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Choice Home Warranty Review

, Editor | Updated November 19, 2018

Choice Home Warranty is a home warranty company offering economically priced coverage plans, but it has a checkered past. The company is only recently beginning to gain a reputation for trustworthiness and dependability. While we recommend you read the fine print in your Choice Home Warranty contract and be aware of their history, Choice Home Warranty coverage might be right for you if you’re looking for complete coverage and cheap service fees.

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Choice Home Warranty Plans, Coverage and Cost

What are the plans offered by Choice Home Warranty?

There are just two Choice Home Warranty plans: The Basic Plan ($33.33 a month or $370 a year) and the Total Plan ($40 a month or $450 a year). Because the Basic Plan does not include air conditioning systems, refrigerators, washers, and dryers, all known for pricey repairs, most people choose the Total Plan.

Choice Home Warranty is not currently available in Washington or California.

What is covered by Choice Home Warranty

Basic Plan Total Plan
Cost $33.33 a month ($370 a year $40 a month ($450 a year)
Covers
  • Heating
  • Electrical
  • Plumbing
  • Water heater
  • Ductwork
  • Whirlpool bathtubs
  • Ovens/ranges/stoves
  • Cooktops
  • Dishwashers
  • Built-in microwaves
  • Garbage disposals
  • Garage door openers
  • Ceiling and exhaust fans
Does not include: air conditioning, refrigerators, washers, and dryers
  • Air conditioning
  • Heating
  • Electrical
  • Plumbing
  • Water heater
  • Ductwork
  • Whirlpool bathtubs
  • Refrigerators
  • Ovens/ranges/stoves
  • Cooktops
  • Dishwashers
  • Built-in microwaves
  • Garbage disposals
  • Clothes washers
  • Clothes dryers
  • Garage door openers
  • Ceiling and exhaust fans

For either plan you can pay more for optional add-ons. These include:

  • Pools and spas
  • Central vacuums
  • Second refrigerators
  • Well pumps
  • Sump pumps
  • Septic systems
  • Limited roof leaks
  • Stand-alone freezers

How much does Choice Home Warranty cost?

Choice Home Warranty costs range from approximately $33 a month to $40 a month. That’s $350 a year for the Basic Plan and $450 a year for the Total Plan.

Choice Home Warranty offers no legitimate options for customizability, unlike its competitor, American Home Shield. The only chance to alter the predetermined plans is if you opt to tack on additional optional coverage. Choice Home Warranty’s service fee, however, at $60, is one of the cheapest you’ll find.

Note: If your house is more than 5,000 square feet, your rates will go up to $670 a year on the Basic plan and $750 a year on the Total Plan.

If you are looking for more customizable plans, American Home Shield might be a better option for you. Furthermore, at a B rating from BBB over Choice Home Warranty’s C rating, American Home Shield is considered a more trustworthy option. However, if you read the fine print of a Choice Home Warranty contract and understand its claims, and if you are looking for cheaper service fees, Choice Home Warranty might be the right choice for you.

Our Review: The Deep Dive

Consumers have criticized Choice Home Warranty as being deceptive and taking advantage of loopholes in contracts. This is not underheard of in the home warranties industry, but the state of New Jersey even fined Choice Home Warranty $800,000 for deceptive advertising practices. Therefore, it’s best that you read the fine print of your contract before signing up.

Choice Home Warranty does not cover damage from pre-existing conditions. So if you are looking for Choice Home Warranty to fix a lot that’s currently wrong with your home before you enter under their coverage, think again. The Choice Home Warranty appliance replacement protocol also receives a lot of flak. They sometimes offer cash in lieu of a repair if they feel an item cannot be easily replaced, but that doesn’t mean the cash will be a completely fair reimbursement.

Customer service is available throughout the day, and you can submit a service request at any time. Keep in mind that this only means Choice Home Warranty will receive your request, not that your problem will be fixed, as many contractors work a regular 9 to 5 schedule and will not be available at odd hours of the day or on weekends. The Choice Home Warranty phone number for the Service Department is (888) 373-7924. When you file a claim, your assigned team of representatives will give you an estimated completion date.

Choice Home Warranty does not require a home inspection, as some other companies do.

Choice Home Warranty cancellation requests must be submitted in writing. All cancellations incur a $50 administrative fee. Consumers are entitled to a prorated refund of their contract cost. The minimum contract length is 12 months.

Choice Home Warranty has a C rating from the Better Business Bureau and is not BBB accredited. BBB has reprimanded Choice Home Warranty in the past for offering inappropriate financial incentives to consumers who left positive reviews.

Tip: If you go with the Total Plan and are able to afford the yearly payment, you will save $30 a year when compared monthly payments.

Like other companies in the industry, Choice Home Warranty has a 30-day waiting period between you signing up and the contract going into effect.

Conclusion

Benefits:

Choice Home Warranty has just about the lowest service call fees around, at $60.

