Cinch Home Services Review (With Testing Insights)
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With nearly 50 years of experience, Cinch Home Services is a well-established figure in the home warranty industry. Though it’s not among our top five recommended home warranty companies, it’s still a good choice overall because it provides solid coverage for most items, alongside protection from types of damage many other providers don’t cover. It’s also reasonably priced, with monthly premiums at or below the industry standard.
The downside is that its service call fees are more expensive than the industry average, and it offers fewer add-ons than other providers, which could be an issue if you’re looking for coverage for nonstandard or specialty items like roof leaks or electronics.
In this review, we’ll go over the pros and cons of Cinch to help you decide if it’s right for your home. To get an accurate and unbiased understanding of the company, we read more than 100 customer reviews, analyzed its sample contracts and website, and signed up for its service to test its claims process ourselves.
Our Take on Cinch Home Services
Overall, we think Cinch is a solid home warranty provider. Though we don’t rate it as high as some of the other home warranty companies we’ve reviewed, like American Home Shield (AHS), we like that its monthly prices are low. Home warranty companies charge an average of $43–$72 per month, whereas Cinch only charges $30–$56.
Cinch’s coverage caps are at or below the industry standard of $2,500. A coverage cap is the maximum your home warranty company will pay for repairs on a certain item within a year. This means that if you have a particularly expensive repair on an item that Cinch has a lower coverage cap for, you might wind up paying out of pocket. However, the company does cover a few things many other providers don’t, such as damage from rust and corrosion. If you’re looking to protect external systems that often experience this damage, like gutters, you may benefit from Cinch’s plans.
Another major perk is that Cinch covers unknown preexisting conditions. This means that if you discover a problem with an item that was present before you signed up for Cinch, you’re still covered. Most home warranty companies deny these claims. This policy makes Cinch a good choice for homeowners with older, worn, or otherwise damaged items.
We Recommend Cinch Home Services If You:
- Want a plan that covers only systems or appliances
- Want a plan that covers old or damaged items
- Want a plan with low monthly premiums
We Don’t Recommend Cinch Home Services If You:
- Want a highly customizable plan with lots of add-ons
- Want roof leak coverage
- Want low service call fees
Cinch Home Services Coverage
Cinch Home Services offers three home warranty plans: Appliance, Built-in System, and Complete Home. The Appliance Plan covers major appliances, such as clothes washers, cooktops, refrigerators, and ovens. Its Built-In Systems Plan covers most essential home systems, such as ductwork, AC, heating, and plumbing. Its Complete Home Plan includes all items from the Appliance and Built-in Systems plans, along with a homeowners insurance deductible of $500.
Core Plans
Here is a more detailed look at Cinch Home Services’ coverage options.
Appliance Plan
Cinch’s Appliance Plan covers 12 home appliances, including clothes washers and dryers, dishwashers, ranges, refrigerators, and ovens. This plan has a coverage cap of $2,000 for each item, which is slightly below the industry average of $2,500 for appliances. It also has an aggregate coverage cap of $10,000. An aggregate coverage cap is a policy that states Cinch will only pay a total of $10,000 across all items per plan year. These policies aren’t very common in the home warranty industry, and they’re not great for homeowners because they mean that if you have multiple high-cost repairs in a year and hit your cap, you’ll have to pay out of pocket for the rest of the year.
Built-in System Plan
Cinch’s Built-in Systems Plan covers 16 items, including heating, cooling, plumbing, and septic systems as well as ductwork. The coverage caps for these items range from $500–$3,000. These caps are generally below the industry standard. For example, Cinch only covers $1,500 for HVAC, whereas most companies cover $2,500. Like Cinch’s Appliance Plan, this plan has an aggregate coverage cap of $10,000.
Complete Home Plan
Cinch’s Complete Home Plan covers everything within the Appliances and Built-in Systems plans for a total of 26 items. This plan also includes $500 for homeowners insurance deductible reimbursement. The coverage caps for this plan are the same as those for its other two plans, including a $10,000 aggregate coverage cap.
