Cinch Home Services Reviews

The recordings are pain in the butt. It's ridiculous because we don't get to talk to a person right away. And sometimes the prompts do not take us to what we need. I don't like that we have to go this step to this step to this step just to get to where we need to go. The phone should be more personal where we could get ahold of a person and not be bounced around to one person to another. I dread making the phone call to get the process going. It shouldn’t be that way. Sometimes the ball is dropped. And that has happened a few times. I have a number to a supervisor. So, I try to give it some time. Also, I've had a couple of times I’ve put a claim in and not heard from anybody. They never heard that there was a claim. I don't like to think that I have to have a turnaround of 24 hours, but I would wait and find out my claim was never written up. But it used to be worse than it is now. It has gotten better.

We had a company come out for a refrigerator two years ago. But the poor man couldn't even get on the floor. He's elderly to do the job. And he did the same thing with our washing machine. The man couldn't perform his job. You gotta be able to get down and do your job. I don't care how old you are. You could be 90. If you could perform your job, that's okay with me. It's about capability. That was the worst service we had. We just know not to go with them.

Usually, I'm satisfied when the job is finalized. After the garage was done, I got a substantial amount of money back from the initial. It was $1,000. I got back 800 for the service being done. So, I've been satisfied as far as replacement. One year, we had two refrigerators replaced within a couple of months apart. So, after two or three tries, and they would say, “Okay. We give up.” I like that. If the appliance couldn't be fixed, they would offer us to get another one. So, I've been, on the most part, happy with them. I referred them to a couple of people.

The guy said, "Oh, we can't turn on an air conditioner until it's been 72 degrees for longer than 10 days. So, I don't know why they sent me out here, but I can't do anything today." So, I asked him if he would reschedule when it's more than 72 degrees for 10 days, and he said he didn't know. Three weeks went by, nobody called me. So, I called the company and they said, "Our policy is that it has to be 72 degrees for 10 days." They were never gonna send somebody out again unless I called and I owe them another fee. So, I asked the woman, "Really? Is that a trick that you don't tell the person calling? 'It's not a good time for you to call, wait until it's 72 degrees,' that you actually send somebody out and then they don't do anything?" She insisted that that is how they do business.

So, I called Cinch. I just got the information that they took over. The woman said, "I will have somebody more local come out to you." She gave me a phone number. She told me to call them because I was a little annoyed about it. Then 15 minutes later, the guy from the company called me and told me that Cinch contacted him. He came out the next day, and he said it was a compressor issue. He put the part in. I asked him if I owed him the service charge and he said Cinch told him that they would give him the service charge just to come out and fix my unit, and he went home. So, Cinch really did a good thing. Then somebody from the other company called days later and apologized and said that they would send somebody else out. I said, "It's okay. Cinch already sent somebody else. There is no reason for you to come back." So, my experience with Cinch was a good one.

When I had to email Cinch for a claim one night and I paid them $115, I got a call from a serviceman the next morning. Then they were in the next day and fixed my dishwasher and they were gone. It was excellent service. But I had a claim where I had a total of three companies that came out and in my opinion, each of them were fly-by-nighters. But it was not Cinch's fault. I even wrote them an email and told them that they had to be very, very careful about who they sanction as a representative of their company because it gives the company a bad name.

I had a serviceman that Cinch sent out and he was a very nice guy. He said, "May I use your bathroom?" I said, "Well, of course, you can." So, he went to the bathroom and he stayed approximately one minute and 13 seconds and he came out and said, "Let me show you something. Come here for a minute." So, I went in and he cut the water on in the face bowl. He said, "See how much pressure you have. I tore this down and I cleaned it out and I put it back together and that's why your water pressure is up." The valve in the basement controls the water pressure. It was low. But when you flush the toilet, while the toilet is filling up, the water pressure at your face bowl is gonna be low. When the bowl fills up, your pressure's coming back up again. I didn't wanna argue with him, so I just let him go. But when I shared that with the vendor, they said, "He would not have done that."

The vendor that came out for my heat exchanger put in a piece of PVC and they stripped it where it wasn't put in correctly. It filled up and leaked all over my basement, my attic, and ruined the ceiling in my kitchen. That's been five years ago and I still have the piece here somewhere to remind me never to call this guy for anything.

