The truth about home warranty companies from an HVAC and plumbing contractor’s perspective.
Griffin Air LLC is a HVAC and plumbing contractor Serving Middlesex, Mathews, Gloucester, Lancaster, King and Queen, Williamsburg/James City, New Kent and much of the surrounding counties in Virginia. We specialize in residential and commercial repair and installation in the heating, air conditioning and plumbing fields. We are known for great pricing, customer service, and always going the extra mile for your HVAC and Plumbing Needs.
For more information about Griffin Air, visit https://www.griffinair.net/. Thanks!
#homewarranty
Griffin Air LLC is a HVAC and plumbing contractor Serving Middlesex, Mathews, Gloucester, Lancaster, King and Queen, Williamsburg/James City, New Kent and much of the surrounding counties in Virginia. We specialize in residential and commercial repair and installation in the heating, air conditioning and plumbing fields. We are known for great pricing, customer service, and always going the extra mile for your HVAC and Plumbing Needs.
For more information about Griffin Air, visit https://www.griffinair.net/. Thanks!
#homewarranty
Hey guys, Josh for Griffin, ear, Hartfield Virginia serving the middle Peninsula and the Northern Neck wanted to do a video on home, warranty companies - and you know we get questions sometimes about you know our point of view from homeowners, and so I won't do a video on Home warranty companies and and kind of the long and short of it now you know I can't speak for all home warranty companies. I can only speak about the experiences that we have had. You know you may have had a different experience. You may work for a home, warranty company and say well, that's not.
You know how we do things you know, but I can only speak for my experiences and for the most part. In summary, I would say our experiences with home warranty companies have been not good and not just from the contractors point of view, but I've spoken to homeowner after homeowner after homeowner threatening to sue the home warranty company threatening this, you know upset about that and not Upset at us, you know, I would say, for the most part as far as our relationship with the homeowner and the work getting done for the most part is usually pretty good. I mean if there if there was no middleman, if we were dealing directly with the homeowner and they were footing the bill, it wouldn't be a big deal at all. We would normally get our work done quickly and it would be a premium job at a good price, and that is the opposite of.
If, if we were to you know if, when, when home warranty, companies get involved so just to kind of go through a couple. Things things that homeowners have said to us man. I wish someone told me that, before I, you know paid money for this home warranty a lot of the homes being sold. Today, it's being worked into the deal when, when they sell the house, it's part of closing that either the buyer or seller is going to purchase a you know, sometimes a six month or a one-year premium for a home warranty company to to cover that home.
For a year, and so with that, you know, the first thing I would just let you know is: if there is something noted on the home inspection when that house is, you know about to be sold, you're about to go to closing and a home inspector points, Something out with that home, whether it be the heating and air system or something else that is not something the home warranty company is gon na cover. Now in their defense, they shouldn't. You know that's that that's something that should have been worked out and taken care of during the purchase of the house, but I just want want you to know. The second thing is, you know, with these home warranty, companies they're essentially like any company providing a an insurance or a warranty for a service or product, and what I mean by that is their their goal, is to keep their costs down and to make as much Money as they can so you know, you've purchased this home warranty and you, you know the thing is you know, especially with your heating and air system, that it's your heating and air system, it's your heat pump or your furnace. It's your system and the home warranty company we'll operate as if it's theirs and, and so what can happen is because they're trying to keep their costs down they're, not always doing what's best for you as the homeowner or the long-term life of that system. They're doing what they think that you know needs to be done to keep their costs down. So you know I can't say that they've never replaced the system. You know that they have.
We we've replaced systems for home, warranty companies, but it's it's usually a last resort. Whether it be they can't find a part, they've had they've asked me to do things that when it comes to the trade of heating and air, is you know not okay, you know they've asked us to well. We we want you to, you, know, repair it and do this or that and - and I would I say, no, you know call someone else. If that's what you want done, that's not you know what we do.
