A. O. Smith Avis 111

We have had an absolutely awful experience with A.O. Smith.

I bought a 50 Gallon Electric Series 100 water heater from Lowe's in Tacoma, WA.

This was bought on Feb 4th, 2023. We got a small amount of water that was warm, but after that first shower, none returned. We called AO Smith, and they said that they do not have agreements with anyone in the area to service, so they would reimburse $150 (plumbers/electricians won't even show up for that).

I called and asked for a supervisor; one called me back but left no phone number or name. So, I called back, on Friday, Feb 10th, and was promised someone would call me back by the end of the day. No one did.

I called Saturday, Feb 11th, and was promised I was next in line for a supervisor. No one called me back. But, I did email them photos of where the unit was poorly manufactured.

The wire connecting the upper and lower thermostat had exposed wire and burned out the thermostat unit. Was told by authorities that this fault could have electrocuted someone (if it was mid-cycle) and potentially burned the house down.

I called twice on Sunday, Feb 12th. I finally talked to a supervisor named Keith who was incredibly rude and told me he would reimburse the $150 if I took the water heater back out and took it to Lowes.

Even with this information, I was not able to get a call from a supervisor. I emailed the CEO on Sunday, Feb 12th, and have yet to get a response (doubt I will).

Because the 6-year warranty has not expired, Lowe's will not honor the extended warranty that I paid for.

I wondered if I was an abnormal case, but, seems like based on the reviews that I am seeing, this company is doing an awful job when it comes to customer service.

The a o smith guc-40--400 water heater flashes 6 times saying to replace burner and gas valve but the warranty expires on manufacture date not install date which does not make sense. I use to love this line of water heater & mine lasted 20 years. Now they only last about six years before problems start happening. Being a plumber I have switched over to Bradford White water heaters.

Just recently took back my 5th water heater made by A.O Smith all covered under warranty! These water heaters leak out of the box! For awhile I thought I was doing something wrong, I even went out and bought one of the companies water softeners! Not the case! With my last bad heater AO Smith even was trying to back out of their own warranty! Still got my full refund and will be sharing this experience with my attorney generals office!

Horrible Customer service. I have to wait an hour every time I call for someone to pick up.

I purchased an AO smith electric hot water tank on 10/22/21. On 9/23/22 the hot water was no longer getting hot, so I contacted customer service. Since I live in a remote area, they told me that they did not have any technicians to come out to service the area so I would have to hire a plumber to come out and they would have to reimburse for services rendered. Once I had the plumber fix the issue which was the thermostat and heating elements replaced, I submitted all of the required documents as requested. The reply to the email stated 30 days. I called customer service to check on the status and each time I spoke to someone the timeframe longer and longer. It became 4-6 weeks then 4-8 weeks. I was transferred around and left several different messages and kept getting the run around. Finally, I was told that they never received the information and to resend it. I did resend it as requested and after 8 weeks I received a denial letter stating that they were only going to reimburse $100 of the $297 claim that was submitted. Now I am out of almost $200 and who knows how long it will take for me to receive this check. This is terrible customer service and a terrible company. 1 star is too high of a rating to give this company. There should be some like of a score that gives a negative rating. Luckily, I have a Bradford White tank at my other residence. How is this company still in business with all of the bad reviews I have read.

I bought an AOSmith Signature Premier 50-Gallon Tall 12-Year Limited 40000-BTU gas water heater From Lowe’s July 2018
Had to have service come out 4 times. Now my tank is leaking. Not to worry AOSmith is going to replace the tank. Problem comes in when you need to have it installed. Costing me more than the first time. Actually $1100 more. All I have to do is strap it on my back and return it to Lowe’s myself. Because installers no longer do that. To get a refund for the tank. Which isn’t going to amount to nearly enough. In the long run I’ll be paying to have a tank installed twice in 4 years. How’s that for warranty! Cleaning up water still because I’m at a loss.

And One star is too many! I have 2 water tanks both ending up having the same issue. One tank was replaced two years ago but only worked for a year ending up also with the same leaking issue. When I called and spoke to the rude condescending supervisor I was told that it was out of warranty because they have what’s called a warranty transfer. So the remainder of the warranty from the broken unit transfers to the new unit which only left me with about a year of coverage. I was NEVER informed of this!! Now I am out both water tanks! What an unethical way of screwing the consumer! Please do not buy this product and spread the word!

Installed 2 new A. O. Smith 30 gallon electric hot water heaters a couple months ago. A few weeks after install the hot water started smelling like rotten eggs. Researched a solution to change anode from magnesium to aluminum. I could not remove the anode because it is so tight. Tried a 3' pipe on my ratchet and an impact wrench. I will not be buying this brand again.

Whoever is in charge of allowing that A.O. Smith tankless electric water heater to still remain for sale on the shelves, should be tarred feathered ran out of the country. Straight garbage don’t know how they can sleep at night. I’m not sleeping well no hot water. I guess I’m just screwed.

