Home Security of America Inc

"I was provided with a home warranty company with the purchase of my patio home. HSA at first was bad. Then they really provided service recovery. The problem: They assigned ""Zoom Mechanical"" (this company should never be used) Zoom did not show up, when I called them, they said, ""we are trying to accomodate you, because you said we could not send someone until after 930am"" (I hired a cousin with small kids in school to sit at my house) This comment was made after 1200 when they did not show up... I complained to HSA stating I wanted another company assigned, they put me on hold and said, sorry there is no other company available, and they are rated very high or we would not use them. So I gave ""Zoom Mechanical"" a second and a third chance, thinking I had no choice, Zoom never showed. I called back to HSA they assigned L D SMITH plumbing (fantastic company), HSA called L D SMITH for me, got all set up, and waived the $100 fee for L D Smith visit. I did have talk with a supervisor at HSA to get this done, but in the end they provided good customer service. "

They contacted us quickly to come out and do the work.

They're terrible in getting back to you. They send terrible people to fix your stuff and they never fix it. They still never call me back to check on our claim. They're pricey. They could actually follow through on claims, answer claims, and refer you to responsible service providers which they did not. They could follow through when that service provider does a bad job. We had them out 8 times for water heater and it was ridiculous.

The last six months they have never contacted me. They have lied to me. They have closed the claim that I made. I have reopened it up three times. The appliance guy came out and said my range top could not be fixed and that it needed replaced. It is a very expensive thermador model. They don't want to replace it so they are doing everything they can to make me go away. As of two weeks ago, the company that fixes thermador here told them for the fourth time it needed to be replaced and cannot be fixed. I'm pretty sure the new company that bought them doesn't want to pay the $4,000.00 to fix it. I have emailed them and have gotten no response from them.

My wife and I have been back and forth with this company regarding our AC unit. Our AC unit is leaking but HSA keeps on sending technicians that can't supposedly find the problem. HSA AC technicians have been at our house roughly 8 times and still can't find the issue. We hired our own AC technician who determined that an evaporator coil is leaking but even with this information, HSA refuses to repair the problem and is in clear breach of the warranty. This is a highly unprofessional company with inept customer service. I would never recommend anyone to retain their services.

They need to be more responsive and take the time to explain how things work. They could be clearer. On the whole, it was a struggle.

My air conditioner fan wasn't running. I had 2 different companies that they made me use look at it. Instead of properly fixing it, they "rigged it."  The constantly look for a cheap fix. It is impossible to get good service. The air conditioner is 28 years old and they won't replace it.

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I was extremely disappointed by what HSA covered.  They only covered the "repair" part, not bringing the line up to code.  What is the point of repairing the gas line, if it can't be turned on because it is not up to code?  It should have been a big red flag that the contractor would only accept cash (not checks or credit cards) for warranty repairs for HSA.  When I called them about how little they "covered"  I got a lot of double talk, and that the coverage was outlined in my contract (which is clear as mud).
What is the point of having a home warranty, if you have to pay $1700?  Major fail.

It was hard to get attention through the website or by phone but then I contacted my realtor who knew someone and that person helped, a lot . I am satisfied now; I think they were very fair.  
The local repair people were very very good.
You do need to be persistent, and patient.

I don't think there's a home warranty company that's perfect.  Generally when we call HSA we are already frustrated that something in the house has been broken so I try to let that cloud my judgement when I call HSA.  But overall, HSA has been very good to us. Yes, sometimes wait times on the phone are long but I find their front line customer service reps to be very nice and responsive to our needs. And whenever we've had issues they always try to rectify what's gone wrong. 
Pros:
-If you have multiple problems in the house, that can be fixed by one tech, they won't charge you multiple times.  We once had a guy come fix our refrigerator.  He fixed the fridge, then he fixed the washing machine and then the drier.  Just one $75 deductible.
-Friendly customer service agents
-multiple claims correctly serviced and solved over two years.
Here is the only dispute we've had that was resolved to our satisfaction:
Our air conditioner was having problems.  HSA sends a tech to fix it.  We pay $75.  In addition to fixing it he said there was not enough freon in the system. So he added some freon. Next two months our power costs skyrocket and the air conditioner shakes the house when it shuts off.  Call HSA again. They send another tech to fix it.  We pay another $75.  The tech says that there is too much freon and that is what is causing problems.  We called HSA and tell them their first tech caused the problem remedied by the second tech and we don't think we should have to pay the second $75.  They comply and refund us one of the $75. Dispute resolved amicably :)
Cons:
-My main annoyance with HSA is that their computer randomly picks the tech that will come out to your house from their list of pre-approved techs.  I don't mind that they have a list of pre-approved techs.  I just don't like that I can't pick the best tech out of the list.  Especially if it's the same thing that's broken twice.  For example, our shower on the second floor was leaking to the ceiling on the first floor.  One guy came and fixed it.  A year later, same thing was happening.  We called again and they called in a new tech.  The first guy probably didn't fix the problem completely and that's why it was leaking again.  However, because it had been more than two months it was considered a new claim and so they had to call in a new guy (instead of sending the old guy or calling him and asking him why it was happening again) and we had to pay $75 again.