We do everything right. We do it the right way and you know and they're just trying to get it by the cheapest way, so I would say another tip to throw in there, I'm not the only one that has issues with home, warranty companies. In fact, I would I can't say all, but I would go so far to say that the majority of reputable heating and air contractors out there again, I can't say all but most of them, the majority of them - will not work for home. Warranty companies.
Have you ever noticed if you have a home warranty company and they send someone out to your house a lot of times, not all not all the time, but a lot of times the folks that they're sending out to your house are, you know I mean they're. Just not top of the line, you know, technicians, ik experts in their field and that's not just um by heating and air companies, I'm talking about just in general. You know I've heard homeowners tell us about well, you know they sent out this guy or that guy. They didn't even have the name of their company on the side of their truck.
You know they, they didn't, have a uniform, they didn't carry their self. Well, you know, and so on you know, so that's something else that you know you should be aware of there. Most reputable heating and air companies, they don't do work for home warranty companies. I don't think that's going out on a limb to say that most of them will not do that.
Another thing is if they do replace your system. If it gets to that point where it's the last resort, they you know they can't get the part for your. You know 30-year old system and they and they're having to bite the bullet and replace your system and a lot of cases. In my experience, they're gon na replace it with the bare minimums they're gon na you know, they're not gon na put in what, maybe necessarily you would pick out for your home when replacing that system.
Now you may not care, but some homeowners. You know you bought this beautiful home and then you expect you know a certain level of you know excellence and you know they're here they are putting in a system that you know you would not necessarily pick out for your home. Another one would be. They are in no hurry and a lot of case, especially if it's gon na cost them money they are, they will drag their feet. Getting you taken care of I'll. Give you a good example. A couple years ago. I know a lady that went every bit of you know three to four months without air conditioning right through the dead heat of summer, and I could you know, I'm not going to go into the whole story.
It's a horrible story, but um. You know they were in no hurry to get her taken care of some of their tactics. You know they'll you'll be talking to one person and you know they'll go through this big spiel and then you know they need to send it to their their R & D or they got ta, send it to someone else or whatever and - and I could be Wrong but in my opinion, they're just dragging their feet. If you have a warranty coverage and it's covered, why would you know just fix it? I mean in my in you know the way I would handle it, but you know it's their business and and that's how they handle it.
So just keep that in mind as well. They they will take their time, especially if it's gon na cost them a lot of money. Another one that you should know is it's not uncommon that if you're gon na have to call the warranty company to be on the phone a while or have a job that I can get them taken care of in a matter of you know, 20 minutes fix And but the warranty company to get approval or to get paid or whatever you know you, I could be on the phone for at times hours to get to get that straight. So I've heard the homeowners dealing with the same things.
You know you talk to someone and you finally get someone on the phone and then they can't talk to you and you I mean it's just I've just had so many experiences and hurt so many stories about that. So just just be aware of that as well. The last one I know this has been a long video, especially if you've set through and watch this this whole video. So I appreciate that, but the last one that I'll point out - it's probably the most eye-opening, the most horrific one, and that is when you let's say you do have to have your system replace by heating and air company.
The warranty company has it and their fine print. I guess that they're only going to cover certain things, certain aspects, if you will so, for example, if a systems being replaced, so you got your indoor unit, you got your outdoor unit. You got all the components that go along with it to be a turnkey job up and rolling in all of those things, the warranty company is only gon na cover what failed, and in my experience, so for example - and again this has happened to multiple times. So I'm not just pulling something out of the thin air. We've had customers that, let's say the blower motor fails one their indoor unit, whether it be a furnace or air handler. The indoor blower motor fails, and it's time you know, for whatever reason, it's time to replace the system. Well, we've had incidences, as I alluded to before, where the home warranty company only wants to replace the indoor unit and not the outdoor and these days. That's it's rare that that's possible in the old days with r22 and some of the older systems not a big deal.
