Choice Home Warranty review: HVAC repair/replacement on Choice Ultimate plan

We filed a request for service Sunday morning 8/16/26. My daughter’s air conditioner had quit working during the night and it was over 90 degrees in her condo and the weather service issuing an extreme heat warning for the rest of the week. By afternoon we still hadn’t heard anything so we called Choice Home Warranty multiple times. They said they were working on finding a technician. That evening we still hadn’t heard anything and we called back and got an agent in the Philippines who finally told us that a technician would be coming out sometime the next day (8/17/26/) between 3-8 pm. My husband called the technician and he agreed to come out that evening 8/17/26 if we would pay him $250. He came around 7:30. And said it appears the unit had been hit by something and the fan blade broke off and damaged the unit. He said he wasn’t even going to waste his time filing a report with CHW because they would authorize it to repair or replace the unit because it didn’t look like normal wear and tear. We asked him for a bid to repair and a bid to replace our unit but never received anything from him so we contacted two other companies to assess the unit. (At some point the original technician hired by Choice sent us a text stating he would charge us $6100 for a new system we would have to pay out of pocket for). We then sent this message to Choice Home Warranty 8/17/26:
Here are the two estimates for repairs from reputable companies.  One for $2,231 and one for $1,348.  Neither company thinks that the small dent on the side of the condenser had anything to do with the fan blades failing which is what your contractor told us yesterday when he said the repairs would not be covered by the ultimate choice home warranty we bought from you which is supposed to be the best coverage you offer.  Both other independent companies feel the failure was due to metal fatigue and age of the unit (33 years which your sales agent assured us would not be an issue with coverage) They also both don’t think repairs to a unit of this age is a good idea and both are preparing replacement estimates for us.
The company you sent out has not been in touch with a proposal for repair or replacement yet.  It’s 90 degrees in my daughter’s condo and she couldn’t stay there.  Your company is not making a good faith effort to repair or replace the air conditioner.  We need someone to contact us with an acceptable solution asap.  You can’t expect me to continue to wait for you when I can’t stay in my home.  If you don’t contact me by phone at ***-***-**** by 3pm CT today, I’m going to be forced to solve the problem myself and will hire one of these two companies to do the needed repairs or replacement and will expect you to reimburse me for the cost.  This is not the first time we’ve had problems with your company not honoring a claim in a timely manner.  Last year, you failed to respond when the starter capacitor went out on my air conditioner and I had to hire another company to do the needed repairs (which CHW told us to do since they couldn’t get a technician to pick up the service ticket). You never reimbursed me for that cost.  Your communication is terrible and everything is a battle with you guys. 
If I do have to go hire someone else to get satisfaction, I will be filing a complaint with the Missouri Department of Insurance.

Note: After we sent the text to ****** (the CHW technician) saying we never heard back from anyone he gave us a texted message saying $6100 as a price to replace the unit. My dad talked with him and he said again that Home Choice warranty would not pay for repair or replacement. I would have to pay for this myself. Which is when we opted to go with a different reputable company.

As of 8/19/26 we had still not heard anything from Choice Home Warranty and when I checked the claim online it showed that their technician they sent out still had NOT filed anything so I started this ‘chat’ on their request system:

Hi C****!

I'm Calvin, your AI Claims Specialist. I can help you understand the status of your claim, answer your questions or help you get in touch with the assigned technician.

If you're still experiencing an issue with your unit after a repair, I can have Customer Support review the claim for a possible recall.

Go ahead and ask me what you'd like to know.
09:11 AM
What is the status of my claim? It is now 8/19/26 and I have had to find other living accommodations! Your tech came out on Sunday night and said he wasn’t going to file a report as it wasn’t worth his time since Choice Home wouldn’t pay for it anyway. We then Paid for two other companies to check the unit. Both said it was metal failure due to age (wear and tear) and they both recommended the entire 33 year old system be replaced. I am now planning to file a complaint with the Missouri DOI as I don’t see any change in the status of my complaint meaning ****** has not filed a report, and you haven’t approved a repair or replacement.
09:26 AM
The claim is still showing as closed with an "approved under authorization" status from 8/16, but no diagnosis has been submitted by ******, and there is no authorization on this claim. Without a submitted diagnosis, our authorizations team cannot make a coverage determination - meaning nothing has been approved or excluded yet.

What **** (their tech) told you on-site is not a coverage determination. Only our authorizations team can make that call, and only after receiving a formal diagnosis through our system.