We recently purchased a home and it came with a home warranty.  When we had an issue with the house that the home warranty company used and we have had pretty poor experiences with that method so far. 

We have had a home warranty contract with HSA for about 5 years.  In the beginning, we were pleased with the service overall.  We had several warranty claims processed without much trouble.  However, in very recent times, the customer service has completely changed... NOT for the better.  The most recent experience we had involved scheduling service to our central air.  The first problem we encountered was the level of quality of vendors selected by HSA.  It seems that many of the vendors assigned to claims have very questionable, if not unfavorable, reputations.  The second issue has to do with ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE hold times when contacting the company by phone.  If you want to renew your contract, they can do that almost immediately.  However, if you need authorization for a claim (either as a customer or a vendor), you can expect to wait a hour or more.  For us, this meant paying our vendor their hourly rate for almost 2 hours just to sit on hold with HSA!  When I personally spoke with an HSA rep regarding my disgust with this situation, their only answer was that call volume was high.  I absolutely WILL NOT renew this contract and am currently seeking a new warranty with a much more efficient and customer focused company.  I am so disappointed with this situation, that I will be filing a BBB complaint as well.

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We signed up for HSA home warranty and get great phone service for repair calls AS LONG AS IT'S AS 75$ initial call. The second we call for a repeat visit on an issue we get put on hold. So far every repeat call has been a MINIMUM of three hours on hold. We have also been disconnected while on hold. This company is a scam!

We called them to repair our faucet.
I'm not a young woman but I'm not a super old woman either. This was the worst customer service that I have had in my entire life. The worst. I had one person, the guy's name was James. James was fabulous. James should be promoted to president. He's the only person that gave a damn. I still have his message on my voice mail. He was sincere, he said I'm going to get to the bottom of this. This is what we have to do. I will call you back. I never heard back from him but it's because they gave it over to somebody else. So he did his job. Nobody else there did their job. I wish I would have had his direct line because I would have called him to thank him. Everybody else there, including the supervisor that I insited that I talk to, that I was on the phone for for 45 minutes, the first 25 minutes she did not give a hoot about what I was talking about. She was so cavalier, oh blah, blah, blah. Until I started raising my voice. I told her how much time I've been on the phone, how much time I've wasted, why is this happening, why are you not getting back to me, this is the shoddiest customer service I've had in my entire life and on and on and on and on. She gave me her email address. I sent information out 4 different times before I got a reply. Left voice mail messages because now I had 2 different people who still did not get back to me to tell me what was going on. Then they blindsided me by sending out a different plumbing company. I got home and had a message that said we're dispatching Carl's Plumbing please call them to make an appointment. Never told me they gave up on Express Plumbing. Never told me they were going to do this. I had to write an email saying I wasn't going to pay another $75 to have a new plumbing company to come out here. How can you have such shoddy service. You have three phone numbers for me, you have my house phone, my cell phone, and my work phone and you didn't try to reach me at anyone of my three numbers that you have. You didn't try to reach me via email, you just went ahead and did this without my approval, you just went ahead and did this. That meant making another appointment, another 2 hour appointment, taking time off of work, either my husband or I, having a new plumber come out to the house and a new plumber diagnose it, sending the claim in. The whole time was ridiculous. After 112 minutes of being on hold before even speaking to someone, I was on hold another 11 or 12 minutes before I could speak to a manager and she didn't give a damn when she got on the phone. She had an attitude. I don't know what her deal was. Every time I called I would ask why is there so much hold time. Well, this is our busy time. I spoke to so many incompetent people on the phone or that needed training. Every single time I asked they would say this is their busy time and people's air conditioning was breaking down.  I had probably 6 different people that I spoke to.

I had a good experience in the month of April. Our microwave stopped working and they dispatched a service man over to our house. He suggested that we get a new microwave. They denied the claim but said that they had him fix it so they ordered parts and he fixed it. That went relatively well but I still wouldn't give them an A. The person that they sent out was fine, he was good.
You have a home warranty and you have to pay them every month. If you don't have any claims during the year it's like $500 for me so when I have claim I have to pay an additional $75 every time somebody comes out even if it is a little simple thing. I expect to at least get customer service that is calling me back, that's when you call the number it says check online when you go online there's nothing there to view. It's just so annoying.

