First Automotive Service Corporation First Automotive tried to screw me over, but I stopped them. Let me tell you how I did it. Albuquerque, New Mexico
I bought a car for my wife on July 14, 2010. It came with a free limited warranty from First Automotive Service Corporation. When we test drove the car on July 12th, it seemed fine. Upon leaving the car lot on the 14th, the automatic transmission started to slip. I took my car to a local volvo dealership on the 15th and gave them my warranty information. On July 27th, the volvo dealership called and told me that my claim had been denied due to a preexisting condition. They also informed me that an adjuster with First Automotive had been there, authorized additional tests, and left without paying for them. There is no mention of a preexisting condition on my warranty contract, or anything that sounds even remotely like that. On July 27th, I called First Automotive and spoke to a claims department manager named Fred. He told me that his company had no legal obligation to pay me anything and was very rude. I contacted the Washington State Attorney General's Office, the Washington State Insurance Commissioner's Office, the Better Business Bereau, the Snohomish County Sherriff, the FBI, the FTC, my local media, and a few other agencies that I am probably forgetting. The Attorney General's office called me back the day after I filed my complaint. On August 10th, the owner of the car lot where I bought my car agreed to have it repaired at no further cost to me. On August 11th, I got a call from Buster, who is the claims department manager at First Automotive. He told me that First Automotive had no legal obligation to pay my claim, and told me that I needed to take my car back to the volvo dealership to get the claim approved because some "higher-ups" in the company had decided to do me a favor and pay my claim anyway. I told him that my car was being fixed, and that we could discuss my rental car expenses and lost wages. He told me that since there was no provision for either of those things in my contract, they would not be paid. On September 3rd, I recieved a copy of a letter sent to the Attorney General's office by Viki Winiger (one of the founders of the company) stating that my claim had been denied in error and that First Automotive was sending me a check for the diagnosis charges at the volvo dealership. No-one called to apologize or offer to pay my car rental expenses and lost wages. At the time of this writing, I have not yet recieved a check from Viki. I found the President of First Automotive's e-mail address on the internet and sent him an e-mail asking him why his managers denied my claim in error and asked him what he is going to do about it. I will update this post if I hear back from him.
I have read some other complaints on this site and others written by people who might be able to benefit from my experience and knowledge. Some people talk about getting a lawyer. First Automotive is not afraid of that, and the people who run the company are lawyers themselves who make a living knowing exactly what they can get away with and what they cannot. They have trained proffesional liars on their staff who will tell you (very convincingly, I might add) that you don't have a leg to stand on. If you find yourself in my situation, here is what I reccomend that you do:
1. Document all actions taken and words spoken by you and First Automotive complete with dates, times, phone numbers, and locations. Try to only document the facts and don't let your emotions make you seem like you are whining.
2. Don't believe the lies that you are told. Automotive Warranty companies will say things like preexisting conditions are never covered. That is not necessarily true. They must honor what is written or not written on your contract whether they interpret it as being legal or not. Common sense and honesty will prevail in the eyes of your State's Attorney General.
3. Contact your State's Attorney General's Office. Be calm and cool. Only relay the facts of your situation. Also contact the BBB, the FTC, your local media, the FBI, your State's Governer, and anyone else who might have any authority over business being conducted in your state.
4. Don't give up. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it most likely is a duck. Don't get discouraged by what representatives of unethical companies tell you. That is their job. Don't try to pursue civil action until you have exhausted all avenues for criminal action. You will have much more sucess reporting a crime than trying to sue a gaggle of evil lawyers. It is all of our responsabilities to protect out brothers and sisters from predatory, immoral businesses who make their living by robbing people of little resources. Do your part to make the world a better place by doing everything you can that is legal and just to shut down these organised crime rings who delight in watching you lose the rigged shell game that they have created to steal your money.
I hope this helps someone. Do not be taken for a fool. Stnad up for what is right. Imagine what a great country this would be if everyone did that.
8 Updates & Rebuttals
Mike
Rock Hill,South Carolina,
United States
FIRST AUTOMOTIVE TRYING TO RIP ME OFF 2019
#9Consumer Comment
Tue, March 26, 2019
Im so glad i came across this . i just got denied a legit clame on my transmission by First Automotive.
Can anyone help me thru this process ?