Here’s a side-by-side comparison of what each plan covers.
| Coverage | Appliance Plan | Built-in System Plan | Complete Home Plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clothes washers | ✔ | X | ✔ |
| Clothes dryers | ✔ | X | ✔ |
| Cooktops | ✔ | X | ✔ |
| Dishwashers | ✔ | X | ✔ |
| Food centers (built-in) | ✔ | X | ✔ |
| Freestanding ice maker | ✔ | X | ✔ |
| Microwaves (built-in) | ✔ | X | ✔ |
| Ranges | ✔ | X | ✔ |
| Range exhaust hoods | ✔ | X | ✔ |
| Refrigerators | ✔ | X | ✔ |
| Trash compactors (built-in) | ✔ | X | ✔ |
| Wall ovens | ✔ | X | ✔ |
| Air conditioner, including ductwork | X | ✔ | ✔ |
| Attic fans | X | ✔ | ✔ |
| Ceiling fans | X | ✔ | ✔ |
| Central vacuums | X | ✔ | ✔ |
| Doorbells and chimes | X | ✔ | ✔ |
| Electrical system | X | ✔ | ✔ |
| Garage door openers | X | ✔ | ✔ |
| Garbage disposals | X | ✔ | ✔ |
| Heating systems, including ductwork | X | ✔ | ✔ |
| Built-in exhaust/vent/attic fans | X | ✔ | ✔ |
| Instant hot/cold water dispensers | X | ✔ | ✔ |
| Plumbing system | X | ✔ | ✔ |
Add-Ons
Cinch offers the following six add-ons, which you can tack on to any of its base plans for additional coverage. This is fewer than other companies, which typically offer at least 8–10 add-ons.
| Add-On | Coverage Cap |
|---|---|
| Pool (heater included) | $1,500 |
| Spa (heater included) | $1,500 |
| Pool with spa (heater included) | $1,500 |
| Septic tank/pumping | $500 |
| Well pump | $1,500 |
| Premier upgrade package* | $500–$1,000 |
*The premier upgrade package includes coverage for nonstandard items such as disposal of equipment, reclamation of refrigerant, code upgrades, permits, and condenser pads.
The Fine Print
Most home warranties offer a sample contract for only one of their plans, but Cinch offers one for each of its plans. After reading through all three contracts, we found that they’re all mostly the same, save for details about each one’s specific coverage. Each contract outlines general exclusions, such as mobile homes, multi-family dwellings, and commercial properties.
These contracts also list the same general inclusions, which is where Cinch shines. As mentioned earlier, Cinch covers items that break down from unknown preexisting damage. This is a rarity in the home warranty industry and makes Cinch a good option for homeowners with older or worn-down items.
Cinch also completely covers damage caused by rust, corrosion, and sediment, another rarity in the home warranty industry. This policy makes Cinch beneficial for states like Florida, North Carolina, and other rainy regions.
However, we found several policies in Cinch’s contracts that aren’t good for homeowners. The first and most important is its aggregate coverage caps. This policy limits the total amount of money you can claim across all items in a year. While aggregate caps aren’t common in the industry, they typically range from $10,000–$15,000 when included. This means that Cinch falls in line with other companies that apply overarching claim limits.
We also don’t like the following policies from Cinch:
- Transfer fee: Cinch charges customers a fee to transfer their policy to a new homeowner if they sell their home. Few companies have these fees. However, Cinch’s fee is only $25, which is less than the standard price of $50.
- Technician assignment policy: Cinch doesn’t allow homeowners to choose their own service technicians. This means that under most circumstances, you have to use a repair person from Cinch’s network. If you want to choose a technician you’re familiar with, you’ll have to pay for the entire repair yourself, which defeats the point of having a home warranty. These policies are both common and frustrating, but unlike most other companies, Cinch’s contract does contain an exception: If there is no repair person available from its network, Cinch may let you choose your own.
