"Warranty Gold" Claims

garnes

I purchased my WG policy back in 2002 in November or December. GM card called me and said they would reverse most of the charges - about 1260 or so of the 1400+. So this can be done. All I did was submit a dispute as described in an earlier post. I think it was post 940???

I encourage others to do the same.

Thank you Edmunds for this board and thank you to the others that posted information about issuing a dispute.

rbreen

Congradulations Garnes! We have alot in common. If I'm not mistaking you post on the Oldsmobile Aurora Forum. I assume that this was for you Aurora. I too have a Aurora, and a Warranty Gold policy which was paid for using my GM Mastercard.
I bought my policy in Sept. of 2002. I paid $1723 for it. I put a claim in with the GM Card a month or two ago, but I have not heard anything on it yet. Your post gives me hope! I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Jim Cronin

I to had a GM card and was making Payments they refunded me for only the Time that they would not Honor the Service plan that was from June and July If memory serves me right. I stopped making payments after that. Still out about $700.00 but Not the $1300.00 that they sold me the plan for.

plainsman1973

Shelly, I read your post 1011 with great interest. Where do I find the Visa regulations?

Thank you

plainsman1973

So where is the class action?

raul4

Shellyn1. I am wondering if you know where I can obtain a copy of the VISA Regulations? Thanks.

plainsman1973

So where is the class action?

crewdog5

I also used my GM card to pay for my WG contract (still have 5 more payments) I have given GM card all the necessary paperwork and last thing I heard from them was that WG was "working to get my money back and that WG feels bad about what happenned and want to make things right"

I dont think I will see any of it!!!!!!!

Garnes, do you remember the name of the person at GM card that you delt with?

Crewdog

larryone

Re: credit card charges. I'm in a similar boat to crewdog5 ,(Post 1112). I purchased an extended warranty on 5/23, paperwork processed on 5/28. WG notified me on 10/2 about insolvency of underwriter... continued to drawn down monthly payments through September. I've been told that they never really executed my contract as it was never funded. Knowing that; they continued to take my money. I believe that one could at the very least show that to be a default or without a great stretch of the imagination fraud. In my case it's not about a claim but taking money for a contract that they knowingly have defaulted on.

njlexus

Some great tips here on how to try to get our money back from WG. Shellyn1 had some interesting information on the Visa policies (msg# 1011). Does anyone have any similar information on Mastercard? BankOne is my issuer, and they have put my last 4 payments in dispute, but I'm still out about $700 even if I get that money back. I'd like to be able to go back to inception of the contract if possible.

In speaking with a friend who is an attorney for the insurance industry, she said that legally WG has committed fraud by continuing to charge a credit card after it knows the contracts are no longer valid. Unfortunately that only helps if you want to take them to small claims court. Something tells me it won't be long before WG is filing for bankruptcy soon too. Their new business has to be majorly impacted, and if these disputed charges are upheld, they can't have much money to keep their doors open, can they?

mikefm58

I received the email about WG last week and promptly mailed in my cancellation request. My contract was purchased in August 2002 and paid in full with a credit card. Anyone have any ideas if I can dispute a charge that old? It really ticks me off that they never notified me until now, even though they knew this on June 6th, and probably before that too. Any hints/tips would be greatly appreciated.....

mrswans

Here's a little exert from the Report of the Joint Provisional Liquidators 16 July 2003.

National Warranty Insurance Risk Retention Group (in Provisional Liquidation) (“NWIC”)

Report of the Joint Provisional Liquidators 16 July 2003

NWIC’s financial problems

The financial and legal situations facing NWIC were covered in some detail in the Winding–up Petition filed on 4 June 2003 and the supporting affidavits of Mr Erway and Mr Moats, respectively. However, the JPLs now consider that NWIC’s financial position is significantly worse than the Court was originally advised. This situation would appear to have arisen due to the claims on the VSCs being significantly greater in value than the original reserve amounts that were set aside to meet expected losses. Furthermore, NWIC’s recording of operations did not keep pace with its expanding business.

