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Fidelity Warranty Services, Inc. JM&A Group Crappy Automotive Warranties, Failure to Pay Valid Claims, Requiring Excessive Dealer Visits. Deerfield Beach, Florida
On June 25, 2011 I bought my 2011 Dodge Challenger 392, along with it I bought with it for about $400 the road hazard tire and wheel protection, which has a $5000 maximum lifetime payout.
This warranty was supposed to protect my OEM $4000 wheels and tires from damages if caused by a road hazard, at the time I was not aware who Fidelity really was, or who they were backed by.
In fact I actually thought they were part of the Fidelity Investment group of companies... (this is not true....I eventually learned)
Fidelity Warranty is actually a division of a company called JMA Group out of Deerfield Beach, Florida.
Along with this they also have a large group of companies all under the JMA parent organization.
Jim Moran & Associates, Inc.
Fidelity Warranty Services, Inc.
Fidelity Insurance Agency, Inc
Courtesy Insurance Company
Southeast Toyota Distributors, LLC
World Omni Financial Corp.
JM Service Center LLC
and lastly JM Lexus
So now that you know all about the company, in the event a dealer tries to sell you a warranty from any one of these companies... they are ALL THE SAME company.
I agreed to : Coverage only occurs if its road hazard causes the damage.
Not anywhere in the exclusions does it say that the tire or wheel has to be damaged beyond repair, and that they will drag me through the mud while submitted and trying to collect on a claim.
The damage:
Last November I hit a hunk of a brink in the road, and it popped up digging a chunk/slice out of the tire bead, and taking a ding out of the rim edge. Not horrible, but still none the less damage caused by a road hazard, and immediately pulled over and took pictures of the damage.
I called the warranty company and asked them how to submit a claim, and was told to contact the
dealer when the tire was failing to hold air.... I did not like their answer, but was like "whatever". But choose to go along with their game.
So I waited, and in the 2nd week of February 2011, the tire finally starts to lose air, at about 3-4psi a week, slow leak, but none the less, a leak.
I scheduled with my dealer to have it, and a few other things dealt with, dealer concurred with the damages, and called it in to Fidelity to have the wheel and tire replaced.
First they denied the coverage, and then said the car had to wait at the dealer for them to send out a inspector. So I had to work that into my schedule, and go back again. It took him 1.5 days to get out there.
Then when he finally showed up he took pictures of the wrong part of the wheel, they denied coverages, again.
So I go back to the dealer, and we take pictures of the right damages and provide to them the original pictures taken by me.... guess what.. they denied coverages again.
I spent on the phone talking to a guy named JOHN explaining to him the damages, and that it fails to hold air... he just plain argues with me, and wants nothing to do with taking care of the damages, and wants to me take MORE TIME out of my days go back to the dealer AGAIN... and have the service manager look at it..... He proceeds to tell me that he pays out over $250k month in claims.... somehow I don't feel that is a true statement.
He then tries to impress me on just how big his company his... as if I am goona back down.... when that did not work, he just wants to end the conversation....
So far I have lost over 8 hours of work, 2 days + of use on the car... and am driving on a damaged tire and wheel that could fail at any time.
If you look closely you can also see the wheel appears to be slightly bent as well.... but according to Fidelity, its safe, but they also refuse to indemify me should if fail and cover any damages while they drag their feet over this claim.
Now they keep saying to me.. oh this is a case for your auto insurance...
What the heck did I purchase for $400.... right now.. it seems like nothing more that a piece high dollar, toilet paper tissue.
I have dealt with alot of companies but never have dealt with a more worthless company in the
world....
So if you have Fidelity or JMA (aka: Courteous Insurance), and you have damages.. be ready for a battle to get them to payout....your better off just not getting a warranty at all, or better yet, buy one directly FROM THE MANUFACTURER of your car, and steer clear of the 3rd party warranties...
5 Updates & Rebuttals
Scott
Surprise,Arizona,
Issue Resolved
#6Author of original report
Wed, July 09, 2014
After leaving a message for the corporate office and president I received a call the next day from the director of operations who engaged and dealth with the claim, I got my car back on June 5.
He resolved the issue by replacing the 4 tires with tires of my choice, I ended up going with Nitto Motivos which were actually cheaper than the the OEM tires.