I mean you know it was not uncommon to even have systems that were mismatched different brands. You know all that all those things, but today, especially to get your warranties coverage, your actual manufacturers, warranties and thing like that they want the systems to be HR, matches to meet certain codes and efficiencies and all those good things, and also so it doesn't void. Your warranty, so we as the contractor when, when we hear that we say no, no, you know to do this properly. We need to replace the entire system, make sure it's you know a proper HR, a match make sure everything's good to go.
You know all that good stuff, and so what will happen is the warranty company will only cover the air handler price and the labor to install the air handler. So if you did for those of you that don't know whether he pumps us some your air handler, you have the air handler, you have the heat strips. You have the ducts that need to be connected from what the old system to the new you have. Your electric wiring that needs to be connected.
You have your low voltage wiring that needs to be connected. You have your drain that needs to be installed. You have at times other components like auxilary float, switches and things like that. A secondary drain pan possibly - and I can keep going - I mean, there's there's at times there are multiple components that need to be installed in addition to that air handler and the warranty company will not cover them.
So you have a home warranty company that either you or the the seller of the home that you've just purchased or someone had paid for, and you think you're covered at times, though even realtors will even sell the house with the peace of mind and reassurance that Yeah that HVAC system is old, but but it's covered, you know we're gon na get you a home warranty company and you're gon na be good to go and because, if something goes wrong, you are covered well, the truth is you're not covered, and the truth is, If the warrant, if the, if the HVAC come, the HVAC system needs to be replaced, the home warranty company is only going to pay a fraction of the costs to replace that system properly, and you know so. You know you got this air handler that you know, as a thousand bucks contractor, you know, is gon na charge a certain amount of money to install that labor wise. But again the warranty company is not covering anything else, not the outdoor unit, not the components that I mentioned, and so you got a job. That's you know six thousand dollars and the warranty company is only gon na pay. 1,400 of it. You know it's just it's. It's again, you may think: well, that's fair! Well it fine! If you, if you know that upfront going into it, you know it and you think it's fair than great, but I can tell you that there have been lots of folks that didn't know. So, that's why I want to do this video.
I know it's been a long video compared to a lot of our other videos, but you know again, you might be watching this and you might say well, that's not been my experience. You know I have a warranty company and they've been great awesome. You know, you think Jesus. You know if that's the case, because it's it's rare I've just heard so many stories, and I could tell you a few myself.
So my name is Josh. I'm with Griffin Air Hartfield Virginia serving the middle Peninsula in the Northern Neck. We do heating and air and plumbing, and we do it right. You know um we'd love to earn your business.
Give us call eight. Oh four, five! Oh five, zero! Two! Four! Seven! Thank you.
Thanks man…for an excellent video. My realtor bought me a policy Dec. 2021. I'm not happy with the company and will soon be shopping for a different company. Can you give advice on choosing a good home warranty company. I live in Roseville CA.
My experience now. And not my 1st in year two! Home Warranty of America is stalling in hopes I give up and HWA doesn't have to pay or only pay less than the out of pocket maximum. Anyone outside of agents that create claims is untouchable, even within the company, even in writing (it seems) . I actually empathize or pity their front line workers. You are forced to duke it out with HWA and wait until your warranty agreement at closing is up or until you can afford repairs and replacements on your own. The longest I've waited was 6 months for an oven replacement. The hours I have spent on hold is robbing. I'm in the middle of a lengthy wait for an a/c replacement. At least this time I know the games they play and I now spend less time on hold and less time asking someone to help me that can't. I just check the status of my claim and wait. Of all insurances, home warranty insurances is my worst experience yet.
Thank you Josh for this highly informative video!
Great Info, thank you!
The most reputable HVAC in my area offers a warranty for maintenance. Would you consider this the same as someone like American Home Shield?
The home warrantee companies advertise they will save you money by paying for your repair bills. Name one company in the USA that is in business to give out free money. Don't think so. Same with car warrantees.
