Hisco Home Warranty

In August 2014, a ceiling fan was broken. I was contacted by Budget Electric because of home warranty. A gentlemen came and took down the ceiling fan. Then, told me that he had to replace remote control panel and would be back in one week. After one week, I called them several times, and finally was told that they could not find the remote control. I had to call them several times again to follow up this issue. They finally offered to replace my current ceiling fan with another one of their choice, of course inferior one. I requested to install the same ceiling fan as covered by the warranty. They could not, and told me that they would send me a check to buy a new ceiling fan and hire another company to install it. During the past year, they simply ignored my calls and emails. I have to send several emails to Hisco for help, but no response. I told them I would post my bad experience on Unilocal,and they finally gave me a number to call, a FAX number no one answering it of course. I finally gave up, and bought a new ceiling fan, and installed it by myself. What a failure of the home warranty company, HISCO, and Budget Electric, combined. If you do not want to waste your money and time, please do not buy home warranty plan from HISCO and service from Budget Electric.

Here is a note we sent to Hisco when I cancelled our policy:
You should be advised that our experience with Hisco is what prompted us to cancel our policy. At the time we needed it the most, Hisco was not there. Instead we were initially charged for a service visit and then notified that the unit had a mfgr warranty for the parts. At the time, we did not know who or when it was originally installed or where to go for help. Last winter was very cold and there was no heat. Our efforts at contacting the mfgr did not get anywhere. In the meantime, the mfgr warranty expired. The ordeal escalated when Hisco would not cover any repairs and the service tech insisted on a second payment. It was a very bad experience for us and I would certainly not recommend Hisco to any homeowner.

First the positive: They answer their phone and are quick to schedule an appointment for a technician to come to your house. When he recommends a fix, they do authorize the repairs. Every step in the process takes a little time, so be prepared.
Now the negative: They will do anything to avoid spending money. My washing machine needed replacing. It took 4 service visits from 3 different technicians, who each said the machine should be replaced, but we could attempt a repair that may work. They refused to replace it, and kept repairing it. It’s never been fixed after 4 months. Finally when the last repair they said would take over a month, I gave up and paid to replace the machine myself.
Find a better company.

I am a homeowner and had several interactions with HISCO. Our realtor put in a policy for us and didn’t say anything until the day we were signing all the title/​escrow docs so it was too late to do any research and I really regret it.
The whole experience was very frustrating and I would not recommend them or use them again. A very unprofessional service. We never got formal paperwork from them detailing the policy coverage and when the policy period was over we never even got an automated attempt to extend or renew. Not that I would have, but it just seems like a very shady business overall.
The good thing is that when you start a claim they’ll schedule a service appointment very quickly, and if its something very basic, you might get out of it with just the $ 60 co-​pay. But that’s about where the good news ends.
They don’t have service agreements with the best and the brightest contractors… So if the first guy can’t fix something they have to call someone else out, meanwhile you’ve wasted an afternoon from work.
The biggest problems though, are with the customer service and limits of coverage. The phone hold times are minimum 10 mins. You can never talk to the same person twice no matter what the issue. You will never, ever get in touch with a manager or anyone with decision making authority no matter how dysfunctional the situation. Several times I contacted Toni Burrows, Senior Account Executive, whose name appeared on our policy and she never returned a call, and responded to only one email directly, just to refer me to her assistant.
If something happens where an appliance might need to be replaced it becomes a war of attrition and they are happy to schedule two, three, four endless service appointments until you finally get sick of it and go away. Normally I would just go away because I can’t keep missing work. The problem is you’ve already paid them a few hundred dollars minimum for the coverage so you feel obligated to make the most of it.
In one case after 4 appointments and 2 contractors not able to salvage a 22 year old refrigerator, they decided they wanted a 3^rd opinion. Meanwhile we’d been without a functioning fridge for the better part of a month, but no matter to HISCO. Ultimately I was defeated and after literally about 15 phone calls over the course of a couple days they offered a $ 300 payout which was the cost of the repair they wanted a 3^rd opinion on, and I still needed a new fridge… We know how much that costs…
Then there was the water heater, which they agreed to replace surprisingly quickly. Except they wouldn’t pay for any of the service connections (2 water lines, gas line, etc) so that was $ 200 bill for me.
Bottom line, unless you have a whole lot of free time to make them work for your money, STAY AWAY.

