4.4K views
20 comments

Freon: AHS Only covers the first $10 out of $60 per pound and if I need 6 lbs of freon, I will have to pay $300 and AHS will only pay a whole whopping $60. Excuse me, don't I already pay for the AHS WARRANTY to cover these hidden "costs".

Whats the point of continuing service with AHS if their competitors cover 100% of the freon and charge $15 less for a service call?! Of course its all about marketing and sales.

They must have been losing money with in the AC department in the summers and decided to charge all their clients. Do other companies charge for freon as well?

Reason of review: Pricing issue.

Monetary Loss: $300.

Preferred solution: Full refund.

Location: Pleasanton, California

Do You Have Something To Say ?
Write a review

Comments

chat-icon

Please avoid publishing any personal information and promotional content

You will be automatically registered on our site. Username and password will be sent to you via email.
Post Comment
Guest

You are lucky. They wanted 2500 for refrigerant on my system! Avoid AHS like the plague.

Guest

Itโ€™s sad and pathetic that these warranty companies hire contractors who are savvy, not savvy, some work some donโ€™t, some donโ€™t even know what they are doing and they still charge the customer for showing up to just say... (donโ€™t see nothing wrong with the unit

Guest

I was very surprised that AHS only cover 10 dollars a pound of Freon as I had to pay yesterday 475 dollars (ouch). if you have A/C do not use this company.

Guest

Take it up with the EPA. The EPA wants all older, R-22 systems replaced, regardless of their age.

If your system uses R22, the older type, you are โ€œencouragedโ€ to replace the equipment and bring it into the new era of R-410a equipment. The 2 types of freon are totally different and non-compatible. The ENTIRE system, indoors and out, must be replaced, to convert properly from R22 to R410-a. Thatโ€™s not to say that there arenโ€™t *** jobs everywhere, in futile attempts to avoid complete system replacement.

It will not work well, or for long, if a *** job is done, obviously. The legislation was put into effect by the EPA to force people into replacing older, less efficient equipment. Whenever they get a notion to start the phase-out of R-410a refrigerant, and it WILL happen, the equipment will need replacing again. We are considered too comfy in America, and no other country uses as much air conditioning as we do.

It will cost us to be so comfy. Sometimes we just need โ€œhelpโ€ seeing their vision for us.

Guest

Hopefully you actually needed freon. Their contractor told me I needed quite a bit.

But I donโ€™t. They also told me I needed a new coil, a new drip pan, and a whole new outside unit. Which of course would not be covered. But the contractor could come back and do the work for a discounted price.

I had an independent company come look at it after weeks of fighting with AHS. The only thing my unit needed was the coil to be cleaned.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1699127

The reason they told AHS it needs all the non-covered is to head off free recalls. Obviously, your system was suffering from lack of maintenance, which should not even be covered, but probably is under your policy.

Most plans now cover lack of maintenance, requiring the contractor to do it free of charge. However, a cleaning never satisfies a home warranty customer. They always start sending in recall requests, one after another, complaining that the system wasnโ€™t โ€œfixedโ€. Since recalls are free to the customer, the savvy customers make sure to report to AHS to voice their complaints about the lack of money that was spent by AHS, and how they need a new unit, or at least a major repair.

In addition, their suffering and their small children in the heat mean they should get expedited free service, future discounts, and free window units. They also use this opportunity to badmouth the AHS contractor for taking so long and for being unable to โ€œfixโ€ their unit, causing all this suffering. They demand a new unit, and the contractor to be fired. Sound familiar?

Instead, the wily AHS contractor headed off your complaints and whining, by insisting you put your money where your mouth is. In other words, put up or shut up. You have no complaints about their work, now, because you did not hire them.

Everybody wins!!!!! Even your outside contractor, who saved the day, by cleaning your coils, which made you totally happy with HIS price!!!

Chloey Pmx

Agreed, thus is unfair business practice. AHS is in cohoots with local HVAC contractors as well to then trouble and price gouge you forever....its a scam

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Chloey Pmx

The price of refrigerant can vary greatly in the free market. There is no set price on what companies charge for it, or anything else.

That would be price fixing. Also, since refrigerant is basically a commodity, the price fluctuates almost daily from the suppliers, like gasoline. Obviously, the AHS HVAC contractorโ€™s are not going to sell it to customers for what they paid for it. Nor are they going to allow the customers to supply their own.