I got a text saying my technician is coming back out to replace the control panel in the stovetop. It tells you who my technician is and that he is expected between 8:00 to 5:00. I got that yesterday. And this morning, I got an update saying, "He's five stops away. It'll be 1:27." So, Cinch is good about updates because he's expected to get there at 3:14. And he can't replace the parts. He has to get approval. He had the part for the dryer, and he was able to replace it. So, it's a one stop deal. The dishwasher was something stupid. The previous homeowner got a new garbage disposal and never took the plug out when he hooked up the dishwasher. So, the dishwasher would not drain. That was a simple fix. And the stovetop was also simple, but the tech had to get that part ordered because he doesn't carry those. Parts came in, and he's coming out today to install.

But when it came to going online to address my pool heater, Cinch didn't have a pool option. But that's one of the services they cover. So, when I called Cinch's 800 number, they tried to direct me to go online to address and file claims. Which is fine and dandy because online they have is it an appliance, a kitchen, a dishwasher, but they didn't have a category for pools. And the pool is one of the covered services. So, it complicated things.

I had to call, wait until I got ahold of somebody. Called about the pool heater, and they didn't have anybody in the area that could service it. So they said, "Go find your own, we'll reimburse you." I called one. They came out and looked at the pool heater last Friday. And they said, "Yup. It's not repairable 'cause it's a gas pool heater. The manifold and the gas tubes are rusted out. So we have to replace the system." They sent me the invoices saying the diagnostic thing, "Hey, yup." And they did that Monday.

Monday I called Cinch and asked what they needed me to do because I figured I had to get pre-approval before they would authorize replacing the $4,400 pool heater. They said, "Yup." So I emailed them Monday with the information. And I got an email yesterday saying they need additional time to look at my claim, and they would let me know if they need additional information. It's all good because it was through the service they use. It was quick and easy. But because now I've had to go out on my own to find this, that's where I have a concern about, "Are they going to fight me on having to replace this system?" But it's straightforward.

On the other hand, I was very satisfied with the work I had done for a garage door opener. I called a company out to look at it, because I didn't think it was a warranty issue. That company charged me $100 twice just to come out and look at it. First time, they didn't fix it. The next time they came out, they did whatever they did, then they wanted put a whole new thing, so I said, "Forget it." I called Cinch, then they came out and fixed it. They did a good job. The thing wasn't working and they said, "Couldn't repair it," so they replaced it. I was very happy with that one. However, I learned a lesson on this. I'll never call anybody other than Cinch, but they raised their deductible up to 150.

We're Realtors, and we use Cinch all the time. The disadvantage is on some things, people need something instantaneous. They gotta fix it now. They can't wait for a part. Right now, for example, I have an air conditioning unit that's at least 25 years old. It works fine, and I've had it checked every year, but that may not even be compatible with the new furnace we put in. If my furnace went out on January 1st, I can't wait for three weeks to get a new furnace. One issue we had was two months for a part to come in. We had another claim, for a microwave oven, and they couldn't get it fixed for four months. The home warranty company sent us a check for 350 and told us to get it fixed, because we could get another company here to fix it for 350.

I am generally satisfied with Cinch. The only complaint in selling them is some Realtors say things they should never say. They lead people to believe that, "Oh, if this breaks, you get a new one. If this goes out, you get a new one," and people's expectations are awfully high. That's not the way it works. People pay 150 bucks, the home warranty company sends someone out, and if they can fix it, they fix it.

My wife had almost insisted that everybody get a home warranty, but I don't do it, because if anything goes wrong with Cinch, they start blaming me. However, I tell people it's a good idea if they want to get it. If something major goes wrong with their house, they have a warranty. I would give Cinch good marks as any of the other companies. Also, I like the agent that's in charge of this area. She's cute, really helpful and does a nice job.

We have a $200 deductible and for some repairs, we've had to pay $200 that maybe we could have gotten for less. But for the most part, we can't have a service guy out here for much less than that anyway. And if you have a major problem, it's nice that we only have to pay a deductible. So, it's a peace of mind. And in the long haul, it'd probably save us money. Some people are handier than others but we don't happen to be so we're gonna have to call a service guy out one way or the other when something breaks. We had our air conditioning go out as well as our HVAC system at the other house. So, we've had some major expenses and we've only had to pay the deductible.