Cinch Home Service Cost
Cinch Home Services costs vary depending on your location, selected plan, and any add-ons you choose. Here’s what we discovered when secret-shopping at Cinch.
Plan Cost
Cinch Home Services’ prices are slightly lower than those of other providers. We used a 2,083-square-foot home in Tempe, Arizona, to get three sample quotes—one for each of Cinch’s plans. We found prices ranging from $30.99–$56.99 per month, or $371.88 to $683.88 per year. These rates are slightly lower than the national average home warranty cost of $43–$72, or $516–$864 annually, for a home warranty plan.
However, Cinch compensates for its low monthly premiums by having higher-than-average service call fees, or the price you pay each time a repair person visits your home. The company charges between $100 and $$150 compared to an industry standard of $70–$100. Thankfully, you can choose your own service fee at signup, which will affect your monthly cost. The lower your fee, the higher your monthly bill and vice versa.
Cinch Monthly Plan Cost by Service Call Fee
| Appliance Plan | Built-in System Plan | Complete Home Plan | |
|---|---|---|---|
| $100 Service fee | $40.99 | $47.99 | $56.99 |
| $125 Service call fee | $39.32 | $44.32 | $53.32 |
| $150 Service call fee | $30.99 | $35.99 | $44.99 |
Add-on Costs
Like most home warranty companies, Cinch charges the same rate for add-ons regardless of your chosen plan. Its add-ons range from $4.58–$22 per month, depending on which ones you choose. This price range is slightly higher than the industry average of $5–$15 per add-on.
Cinch Add-On Fees
| Add-On Coverage | Price per Month |
|---|---|
| Pool (heater included) | $22 |
| Spa (heater included) | $22 |
| Pool with spa (heater included) | $22 |
| Septic tank/pumping | $4.58 |
| Well pump | $12.50 |
| Premier upgrade package | $12.50 |
Discounts
Cinch was not offering any discounts at the time of writing, but you can ask a customer service representative if any are available to you. The company does offer two months free to Sam’s Club members.
Comparing Cinch Home Services to Other Home Warranty Providers
We awarded Cinch Home Services a score of 4.3 on our 5-point rating scale. While its monthly premiums are generally cheaper than our No. 1 pick, American Home Shield, its service call fees are slightly higher. Additionally, AHS has higher coverage caps, making it an overall better option value-wise.
*BBB ratings are accurate as of November 2024.
**NR, or “No Rating,” indicates that the BBB has not issued a rating due to an ongoing review or update to a company’s profile
Customer Reviews: Reddit, Trustpilot, and More
To get a better idea of what it’s like to have a home warranty plan from Cinch Home Services, we read more than 100 customer reviews from numerous third-party sources, including the Better Business Bureau (BBB), Reddit, and Trustpilot. Overall, Cinch’s reviews are mixed. Happy customers praised its polite customer representatives and easy signup process, noting that Cinch typically responded to service requests within 24 hours. Homeowners also complimented its easy-to-navigate customer claims portal.
The most common complaint we found was that Cinch takes a long time to approve claims. While Cinch appears to be great at getting a technician to your home, it takes much longer to approve the technician’s findings and get the repairs going, with many customers saying it took Cinch multiple days to over a week for claims to be approved. Furthermore, some customers wrote that the technicians sent to their homes fell below their expectations, as they had to have multiple repair people visit to get problems resolved.
On Trustpilot, Cinch has over 3,900 reviews and 3.9 out of 5 stars. On websites like the BBB, responses are more negative, with a score of 1.13/5 stars and 1,329 reviews. Reddit has similarly negative reviews, with the vast majority of comments being neutral or critical of Cinch. We believe that Trustpilot’s reviews are the best representation of customer sentiment due to its large sample size of responses.