Can you buy a maintenance contract with the HVAC instead
AKA spend the 1K dollars on a savings account or mutual fund.
They don’t pay for shit. They are garbage and not worth the paper they are printed on. I on the hook for 6500. For a HVAC system. They don’t pay for nothing! Service area Nepean??
Have American Home Shield and their are a lot of hidden cost that are berried in the contract that only come up when you need service. And don't let it be an old AC unit so far I'm paying an estimated cost of over $3000 and it could be higher from a company that has one and a half star review. I could have put that monthly into a saving account and would have been better off.
So that is what I'm going to do.
I see you're in VA, do you come up to PG county Maryland? If not, do you know a reputable company in this area? AHS is about to lose my business.
It is a brutal way to try and make money. I tried one of these "fantastic" companies for a short period in an attempt to build client base….. I was approved for the work at the beginning only for them not to pay me at the end. Used them for a short time and lost over $500. Cut them off like a diseased limb. These companies can care less about their client base, can you see how much they would and do care about the contractor. If a home buyer purchases a home with a warranty plan, I would highly recommend dropping it when it times out. Service area Kanata??
will they replace my 35yr hvac if its not repairable
You’re on point !
Such a great video man. Thanks ! Watched it again after repeated discouragement with these folks.
Joshua thank you for your honest job
What Can i do to instal the Warranty again in my case i had very bad experience with them help me please to pick the right one ✌️
I had bad experience with xxxx
And i got my credict card charge for a Warranty to a somebody else home in Arizona i living in Portland Oregon i find out until the close time to renewal and it’ll take me almost the whole year i asking for the full refund so finally They send the check of $555
So now i need home Warranty again 😌😏
American Home Shield is a complete rip off. I was just told that the garbage disposal was misused/abused and therefore we cannot honor any protection/replacement. They can make this excuse with any home appliance. I learned my lesson and will not renew my contract with them.
my experience has been the contractors that American Home Shield uses. They are horrible.
No better truth everything you said was on point! AHS was the worst for me. You can't pay enough for them to do a good job.
Very informative – great video Are you in Kanata ?
Home warranty is a rip off, they promise alot but don't cover you when it comes to repairs. If they choose to cover you, they will partner up with an inexperienced hvac contractor who will cause more problems then he will fix but will stay within their budget
Ahs is a scam with ac contractors. They up the cost of non covered items and pass a low labor cost to AHS. In return AHS rewards those contractors who manipulate the cost with more service calls dispatched to them.
Look At only facts…
You submit a claim they might make it out within a week I filed a claim on November 16th and today is the 4th of December. My hot water heater has been broken since the 14th of November, Its winter and no hot water.
This is just the beginning. Customer service is non-existent. They have not contacted me once all communication has been initiated by me over 50 phone call with more than 80% being answered by a call center in the Philippines, and they have no authority to do anything but they are very good at pissing you off.
Here is where the scam comes into play. And this is not just being based on this repair, please read this brief history of their business practices; We had 3 ceiling fans nice and expensive and 64" blade span, all go out at the same time. after inspecting they agreed they need to be replaced however they said we only replace with 48" fans and if I wasn't happy with that I could accept cash in lieu of repair based on the cheap 48-inch fans they install. I accepted the cash in lieu of repair because our fans each were over $550.00 they were only offering $490.00 total for all three. The real problem is that claim was done in 2012 and I have been trying to collect consistently yet they have failed to even pay their little portion.
Again similar type claim Our large home refrigerator went out and their replacement was not the large size fridge they said they would only replace it with a model similar to a tall apartment fridge because they had a cheap source for buying them. I took cash in lieu of and that was in 2017 and they have still failed to pay their small portion.
As you can imagine I am not taking cash in lieu of anymore. Their word means nothing and even worse their contract that is on file at the Arizona Department of Insurance means absolutely nothing as well.