WE HAVE HAD HSA WARRANTY ON RENTAL PROPERTY SINCE 2012. THE ORIGINAL (16 YEAR OLD) AC STOPPED WORKING ON 5/3/15. A CLAIM WAS FILED ON 5/4/15. SIERRA MECHANICAL (HSA CONTRACTOR) TECH CAME TO ASSESS UNIT. HE TOLD MY DAUGHTER THAT THE UNIT NEEDS TO BE REPLACED DUE TO CONDENSER FAN "BURNT UP". HE WAS AT OUR HOME 10 MINUTES. TIME REPORTED ON INVOICE IS 1200 ? 1600 WHICH SEEMS TO BE FRAUDULENT BILLING. I WAS TOLD THAT THE AMOUNT OF TIME THAT THE TECH BILLED WAS IRRELEVANT BECAUSE THE COMPANY WAS ON RETAINER WITH HAS AND WAS PAID A FLAT RATE.  THE CLAIM WAS DENIED DUE TO CONSUMER ABUSE (LACK OF ROUTINE MAINTENANCE). I SUBMITTED AN INVOICE FROM THE HEATING & COOLING COMPANY WHO SERVICES OUR AC UNIT DATED 4/24/14 INDICATES ROUTINE MAINTENANCE WAS PERFORMED AT THAT TIME. THE CLAIM WAS DENIED. WE HAD AC TECH COME OUT TO PROVIDE SECOND OPINION. HE SAID THAT THE DUAL CAPACITOR ON FAN WAS BAD DUE TO NORMAL WEAR AND TEAR. I SUBMITTED THIS INVOICE AND ASKED FOR RECONSIDERATION OF THE CLAIM. I ATTEMPTED TO CONTACT HSA BY PHONE SEVERAL TIMES OVER THE NEXT WEEK. I WAS PLACED ON HOLD FOR A MINIMUM OF 30 MINUTES FOR EACH CALL BEFORE I HUNG UP. I SENT 2 FOLLOW UP EMAILS REQUESTING STATUS OF CLAIM. I DID NOT RECEIVE A RESPONSE. ON 5/14/15, I AUTHORIZED OUR PROVIDER TO REPAIR UNIT. THE TECH MEASURED FREON PRESSURES DURING COURSE OF REPAIR AND FOUND THAT THE PRESSURES WERE SEVERELY OUT OF RANGE. THIS WAS DUE TO RESTRICTION OF REFRIGERATION UNIT. HIS OPINION IS THAT THIS IS DUE TO NORMAL WEAR AND TEAR SINCE THE UNIT WAS 16 YEARS OLD. HE FELT THAT THE COST OF LABOR & PARTS WOULD BE HIGHER THAN A NEW UNIT. HE RECOMMENDED REPLACING THE UNIT. I SUBMITTED THE INVOICE TO HSA WITH REQUEST FOR RECONSIDERATION. THIS WAS DENIED. I SPOKE WITH SUPERVISOR, MICHAEL HAM. I REQUESTED TO HAVE SIERRA MECHANICAL TECH RETURN TO PROPERTY FOR REPEAT ASSESSMENT GIVEN THE NEW INFORMATION FROM THE SECOND COMPANY. THE TECH FROM SIERRA DID NOT MEASURE THE FREON PRESSURE DURING ASSESSMENT. THIS WAS DENIED. I OFFERED TO HAVE OUR TECH MEET SIERRA TECH AT VILLA. THIS WAS DENIED. THIS IS A CLEAR VIOLATION OF OUR WARRANTY WHICH STATES THAT REPAIRS ON THE UNIT ARE COVERED IF DUE TO NORMAL WEAR AND TEAR AS LONG AS ROUTINE MAINTENANCE HAS BEEN DONE.  WE PAID $3452 TO HAVE THE UNIT REPLACED.

We had a water leak and needed to have a plumber come out. We switched the main off as the water company suggested when we called them beforehand. The plumber came out, looked at the meter, listened for a noise, then concluded that everything seemed to be fine.  The water company advised us to do a dye test which the plumber never did. He was also impolite in our interaction.

They have kept us on hold for hours every time we have called. The most recent time I used a stopwatch and I was on hold literally for 1 hour and 36 minutes before I reached an operator. Her excuse was that they were having "high call volumes." I find it hard to believe that their call volumes are so unpredictable they cannot staff for high volume times. Really? An hour and a half?

Our furnace set off our carbon monoxide detector when it was running. I shut off the furnace and ventilated the area and when I turned the furnace back on, the alarm once again went off. My husband tried the same when he came home; same results.

