First American Home Warranty

My experience with First American has been really efficient and responsive. It's amazing. The response time is really fast. I'll submit online and then we'll hear back from someone within a couple of hours. Then we'll have someone likely scheduled within 48 hours, if not sooner.

In the beginning, First American had a good price. Then it has gone up. There's been a couple of claims that I'm not very happy with. I had a water heater claim. They said they would replace the water heater. They didn't pay for modification, which I understood. That's in the contract but for whatever reason, there was $600 worth of modification that was needed for this water heater. I expressed my displeasure in that. The person I was speaking to gave me another option. I wish he told me that they would give me the cost of the water heater itself, the labor, and to carry off the old water heater. It ended up being $597, which is absolutely ridiculous because I could go buy a water heater, have it installed, and have it carry off for $597.

I got two different stories. The plumbers told me that they didn't know why these modifications were needed to be made. The plumber kind of put it on First American. I called First American back and asked them about it, and they gave me a list of things that they said the plumber told them that were needed to install this water heater. To summarize my experience with First American, some things are fine but some things are not.

There's the ease of contact with First American. The technicians they've sent always do the job right, and they've always been really respectful and polite.

So far, First American has been fine. Submitting a service request is a pretty easy process. I've had a couple of plumbing issues, and I went online and submitted my claim and they had a plumber contact me and come out. The plumber did a great job.

First American is better than most home warranty companies I’ve used before. They follow through, which I appreciate. Everything, in general, has been good. The thing that could be improved is being able to select the vendor and better quality control of the vendors they use. I either call them or I'll go online to submit my claim, depending on what it is. The process is easy. So far, First American honored the claims I've submitted. My most recent claim was on a broken microwave. It didn't heat. They replaced it.

First American sent a guy out for the refrigerator. Our outdoor refrigerator wasn't cooling and he came to fix it. I wasn't happy with the service. He spoke hardly any English at all. It was hard to communicate. Then when he got done, he just left. He didn't even tell us he was done and what he did. Other than that, the refrigerator is doing okay. For the most part, we've been very pleased with the service from the technicians so far. Some are better than others about calling you. You have to call some of them. So far, we've been pleased with First American. That's the reason why I keep renewing. Hopefully, the price will quit going up.

We bought the house and didn't have any issues until four months after getting the house, and then we had some electrical issues, and First American got somebody out quickly, which I appreciated because all of our lights went out. The technician that they sent out was very knowledgeable and knew their stuff.

I purchased First American once before and did not keep it. It didn't seem to be a good value at that time. I currently have had it for a year, and I've had to use it three times. My most recent claim was for a broken fan in my furnace motor. My only disappointment was the length of time it took to get it resolved. However, I didn't need heat during that period. It took a few days to hear back from the repair company, but the person that they sent was terrific, did a great job, and was very respectful. He ordered the part. They sent the wrong one. He had to reorder it, and he made a concerted effort to get here as soon as possible. Once that part came in, he took care of everything for me. First American is a trustworthy company.

We had a dishwasher that went out that wasn't draining. I called First American and told them. I looked at my thing and saw that the dishwasher was on the list. So, I knew when I called that it was covered. The rep said that she would have somebody call me back to set up an appointment. She had me make a payment of $100 before she called them. So, I knew that that was going to be taken care of, and that's all it was going to cost. It was the same day they called. The guy who came out was quiet, and I asked what happened and if it was something we did. He said, “Oh, it's fixed now.” That was all he said and he walked out. So, I didn't know what was wrong. He was okay. He was fast. I just wanted to know what happened, so that I wouldn't do it again and I didn't get that.

With First American, everything is done quickly. When I call them, then the follow-up is right away. I didn't have to wait two or three days. I've had warranty companies before where it was hard to get them. Then when you get them, it's hard to get them to call you back, and it takes two or three days. First American doesn't work like that at all. Everything went very fast with them.

If something comes up on an appliance, you don't know who would be the best person to call. With First American's service, you don't have to worry about that. They assign a contractor to come out. So, that's a nice part of it. The thing I like the least is, for certain services, there doesn't seem to be any sense of urgency. When my hot water heater went up, it took over three weeks to get it replaced. So, I almost dropped the contract because of that. I know I could just call anybody up locally and get it replaced right away. So sometimes, a replacement takes longer than I think is reasonable. Other than that, the contractors have been very good. So far, I've been satisfied with that.

When I renewed the contract this year, First American had a new option where in addition to covering your air conditioner and your heating unit, they also offered the annual service plan where they would come out once a year to service the air conditioning and the furnace. I had already had a contract with another provider, so they overlapped. So the one that overlapped came out, and they were recommending a replacement on my furnace of the heat exchange. I thought, “Well, in order to get that replaced, I'd have to have a First American contractor come out.” When the First American contractor came out, he assured me that it didn't need to be replaced at that time.

What bothers me is, oftentimes, there's no follow-up communication. If you're needing to get something replaced, for example, a washer during COVID, it would have been nice that the communication said, “Hey, Mr. **, due to supply chain issues, it may take three to six weeks to get you your washer.” They never said that. I would call and nobody knew what was going on, and it was confusion.

Having First American can make the repair and replacement process easier because vendors are assigned to you. Normally, they're good vendors. So, it makes the process a little less of a hassle because it's being taken care of for you, and you don't have to necessarily worry about the reputation of a contractor. You kind of make the assumption that if it's somebody contracted by First American, they've had a good experience with those vendors.