Fast forward a side mount garage door opener with smartphone features was replaced with a cheap hang from the center of the garage ceiling mount garage door opener was the replacement I had and $800 opener the gave me an $89.00 opener…
They replaced out a $500 high neck flex hose laundry room faucet with a 1970's design,$19.00 or less that you can find at Walmart faucet…….
On the current day, the hot water heater that failed is one that the warranty company installed 6.5 years ago. The only thing they did right in 2013 was to replace our 80-gallon hot water heater with an 80-gallon water heater. It has already failed because they have a habit of installing replacement parts with substandard cheaply built parts.
What has pushed my final button is that now they want to replace our 80 gallons with a fifty-gallon hot water heater. Let me ask you the same question I asked them. How is a fifty-gallon water heater going to service a 4 bedroom 4 bathrooms 4000 square foot home with 6 people showering? ANSWER, it won't. so they are pushing me to take cash in lieu of. That is not going to happen. Here is why…
I have pulled the contract out and read it under coverage overview Item 4). starting with line 4 states that they have to replace our items with similar features, capacity, and efficiencies. The contract is very clear… black and white… Yet they are continuing to attempt to scam my wife and I…
Looking back ; the fridge , the ceiling fans, the garage door opener and the faucet did not match features, capacities nor efficiencies. and and yet they continue to breach their contracts over and over. I have had enough of their games.
What am I going to do about it. I am getting three real repair quotes from real contractors.
I am filing a complaint with both the Arizona Attorney General Office and the Arizona Department of Insurance.
I am going to Arizona News 3 on your side to tell my story, if they will help I'll stay with them, if not I will go to every news source that will hear our story.
As you can see I am not holding back and have only shared true actual facts. Since we entered our contract in 2011 they have collected over $6500 in premiums and they have in return replace a few components with cheaply built trash garbage sub standard replacements.
My advice to anyone considering buying one of American home shield warranties is stop don't do it, Also look online they own like 2-3 other warranty companies for home warranties and they are run the same way.
What should you do? Start a home repair savings account and deposit 60-70 dollars every month into it and when thing go out shop for the best deal for like replacements and pull money from that account as things break. You will come out way ahead.
Have they pissed me off? YEP … will I ever stop telling my story ? NOPE, will I be going viral with this ? Yep in many ways… even after I'm gone.
If I could nicely tell them how I feel I would have to say F!!!?__**____YCTTCASISUYA!!!!….
Damn I was about to renew but came to YouTube and saw your video I ain't renewing lol thanks, you got a subscriber =) Are you in Barrhaven ?
We have done work for them and realized that we should have never bothered Service area Orleans??
Have started a site for unbiased home warranty reviews. If anyone wants to give feedback on their experience here's the page: Thanks in advance!
Thank you for this honesty. Great video.
Thank you Josh for this video it really make me think twice before buying a home warranty again.
True Fact. When someone is unhappy with a product or service, they tend to immediately give a bad review on the product. Satisfied customers usually don't bother to leave a good review so products and services are perceived as more bad than good. My 2 cents well spent. Are you in Ottawa ?
Why do you put music behind while you're talking? That makes ZERO sense. Don't do that.
I don't care if its a cheap repair as long as it gets fixed and doesn't break again.
Great video very informative, Thanks Josh. I go to closing in a week, I am seriously thinking about looking for another home,
It would have been a little easier to hear the video had you not posted background music, highly annoying. In the comment you made about contractors showing up without a logo or brand on their vehicle, is it any different when you are working out of a personal truck with some simple logo's pasted on it.
YOu get what you pay for.
Great info. I used to be a service adviser at an automotive dealership and had to deal with shady extended warranty's all the time. Out of 10 warranty companies there were 1 or 2 decent warranty companies. I am now a realtor and appreciate your info. I do not want to be that person who tells someone everything will be fine. Yea right. In your experience is there any decent companies that you have come across? If so do you recall the name of the company?