One thing I don’t like is when they’re making decisions about repair. There comes a point at which it needs to be replaced. I haven't had to yet, but I don't wanna keep paying $200 to have the same appliance go out because Cinch hasn't made a decision that it needs to be replaced. We got a home inspection at our new house and there were some things that were getting toward the end of their useful life. They haven't gone out but in the event they do, I’m wondering how many times Cinch is gonna send the repair guy out before they say this calls for a replacement. And probably, if that happens, that could be a big dissatisfier. When some appliance gets to be 20-plus years old, there's not a lot of sense in putting a lot of repair into it.

For this year, about a month ago, I called Cinch and told them I needed someone out here. The air conditioning was not running. It was still a little warm about four weeks ago. The rep gave me the name of the company and the person, and they said the person can’t come out until October. I told them to get somebody else that's on their list. And they did. A nice lady from a local firm came out. The company they recommended gave me top-notch service. The lady was there for about an hour, fixed the air conditioning and had to replace the part. If anything happens to the air conditioning, I'll call Cinch first, but I'll say it is the company I wanna use and that they still work with them.

Cinch is a good company. It's just they didn't explain it or highlight it in their plan that I must call them first to schedule. This is my second year with them. It was $61 and it went up to 84.66. The policy has the things I told the lady about when I first signed up. I got a refrigerator freezer and two mini freezers in the garage, separate units, little storage freezers and the refrigerator in the kitchen. I wanna make sure that the water pump is in the plan. I get some Dominion Power all the time and if they had to replace my wires, my homeowner's insurance does not cover it. I got it for $5 through Cinch and something else to replace any sewage pipes or water. I told them they better be careful because I got a new ground water system. So, they better know how to dig around it. If they damage that, they're gonna pay for it. Cinch was good because I can wear a person out sometimes in a polite way. But they finally got me the right thing for the second go-around.

I had to spend several hours speaking with them on the phone, across multiple days to get it straightened out. When I did get it straightened out, they said, "Well, you have to submit your claim via the phone," and it is extremely difficult to get a hold of them. If both of our units have a problem, we have to call them. Even when we did that, they still filed the claim wrong. When we finally did get a technician, he said, "I have one service request for one unit, even though both of your units are broken and you paid to have both looked at."

What happened was we submitted our request for our unit because it was broken. This wasn't Cinch's fault, but the gentleman went to the wrong address. So, he didn't service our home, and they couldn't get us back on the schedule for like a week or two. I took off work so I could be there, and no one showed up. I was angry. I called them and said, "Hey, I don't know what happened. Nobody showed up." "Okay. Well, we don't have an appointment for you in our system even though you spoke with someone that scheduled it."

I've called out of four days of work to get someone to come out to our home and check our unit, and they kept telling me I have an appointment scheduled for this day, at this time, with this company and the person didn't show up. I received a call at 5 o'clock from Cinch saying, "Okay. We have your appointment scheduled for Thursday at 5 o'clock." I said, "Well, ma'am, it's Wednesday at 5 o'clock and you told me it was today. I can't keep taking off days of work for you." I missed a total of a week and a half of work for appointments that they kept telling me existed and didn't. So, I missed out on that much of my pay, which is really hard on my bills.

When they finally got a gentleman to our home, the gentleman tried really hard to fix our unit. He was very kind. The problem was that our unit didn't have the serial number stamped into the metal. So the gentleman said, "I'm so sorry. The unit you have, I can't fix it. We can't just put random amounts of coolant in here and hope it works because it could blow up." I was like, "Okay, that makes sense." My pipes had burst on my unit, and he couldn't replace them. So I said, "Okay, that's fine." He said, "We'll contact Cinch. They should be with you tomorrow. They'll contact you in 24 hours."

A week went by, and I didn't hear anything from Cinch. I didn't hear anything from anybody. I had to call Cinch. I kept having to leave them messages. No one could help me. I had to sit on the phone with them for over two hours. I had to get raised up four supervisor levels to speak to somebody who finally knew how to help me, and what they told me was, "Well, we have to have another person come out and verify that they don't know what your unit is or what is wrong with it." I said, "Fine. If that's what it is, then that's what it is." We're in the hottest heat wave that we've had in years, and I have a heart condition that makes me pass out in the heat. I can't live in my own home at this point. It's making it hard. I've told them I can't go up my stairs, which is where part of my things are in my home because I'll pass out, fall down the stairs, and could break my neck.