You would think there would be a direct line for life-threatening emergencies, but no. Sat on hold ( in the cold) for 1 1/2 hours.

When I finally got through, of course the warranty company didn't have an "approved provider" in our area, leaving us to find our own. They approved a "diagnosis call."  Fortunately for us we have lived here for over a year now, and have developed a relationship with local service people. We called our furnace guy and he came right out within the hour and diagnosed a cracked heat exchanger emitting carbon monoxide into our home.

Of course, it was the weekend, so it was not possible to get prices and such to get the approval process going until Monday. On Monday our furnace guy called HSA and SAT ON HOLD for over 20 minutes. When he got an operator he gave them the diagnosis and estimate and they argued with him about how he conducts his business (he usually hauls away the old furnace for just the cost of the scrap; they told him he can't do that and were going to deduct $100 from the estimate for disposal. They told him he couldn't connect direct to the old ductwork without charging us for sheet-metal work even though the furnaces are identical and didn't need re-work; he finally got it through to the HSA operator that the outlets were the same and there was no charge for new ductwork.) THEN they told him they would call him back "soon" with the approval or denial. He reminded them that the temperatures forecast for our area for the following several days were to be below zero. The operator snipped at him "we're in Wisconsin, we understand  cold weather."

Then we all waited and waited. Finally my husband called HSA back (more hold time) and told them we needed heat to keep our pipes from freezing. A bit later they finally called our furnace guy with approval to go ahead with the work.

I am frustrated that while they will warranty older homes with aging and sometimes failing systems, they are darn near unresponsive when you actually have a claim and make it so difficult to actually file a claim I bet some people give up. Then they put your repair person through the wringer in an attempt to scalp you out of more money. This company is a racket!

This company is a joke.  It seems that realty companies convince their sellers into attaching these worthless home warranties as a carrot to help sell a house.  Transactions are not transparent with their contractors and you get the definite sense that you are being ripped off.  I'll elaborate.
Our first call to this company was to report a leaking hot water heater.  They dispatched a plumber who confirmed the leak and that I needed a new hot water heater.  I had an Apollo system that feeds hot water to an air handler in the attic as part of its function.  Since it was an Apollo system that also attached to the HVAC system they would not cover all of the charges, they furthermore claimed that I needed hundreds of dollars in extra expenses to bring the new hot water heater "up to code."  When I asked what was wrong the contractors rattled off a bunch check valves and cross couplers and a new pad - all of which added up to about $1,250 for my warrantied hot water heater replacement.  You don't get to see a charge breakdown - all of that is hidden from you.  The contractors and HSA come to some agreement on charges that you have no insight into.  So they installed my new hot water heater, twice, since the first one they brought out was natural gas and I'm on propane.  Then , months later, when the upstairs isn't heating we realized that they reversed the hot and cold side lines that the attic air handler required.  So I called the contractors directly who came right out and fixed that, but when I asked these new techs about all the work to bring my hot water heater up to code they looked at me like I was crazy and said it looked like all they did was install a new pad.
Now the kicker.  We came home Christmas Eve to discover we had no water.  We are on well water.  We called their emergency call service and they did answer on New Years Eve (once), but were completely unhelpful.  The person that answered the phone had no idea what to do or advise me to do.   They finally informed me that they dispatched my claim to a local plumber, and to call them to schedule an appointment if I didn't hear from them in 1 hour.  Now I did not expect to have this resolved on either Christmas Eve or Christmas day - although I was willing to pay their surcharge for an emergency visit if somebody was willing to come out.  But I never got the chance - there was no further communication from anyone (not HSA or their contractor) the rest of Christmas Eve, Christmas day, or afterward until I noted my displeasure days later on their social media page (their marketing person called me).  I repeatedly called their emergency line only to get dumped straight to voicemail and never received a return call.  I finally called a plumber myself - outside of HSA's network - and they agreed to come out the day after Christmas, for a holiday surcharge.  They felt that it could be an electrical problem and that I should have an electrician check it out before they did anything.  So I called HSA back and they answered, finally, the day after Christmas, and I asked them to send out an electrician.  Unfortunately, they had only contracted with one electrician in the Raleigh-Durham area who could not make it out for 3 more days!  I surrendered - I just gave up.  I called a Well and Tank service - who were awesome and that I have reviewed separately - who came out that day and got us water back.
So my thoughts in general are that these home warranty services are a scam, and the HSA in particular colludes with their contractors to overcharge you and worse is utterly, totally, and completely unresponsive during an emergency situation.   They called me recently to ask me if I wanted to renew at a discount, and after I was done choking on my drink I let them know that renewing with them would be impossible even if they covered the premium themselves.  Buyer beware, this company isn't in business to help you.