I used to work for a home warranty company and it was amazing the amount of complaints that would come in, as if homeowners were expecting their $400 premium investment to turn into a pot of gold somehow.
Never mind that a disturbing proportion of homeowners are too busy to read and understand the terms and conditions of the policy, or they get sucked into dealing with dishonest real estate agents who are too busy to explain that "Well, you have to pay additional amount for the well pump coverage".
Of course, some of the contractors are bottom-feeders as well, but I don't think the sampling of contractors affiliated with any warranty company is significantly different from a typical sampling of contractors from the Yellow Pages.
Now home warranty plans are greatly helped by the wave of McMansion Developments in which the HVAC goes out within 5-6 months of each other on the whole entire block (say, 10 years after building). Wow, what whopping good equipment that was installed in the first place, probably some crap like Janitrol or Carrier.
And then even a few (thankfully not a majority) homeowners expect their bottom-of-the-barrel Caloric range to be replaced with Viking equipment! Or a Maytag refrigerator with a Subzero!
And then I loved the H/O's who shell out $800,000 for some 2K square foot disaster-waiting-to-happen and then get all ancy because they can't afford a new furnace. WELL IF YOU CAN'T AFFORD A NEW FURNACE THEN YOU CAN'T AFFORD AN $800,000 McMoneypit to begin with.
But then I also dug the occasional homeowner who had a Renewal policy (!) and then asks some really ignorant questions that he/she should have figured out 15 months ago when he/she first closed and got the warranty policy, and then mouths off, "Oh these home warranties are shit, I don't even know why I renewed." Well, DUH, why DID you renew?
Cheers, The Warranty Stud