AO Smith Reviews

I just returned my fifth A.O. Smith water heater, all of which were under warranty! These heaters leak right from the start! For a bit, I thought I was messing something up, so I even purchased one of their water softeners! Turns out, that wasn’t the issue! With my latest faulty heater, AO Smith even tried to wiggle out of their own warranty! I still managed to get my full refund and plan to report this to my attorney general's office!

The customer support is just awful. Each time I ring them up, I end up waiting an hour for someone to answer.

I bought an AO Smith electric hot water tank on 10/22/21. By 9/23/22, the water wasn’t heating up anymore, so I reached out to customer support. Living in a remote area, they informed me that no technicians were available to service my location, meaning I had to hire a plumber myself, and they would reimburse me later. After the plumber fixed the problem, which involved replacing the thermostat and heating elements, I sent in all the necessary paperwork as instructed. The email response mentioned a 30-day wait. When I called to follow up, each representative I spoke with extended the timeframe—first to 4-6 weeks, then to 4-8 weeks. I got shuffled around, left multiple messages, and kept getting the runaround. Eventually, I was told they hadn’t received my documents and needed me to send them again. I did resend everything, but after 8 weeks, I got a denial letter saying they’d only reimburse $100 of the $297 I claimed. Now I’m out nearly $200, and who knows how long it’ll take to get that check. This is just awful service and a lousy company. Honestly, one star feels too generous for them. There should be a way to give negative ratings. Thankfully, I have a Bradford White tank at my other place. How is this company still operating with all the negative feedback I’ve seen?

I purchased an AOSmith Signature Premier 50-Gallon Tall 12-Year Limited 40000-BTU gas water heater from Lowe’s back in July 2018. Unfortunately, I had to call for service four times. Now, the tank is leaking. Thankfully, AOSmith is set to replace it. The real issue arises when it comes to installation, which is costing me over $1100 more than the initial setup. I’m left with the task of hauling it back to Lowe’s myself since the installers don’t handle that anymore. The refund for the tank won’t even cover half of what I’ve spent. In the end, I’ll have forked out for two installations in just four years. What a warranty, huh? I’m still mopping up water because I’m just at a loss.

One star is way too generous! I own two water tanks, and both have ended up with the same problem. One of them was swapped out two years back but only lasted a year before it started leaking too. When I reached out and talked to the rude, condescending supervisor, I was informed that it was out of warranty due to something called a warranty transfer. This means the remaining warranty from the faulty unit gets passed on to the new one, leaving me with just about a year of coverage. I was NEVER told about this!! Now I'm stuck without both water tanks! What a shady way to treat customers! Seriously, don’t buy this product and let others know!

A couple of months back, I put in two new 30-gallon electric hot water heaters from A. O. Smith. A few weeks post-installation, the hot water began to have a rotten egg smell. I looked into switching the anode from magnesium to aluminum, but I couldn't get the anode out since it was super tight. I even tried using a 3-foot pipe on my ratchet and an impact wrench, but no luck. I’m definitely not going for this brand again.

The person who decided to keep that A.O. Smith tankless electric water heater on the market ought to be tarred and feathered and kicked out of the country. It's absolute trash; I can't fathom how they can rest easy. Me? I’m not getting any sleep with no hot water. Looks like I’m just out of luck.

I've been stuck without hot water for 27 days now. I got myself an Ayo Smith water heater, and believe it or not, it’s been swapped out three times already. Customer service just keeps coming up with excuses for why these heaters keep breaking down. They’ve replaced the elements and the thermostat too. I even threw out the idea of them giving me a different model and refunding the price difference, but they said that wasn’t a workable option. They’d rather leave my family in the cold than actually address our needs or care about their reputation. I can’t see myself ever buying from Ao Smith again, nor would I suggest them to anyone.

My water heater, just half a year old, had a pop-off valve failure that nearly flooded my shop. They expected me to drive 30 minutes to grab parts and fix it myself. I told her that wasn’t happening, and she said I was living in a fantasy. Apparently, customers are supposed to handle repairs; they just cover the cost of the parts.

I wouldn't trust this company at all. If I could give a zero-star rating, I would. I purchased a water heater from Lowes.com on September 25, 2016, and picked it up at a local store on September 30, 2016. It came with a supposed 6-year warranty. Recently, the water heater started leaking and ended up flooding my home. When I reached out to AO Smith, they insisted on a paper receipt (not the one you can download from Lowes.com), and when I contacted Lowes.com, they informed me that their entire system operates with online receipts.

I spent two hours on the phone Saturday and another hour on Monday trying to sort this out.

This is just my experience. I'm seriously considering hiring a lawyer to deal with this insurance fraud.

I got this water heater just over six months back, and after installing it, the thing isn’t working at all. I contacted the number on the unit, but since I can’t find the receipt and they don’t accept the installation receipt, I was told I’d need to call a technician. I reached out to a service that charged me $89 just to say they had to order a part from the same number I initially called, which didn’t help me one bit. Then, they hit me with a $500 fee to fix this BRAND NEW AO Smith water heater. I’m really frustrated with this company.

Just got this unit two weeks ago, and I've already had it serviced twice. Now, the upper element is leaking. I called them up, and they want to swap out even more parts but won’t provide a return authorization. What a lousy company and a terrible product... Lowe's ought to be embarrassed for selling this garbage.

Last week, we experienced some serious flooding in our neighborhood, and it apparently wrecked this water heater that was only a year old. We had to shell out $300 just for the plumber to inform us that the whole thing had to be swapped out. It was meant to replace a 20-year-old unit that had seen better days before finally giving up the ghost. This dud set us back $2,000, so do yourself a favor and steer clear of these junkers.

Seriously, steer clear of AO Smith water heaters! They flat out do NOT stand by their warranty and good luck trying to get in touch with them! I picked up a high-end AO Smith heater from Lowes just under two years ago, and it came with a 12-year warranty. But guess what? The heating element crapped out on me two months back, and I barely even used it. Calling AO Smith is a nightmare; you’ll be stuck on hold for HOURS. The closest service technician is over 100 miles away and won’t come to my place to fix it. He did say he could send me the part, but wanted $40 for shipping! I can grab that same part for $20 at Home Depot. After countless phone calls, I decided to shoot an email to AO Smith's so-called 'Customer Service.' They won’t send me the replacement part or even chat about it via email, insisting I need to call. So, after wasting over two hours on hold AGAIN, I threw in the towel and just ordered the part from Home Depot. I’m gonna make sure to post this review everywhere I can. Spread the word: Avoid AO Smith water heaters like the plague!

Last week, my A. O. Smith water heater, which is a 50-gallon natural gas ProLine model, just up and quit on me after only 5 months. The pilot light wouldn’t reignite, and the status light was completely out. Turns out, it was a faulty thermopile. The kicker? A. O. Smith doesn’t have any authorized warranty service around here (I’m in a busy part of NJ close to NYC).

I ended up shelling out my own cash for a plumber to come over multiple times to figure out what was wrong and swap out that faulty thermopile (and we were stuck without hot water for 5 days). On the bright side, after a bit of back and forth, customer service finally came through, and A. O. Smith ended up reimbursing me. In the end, they did stand by their product.