Worst experience ever! Terrible customer service. HOURS of hold times. Very slow service. HUGE OUT OF POCKET EXPENSES! (I have their most expensive coverage too — I can only imagine if you don’t). Bottom line: AVOID!

Seriously… do these people cover ANYTHING? I’m not even going to go through the events of the last few months… you all seem to have experienced the same thing as me.
1. de·ny — refuse to give or grant (something requested or desired) to (someone)
AND…they raised the deductible from $ 60 to $ 75

Wish there was a negative star rating these guys will get it, if your a realtor at the next caravan or meeting let the other agents know not to recommend this company and republic is just as bad. It will make your company look bad. as home buyers will attach your real estate to them. I have had too many issues to even mention. Kitchen faucet leaking all over –Not Covered, had pool filter changed but pool company charged 65 for 2 fittings. They are rude on phone when you question that they will not provide coverage. They have a mindset that some will not question it and. Save the company money.

I’ve had similar experiences with this company as others … Bought an old house and warranty was purchased through my real estate agent, tried to have appliances repaired or replaced and this warranty really doesn’t cover anything so bottom line save your money and time avoid this warranty CO.

I had a leak in the washer line so I called the company. John from Beekman’s custom plumbing did a inspection and gave a report with drain pipe had code violations. Initially HISCO promised $ 250 max coverage due to code violation. After a month they reversed their stand. Now they are saying none will be covered.
They asked to challenge with California department of insurance. Basically they will come with unwritten clause and deny warranty.

LIke the others I score em a negative star. As a homeowner who has now replaced every effing thing in this house since we purchased it (we knew it was old and stuff would happen) and we knew that getting the warranty to pay off would be tough, so honestly we didn’t try for any of the big stuff. But by 9 months later when PGE disconnected the water heater saying it wasn’t safe I figured they would at least handle that (under 1K, easy peazy right?)
Aaaah no. They were absolutely the worst – just like all the other reviews you read here. The local service people they directed us to had inspiring 1 star Unilocal reviews too and when we met the dude we cringed. We just sent them away since we knew they would drag it out and drag it out and we’d be out of hot water for a week or more when it could be switched out in a few hours if we just called a local pro.
Sigh. Screwed again.
Attention: insurance crooks –Please know there is a special hell waiting for you one day.

I strongly recommend you to save your money and don’t give it to these guys. They are rude, slow and will not give you any service at all. they only will show up and blame something else, collect their money and leave!
I have twice an incident and both times they didn’t do anything and I had to finally pay my own contractors to come and fix the issue.

Don’t waste your money with these guys. If you need to replace something, you will be surprise how much they don’t cover. I have been a loyal customer for the last 4 years. Until recently my water heater broke and needed to be replace, I still have to folk out about 40% of the cost. If you do the math including your premium and your deductible ($ 75) and that 40% I almost paid the entire water heater without any insurance. Save your money and don’t use these guys. You can find better deals online without going through them. Also, their approval process is very slow. I had NO HOT WATER at my house for 2 days in the middle of winter. I had to boil hot water for my kids to take a bath.
I left a voicemail to their customer service manager to call me back, but they never did. Do yourself a favor. Don’t use them period!!!

Save your money. They are not going to fix anything. I reported a problem with my oven on 1÷14÷13. They provided me with their contractor phone. I made an appointment with appliances technician the nex day. He arrived, but then said he needed to order a part that didn’t work. 2 days past nobody called me and I called the appliance firm, they advised me that my insurance approved the broken part to be ordered and they were waiting it to be arrive in a couple days. Several days past I called them again, they said to wait until the part will arrive possibly one more week. As of today 1÷29÷13 nobody called me and I called them again.
Today they informed me that they completed their job, then they said that Hisco closed my case on 1÷16÷13. They had no idea why. I asked why did they misinformed me about the ordering the part. They said it is not ther responsibility to inform me or anybody and this is my insurance company’s job. Also they said they have 100 another ovens to fix and to calling people and updating them with information is not their policy. I called Hisco, they said they closed the case due to fact that broken part was damaged and THEY DO NOT COVER ANYTHING THAT IS DAMAGED. They failed to call me back 2 weeks ago and notify that they close the case despite the fact that I left my phone number with them and email adress. I asked them to provide the legal documents such as detailed report that they receive from appliance firm. They told me that they don’t have and I should ask the appliance people to provide me with. I contacted the appliance firm again. They don’t have it either, they called my insurance company «liars» — this word they used directly. WHAT A SCAM!