Below are sample reviews from Cinch Home Services’ customers:
“I had experienced an issue with a Cinch Home Services claim where I had not been reimbursed for a legitimate claim in more than 2 months, and it seemed like I was getting nowhere. I was extremely frustrated until I posted on social media and was contacted by Mary Bolden. It was AMAZING that within minutes, Mary reviewed my case, and had issued a check for reimbursement! … Not only did Mary quickly resolve my problem, but she followed up with me to ensure that I received payment. I can honestly say that before Mary got involved, I was beyond frustrated and disappointed with Cinch Home Services. However, because of Mary’s exceptional support, prompt resolution and professionalism, I am once again a happy customer!” —Nani Robertson, 2022 on Google Reviews
“I used Cinch for a bathroom repair—toilet was leaking. The plumber came out 3 or 4 times over the course of 3 months. When they finally got the part they needed to stop the leak, they had to cut out part of the wall to make the repair. I followed the procedures to get reimbursed for the ‘access repair.’ My claim has been denied—they are claiming it’s ‘water damage.’ I have gone around and around with them trying to explain that the WALL needed to be cut into to access the part of the pipe that needed to be replaced. They continue to deny my claim.” —Kevin, August 2024 on Trustpilot
Our Experience With Cinch Home Services
As part of our review, one of our team members signed up for a home warranty plan from Cinch. Though he’s yet to file a claim, the experience so far has been smooth. Here’s a rundown of the signup process.
Signing Up
We found Cinch’s sign-up process to be quick and easy. Using Cinch’s online portal, our team member received a free quote and signed up for a home warranty plan. The process starts by entering your information, and then you can choose between Cinch’s three plans, pick your add-ons, and adjust your payment frequency.
Cinch lists the costs for plans or add-ons on the plan selection screen and shows itemized prices on the payment screen, making it easy to budget your purchase. Once you’ve reviewed your final price, you can enter your payment information and buy your new home warranty. Once completed, you’ll receive an email confirmation for the transaction, including your effective service date.
Advice From a Homeowner
We spoke to a homeowner named Neil F. to learn how he works with his home warranty company. While Neil uses Select Home Warranty, not Cinch, the experience he described was similar to the ones Cinch customers have noted in reviews.
Neil said that he’s had an overall positive experience with his home warranty. However, he did have some issues with communication. Scheduling a technician to make a repair in his home was smooth, but when he noticed an error with the repair after the fact, he had to follow up with Select several times over the course of a week to get the problem resolved.
”[Your home warranty company is] not going to be in any hurry to fulfill your claim or agree to what the contractor says. You really have to get on the phone and be someone that is pushing on them,” Neil said.“By doing that, you can hopefully resolve claims and get coverage.”
Despite the time and inconvenience, Neil says it was worth it because the problem was fixed and covered by his home warranty.
Is Cinch Home Services Worth It?
Yes, Cinch Home Services is worth it. Though there are some home warranty companies we like better, Cinch is a good choice thanks to its well-rounded plans and reasonable prices. It could be an especially good fit if you have problems with rust or older items with existing conditions, as most other companies don’t cover these things. We also like it for homeowners on a budget, since its monthly premiums are lower than many providers.
Some customers have complained that Cinch Home Services unfairly denies claims or that it takes a long time to follow up. We looked at their contracts and found that all exclusions were clearly outlined and explained, so claim denials are likely because homeowners don’t fully understand their contracts. However, poor communication is a genuine issue we’ve seen from multiple home warranty companies. Providers can and will drag their feet and allow claims to fall through. Because of this, you may need to advocate for yourself and continue to follow up on claims, even though it can be frustrating and take up time.
How We Evaluated Home Warranty Providers
We created a detailed rating methodology to objectively score each home warranty provider we review. We do research by speaking with company representatives, requesting quotes, analyzing sample contracts, and conducting focus groups and consumer surveys. We then score each provider against our review standards for coverage, cost, trustworthiness, plan transparency, customer support, and flexibility to arrive at a final score on a 5-point rating scale.
