Cinch Home Services review: Repair of heat pump

Bought a policy from Cinch Home Services several years ago at Sams Club. Only one minor service request was made earlier this year. On June 19, 2026 I reported a heat pump failure to Cinch. Took them a week to dispatch a Sears tech to look at it. He pronounced the system dead with a failed compressor and coolant leak but Sears could not repair it. Another provider was assigned by Cinch for repair. After calling, he came out to get model information from the system. Then...nothing. The provider said he was awaiting information from Cinch. Cinch said they were waiting for information from the provider. Three weeks into the case, Cinch admitted that they did not have a local provider and sent me documents and instructions allowing me to hire my own provider. I hired a well-respected local company to repeat the analysis. They confirmed the leak but did not find fault with the compressor. However, due to the age, 16 years, and condition, the system was past its expected life and not cost-effective to repair. Partial system replacement was not possible because the refrigerant is no longer used in new systems. I sent the results back to Cinch with the analysis invoice and system replacement estimate. However, because I felt the estimate was too high, I did solicit two other bids, one of which I accepted. Now I receive an email from Cinch that they need more information before they can proceed; information that was not specified in the instructions they sent: meter readings, photographs, etc. I already paid a company $422 to answer questions from Cinch and now they want more. I argued with them that they should have received that information from their own provider, Sears, the first time, and Sears should return to finish the job. The response was "Once the job is assigned to an outside provider, the original information from Sears is disregarded". We're now five weeks into the process. Fortunately, the company which contracted to replace the system installed temporary window air conditioners so we could move out of the basement. They sent a tech out to gather the information Cinch demanded (for the third time). Finally, after 5 1/2 weeks, a new system is installed. The next day, Cinch comes through with their generous offer: $350. Not even what I paid for the analysis. Their reasoning is that the system could by fixed by inserting a stop-leak substance, which, according to online searches is a highly dubious, short-term solution, with a low success rate. I'll be filing complaints with as many rating and regulatory agencies as I can find, as well as with Sam's Club, where I bought the policy.