Kelly Black
Costa Mesa,California,
USA
First Automotive Service Address
#9Consumer Comment
Sat, February 04, 2012
First Automotive Service Corporation, a Corporation
2400 Louisiana Blvd.
Albuquerque, NM 87110
notmy$
Theodore,Alabama,
United States of America
Similar Situation
#9Consumer Comment
Sat, February 04, 2012
I an in the exact same situation & feeling pretty helpless. This company has the rudest employees that I have ever encountered! I had men SCREAMING at me like I've never experienced before & when I requested a supervisor, I was hung up on only to call back to have them not even blink about what he did. I too have been searching for contact information for the owner & have not been able to locate it. If you can pass that information on to me I would really appreciate it.
Please send any info to fancyface.sj@gmail.com. Thanks
Kelly Black
Costa Mesa,California,
USA
Legal games
#9Consumer Comment
Fri, January 20, 2012
You are right. VW tried to waive time a month out on a small claims case. I looked at the state tax records for Texas where they hold a "Foreign entity filing locally" and she's listed as "the secretary". Her linkedin profile reads like an MLM marketer....go figure.
Tells me they still don't get it. The whole point was to serve them. To make matters more concrete the deputy district attorney and I have already had several phone interviews, and when my case is done they want to see the findings. They expressed an "interest in filing official fraud charges with the Attorney General's Office" when this is said and done.
Just shows to go you. You can't always break the law and win. Eventually a good law man gets wind of you and the game's over. Its all laughable until the Feds come with the warrant.
The Truth
Mill Creek,Washington,
United States of America
I recieved $126,000 in a settlement to dismiss my lawsuit against first automotive and the dealer they were working with.
#9Author of original report
Fri, October 07, 2011
I apologize to all my fans for taking so long to update this report, but I had filed a lawsuit against first automotive in Snohomish County Superior Court and was waiting to say anything more until that was resolved. It has been resolved. First automotive and the car dealer they were working with chose to pay me 125,000 dollars rather than face me in court. Here is the rest of my story.
It turns out that I have been pretty niave. When I wrote the original report, I was somehow under the impresssion that if a "warranty company" told the attorney general and the insurance commissioner that they would do something, that they pretty much had to do it. This is not necessarily the case.
After I posted the original report, the "repair" to my vehicle that the dealer provided failed, and I went back to a dealership that I trust (not where I bought the car), and tried to re-open my claim with first auto, as they had instructed me to do via the AG and OIC. At that time, first auto told me that they would pay, and that the work was approved, but my warranty had become "inactive". At first, it was because the dealer did not submit the correct paperwork, then morphed into being because the dealer had not paid for the warranty. First auto told me that it was my reponsability to get the dealer to pay them before work could begin. I called the dealer and asked him to pay, and he said no. So I had no choice but to hire an attorney and pay $6000 for a new transmission myself.
My attorney filed a lawsuit on my behalf in Snohomish County Superior Court against first automotive and the dealer around October of 2010. That is when things really got interesting.
At the deposition of the dealer, we talked about a document that the dealer made me sign when he "fixed" my car "at no cost to me". Before he made me that offer, he had drafted his own warranty of sorts (he called it a warranty, anyway). His "warranty" only covered the transmission and had a $1400 deductible instead of the $100 deductible that I was entitled to. After he changed his mind and decided not to charge me for the "repair", he drafted a document cancelling his "warranty" with the $1400 deductible. He backed this up at his sworn, documented deposition (more on this later).
Before the dealer's deposition, he had provided some documentation, including the agreement between the dealership and first automotive. This document was myseriously missing any signatures. At that time, first automotive and the dealer had different attorneys. The attorney representing first automotive provided the missing signature page of that document at the end of the dealer's deposition (thank you). Very shortly after that, that attorney was out of the picture and first automotive was also being defended by the lawyer who was representing the dealer. Interesting, right? Especially considering that the dealer and first automotive were blaming each other the whole time. Wait, it gets even better.
Before I even hired a lawyer, first automotive was showing off the dealer's cancellation of his warranty, which clearly did not have anything to do with the first automotive warranty (no contract number, no intent to cancel by the consumer, no first automotive signatures or anything) to the AG and the OIC, falsely accusing me of cancelling the warranty! Well, the guy who drafted that document (the dealer, and the only other signature on it except for mine) had already testified under oath that neither one of us had cancelled the first automotive warranty. Pretty unreal, huh? Wait, it gets better.