Drawbacks:

Deceptive advertising has earned Choice Home Warranty a bad name. Loopholes often allow the company to either not replace your appliances and systems or offer you a petty cash reimbursement rather than a full repair.

Bottom Line:

If you’re looking for a cheap home warranty company to help protect your home, consider Choice Home Warranty. But be aware of their past and know what you are getting into.

Consumer Reviews

Posted on 12/01/2021

Our heater in our home stopped working, so I called Choice Home Warranty to send someone out to inspect the issue. The technician said the heater was faulty due to bad wiring connections, which doesn't make any sense since it was working perfectly fine the past several years. The technician collected the inspection fee & Choice Home Warranty informed us that the heater cannot be covered due to faulty wiring. We consulted another independent technician - who found the heater's actual issue was its main motherboard was malfunctioning - and was able to successfully fix the heater! AVOID THIS COMPANY. THEY USE HORRIBLE & UNETHICAL LOOPHOLES! Do not waste your money on Choice Home Warranty!

Posted on 08/18/2021

MARYLAND -- My heat pump stopped working. I called Choice and they sent a service mechanic right away. A few days later I get an email stating that my heat pump had been exposed to corrosive materials and my claim was being denied. What corrosive materials I asked. No response. When I got another mechanic over that I called, I was told that there was a wiring issue and it had ruined the compressor. There was no corrosive material exposure. I will never buy a home warranty policy again. When I bought this policy I asked a lot of questions regarding coverage. I was assured that everything would be covered. Choice was the 2nd company that pulled this nonsense. They do everything they can to not approve a claim. Total rip-off. I cancelled.

Posted on 03/24/2020

BROOKSVILLE, FLORIDA -- We became unhappy with AC claim not being properly taken care of. We went through resolution steps which proved we were right in what we stated the Home Warranty company did not take care of properly. At that time we decided to not renew our contract. When the contract expired they charged our credit card as if we had renewed. Because we didn't respond to their request to renew, they say they can continue to charge us - even though our initial contract was not automatic payment on credit card, it was a one time payment. We feel this was very deceptive. This is not a dependable company.

Posted on 01/11/2020

DALLAS, TEXAS -- I purchased a Choice Home Warranty as part of a new home purchase, and was sold quite an extensive list of supposed features and abilities by the very skillful salesman. I was looking for low cost, and I did my homework on available plans and decided on Choice because it had the least worst ratings out of the competition. I paid upfront for three years coverage, and received an extra six month "free". I have submitted zero claims under this plan in the five months I have had it.

On a Thursday afternoon, my water heater decided to end its useful life and leaked its contents all over my floor. I contacted Choice for the first time and received okay service in logging the claim, by someone completely devoid of emotions. When I received the email confirmation of the claim, it wasn't described as I described it, and was factually incorrect. This was a Thursday, so it is normal and acceptable to expect something to be scheduled for the following business day. No.

I later received another email and an automated robot voice message that the claim was assigned to a local "Home Repair" provider (shall remain nameless to protect the innocent), and the appointment was scheduled for Saturday between 7 and 11am. I was not happy, and decided to try to call the provider to see if the appointment could be moved up to Friday. All attempts to contact the provider at the number provided by Choice in the messages failed - On Saturday morning, halfway through the 7-11am appointment window, I finally got in touch with the person's brother who runs another home repair service in another area and he relayed a message to have his brother call me.

The owner of the business finally called me at 10:30am and said he had no record of the appointment or of my claim. So I called Choice back, and the vapid customer service person said there was nothing he could do except resend the request out for another service provider to pick up but not to expect anything until Monday or later at this point. (Wow, really?) At this point I started asking around locally for a reputable person who could help me with this water heater replacement - I would rather pay someone out of pocket than endure this classic horror story everyone has heard a million times before.

Somehow, the previously assigned company dispatched one of his people to my home ASAP to take a look. I paid the person $65 to have him (very honestly by the way) tell me that Choice probably wasn't going to cover the replacement because of the age of the water heater, and he let me in on a bunch of "secrets" about how the home warranty companies try to weasel out of paying claims. He said if he was to replace the water heater outside of the warranty service he would charge me $1,000 which would include the unit itself, but it would not include any closet reconfig needed (which I didn't expect anyway). I thanked him and he said he would submit the claim to Choice but he had my hopes very low that it would be approved.

Meanwhile, Choice actually did send the request back out and another service provider accepted it and scheduled something for Monday, then called me 15 minutes later to try to reschedule for Tuesday (6 days without hot water, in the winter, in a full house of people and pets... not acceptable.) I told the person to cancel the request.

I contacted Choice to cancel the request and to cancel my contract, and the minute they heard me say "Cancel my Contract" they put me on "forever hold". Choice offers a callback feature also, so after 30 minutes on hold I elected this option, and 4 hours later am still waiting for a callback, which is not likely to come in this lifetime.

I have since contacted Choice in writing both via email and have a letter ready to go out Certified Mail on Monday to instruct them to cancel and pro-rate refund my contract, per Paragraph L of the contract. I also am sending a copy of my letter to the TX Real Estate Commission, which 'sponsors' this company to do business in TX just to cover my bases.

