AHS came with our house when we purchased in 1986 (house built in 74). I picked up the rider for the spa and pool. We have had mostly positive experiences with the services (many of them over the years) and most of the service techs have been more than adequate.
I noticed that another person with positive experience is in Houston TX area; I am in Dallas TX area. Wonder if that is coincidence or ?????. The service techs occasionally come from many miles away in the DFW area but lately most come from service places close to our area. Over the years I have been impressed with a few service techs that I've used them for non covered work.
The list of jobs is too long to list (and it has been 23 years this month). But we've had numerous water heaters (our water degrades them fast), two AC condensers (upstairs last year and downstairs three years ago) replaced (the downstairs condenser was replaced once before too), just had a dishwasher replaced this year and my Kenmore front load washer repaired. That one took four service calls as there were two things
malfunctioning but made it unusable. Same guy did dishwasher and clothes washer. He failed to put the sound insulation pack on the dishwasher as we had taken it off because the puppies were beginning to eat it when it was sitting in the kitchen. I insisted he redo the install. He complained, and moaned, and was in a foul mood the whole time. That kind of "attitude" is pretty scary especially when coming from a huge stranger in my home. We will request he not come out here again.
Also had a service call this year, different service co. to clear out the clogged drain for clothes washer. I had been snaking it but my snake wouldn't make the turn in pipe. Tech said, "Yikes" and explained to me that my snake was for larger pipes and not to use it in 2" pipes again as I could do some damage. I've frequently gotten good advice from service techs.
For the dishwasher I was told to pick out what I wanted in a price range and then call to see if that was on their large list of replacements. If I wanted to upgrade I would pay the difference. The allowance was close to $600. We upgraded and paid an extra $150.
I'm pretty handy AND I always do my research before techs get here. I usually know exactly what is wrong before they get here.
I would say we have probably broken even over the years but I have not had to do any footwork to find service techs and if it is not done properly AHS has them come back until it is right or they will send another tech from a different company. Within a certain time period all service calls for each item are covered by the one $60 co-pay. The co-pay has risen from, I think, $45 to $60 (just this year) over the 23 year period.
One major complaint I have it that our over 30 yr old AC condenser, for the upstairs,
EXTREMELY LOW SEER was repaired over and over and over again; about once every two years. Finally, last year, a tech said I'm going to report this as unfixable, even though it probably could have been "fixed". Yea
Other techs had said yes you really should get a new one but this old model was made to be fixed, and fixed, and fixed and as long as it can be fixed that's what AHS wants done. Last years tech (and all the others) agreed that in a way that was good considering how now days many things are made to be thrown away instead of being repaired, but this particular condenser was costing me way too much money to run. My hero. :-D
A good friend of mine has had AHS for 20 years with pool rider. Several years ago she and I discovered that there is a "wrong" way to describe a pool problem if you want your DE grids replaced. She had it happen once. For the life of me I can't remember the "right" way to described the problem to AHS. She's had two dishwashers replaced, a double door fridge, ceramic stove top, built in microwave, and a double oven just last year and numerous other issues. She usually upgrades a little for each appliance. They had do do some cabinet work for the ovens that she had to pay for but that is clearly spelled out in the contract. AND numerous pool calls. She and her husband are both disabled and she, also, does her research before the AHS techs come. She is overall pleased too. AND has had more issues and problems with service techs that are not sent out by AHS.
BTW.... My favorite PB, (I rarely use any pool services) at one time did some AHS work but not for long. He told me this years ago; it seems AHS wasn't willing to pay him what he considered fair pay for the work. I'll have to say he does excellent work, never tried to sell me anything, is reliable, and even saved me a bunch of money by jacking up and securing my pumping station pad that had cracked, with bottom half sliding down the hill. He just put in my new Polaris pump a couple of months ago and told me I didn't need one part as that was still good. His cost, including labor, was much less than I figured it would be doing my research on line. I called him as I "thought" AHS didn't do booster pumps.
We had a pool leak. I think I got four service calls, two different companies, on one co-pay. One tech even spent quite a bit of time having me do water level experiments to try to isolate the problem. As November was ending I just decided to let it be. It stopped losing water about three inches above the bottom of the light. Bingo... but I fixed it after a friend of a friend, retired PB, said it probably was leak where the light cord went through the wall. Now, why didn't any of the others think of that?
I was told the same, as posted here, that if it isn't above ground or very accessible, leaks aren't covered. Many years ago we did have a leak that was not at the pumping station or coming from the actual pool. AHS did send out someone to check it out. Although I had tested everywhere in the pool with red food coloring, he rechecked it. Although it did cost me the co-pay without resolution, tech did recommend another guy who finally found the leak using sounding equipment. It was under the concrete deck so we had to pay but considered the reliable recommendation and good work worth cost of the co-pay. I could have been happier with his patch of the Kool-Deck though.
So, I have been overall pleased with our AHS coverage. geekgranny=alice
