docs to his attention and called him to confirm he got it. He did, but wanted to hassle me about the $105 I paid for the service call, claiming it was not marked and he needed something to prove it was for the service call. He refused to call the number on the receipt to confirm that it was a service call fee. I called the service and got a receipt proving it was for a service call and emailed it to him. He said he had all he needed and that I should a check for the refund going out in the following mornings mail. Today (1/24/19) I called and spoke with someone I was told it had not been processed ( even though it supposibly took 3-5 days to process.) I asked for the supervisor and was given to Mr. Rodrigo who said the same thing but when I pressed him for details as to why it was taken so long, he said it was approved today but would take another 5-10 days for me to get it! He didnt see that they had anything to appologize for, and clearly didnt see that having to take funds meant for your childs medical care to pay the heating repair bill was anything pressing either, nor did he have the slightest concern about my situation over all... Clearly they are fat and happy to receive my funds each month but do not want to do a damn thing to earn their money. I did not get their help in finding a technician, didnt get follow up calls as promised from them, and not getting much help from them on processing my refund. Each time I call, I get a hispanic who is hard to understand and "no one is available that speaks fluent English" I made a mistake by contracting with this company and I AM DONE WITH THEM and will not renew with them. Consumer beware!

This has been the worst experience. It seems that they used an air conditioning company that had their BBB license revoked 2/29/16. Why would they do business with a company like this? A total of 28 days to fix A/C is terrible service especially with 2 children ages 3 and younger. Each time we get a patent answer:

We certainly can understand your concerns. Should you need further assistance, please feel free to respond to this web message. Thank you, for choosing First American and please enjoy the rest of your day!

They obviously could have cared less. There are no words to describe the disappointment with First American Home Buyers.

When my a/c died in June a couple of years ago, I went for 3 months before it was finally replaced. The contractor and I use that term loosely, kept dragging his heels. He did not want to replace the unit. Guess the Warranty company had something to do with that. The only relief fahw would offer during this time was $50 for fans. Yippee. It was over 100 degrees in the house.
This time my washing machine died. 10/26 to be exact. The first contractor said they never got the call and in addition, didn't work on my brand of machine. Next contractor finally came out and declared the motor dead. Then the drum was rusted. Replacements on back order according to Fahw. When the replacement drum arrived, the contractor couldn't get some part off of it. Reorder through Fahd again. Weeks later the part arrives. BROKEN. Would have to be back ordered, would take another month! The contractor told Fahw that that was ridiculous and to DO something. Fahw finally decided to replace the washer. However my machine had a pedestal bolted to it. Fahw refused to replace it and said to get the old one back. Samsung said that the pedestals are unique to the machines and my old one would not work with the new machine. I had to buy the pedestal for $232. Finally on 2/4/16 I got a new machine. THREE and a half months later.
Fahw also replaced my water heater. First one was defective and had to be replaced (again). The A/C unit and the water heater both were brands I had never heard of. At least the washing machine was replaced with a Samsung like I had.
Save your money and replace your items and save yourself a lot of frustration.

On its face value during the Home Buying process receiving a Home Warranty is attractive and compelling knowing you will have coverage should anything go wrong during Year One. It does not cost you anything as the Seller pays for the product to include the upgraded version. After dealing with First American during the course of HVAC issues involving the Heat Exchanger follow-up by an internal electrical issue, fuse blown, motor seizure, and no heat for 7 Days I have determined the Home Warranty to be not worth the price regardless of whether inherited or not. Too many loose ends, too much red tape, you are at the whims of the Contractor and the Home Warranty 1-800 Number in the PST Time Zone. The closer your issues are to the home purchase the greater the possibility of the First American declaring a Pre-Existing Condition which essentially means you are stuck. While it might give you piece of mind it will not lead to a quick resolution. In most cases it will take days to get a Contractor to appear, if parts are needed they must be approved, and found which will also take days to obtain and days to get them installed, Should you issues be HVAC and it is Cold or Hot, plumbing where there is a leak, roof where there is a leak then good luck. If you have patience then this will be good for you, put if you are not avoid the entire situation. Lets face it paying $495 for a Home Warranty that covers what seems like a bunch of stuff whereas one or two items will exceed that amount very quickly is essentially a Ponzi Scheme. Of critical importance is do some due diligence by determining WHO or WHOM are the various contractors are in you area who will be called upon to perform the work order, In our area (Knoxville) there was only One (1) HVAC Contractor with several local companies point blank telling me they do not and will not do Home Warranty work. In our situation we elected to buy a Brand New HVAC and have it installed the day after we showed up exactly 8 days with no heat and after filing the Work Order and Claim. If you are a Buyer this is likely not a good idea for you, save your time and save your money. Know that no home upon purchase is perfect, look at the critical systems and budget for them moving forward such an HVAC System which has a shelf life of about 16 years (Trane). First American may be a good company with good people but the process is long, difficult, time consuming, frustrating, and not worth it. Avoid First American not even NO HEAT for 8 Days was enough with Highs in the 30's/20's and lows in the teens to motivate action. Make your own decisions but I would strongly recommend you stay away from First American and the Home Warranty process. Good Luck