Likewise, they are not going to re-use your contaminated refrigerant so that you donโ€™t have to pay them. The smartest thing AHS ever did was cover only $10/pound of refrigerant. That slows down the repair process and forces consumers to reconsider cashing out on a repair thru AHS and replace their own systems, which is a much wiser solution for everyone. In actuality, the contractors donโ€™t even charge AHS the $10/pound, in order to get more calls from AHS.

They are forced to keep AHSโ€™s costs lower than their home warranty trade competitors, so they just absorb the $10/pound. They also absorb most of the cost of the repair anyway, including parts and labor, making your out-of-pocket non-covered costs even more valuable to the contractor. YOU are the only one paying here!! Without your payment for non-covered, NO money would be changing hands.

Their policies clearly state what the coverage is. People read it wrong, that it covers the first 10 lbs, or the homeowner only pays $10, or that freon only costs $10/lb.

it is clearly worded, and there is nothing illegal about it. Take it up with the EPA.

Guest

Just went through that with them. Mine takes r22 wants 1080.00 unbelievable.

Guest

The reason for the cap at $10 is to make the customer more likely to accept a cash out offer instead of going with the repair. If there were no extra costs involved for the homeowner, theyโ€™d all want their repair yesterday.

This extra charge slows them down, and makes them think hard about replacing the system themselves. Because each time the system needs freon, this expense will happen. The EPA wants all the older equipment replaced, so the price of refrigerant shot up several years ago. $60 per pound is cheap:at one point, R22 was selling for $125 or more per pound.

A 5 ton split system can hold as much as 22 pounds (very poor design, a 5 ton split system!) if the customer chooses a cashout, then AHS is off the hook for a few hundred dollars, and the contractor is dinged for that, because it wasnโ€™t handled in-house (meaning the contractor kept AHSโ€™ costs from going over $200 by absorbing them themselves). The contractor cannot charge AHS even the $10 per pound that is โ€œcoveredโ€.

The HVAC contractor only gets a flat $200 per call, and has to absorb all the costs that should be covered by AHS, in order to stay onboard. Itโ€™s a crooked business

Guest

$700 freon charge AHS covered $130 of the bill. How is this a warrentee?

Guest

I'm in the same boat and will be cancelling. They are trying to charge me $900 for refrigerant!! Absolutely outrageous.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1606757

The reason they only cover $10 oer pound of the refrigerant is that the cost of refrigerant is a deciding factor in getting you to replace your system. AHS is an evil genius.

The EPA wants to force out older, R22 systems out of usage, that were being repaired over and over, and push consumers to replace with supposedly more โ€œenvironmentally safeโ€, more energy efficient, R410a systems. By design (again, thanks EPA) the two types of refrigerant are incompatible, so you canโ€™t just swap out the refrigerant in an older system. AHS would love for that to happen, but it just wonโ€™t work. It locks up the compressor and gums up the machine.

The EPA mandates are to encourage replacement, rather than repairs. By forcefully reducing the allowed production of R22, the price shot up several years ago. AHS did their homework on this, and decided years ago to cap their cost of refrigerant at $10/lb. They did this when R22 refrigerant was only $20/lb knowing prices would steeply rise.

Genius move on their part! Ever since, the decision to replace equipment falls on the homeowner. AHS will cover parts but the homeowner has to cover the refrigerant, which leaves the contractor and the customer paying the ENTIRE repair bill. The contractor doesnโ€™t bill AHS for the allowed $10/pound.

Instead, it is written off by the contractor, along with the rest of the bill that is above the customerโ€™s service fee/deductible. So the contractor and the consumer fight it out over the refrigerant. The homeowner has to pay for refrigerant over and over, eventually leading them to the decision to replace their own equipment. The contractor is able to offset some of the losses incurred in working with a home warranty company by charging for non-covered items, like refrigerant.

AHS contractors quickly learn ways to squeeze money out of homeowners because they canโ€™t squeeze it out of AHS. If they try to bill AHS for the $10/lb plus any labor or parts, they will be cut off and receive no more work orders. Thatโ€™s rule #1 that the contractor relations department enforces. Get those HVAC costs per call down below $200 or else!!!