I have a HISCO home warranty, I live in the High Desert area of Southern California. My furnace and A/​C unit (package unit) failed (the furnace failed) the first week of November. We could not get the furnace to heat our home. I called HISCO and their reps sent a service technician (Complete Mechanical Service) to evaluate our furnace. Our unit is very old and to make a long story short the suspected component was difficult to locate. After a couple weeks of waiting to hear if the component would be found (and calling every other day). I sent the HISCO company president (Edward Adams) an Email on Sunday night. I explained to Mr. Adams that my wife has a medical condition that does not allow her to tolerate cold weather. Mr Adams wrote me back the next day and said he would look into the matter. Later in the day (in the early afternoon) I received a call from the company advising me the entire unit was authorized to be replaced. The service company just completed the installation of the new unit last night, the technician worked from 8AM to 8PM to complete the installation. I am very impressed with how responsive Mr. Edward Adams was to my request for help and I want to thank him for standing behind the reputation of his company. If you have a problem with your HISCO warranty, before you post something negative about HISCO, I suggest you contact Ed Adams and see if he can help you too. He posted his contact information in the thread of Emails however if you cannot find it, his email is:
. A big thank you to Mr Adams, my wife doesn’t have to be cold and we don’t have to buy any more firewood!

I run an investment company and at first — we had decent experience with HISCO maybe 1 ½ year ago. I was actually thinking there were the better one compared to others. But this recent year — it’s been quite bad — we had either mixed messages from their reps, or incompetent service contractors, etc etc. My property manager is getting very frustrated and I don’t think we’ll renew anymore… Seems like there is no «perfect» home warranty companies but just need to try our luck to find one that match our working style and need the most… Good luck everyone!

I would STRONGLY STRONGLY urge you to consider other home warranty companies. We have had a series of issues with HISCO in just the short time we have had them as our insurance provider, and their response is absolutely unacceptable. Our fridge was broken, and they essentially told us they were unwilling to cover it. For 2 weeks, we had absolutely no fridge, and had to rent a replacement to store our food in the garage (for which they provided no sympathy or compensation). The bigger problem is our water heater, which has been broken since the 2^nd week of December. We have been taking cold showers for the last 3+ weeks, including the entire holiday season when we had guests at our home. HISCO has sent various technicians (on 6 – 7 occasions), each time claiming that they are the «experts» of our particular unit. Each time the techs come, they are unable to repair it, claim a new problem, and HISCO calls a new technician to fix it. Thus far, we have had approximately 5 different parts fixed. Each new part requires 2 – 3 days of shipping minimum, and when we personally paid for expedited shipping (because we are tired of taking cold showers), HISCO is unwilling to reimburse us.
On one occasion, the part was being shipped from a San Jose vendor (where we live), and the technician was based in Walnut Creek. Instead of picking the part up from San Jose (which we even offered to do), the ridiculous technician had to wait 4 days for the part to get to his Walnut Creek office, «take inventory of it», and then drive it back down to San Jose to install in our home. And ofcourse, that part still did not fix the problem.
We have no trust in their company, and believe they are incompetent in numerous ways. Any other company would sympathize and would atleast consider replacing the unit entirely.
The service is terrible, their staff is incompetent, and they are completely insensitive to their customers’ needs.

Please go with another company if you are looking for a Home Warranty. You might have to pay a little more upfront, but you will be better off in the long run.
After reading the other reviews and having first hand issues with Hisco, I wish I would have done more research before we purchased the home warranty on our new home.
I have had to call and use their service several times. The first time was for a dishwasher problem. The contractor was ok, he was from Sears, respectful, polite, on time and did the job. Not an issue, other than he fixed one thing and now we have another issue that Hisco says is not covered by their policy.
The next issue was an electrical problem. I called Hisco made the request and I was advised that I will get a call back from the electrician with in 24 hours. Well, three days went by and I had to call Hisco back because I had not heard anything. The next day I got a call from the electrician and he gave me a 8am to 3pm window. I asked the electrician, on the phone, if he believed it would be closer to 8am or 3pm. The electrician asked me, if I could have breakfast waiting for him, he would be there closer to 8am. I dismissed his comment and finished out our conversation. Before we got off the phone the electrician told me that he would like to have four eggs, sunny-​side up and hash browns. I told him they would be waiting (Joking of course!) He said great, see you at 8.
Well, the next day at 8am no electrician. Finally at 9:45am the electrician arrived. He came to the front door, I answered, and he immediately said, «I don’t smell any eggs?» I replied, «Nope! You sure don’t!» The electrician attempted to fix the issue. In the process he forgot to bring a flashlight, and some other equipment needed for the job. Ultimately, he discovered there was a short. He fixed the issue but he said he was not sure how he fixed it because he lost the short.
Needless to say I was not impressed by the work. I called Hisco and told them about my experience. The Hisco Rep. told me he thought the story was funny. I’m over this Hisco Company. Well here I am two months later and now my power is out again and my floor needs replaced because the dishwasher leaked from when I had it fixed the 1^st time. Thanks Hisco!!!
Trust me when I say this was the short version of this story.

