sarah w.

I cannot say for sure that they are any different than any other home warranty company, but buyer beware. They say, if they cannot fix it, they will replace it. Please read the fine print. It's not quite that simple and there are caps/limitations to the value they will put on your items. If you have high end appliances, make sure the warranty company you choose, has access to repair companies that work on them. With HMS if you have a high end appliance, or appliances, don't use this warranty company. They will not know how to service your appliances and you will waste your time and money and in some cases, may make the problem worse.

I'll get right to the point. The repair companies that are dispatched are not necessarily companies I would've selected myself. They either don't service high end appliances, don't have websites, have poor reviews, or operate as a one man show. Not altogether bad, but not great either. Very slow response times both from HMS and the repair techs. Long waiting periods for parts, lots of excuses, and ill qualified repair techs.

One example, I first called about an oven heating issue a year ago, while it took several months for the tech to get the right part and to fix the heating issue, when he finally fixed it, I realized that the oven was in worse shape then when he first started. He admitted that he was ill equipped and had never worked on our brand of oven. However, he would not take responsibility for the damage either to my wall oven or to my custom cabinets from pulling the heavy oven out four separate times. He told me to put in another ticket for the repair... no thank you. I asked for another repair company.

We're still battling with the problem, and we've had two different repair techs look at it. Apparently parts take months and months to come in when you use repair techs dispatched by HMS. They seem ill equipped to work on high end appliances. Unless you have a samsung, LG, or whirlpool, they can be stumped. Don't do it.

For the money you'd pay these guys, you might as well buy extended warranties or just pay for the breakdowns as they happen. Less hassle and you determine who you want to hire. Not that nationality makes a difference in quality of service, but as an observation, I found it odd that 4 out of the 5 repair companies dispatched by HMS sent techs that were of African decent.

As a Consumer, I would NEVER use or recommend HomeAdvisor... To businesses, you're just throwing your money away with HA. You'll do better by working on getting good reviews from your customers so consumers like myself can call you directly.

My Story: I used HA on a Saturday to schedule an appliance repair for the following Monday. I made my selection online -- I spent time researching and reviewing various companies, finally making my selections for date and time without a hitch. I even received an email confirmation shortly thereafter.

The next day, a SUNDAY morning, I find that I've missed a call from HA that was made at about 9:15am. The message left went something like this: "I'm calling about your scheduled appt. For Monday. Since you did not answer I cannot confirm the appt. So it will be canceled.". What?! That was a crazy call. I must've misunderstood. Nope.

I call back about 30 mins. Later to find that in fact the appt WAS canceled. The gentleman I spoke to gave me the impression that this practice was no surprise to him. Shameful. Nevertheless, he was very polite and proceeded to reschedule my appt. Joy! I was happy to know my appt for Monday would happen afterall... Nope.

Not only did I find that the appt. Had been rescheduled with a company other than my original choice, but it too, was canceled. This time I received an email stating that the company with whom they rescheduled my appt., could not be reached by phone to confirm, so therefore, the appt. Would be canceled. Again, WTF? This is an unbelievable and unacceptable practice!

My first thought is they must lose a lot of leads/potential Clients, like myself, doing business this way. Second, the businesses that PAY for services with HA must be losing out BIG TIME with this type of practice (clearly the bad reviews are a reflection of many different bad business practices...). It makes no sense and is very frustrating.

I ended up calling a company directly and they came out same day - that Monday.

I will never use and cannot recommend HomeAdvisors. In fact, I will share this terrible experience with anyone who asks about HA. Stay clear. You'll be better off by calling companies directly. With the internet at your fingertips, you can easily do your own research on companies, read reviews, make and confirm your own appts. Don't waste your time with a company that doesn't see value in you as a Client and from the reviews I've read, they don't value many of the businesses that line their pockets.