Choice Home Warranty Review (2021)

Choice Home Warranty (CHW) is one of the best home warranty companies available in the industry, providing comprehensive home protection plans that guard against the high cost of repairing or replacing major home systems and appliances.

Below you’ll find House Method’s 2021 Choice Home Warranty review. We discuss the types of plans offered and how much each plan costs, compare Choice against other top home warranty service providers, include reviews from current customers, and give our honest thoughts about the company and whether it’s a good fit for you and your home.

Choice Home Warranty plans, coverage, and cost

CHW offers two plans—a Basic Plan and a Total Plan—at an average cost of $45–$54 per month. Choice also offers optional coverage at an additional cost for pool and spa equipment, septic septic systems, and other items (listed below).

Basic Plan: $45 per month ($560 per year). This plan covers a mixture of major home systems and appliances.

Total Plan: $53.33 per month ($660 per year). This is CHW’s more comprehensive plan and protects 21 home appliances and systems.

Optional add-on coverage: CHW offers coverage for additional items at a cost of $40–$180 per year. If you have items like a pool or spa that you want protection for, you can add on optional coverage to your existing plan.

*Note: You will be required to pay a $85 trade service call fee for each claim you make, regardless of the actual cost of the repair or replacement being made. This fee is paid directly to the technician who comes to your home.

Price of CHW vs. competitors

Coverage details for top systems and appliances

o understand what comprehensive home warranty coverage truly looks like, our team at House Method surveyed 1,000 homeowners and asked which systems and appliances were most important to them. Our goal is to make sure our reviews cover the information homeowners want. We then took those responses and compared them to what is and isn’t covered under each home warranty provider’s contract.

Our findings show that the top three appliances that are most important to a homeowner are refrigerators, washers and dryers, and the oven/stove/range. The top three systems that hold the most importance are the electrical, plumbing, and air conditioning.

Here’s what specific coverage for those systems and appliances looks like under a CHW plan:

Refrigerator

For your refrigerator to be covered, it must be located in the kitchen. All components and parts, including the integral freezer unit, are covered up to the $3,000 coverage cap. Here are the refrigerator parts that are excluded under a CHW contract: racks, shelves, lighting and handles, freon, ice makers, ice crushers, beverage dispensers, the water lines and valve to the ice maker, line restrictions, leaks, interior thermal shells, wine coolers, mini refrigerators, food spoilage, doors, door seals and gaskets, hinges, glass, and audio or visual components.

Basically, if your refrigerator abruptly loses power and doesn’t come back on or stops functioning properly, you can file a claim and should be able to receive coverage. However, if there’s a leak or a certain accessory that doesn’t work (something that hasn’t broken down due to normal wear and tear), you may have better luck getting coverage under a manufacturer’s warranty.

Oven/stove/range

Under a CHW plan, ovens, ranges, stoves, and cooktops that are gas, electric, built-in, portable, or free standing are covered. The parts of these appliances that aren’t covered include clocks, rotisseries, racks, handles, knobs, door seals, doors, hinges, lighting and handles, glass, and meat probe assemblies. The oven/stove/rang coverage cap is $3,000.

Clothes washer and dryer

Most components and parts of your clothes washer and dryer are covered under a Choice plan, except for noise, venting, lint and filter screens, knobs and dials, doors, door seals, hinges, glass, leveling and balancing, and damage to clothing. The coverage cap for both the washer and dryer is $3,000.

Electrical system

The electrical system is covered up to a $500 limit and includes coverage of most components and parts, including built-in bathroom exhaust fans. Some items that are excluded include carbon monoxide alarms, smoke detectors, solar power panels, and damages due to power failure or surges.

Plumbing system

Leaks and breaks, except those that are caused by freezing or roots, toilet tank issues, bowls and mechanisms, valves, whirlpool motors, permanently installed sump pumps, and clogs in sewer lines up to 100 feet are all covered. Plumbing has a $500 coverage limit while plumbing stoppages has a $3,000 coverage cap.

Air conditioning

Under a CHW plan, all components and parts of an air conditioner are covered. Ducted air conditioner units should not exceed a capacity of five tons and should be designed for residential use only. Air Conditioner units are covered up to $3,000 per contract term. Note: ductless and window units are not covered, so if you  have one of these systems as your primary form of air conditioning, you may want to go with another home warranty provider that does cover these items, such as American Home Shield.

For a complete list of what is and isn’t covered under your home warranty plan, call Choice Home Warranty today at 929-400-6164.

Coverage length

Coverage starts 30 days after Choice receives and accepts your application and payment. Coverage will continue for a year from that start date. You may be able to get coverage before the 30-day period if you can provide proof of prior coverage and show no lapses in coverage.

Coverage limits

Choice Home Warranty doesn’t cover any failure or malfunction caused by insufficient maintenance—including rust or corrosion—collapsed ductwork, or pre-existing conditions. Your items must be in place and in proper working order on the effective date of the home warranty contract and fail due to normal wear and tear to be covered.

Additionally, as long as your appliances and systems are in good working order and properly maintained, Choice doesn’t deny coverage based on the age of your home.

Before signing a contract, familiarize yourself with their terms of service—there could be coverage limits to certain items listed under your plan. Most items covered by CHW have coverage caps at either $500 or $3,000. A sample contract is available online so you understand what is and isn’t covered.