Even after first automotive and the dealer had the same attorney, first automotive still said that the above referenced document somehow cancelled their warranty despite the fact that their co-defendant (again, represented by the same attorney) and the author of the document had already provided an abundance of evidence that this was not true. First automotive also claimed that I never made a valid warranty claim, which the dealer also disagreed with (under oath) (and again, these guys have the SAME LAWYER). This lawyer over the next few months pulled out every dirty trick he could think of to try to intimidate me. Everything from making snyde personal quips to knowingly falsely accusing me of not disclosing that the car I traded in to the dealer had a branded title. I know it was a knowingly false accusation, because the dealer had testified under oath that I had given the dealership the branded title at the time I traded it in. He also started my deposition by shouting obscenities at my lawyer to try to shake me up. In other words, things got really nasty. First automotive all of the sudden wanted an expert to inspect the transmission, despite the fact that one of their inspectors had already inspected it when it was in the car. This of course, required me to retain a transmission expert. And so on and so on.
About two months before the trial was to begin, the defendants paid me 126,000 dollars to settle the case. This occured shortly after my attorney disclosed in writing that we knew that first automotive is one of many companies with the same officers, share holders, often the same addresss. If you start investigating the officers of first automotive, and what other companies they are officers of and start looking at adresses and affiliations and share holders, and what those companies do, you will be shocked.
By the way, v.w. I know that you falsely posted a rebuttal to my report as a consumer. I know this because even the author of the document you cite in said rebuttal agrees that you are the only person on the face of the earth who thinks that I cancelled my first automotive warranty.
Also, that check that first automotive was supposed to send me? $100 short. Why? My deductible. I am not kidding.
I have an abundance of evidence to back up all of the facts that I have cited in this update, as well as my original report, which I will be happy to post on the internet for all to see if anyone wishes to dispute anything I have written here.
If you are reading this, unfortunately you are probably in the same prediciment that I was in last year. Here is my updated advice: If you feel that you have been wronged, talk to an attorney about the consumer protection laws that you can utilize in your state. If everyone did what I did it would not be long before there were only honest, ethical, legal businesses operating in our country.
To this date, nobody from either first automotive or the dealership has apologized for anything that was said or done. I will update this report should that ever happen. Good luck fellow consumers!
Kelly Black
Costa Mesa,California,
United States of America
Good job man, also effective...
#9Consumer Suggestion
Wed, June 29, 2011
Sue them. If every customer they trampled filed against them in small claims court, and the cases and process servers come flooding it, time's will be a changin.
I just filed on them hours ago in California. Attorneys or not they are in hot water now. Since my vehicle was permanently garaged here for more than 6 months during the contract I qualify to sue them under California law. Court in Cali for these clowns and our judges don't mess around. I also hear they don't take shifty companies pushing around a bunch of little guys either. Who knows maybe it will be small claims -> handcuffs. As I hear it the Orange County district attorney doesn't play favorites when it comes to fraud of ANY kind, even questionably. I plan to take the results of my court case, win or lose, to his office the second it hits my hot little hands.
Oh and Viki, don't bother commenting, this is up here for everyone but you, you can just tell it to the judge lady.
thewarpig
United States of AmericaLets get even more honest
#9Consumer Comment
Tue, October 12, 2010
There are 14 reports against this particular warranty provider. That's just the people who were irate enough to post on this site. Soooooo, are they all the reason why companies like this get a bad name or is it just this person?
I guess maybe we should never expect to get what WE want when we spend money on something as silly as protection for our transportation. You are right, it's expectations like these that are ruining the good name of places like First Automotive. Why, if they did what was expected of them they might have to actually DO something that's expected of them. That is unthinkable and frankly makes my capitalist hair stand on end. Next thing you know words like honor, integrity and ... gasp ... honesty ... gasp ... might be commonplace in the car industry. Brrrrrrrrrr gives me shivers.
lets be honest
Washington,United States of America
LETS BE HONEST
#9Consumer Comment
Tue, October 12, 2010
It is people like you that give legitimate companies a bad reputation. Your upset because YOU didnt get what YOU wanted.
LETS BE HONEST....You forgot to mention that because it was pre-existing , you signed a letter with the owner(dealer) cancelling the warranty. And that the dealer was covering the cost of the transmission. In the future , when purchasing a car you should always take it to another mechanic and get the vehicle checked out before buying the car. Its not the warranty companies fault.