Warranty Gold, was approached by NWIC towards the end of 2002 for financial assistance in order to address a funding shortfall on some of Warranty Gold’s books of business. The shortfall was to be funded primarily out of revenue expected to be produced from the selling of future VSCs. Without an improvement in the VSC claims ratio, it was only a matter of time before NWIC’s assets and future revenue became insufficient to meet its liabilities.

vmbfan

my contract was dated late may. just found out about NWIC's financial problems last week. called my visa company, and they said since i'm still paying for it, and the contract hasn't kicked i yet (my car's still under manufacturers warantee) that they can dispute all my charges back to may. I just have to fill out some paperwork documenting all the charges.

i then called WG back to cancel, under the advice of visa. After telling them i wanted to cancel, WG actually said that they can switch me to the new underwriters. The person i spoke with said he's sure this is possible, he just didn't know if there were going to be additional charges. Someone from sales is suppose to call me back tomorrow. In the mean time, I'll be filling out those cancellation forms.

Hope this helps. I'd be curious to see what they come back with. But I'm pretty sure I'll be canceling this policy regardless. Good luck.

kab243

I purchased WG contract in March 2003 with my Capital One Visa. In May I had an accident and my car was totaled. In the beginning of June I cancelled the contract. Since I did not receive my money back from the WG I contacted the CC and disputed the charge. The CC deposited the charge back to my account. However, a couple days ago I received a letter from the CC saying:
“We have new information about the disputed charge on your Capital One account…. The merchant provided additional proof that the charge is valid. As a result, we have re-billed your account for that amount… We have also enclosed the additional information we received in the form of a merchant rebuttal for your review. If you disagree…, please feel free to send us your response…”.

Anyone else had this situation? Should I continue this dispute or just let it go? Any advice would be highly appreciated.

jratcliffe

Does the contract say that, in the event of the loss of the car, the contractholder is entitled to a pro-rata refund? If so, I'd say you have a good case to get back whatever portion of the warranty you haven't "used." In other words, if you bought a warranty that added three years onto the warranty on your car, and your car was totalled 18 mos into that 3 year period, you would be able to claim 1/2 of your money back.

garnes

GM card said that they are reversing most of my charges and that WG has 45 days to respond. So I guess I'll know for sure after 45 days where this will end. GM card said that they did not anticipate a response from WG. However they could be totally wrong on that. I'll wait and see. But for now, I'm very encouraged.

Sounds like your card gives the merchant an unlimited amount of time to come back with something.

I also agree with jratcliffe.

By the way, could you PLEASE share with us what the rebuttal from WG was?????????????????? That has to be the basis for your situation and your reason for posting. I can't see why you wouldn't share that so that at the very least we can all put our heads together and shoot a big hole through the middle of what WG said.

I think if you get rid of a car, or it is totaled, you are entitled to "cancel" and you can get the fraction of what's left on your policy - starting from 0 miles. In other words if you have 50k on the car and the policy was for X years and 100k, then your looking at 50% back. Was the car's mileage close to the end of the warranty limits?

Anyway, WG can play the pro-rate game all it wants with "cancellations". However, for those of us that bought a policy and find ourselves without coverage indefinitely, I have to submit that IT'S NOT ME/US THAT "CANCELLED THE POLICY". WG HAS EFFECTIVELY CANCELLED THE COVERAGE OR IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE LOSS OF COVERAGE DUE TO THEIR INVOLVEMENT WITH NIWC. THEY SOLD A POLICY THAT DID NOT PROVIDE THE COVERAGE STATED AND CONTRARY TO WHAT THEY LIKE TO SAY, THEY DID NOT MEET THEIR CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS. THEY took my money, THEY entrusted NIWC with that money.

kodaman

How can anybody give even the slightest consideration to laying out $$$ to a company that can sell your contract to a third party? What is to prohibit the SAME thing from repeating. They took my $$$-sold the contract to Joe the Crook-Joe put the $$$ in his pocket and declared bankruptcy. Now those of us that got screwed can only complain on this board and hope.

vmbfan

got a call from WG sales today. they offered to switch me to the new underwriters. i originally had a 7/70 diamond plan, they offered to switch to a 5/75 without charge. or pay an additional $300 for the old coverage.

what do you guys think? as slimy as i think they've been with all this, it's probably a safe bet they're not going to let the same thing happen twice. So if not WG, anyone have any recommendations as to another extended warranty company?

jennyk4

There is no way I would give WG one more cent. And before I considered a new administrator, I would read their contract with the assistance of legal counsel. Bet you they will not document their phone conversation with you. Try asking them and let us know.

mightyzr2

You guys should SERIOUSLY read this article

NWIg is pointing fingers at WG again. WG is fully responsible for paying our claims 100% at this point. It is in legal court documents.

http://www.nwig.com/notice%20to%20VSC%20holders.pdf

smz2

Got my good news today from American Express , they charged my account one month's pro-rata ($14) and I am relieved! Rarely have I purchased add-on warranties and now I will not be tempted again!

njlexus

Thanks for the link mightyzr2. At this point it is just a bunch of finger pointing, but if this statement by NWIG is accurate, then how will WG be able to continue to defend their position.