He also agreed to pay for a alignment as the dealer noticed odd wear on the tires due to being forced from running on a tire from a previous repair that had less tread. Additionally he agreed to provide me a reimbursement for 1 of the 2 tows value that were taken from my AAA account, as the car should have only been towed one time.
Lastly he remarked in account for the remaining 2 years that no delays would be experienced with further future claims.
Fidelity Warranty Services Customer Service
Deerfield Beach,Florida,
Fidelity Customer Service
#6UPDATE Employee
Wed, July 09, 2014
We are very sorry to hear you were not pleased with your Fidelity Warranty Services claims experience. We would very much like to investigate the situation. Please send your claim number and contact information to jmainfo@jmagroup.com, so we can address your concern in a timely manner.
Scott
Surprise,Arizona,
Resolved issue, "E" for effort given.
#6Author of original report
Fri, June 27, 2014
I reached out to the corporate office and left the President of the company a message, the next day I got a call back from the director of operations, he seemed to be genuinely appalled by the actions of the company his office runs.
We talked for about 30 min, and came to the agreement that all 4 tires would be replaced and because of the previous incident of having to drive on different treadwear for 12,000 miles it may have affected the alignment as the dealer saw odd wear patterns.
They agreed to pay for the alignment, as well as reimburse me partially for the towing that AAA covered since I had to use 2 of my 4 tows that I get anually, I got that check 2 days ago.
They have also marked my file that any further issues would be approved WITHOUT inspections or hassels for the remaining 2 years in my plan.
So for that I am giving them a "E" for effort
Scott
Surprise,Arizona,
2 plus years later, I have another incident, and they fight me again...
#6Author of original report
Sat, May 31, 2014
2 years later from this original incident, I hit a large amount of debris in the road while exiting the freeway and making a sharp rounded turn.
Initially the debris took out my front right tire and causing it to go immediatley flat, but our lovely street and road designs here have no places to pull of safely, so I had to drive on a flat for 2+ miles to find a place I could safely stop.
This occured on holiday weekend, and the company offers no emergency contact information, and all places were closed up.
I had to call AAA to come and get me and flat bed the car home. So on Tuesday I called Fidelity and immediately they started hassling me (somehow I knew this was going to be the case). So finally I get approval to get the car to be taken to the dealer, but now the dealer does not have any appointments available until Monday June 2.
By now the car has been sitting in my garage useless for 3 days and when I looked at it now the rear two tires are low in air and nearly flat, so the debris also damaged them in some form.
So I pull it forward, and fire up my air-compressor, and fill them up. I figured at this time I might as well see if I can see what other damages had occured, and I find that the front left tire (#4), is not flat, but has 2 large spots where it looks like a cheese grader got to the tire, and at least 2 cords are showing from the steel belting.
I called them back and asked can I not just take the car to Discount Tire, they can quickly deal with this issue. They tell me well its going to need an inspector, I say fine, set it up...
We cant, you need to take it there and let it sit it takes up to 48 hours to get him there.. WTF??? Discount tire is not setup for that kind of deal... so back to the drawing board.
I decide that I just need to weight to June 2 to get it to dealer, call AAA again and have it flatbeded over.
Now the car sits overnight, and the inspector arrives and approves 3 of the tires, and says that that he can not see any damage on the front left (he must be blind!!!).
Now I am fighting them on this 4th tire, and even Discount tire and Goodyear tires has said that ANY AMOUNT OF STEEL CORDING SHOWING IS BAD, AND THE TIRE MUST BE TAKEN OUT OF SERVICE IMMEDIATELY. Duh!!! anyone knows this as a tire with tread damage and cords showing means eminent failure.
So now back to fighting with this company again.... this company obviously does not care about the safety of its customers or their cars, just how much little can they put out in money.
I will keep this updated as this saga continues....
Scott
Surprise,Arizona,
USA
Issue Resolved, not 100% happy, but resolved.
#6Author of original report
Mon, May 14, 2012
After filing complaints with:
Arizona Attorney General
Arizona Department of Insurance
Florida Department of Insurance
Florida Attorney General
And working with my dealer... we finally got them to replace the tire and wheel... but my 8 hours of lost work in fighting this half baked company was not able to be recovered.
I know next time I will not be working with this company, and will definitely not recommend that NO ONE use them as a warranty company.