For the past 27 days I have been without hot water.. I purchased an Ayo Smith water heater that has been replaced 3 times.. Customer service continuously made excuses as to the reason the water heaters were failing. Elements were replaced thermostat replaced. I even suggested giving me a different model and reimbursing me the difference which was met With not being a viable solution. They prefer to allow my household to be without hot water And not consider the needs of the customer Is nor their reputation. I would never buy another product from Ao Smith nor recommend them to anyone.

6 month old water heater pop off went out almost flooding shop, they wanted me to drive 30min and get parts to change out myself. I explained I was not doing that she told me I was living in a dream world and that customers repair it they just pay for parts.

Don't trust the company.

I will if I can write zero review. I bought a water heater from Lowes.com 9/25/2016 and picked up on local store 09/30/2016. It is labelled with 6 years warranty. The water heater starts leaking recently and flooded my house. Upon contacting AO Smith, they required a paper receipt (not receipt you can download from Lowes.com) and when I contact Lowes.com, they said the entire lowes.com works with online receipt.

I called on Sat for 2 hours and Monday for another 1 hour.

This is my own experience. I would like to hire an attorney to handle this fraud insurance.

Useless Geyser
I purchased the Geyser from a store Mahaveers, Bannerghatta Road. We fixed it but it wasn’t working.. The waster wasn’t getting heated. I raised a complaint on customer service team.

Avinasha called to take the serial number of the Geyser and to understand the issue. Even without checking the geyser, he said over the call that the coil is damaged and will need to be replaced which will cost 1k.

I was surprised to know.that because it was a new one and for next 1 week I was following up regularly for them to visit which happened after 3 to 4 days.

The person also said the same.. the coil is damaged due to dry hearing but he couldn’t prove it when asked how did.he find that.. Finally he left after some argument.

I had the local electrician to check and he said the coil is defected and there is nothing to do with dry heating.. there is no traces of dry heating.

Worst Service and Worst Product. Waste of money

I WILL STRONGLY NOT RECOMMEND

I purchased this water heater a little over six months ago, just installed and the unit is not working. I reached out to the number on the unit and because I can find the receipt and they can’t except the receipt of install, I was told I’d have call a technician. I called a company who charged me $89 to tell me they had to order the part from the same number I called which would not help me. Then the company tells me there will be a $500 charge to repair the BRAND NEW AO Smith water heater. I am highly up with this company.

Brand new unit 2 weeks old, serviced twice and now the upper element is leaking, called and they want to replace more parts and wont give a RA- crap company, crap product... Lowe's should be ashamed to sell this junk

We had flooding in our area last week and it supposedly ruined this 1 year old water heater. It cost $300 just to have the plumber tell us that the entire unit needed to be replaced. It replaced a 20 year old water heater that took a beating over the years before it actually died. This lemon cost us $2,000, please don't purchase one of these pieces of junk.

My 5-month old A. O. Smith water heater (50-gallon. natural gas ProLine) stopped working last week. The pilot light couldn't be restarted and the status light was dead. It turned out to be a defective thermopile. Unfortunately, A. O. Smith doesn't have an authorized warranty service in my area (I'm in a heavily populated area of NJ near NYC).

I had to pay my own plumber for several visits to diagnose the problem and replace the defective thermopile (while we were without hot water for 5 days). Happily, my complaints to customer service were resolved eventually, with A. O. Smith reimbursing me. Ultimately they stood behind the product.

Never buy an AO Smith. We installed the first in 11/2019 which the water only heats for 5 minutes and runs out and starts all over. We installed a new tank and it will not even heat after trying everything and triple checking electric. Customer service is nonexistent. They keep you on hold and do not return calls. So we are out $550 in one day. I sent multiple emails and calls with no response. Lowes will not take it back either. Do not buy from this Company.

This is the most cheaply produced hot water heater I have ever had. The first was defective just over 100 days since installation. The customer service is hideous.
Everything from the hold music to being told to get a call back if you push #1 on the phone. We called using 3 phones and 2 were kept on hold for over an hour. The third phone we called and were called back while the other two were still on hold in about 35 minutes. Three different times they sent parts and none of them fixed the problem. We were then told to return the product to Lowes and get another. Out of the box it was defective with the cheap plastic drain at the.bottom being broken. We called and were told to take it back. We had the plumber remove it and put in a quality brass drain at the bottom that will not clog rather than the cheap junk AO Smith uses to cut ever corner to make it as cheap as possible. Further, you talk cheap, this is AO Smith. It is no wonder they can't get people to come service their products because they refuse to pay a decent wage to the repair person. This will be the LAST AO Smith hot water heater we ever buy for ANY of our properties! I would NEVER recommend AO Smith to ANYONE!

I'm a service tech. I don't like dealing with AO Smith products at all. Standard water heaters aren't too bad, but any of their hybrid or heat pump models are just not worth the money. They are absolutely finicky you will not save any money whatsoever. The last time I tried to call their technical support line I waited on hold for 30 minutes declining to choose the callback option. After 30 minutes the system just hangs up on you. After seeing the trouble I was going through just to troubleshoot their unit, my customer chose to dispose of a year and a half old heat pump model. I set him up with a nice standard Bradford White tank model and they are extremely happy with it.