At the very least, I will be sending this one page statement to the CC company to further defend my charge dispute.

cwadster

Thanks to Edmunds for providing this forum and everybody here who suggested disputing the charges with the CC company. I bought my policy 10/2002 and paid in full. I called Capital One last month and disputed the charge. They had me write them a letter explaining the situation and then asked for some more info, which I sent to them also. Well, last week I got a letter from Capital One stating that they have refunded my entire charge!! Of course, this is providing that WG doesn't provide them with new evidence within 45 days of the date of the chargeback. I'll keep my fingers crossed, but for now I am so glad to be out of this mess! I have learned my lesson, though. Never again will I buy an extended warranty from ANYBODY but the manufacturer.

infinia1

Since Shelly hasn't responded to any of our requests for information about debit card refunds, i've been doing more research on my own, with help from my sister who is a personal banker, though at a different bank than mine. although we are in the preliminary stages of research, she says we are owed the refund according to visa regulations. she says a "reg e" form is to be filled out disputing the charge. she has access to more information that i am not allowed to see but she will inform me of what else she discovers tonite. i will post here then.

infinia1

i have an appointment with a banker tomorrow to discuss the situation. i find it works better to talk face to face rather than with some unknown over the phone that will just try to blow me off. please...does anyone have any suggestions of what i should take with me as proof of wg not honoring our contracts, such as letters, postings, websites, etc? i'd like to be well prepared. i will post what happens here, in case it may be of help to anyone else. thanks.

cstrom1

I have spoken with the Attorney General's office of MN. Unfortunately, they cannot do anything because they have only received 12 complaints. If anyone here is from MN I urge you to go to this link and fill out a complaint form or call the Attorney General's office. They need at least a couple of hundred complaints before they will do anything. I have also included the link to the MN dept. of Commerce site for complaints. Please send in a complaint to them also if you are a Minnesota resident. If we do not get enough complaints sent in they will do nothing about this. Everyone else on this list from other states the same applies. Please send complaints to your respective Attorney General's Office, Dept. of Commerce, and your respective state legislator. If we do not complain enough then these agencies will not do much to help us.

Here are the links for MN residents.

http://www.ag.state.mn.us/contact/Default.htm

http://www.state.mn.us/cgi-bin/portal/mn/jsp/content.do?id=-53688- 1350&subchannel=null&sc2=null&sc3=null&contentid=- 536884759&contenttype=EDITORIAL&programid=536884659&a- gency=Commerce

cstrom1

What customer service rep did you get?? I just tried the same thing and they totally refused to give me a new warranty. They said that it is illegal to mix monies, to use money from NWIG to pay for a contract with their new administrator. These guys are obviously sending very mixed signals, I wonder how long before WG declares bankruptcy??

riggi

Everyone that has an outstanding claim with Warranty Gold should file a complaint with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.

http://www.license.state.tx.us/ComplaintsOnline/

As a Vehicle Protection Provider, Warranty Gold is regulated by the state of Texas. TDLR is investigating Warranty Gold and other 3rd party warranty companies.

garnes

Just call WG and ask for something in writing explaining the situation. That's what I did and used. They e-mailed it to me.

vmbfan

cstrom1

I don't think we're suppose to post names here. They forwarded me to a guy specializing in moving the contracts after they verified I was eligible. (whatever that means)

They only offered to switch me after i asked to cancel. They also said it was cause my contract date was only a week before the 6/9 deadline, and probably cause i've only finished paying for half of it.

doesn't matter though, since my credit card co offered to give me a charge back for all of it, i'm going to take my money and run.

I can email you his name if you'd like.

cstrom1

My WG contract was a year old with 5 years left. That probably why they would not offer me a new contract. Your money was probably never deposited in the TRA account at NWIG so WG still had access to it since it was only a week before the June 9th deadline.

Anyway I am going to pursue the credit card option myself. They will initially debit the charge back to your card and then WG has 30-45 days to dispute the charge. If they do not dispute the charge then you have your money back.

mikefm58

I too purchased my WG contract with a debit card in Oct. 2002. My credit union says I'm out of luck. They say the fraud policies for debit card purchases fall under the credit union policies and not under VISA's policies. Let me know what you found out. I'll also go to my credit union in person to see if there's any other way.

njlexus

I'm curious why you say to register for the class action ONLY IF ALL ELSE FAILS. Is there any negative to joining a class action?

