HMS Home Warranty / HMS National / Cinch Home Services

Summary: I put in a claim for furnace service. HMS sent a guy to my house who demanded $600 in repairs. The actual problem (wrong filter) cost $2 to fix. HMS then REFUSED to return my calls about it.

I've been a deluxe-class customer of HMS Home Warranty / Cross-Country Home Services / Long & Foster Home Warranty for six years.

In November, I put in a claim on a poorly performing furnace. HMS sent a local company (All-Star Appliance / HVAC) to our house for service.

The tech accepted our $100 deductible, looked at the furnace, and said that we needed coil cleaning, which wasn't covered by our home warranty insurance. The owner of the company estimated that it would require:

* Another round of diagnostics using a scope ($100)

* Coil cleaning ($250)

* Cutting a hole in the side of our furnace to install a panel for future service ($150)

Altogether, $500 - on top of the $100 we'd already paid.

I called in another handyman, who came out and fixed the problem in five minutes... by swapping in a different, generic-brand furnace filter. We'd been using the wrong type of furnace filter. The coils were fine, and the $2 repair cost completely fixed our problem.

I asked the handyman why All-Star hadn't caught that and wanted to charge us $600. "No idea. The furnace filter is ALWAYS the first thing you check because lots of customers make that mistake."

On December 6th, I called HMS to complain. I had an eight-minute conversation (according to my mobile phone records) during which I explained the story. The service rep listened and then said: "That sounds pretty serious; we'll have a manager get back to you right away."

NOBODY got back to us. No call, no email, nothing. They have the mobile numbers and email addresses on file for both my wife and me... neither of us received any contact.

This week (December 30th), I called HMS again, and was told that nobody had gotten back to me because THEY HAD NO RECORD OF MY CALL ON DECEMBER 6TH.

I demanded to speak with a manager and was told that the manager on duty (Chris Marshall, I think) was in the office but on another call. I was connected with his voicemail, and I explained the story and demanded a call back before I canceled our contract.

Again... nothing, for two business days.

So I am firing HMS after six years of service. I don't know what is wrong with this company, but it has become an awful service provider that apparently hires scam artists and then refuses to address customer complaints.