Complaint Review: ALPHA

Let's get down to it. A warranty company would not be in business if they are honoring claims all over the place.

The issue gets down to the wording of the contract, and in this case it is the determination of what is a 'pre-existing condition'

Are guidelines published on this?

Let's take for example engine coverage.

You buy a used car, car is driving fine.... then at some point let's say 3 months after you purchased your engine pistons misalign, and you now have a clunker.

Now most people who read their contract would assume that the fixing or replacing would be covered under this extended warranty.

If however there was a leaky gasky or misfiring cylinder that a typical consumer may or may not be aware about on these grounds then under the 'pre-existing condition' you may not honor the claim if you can 'reasonable' assume this issue may have been present on the car at time of purchase.

As I said in the beginning, you are not in this business to give out money, but rather to make money.

We strive to treat every customer with fairness and respect. Whenever a claim is denied it is because it is not covered under the terms of the customers contract. Every year we have thousands of satisfied customers that have peace of mind knowing their repairs have been covered under our vehicle service plans. This claim was reviewed and determined to be a pre-existing problem.

This customers contract had a 30 day/ 1000 mile pre-existing period. He called in 10 days and 221 miles after his pre-existing period expired with the complaints of a whining noise in the morning, a shudder in the steering, and a ticking noise under the hood. All of these problems he said he noticed when it got cold, which he said was a couple of days ago. The mechanic diagnosed a leaking power steering rack.

The customer did send in a record from a 60-point inspection that was done before he purchased his contract. However, there was nothing documented stating what was checked to know if the leak was there or not and he failed to provide us anything demonstrating what was inspected.

An inspector from a third-party company was sent in to verify the failure. The inspector is a certified mechanic. When looking at the leak he stated: all leaks appear to be long term with road grime build up. We also had our master technician look at the report and the pictures that were taken and he also determined this leak was there for longer than 10 days because there was build up. This leak in the power steering rack was not something that occurred in the last 10 days. The customer may have noticed the noise after his pre-existing period had expired, however his contract clearly states that a failure is pre-existing if its condition may reasonably be assumed to have existed prior to the sale date/miles of this contract or prior to the expiration of the pre-existing period.

We are following the terms of the contract and even sent in an inspector to verify that this problem was pre-existing. Unfortunately, some people do purchase our service contracts with the intent of filing claims for failures that already exist on their vehicles at the time of purchase. When problems arise, we advise customers to please contact us directly so we can help resolve their concerns.

AWS maintains the cleanest reputation in the vehicle service contract industry. A simple search of competitors in the industry will demonstrate that AWS maintains the best image and lowest number of complaints due to our commitment to customer service and strong business values.