Every month contractor relations goes over the numbers with each contractor to let them know what AHS is being billed per claim by that contractor. Itโ€™s a flat rate amount that is so low that nothing can be done on an HVAC system except drive to the home and look at it. Any work that is done or parts that are needed are paid for by the contractor, without reimbursement. The costs are all absorbed by the contractor, with the exception of refrigerant and other non-covered items.

Let me break it down: AHS only paying $10/pound of freon helps reduce the number of big repairs that move forward. It slows down big repairs that do move forward. It offsets the anger and blame towards the contractors who have to collect it. But AHS figures they deserve the anger and blame since they are allowed to charge the customer for something.

Nothing is free, lol. And it doesnโ€™t come out of AHSโ€™ pocket so itโ€™s a win-win for AHS. Customers facing out of pocket freon charges should accept the paltry payout from the cash-in-lieu-of-repair department aka the Options Department at AHS. It wonโ€™t be much toward a new system, but combined with the out of pocket freon money youโ€™ll pay for the repairโ€”itโ€™s a down payment on a new system that will buy you peace and comfort in your home, while complying with the EPA push to replace your old, leaky, inefficient equipment.

And you should cancel your home warranty since youโ€™ll have new equipment with an expected lifespan of 10 years.

Think of the savings when you no longer have premiums and Co-pays! No more headaches and hassles, and thatโ€™s a win-win for you!

Guest

Freon charge 800 bucks.What's the point. After reading all these posts with the same exact bs read from a script..I'm canceling AHS on all 3 properties.

Long ago it was good.

Now horrible. Home service club is an option.

Guest

I am not a layer, but one should pick this up as a class action law suit. The whole point of having the home warranty is to avoid large sums for repairs, and pay a fixed cost to cover items in the home.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1465514

WORST EXPERIENCE EVER! Home covered under AHS is in Randallstown, MD Called AHS in August AC repair, technician (M.R.

Mechanical based in PA) was assigned and came and service the units but demanded for $150.00 towards Freon in addition to service fees which we paid without questioning. A few weeks later the unit started having issues and we contacted AHS for follow-up and this time a different contractor was assigned (Climate Masters) - Technician was sent and his assessment was a new coil was needed for repair and ordered. In the meantime, communication between the contractor, home owner and AHS has been terrible. Repair part has arrived and now the contractor is asking for $765.oo for 9LB of Freon in order to make repairs.

In my opinion Freon has become a gold mine for contractor to rip-off unsuspected homeowners. Can someone please explain why I would pay and have this warranty if every opportunity for service results in spending hundreds of $$$!!

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1465514

Itโ€™s perfectly legal because the freon limitations are well-described and written in the contract. Itโ€™s also been in the contract for close to 10 years.

Just because you donโ€™t like that clause doesnโ€™t make it illegal. You agreed to it if you signed their contract.

There are many other limitations and exclusions in their contract. Pretty sure they have lawyers and that everything is worded to cover their *** not yours.

Guest

I have had a slow ac leak for 6 yrs. American Home Shield will not let the techs find the leak.

They keep putting stop leak in the unit and it last a about a year. We have complained to them just to fix it and they will not. AHS customer Service is horrible and takes at least an hour to get anyone on the phone.

also, they only pay 10 dollars per pound of Freon leaving you to pay the rest on top of the service charge. We have had AHS for 10 yrs and at first it was a decent company but over the years it has got worse and feels like someone from the ghetto is running it.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1362377

I know this an old post, but new to me since this is the first time I've seen it. What an *** you are.

Firstly, someone from the ghetto have greater issues than crying about Freon. Secondly, a repairman in the ghetto in all likelihood wouldn't dare to take advantage of folks in need of a working AC unit.

Guest

I know I'm about a year late on this, but we've had AHS for two years now and have called them for service on our AC multiple times. They have sent tech's out to our house many times to charge our freon and never had an issue.

All of a sudden, this year they're telling me it will cost an additional $60 per pound of freon and that it's been in our contract all along.

WHY am I paying $70 a month ON TOP of a $75 service fee ON TOP of paying for the actual repair? What's the point?!

American Home Shield Reviews

  1. 2028 reviews
  2. 558 reviews
  3. 124 reviews
  4. 30 reviews
  5. 38 reviews
American Home Shield reviews