They got a gentleman to come out the third time and he confirmed, "Yes, we don't know what's wrong with it." They were able to get my smaller unit, which is upstairs, fixed. So, we have some cool air but my bedroom and stuff are downstairs. So, all of my living stuff is downstairs and it's not a good thing for me to go up and downstairs again in the heat. They said, "There's nothing we can do. We can't call it an emergency. You have at least one unit working."

I called them and I was like, "Okay. So what are my options? Because you had somebody confirm that you don't know what our unit is and you have to replace it." I finally spoke to a woman and she said, "Well, you have two options. You can have the buyout option, or you can have the replacement option. Which would you like?" I said, "I don't understand. Could you explain my options a little more?" She said, "You have a buyout option and you have a replacement option. Which would you like?" I said, "Ma'am, could I get a little bit more details? Can I know what's the price range for the buyout?" She said, "I can't get you that information." I said, "Okay. Well, can you just read my contract to me? Can I just have you send me a copy of my contract?" "I don't have that." "What do you mean you don't have a copy of my contract in your computer system, ma'am?"

The lady told me she didn't have a copy of my contract in their computer system. It's horrible. I haven't reported them to the BBB, but I very much want to. This woman then kept telling me, "Well, I'm gonna send you the paperwork for the buyout." I said, "Ma'am, I just wanna confirm with you, I'm not choosing that option. I just wanna know more about it before I pick one." She said, "Okay. So I'm gonna send you all the paperwork to fill out for the buyout option." I said, "No, ma'am. I just want a copy of my contract. I wanna know the details for what my options are. Can you just send that to me?" She said, "Well, it's gonna take me 3 to 5 business days to send it to you via email." They never sent it. I never got a copy of my contract from them. It was insane. I finally had to hang up on her because she kept trying to get me to choose the buyout option and couldn't tell me anything about it.

I went a total of four months without air conditioning in the heat. I didn't have air conditioning the entire summer because of this. My health condition made this very hard. I was falling and getting bruises and hitting my shoulders and my hips. My hips have bruises on them from where I was falling because I was passing out. I had to place my animals elsewhere because it was so hot in my home. It was bad. I kept telling them this, and finally, I made some progress with someone. I had to yell at some poor lady over the phone and she was like, "Well, we're gonna try to replace your unit." I was like, "Okay, that sounds great. Please replace our unit.”

They sent us the bill and they were like, "Oh, it's $1200." I said, "Ma'am, we paid extra for certain things that are on this bill so that we didn't have to pay for it." We paid extra on our plan for removal service and we had to pay the removal fee. We had to pay for the concrete pad. We had to pay another $1200. It was $700 for our policy and $400 for them to come out for one service call, even though it's supposed to be 200. They took the other 200 and put it somewhere. I kept asking for a refund. I never got it. Apparently, they had reallocated that money to a downpayment for the guy to come out and start to remove it. but that is not the fee for removing it.

The $1200 does not get any deduction from the 300 for the gentleman to come out. That's just an initial deductible. Then I pay the full $1200 past that. So that was insane. They never told me that they put the other $200 towards that and just kept telling me, "Well, we'll send you a refund. We'll send you a refund." They never sent us a refund and never explained that to me. Someone else at the very end after everything had to explain it to me.

It was one of the most horrible experiences I've ever had in my life. The gentleman they had replacing our AC unit helped me the most. I cannot speak more highly of that man. He was calling me from the hospital while his wife was getting surgery for cancer to explain to me how Cinch Home Services works because Cinch couldn't do it. Cinch helped us one time before and it was very easy. We sent in a request, and a gentleman came out and fixed our AC. Life was good and that was why when we called them the second time, we were like, "Oh sure, this will be easy. They'll come out get it fixed. Life will be good." Four months later, we went through hell.

It happened before with my dishwasher. I waited for a part over a month also. And at some point, we have to stop using COVID as an excuse. I'm in the workforce too and I know that you just can't go through that, and every time use COVID. Staffing is back at capacity now. It's not like it's a big problem and we can get different parts now at ample time. Not like it was before. So that excuse has played out. I'm not happy with Cinch. They take my money when it’s time to renew and I pay them on time. If I have a problem, I gotta pay upfront first. They should do a better job and people will stick with them. Nowadays, people have other choices they can make. They don't have to just stick with somebody who's not giving them the services that they're paying for. They'll take my money and not give me the services that I'm entitled to.