Bad Hisco! I had been deceived by the quick courtesy service of Hisco. It was time to renew my policy but I had not heard anything from them. I called to inquire about this and was told by the customer service rep that my policy was to have been renewed at the end of April 2010. I asked her why I didn’t receive anything in the mail to renew my policy. She put me on hold and when she returned, she was happy to tell me that we were sent to Hisco Board Review and they had decided NOT TO RENEW my policy. I asked if I could speak to someone in authority about this as I was apalled by this turn of events. I had truly thought Hisco was a great home warranty company. She stated that she could not tell me anything but that «somebody will call you in a few minutes» to let me know why we had not been renewed. Nobody ever called. I’m glad I wasn’t holding my breath. We are now without home warranty coverage and have been since April. Hisco neglected to inform us of this fact. That’s crappy. My AC/​heating unit has been problematic in the past and Hisco workers have been out to my house frequently to repair the unit. I think Hisco decided that we were calling them too frequently and that is the reason we were cancelled. But, the reason we purchased a home warranty policy is because our home is 20 years old and things would need to be repaired!.I think Hisco is in a tie with Amer Home Shield as the top two companies who are out to rip off the hard-​earned money from the homeowner. Buyer Beware! They cancelled us – but didn’t bother to let us know.

Ditto to the previous review.
These people are rude, not at all helpful, and the contractors they work with need to come back multiple times for the same job. Reading the previous review, and given my own experiences, I think these people are a complete scam and just want to rip you off. I begrudge having to give them even 1 star — there should be a 0 star rating!
I am a renter and my landlords use Hisco, so I need to call them every time something goes wrong. I believe they need to pay $ 50 every time I call, so I really try not to unless it is a real emergency.
Anyway, here are just a few examples of my dealings with them:
Example 1: Something kept tripping the circuit in the kitchen and we would be left with no power in the middle of cooking. It took 3 call-​outs to get this issue fixed.
Example 2: The dishwasher wasn’t cleaning properly. They replaced the same part twice, and on the third occasion determined they couldn’t fix the problem. Their solution right from the start was «buy a new dishwasher». Hardly acceptable, but they only want to deal with an issue limited number of times before they wash their hands of it.
Example 3 (current problem): We could continually hear the sound of running water even though nothing was turned on in the house. I called the city out and they told me I had a leak in one of the pipes and would need to get a plumber out. So I called Hisco, on a Sunday, god forbid. To me this is an emergency and needs to be fixed. Not only is there leaking water somewhere in the walls or basement that is causing potential damage, this is also a waste of water which we also need to pay for. I was told in no uncertain terms that there was no way they were going to call a plumber at 2pm on a Sunday. She did not believe that I had already had someone out to look at the issue earlier that day. «Turn your water off at the mains dear, and we will get someone to call you tomorrow». I argued this and said we can’t live without water until tomorrow — she fobbed me off and said her computer was down, and she would get someone to call me tomorrow. Don’t even get me started on what I think of that. This has now been leaking for +24 hours, so I have just called again. I have been informed the policy has expired since Dec ’08 — why the hell did they not tell me this yesterday!!! IDIOTS!
Clearly, they do not give a rats about what is in the best interest of the property. Dont use these people.

I have had a HISCO home warranty on my Redwood Shores home since 2004 and I think they are great. I like them because they answer the call and get on the job fairly quickly. They are quick to settle claims — sometimes buying a replacement appliance. Now, almost all home repairs to electronics take time for the repair person and the parts, so be realistic. Also, don’t expect a $ 4,000 refrigerator to be replaced with the same. Good people.