American Home Shield Left without AC because they couldn't find a company with a ladder! Nationwide

I reached out to my American Home Shield warranty company when I noticed my AC wasn't working properly. It started out simple with a service request via their website. Within a few days, the contractor they supplied reached out to me and we set up an appointment for them to diagnose the issue. When they arrived they determined that they were unable to provide service because they didn't have a ladder that was tall enough.

My condo is a 6 unit building and no taller than an average single family home. They told me that I would have to contact the warranty company in order for them to reassign another company. I contacted AHS within minutes of the the contractors leaving and was told that I would have to wait for an email from them once they were contacted by the contractor. They would not make any moves before talking with the contractor.

Four days passed and I never received  an email or phone call from the warranty company with an update. I called them and was then told that the reason no one had contacted me was because they were having issues with finding someone that would have a ladder to access the roof. I asked to speak to a manager and was told that they had to put in a request for a manager to reach out to me and it could take up to 48 hours. I told them to go ahead with the manager request but it's been 2 weeks now and not one manager has called me. Anyway, after explaining to them the urgency, they gave me what they call "Outside Authorization" to find my own contractor. They gave me a list of companies that I couldn't use and sent me on my way.

I found one within minutes, scheduled an appointment, paid $149 service fee and determined that my compressor was blown and I would need a brand new unit. The repair costs would be over $6400. I asked them if they would bill the warranty company and they would not. They would bill me and I would need to be reimbursed by AHS. You can imagine my concern given their track record and if I had over $6000 laying around I wouldn't need a warranty company.

I reached back out to AHS to explain the issue and asked if they would be able to revisit one of their companies. The contractor I found did not have a tall ladder either but they used it on the back fire escape and was able to access the roof easily. They sent an email the next day with a new contractor however it stated that I need to pay yet another $100 service fee. Of course, I reached out to them and requested that it be waived because the only reason I used the outside authorization option was because I was told they were unable to find a contractor to service my request. Now within a day they had one and were asking for my money.

I battled with the representitive on why I should have the fee waived and after being put on hold for over 5 minutes he returned and said that I would be reimbursed the $149 fee that I paid to the outside contractor but only after the technician called them at a different number. I reached out to the contractor, gave them the contact information, and asked that they reach out immediately so that I could move forward. Of course, there's no urgency on their end because they have already received their money and have no interest in working with warranty companies.

During this time of waiting to get confirmation that my reimbursment is in place, I reached out to the new contractor that they assigned to me. I explained to him the issue and immediately after learning that the AC Unit was on the roof, he informed me that he would not be able to service it. Again, yet another contractor they supplied that was unable to do the work.

I have since reached out to cancel my warranty. I have resolved myself to the fact that I won't get reimbursed for the service fee I paid. Of course, the customer service number they supply on their website is not the number that I needed to cancel my contract. When the operator tried to transfer me, she came back to let me know that they were busy. I was given another number to call and assured that a form would be submitted to have them reach out to me. If it's anything like the manager call back form, I won't hold my breath. I'm fully prepared to have to spend my day hunting them down to cancel my contract. It has been nothing but a nightmare!! Oh and of course, I'm still without AC and it's approaching June!

Lastly, they only have one number to use. They only communicate to you via email. You can not submit any complaints or send any emails to them. They are not customer friendly and make no extra efforts to accomodate you regardless of the fact that you pay them monthly for a service. I'm hoping to break ties with them ASAP and get my last month's payment reimbursed seeing that I have not received any service at all.