For instance, carbon monoxide alarms and smoke detectors are not included in the electrical system coverage. However, all other electrical components and parts, including built-in bathroom exhaust fans, are covered.

Cancellation Policy 

Choice Home Warranties policies come usable 30 days after you sign a contract. There is a 30-day grace period where contacts can be cancelled with a refund minus the $50 cancellation fee. If you are on a month-to-month payment plan, you can cancel your home warranty policy at any time – you just have to send in a cancellation letter with your $50 cancellation fee and your payment for the last month.

Choice Home Warranty is currently not available in California, Oklahoma, or Washington. If you live in one of these states, check out our reviews on the best home warranty companies in California, the best home warranty companies in Oklahoma, and the best home warranty companies in Washington to find a home warranty that’s best for you.

Our take

As one of the leading home warranty companies in the industry, Choice Home Warranty provides excellent customer service and decent coverage at an affordable cost—factors we think are absolutely necessary to have a positive home warranty experience.

Choice has a call center that’s open all year round at all times. And if you don’t feel like calling to file a claim, you can login to your online account center and make a claim at any time.

It’s important to note that although Choice can field claims around the clock, they won’t necessarily be able to send a contractor to your home to address your problem right away. They will, however, contact a service provider within two days of your claim during normal business hours and within four days on weekends and holidays. This means that it could take anywhere between 48–96 hours before you receive any service on your broken system and appliance.

Choice is also an industry leader in claim acceptance. Where the industry average for claim denial rate is 10%, Choice lands at exactly half of that at only denying 5% of claims. 

Coverage-wise, Choice offers two plans—a Basic Plan and a Total Plan—which falls short of the industry average of three to four. While you can’t customize your plan, like you can with AHS or other home warranty providers, you can add optional coverage to your plan for an additional cost. Additionally, even though Choice provides only two plans to customers, the most basic plan covers 14 items, which is in line with the industry average.

To learn more about the Choice Home Warranty plans, visit the CHW site or call 929-400-6164 today.

What others are saying

As a consumer, you probably don’t have the time to sit around and sift through the hundreds of Choice Home Warranty reviews and feedback left by customers. That’s where we come in. At House Method, we go through user complaints, reviews, and ratings of each home warranty company and compile that information in a chart that’s easy for you to comprehend.

Below, we’ve included ratings from reviews and compared to the industry average:

Choice Home Warranty reviews

Choice Home Warranty has a B rating from the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and an average of 1.1 stars from 1,365 customer reviews. House Method recommends taking BBB reviews with a pinch of salt, as most people only write a review when they have a complaint.

Here are a few of the BBB reviews from CHW customers:

Joanna W. said:

We have been with Choice Home Warranty since January 2017. We have found them to be excellent in sales, customer service and repair companies. My daughter bought a house that had a home warranty company in place. Her air conditioning broke. It took 3 weeks to get it repaired. Choice Home warranty sent the repairman the next day and our repair was completed to our complete satisfaction !

Tommie S. said: 

I have been with Choice for a couple of years now and the service has been great. We have had electrical work, plumbing work and a couple of appliances worked on. I would recommend them to anyone shopping around for a warranty company.

Andrew K. said: 

I switched to Choice after an issue with another company. They were fine for small claims but when something of value needed to be repaired or replaced, they found an excuse not to pay and would not accept any factual evidence in the arbitration process. Additionally, and this was my foolish mistake, I signed a multi-year policy which they canceled while I tried to reclaim my losses. It really seems kind of scamish to me.

Donna L. said:

Very prompt service. The plumber they dispatched was very professional, knowledgeable, and answered all of my questions. Choice followed up with me to ensure that I was happy with the service. Happy client here!

Final thoughts

House Method gives Choice Home Warranty 4.6 out of 5 stars. Our CHW review shows pricing is competitive, its service fees are typical, and the lack of coverage caps makes a huge difference in cost and savings. 

We believe CHW is a good choice for you if…

• you own an older home—The company doesn’t deny coverage based on the age of your home or its systems and appliances, as long as you’ve taken good care of them. Choice also doesn’t require you to get a home inspection before getting coverage.
• your refrigerator is on the fritz—Freon is fully covered whereas most companies charge $10 per pound.
• you want a basic plan—Choice provides a Basic Plan that includes both appliances and systems and a Total Plan for more comprehensive coverage.

CHW might not be the best option for you if…

• you live in California, Oklahoma, or Washington, as these states are not covered by CHW.
• you want to choose your own service technician for home repairs or replacements.

Compare home warranties

Compare Choice Home Warranty to the competition.

Methodology

At House Method, transparency and trust are our most important values for the reader. That’s why we took the time to create an objective rating system and score each home warranty provider according to our methodology. Our team spent hours on the phone speaking to representatives from each home warranty company to get information right from the source.

Our rating system involves a weighted, 100-point scale that scores home warranty companies on plans offered, coverage, state availability, cost, trustworthiness, customer service, and unique benefits.

For more details, check out our affiliate disclosure and rating methodology.

Company information

• Company name: Choice Home Warranty
• Company type: Private
• CEO: Victor Mandalawi
• Founding date: 5/18/2008
• Years in business: 13 years
• Telephone: 929-400-6164
• Address: 1090 King Georges Post Road, Edison, NJ 08837
• State availability: 47 states
• Service fee: $85
• BBB rating: B
• BBB accreditation: No
• Number of BBB complaints closed within last 3 years: 7,549