I had high hopes, but amazingly and quickly those were stomped on by Choice Home Warranty. No, under no circumstances would I ever recommend Choice Home Warranty in any situation. Save money for home repairs which will come, and you will feel better about the repair - because even with a warranty company, you will be paying for the repair, and they will make the experience awful for you.

Posted on 12/26/2019

PHOENIX, ARIZONA -- Most stressful experience with any Home Warranty company. They are probably the cheapest, however they don't have a proper network to support your need. They have a few contractors, however they hardly can resolve any issues. Their techs don't show on time, and they don't care about the customer and their time. Please stay away from this company.

Posted on 11/06/2019

EDISON, NEW JERSEY -- On Nov 4th, I requested to get a quote from Choice. I got a call from Kyle at 11:13am (732-379-5309). We talked for about 10 minutes. I ultimately told him it sounded like a good deal, but I wasn't ready to make any changes just yet as I already had a Home Warranty provider. I told him I WOULD CALL HIM if I wanted to do anything. I got a call from him again at 1:40pm. When he told me who he was, I hung up the phone. He called me right back after that, then again one minute later! That same day, I received a call from 888-531-5403. It was a guy who I think said his name was Tom from Choice. I told him I had talked to Kyle already & that if I wanted to switch companies, I would let him know. He said to me "well why did you click for a quote if you weren't ready to switch?" I told him I am the kind of person who makes my own decisions at my own time, so them constantly calling was not the way to earn my business. He constantly talked over me and made rude remarks. When I eventually got to the point where I was like "at this point, I am no longer considering you all" he hung up on me! I received a call the next day (Nov 5) at 2:31pm from the 732 number, I didn't answer. I got another call at 5:50pm from the 888 number. I answered. It was a person named Damian. I asked him to remove me from the call list and he hung up on me. The crazy thing is, I was actually going to switch because the price was a little lower than what I am paying now, but now I am not. Their sales staff is very incompetent and nasty. Altogether, I received 7 calls from them when I told them on the first one, I would call them back. I would rather pay more for better service!

Posted on 10/10/2019

NEW JERSEY -- Stay away from this company. Not only does it cover nearly nothing that breaks, its service people are not the best in the city, to put it mildly. Everything that has broken in my house except the thermostat has been on the 'exceptions' list. Now when I want to cancel, they say that I agreed to renew my contract. I have been dissatisfied for months but I cannot cancel because they say that I renewed my contract. My documents state that it expired in February of 2019 and they say that it expires in February of 2020. I have been on the phone with them for an hour; every time the supervisor answers (it is very hard to understand their rapid fire speech) she hangs up and I have to start again.

Posted on 10/07/2019

PORT RICHEY, FLORIDA -- I have had Choice Home Warranty for about six months now that I had a claim or a problem until today. Something happened to the election in my home on Friday evening about 9:00 PM. I called Choice warranty performing it would submit the claim and get back to me in a little while. They did not do so. The next day I got an email from them saying that a technician will be there Monday afternoon between three and eight. I had no electricity in half my home and no air-conditioning Friday night, all day Saturday, Saturday night, Sunday, Sunday night is now almost 1 o'clock in the morning on Monday. It is 86° in my home down from 89 where it was today. My family and I are sweltering and I have to wait for tomorrow 3 o'clock for technician.

Posted on 09/20/2019

EDISON, NEW JERSEY -- Our air conditioning went out last Thursday, September 12th. Called American Home Warranty for an appointment for the following day, Friday (our very first experience with AHW) with the technician appointment window from 11am to 3 pm. Technician never showed up. We called to find out about the delay and learned their normal tech was unavailable and another company was contacted, however, it was now too late for an appointment/repair and that it would have to be Monday. We live in Clearwater, FL and had no intention of going through the weekend without air conditioning as the temperature in our home was in the high 80s. Called a local air conditioning repair company off Google and had our airconditioner repaired Friday within hours of your late afternoon call.
Our American Home Warranty Company review: Zero (0) stars

Posted on 07/17/2019

HENDERSON, NEVADA -- I had a pipe burst in the attic of my house. Time sensitive issue. Best they could do was an appointment in 2 days. I contracted the repair out privately. Job done. Later, I found I could have called to get prior authorization for my own contractor. Easier said than done. No company wants to spend 30 minutes on hold and then get the request denied.

I retroactively appealed the decision, and they gave me a run around. First, they tried to deny the claim (exclusions), then they said absolutely need prior authorization for out of their network. After much arguing, they offered to pay me $100 toward the $562 dollar repair. This is for a good customer, with two contracts. Likely I would have gotten squat without that. So: Many exclusions, then they try to low ball the repair or replacement. They do not provide emergency service. Contractors hate them. I hate them. Slow or no service. Lots of bad ratings, well deserved. Steer clear, and watch out for the sales pitch.

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