Here's where things stand and what needs to happen:

- ****** needs to submit their diagnosis through our vendor system. If they are unwilling to do so, that is something Customer Support will need to address directly - including whether the claim needs to be reassigned to another technician.
- The third-party assessments cannot substitute for a diagnosis submitted by the assigned technician. They cannot be used to authorize or deny the claim.
- No work should be done without prior authorization. Any repairs or replacement completed without approval will not be reimbursed.

To get ***** diagnosis submitted or to have the claim reassigned if they're refusing to participate, you'll need to contact Claims Support at [protected], Mon–Fri 8:30 AM–7:30 PM EST, Sat–Sun 9:00 AM–5:30 PM EST. You can also try reaching ******* directly at ***-526-59**.

If you'd like, I can send your technician a task right now — pick an option below and I'll take care of it.
Ask my technician for an update / response
Send Task
09:27 AM
So you are telling me that your service tech that you sent out has NOT filed a report yet and you are wanting ME to now get him to do so and that with this excessive heat over 90 on record I am NOT allowed to proceed to get my unit fixed or replaced? We are now 3 + days into my complaint with no clear direction. I have two independent service reports both agreeing the unit needs replaced and YOUR service technician telling me he isn’t even going to waste his time filing his report because he knows you won’t repair or replace the unit which can not even be turned on.
09:34 AM
You're right that this situation is unacceptable. ****** visited and has not submitted a diagnosis, and without that, our authorizations team cannot make any determination on your claim. That is the core problem here.

To be direct with you: you should not have to chase the technician to file their report. This needs to be handled by our Claims Support team, who can address ****** failure to submit and evaluate whether the claim needs to be reassigned to a technician who will complete the work properly.

The two independent assessments cannot substitute for a diagnosis submitted through our system - but that does not mean you're stuck. It means the right escalation path is through Claims Support, not through you.

Please call [protected] - Mon–Fri 8:30 AM–7:30 PM EST, Sat–Sun 9:00 AM–5:30 PM EST. Explain that the assigned technician visited but refused to submit a diagnosis, and request that the claim be reassigned immediately given the circumstances.

Do not proceed with repairs or replacement before authorization is issued - work completed without prior approval will not be reimbursed regardless of the situation.

If you'd like, I can send your technician a task right now — pick an option below and I'll take care of it.

Note: (This is where I asked them to again request their technician to file their report)

09:34 AM
Done — I've sent a task to *******Heating and Cooling asking them to respond to you. You'll get their reply by email, usually within 24 business hours.
Note: (we still have Never received anything from their technician as of 8/28/26)

09:34 AM
Thank you! I will now be filing an official complaint with Missouri DOI.

Note: (I then filed a complaint with the DOI and BBB)
09:35 AM
Network error occurred. Please check your connection and try again.
09:36 AM
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09:36 AM
I'm handing off the conversation to a representative, who will usually reply within 60 minutes during business hours. The follow up will be sent via email, so there's no need to remain on the site.
09:36 AM

UPDATE: By 8/20/26 there had been no update online for our claim, nor had anyone from CHW had contacted us or given us any direction so we hired one of the independent contractors to replace the unit for $8800.00. This was after my daughter had to find alternative housing for 5 days due to the extreme heat wave.
At some point CHW reached out and offered us $500 since as they said we replaced the unit without their approval. We refused their offer but a couple days later they then offered to send us a check for around $2100 which the said they didn’t owe us anything. I again checked the claim website and they still had not approved anything and their technician still had not sent in his evaluation. We told them we felt they should at least pay us what their technician said it would cost to replace our unit ($6100 instead of the $8800 it actually cost us to replace it). After a day or two they notified us they will pay us $2100 but no more.
After seeing all of these complaints online for not only customers but also numerous vendors they have hired we are considering filing with the Attorney General and or possibly the Federal Trade Commission. In addition we will probably contact a local crime stopper reporter and are also looking into taking them to small claims court.
After two horrible interactions with this company and trying to follow their very extensive rules (even though they don’t follow them) we mostly want to get the word out their to as many people as possible so they won’t fall victim to this scam company.
We have extensive pictures of the broken unit, two independent quotes from rely companies, screenshots of all of our online communications (which then disappear after you close the chat), screenshots of the texts communications, pictures with time stamps of the thermostat showing extensive heat in the condo and all of the multitude of the recent email conversations with their customer service agents.
We also saw there might have been a class action lawsuit being brought against them which we would be happy to join.
Most importantly please, please, please stay away from this home warranty company. Save yourself the hours and hours of work and many dollars we fell victim to by them.

Note: we bought the Choice Ultimate warranty for two years for $1010 upon advice of the sales agent who assured us the 33 year old HVAC and water heater and a couple appliances would not be an issue as this is exactly what they were here for.

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