Complaint Review: Great Lakes Warranty

Great Lakes Warranty has to be one of the worst warranties out there, and it seems that a good portion of the bad warranties come from our good old state of Pennsylvania (C.A.R.S., SCM, etc). All you have to do is call the attorney general or do a BBB search in order to find out. I'm with the other dealer that made a complaint on this site...I don't want to do business with them anymore and I will give numerous reasons why.

Their stated warranties are a joke. They do indeed offer some mechanical coverage that appears, on paper, to be useful if a claim is needed to be filed. But they also list a vast number of parts as "being covered" that they will technically never cover, and this is why. Certain parts are more likely to make other parts fail than others, and with stated warranties if an uncovered part makes a covered part fail, well then, it will not be covered. They have many of these parts riddled throughout their warranties. Here is a general example. Say they cover part A, but not part B. 99.9% of the time part B is what makes part A fail, so therefore they actually do not cover part A even though listed in their warranty. Many other warranty companies do this besides Great Lakes Warranty, but with that being said it does not make what they are doing any better. Very misleading and makes the seller look awful. As well, they attempt to get out of valid claims all the time and I would imagine that the claims examiners have a high incentive to turn down claims as many times as possible, always hoping the dealer and the customer will not push them hard. Perhaps the claims examiners receive bonuses or better raises dependent upon their claims? Doesn't seem right. Worst of all, customers wait for days and weeks to get their vehicles repaired because Great Lakes Warranty refuses to let the service departments order their own parts...it states in their warranty that they reserve the right to order the parts for the dealership. This creates a sort of monopoly, and I really don't know how it can be legal, especially out of state, requiring the service department to go with their supplier rather than allowing them to order their own parts. Even if the dollar amounts for the parts are pound for pound, Great Lakes still will not allow for the service department to order their own parts for the repair. They must be in bed with their supplier. I had one customer that waited over two weeks for his car to be repaired. Lastly, they aren't insured but bonded. I'd love to find out who bonds these jerks. I should have never signed up with them.

Lastly, they have to be one of the most unprofessional companies that I have ever dealt with in recent years. One of the owners, John Ewart, is a shyster of an attorney and really makes the dream team look like Mother Teresa. The other owner, Keith Jimenez, isn't much better. Snakes, all of them. They want you to send them business, but then when the claims come through they do not pay up or claim that they never "received the contract, check, or something wasn't done properly". It is funny that some of these issues were not brought up sooner, possibly prior to the claim...ya think? Also, at least in my area, they hire unprofessional sales staff that seem to reflect their  companyimage in general. They could seriously try to dress in appropriate attire, not use tobacco products when trying to obtain business, and talk similar to this...subject predicate, subject predicate.

If other dealers are having as many problems with Great Lakes Warranty as I am, or customers, you should make as many complaints as possible starting with the Attorney General, Insurance Commissioner, etc.