I spoke with the law firm, but have not signed anything official yet?

hightorq

I own two worthless WG policies and my son owns one. I filed a dispute claim on my American Express for a full WG refund , they said 4 to 6 weeks til I would know what happens. I consider the WG policies worthless and expect nothing. Meanwhile I have a high end car (99 E320 Benz) with no warranty. I read everything I could find, got quotes from 10 places, made phone calls, checked references, read everything again -- I ended up with 5 pounds of paper in a folder but went with Auto Warranty Broker. Wish me luck, I;ll need it. Warranty Gold was as good as gold to me for five years with different cars but I'll bet you they are goin' down --this criminal mess will only end one way -- we are screwed.

johnny967

according to this, they state the following:

"Until March of 2003, NWIG was "A-" rated by A.M. Best, a rating agency for insurance companies. In addition, National Warranty was one of only two Risk Retention Groups that specialized in automobile extended service contracts rated by A.M. Best."

So what happened in April, May, & June??? Did WG decide to gamble with us and say, "Hey let's see what happens!" ???

They had almost 3 months to get on the ball and they dropped it! Now they want to play innocent middle-man and point the finger at NWIG?

It's time to let a small claims Judge decide as I've had it with this waiting game they choose to play!

js34

Best advice on here: "If you get too worked up, your life will be miserable."

WG Diamond 5/100k policy on 2/03 with $349 down and $137/mo for 10 months=$1710 on a debit card. It was still rated AMBest A-.

On 10/12/03 stopped the remaining 2 payments on my debit card and cancelled the policy, and got in line for a prorated refund of what I paid so far. I feel for those who paid cash up front.

I figured: $1710 total / 60 months = $28.50/mo.
         : Prorated 7 mo. X $28.50 = $199.50
         : Spent to date = $1445.00
         : Refund due = $1245.50
         : Refund expected = $0.00
         : Value of Edmunds as an
           outlet instead of the wife = $1 million

So thanks to Edmunds for keeping this thread.

And I wish everyone knowingly involved at WG, NWIG, and A.M. Best gets passed around in prison.

My Town Car needed its first WG repair 10/10/03 and while discussing it at Crownvic.net (panther platform forum) the guys gave me a heads-up on WG. A sincere thanks!

WG said I could buy a used policy now and that it would be significantly more $$$. No transfer. So far they have been courteous, and emailed as promised.

My beef to date: 1. Noone is honoring the policy.
                 2. They have $1245 tied up.
                 3. WG/NWIG never said a word.
                 4. WG continued to withdraw $$ out of my account after the 10/10/03 "No further claims accepted" date.

When 10,000 private lawyers get a hold of this the judge will shove them all into a class action suit anyway. It isn't worth a private lawyer at this level.

If the attorney filing class-action wishes to contact my email, feel free to do so.

Best wishes to all! End of rant.

jhungness

I was looking into class action myself and figured out that they are only out for themselves. Attorney's automatically get 33% of any monies and it bumps up to about 40% or something like that if you have to go to court. Then if theirs any money left over everyone of us gets a piece of that pie. Someone do the math, it's not my forte! You can only file a civil suit if you live in that county and because I purchased mine by looking on the internet and then calling my purchase is considered in Texas, so guess where you have to file? And again you can't file unless you live there. I posted an item a month or so ago about claiming this on your taxes as a bad debt business loss. I'll try to find the post. I will atleast get something. I'm the poor fool who basically paid by automatic withdrawl and now I get to pound sand. WG is horrible and will go out of business. They are terrible people and if God has his way I'm sure they'll be in a firey pit some day. Luke 16:10 says, If you cheat even a little, you won't be honest with greater responsibilities.

Honest dealings reveal your true character. WG, put that in your pipe and smoke it!

jhungness

Tax Purposes by jhungness Sep 11, 2003 (11:27 am)
Someone suggest checking into Nonbusiness Bad Debt for tax purposes.

Here's the skinny: I talked to my tax person and they said that you can claim this on taxes as a Nonbusiness Bad Debt. You will need: Original contract, proof you paid it and then proof that it is useless.

I told her there's no way WG is going to send anyone a letter saying: so sorry we screwed you and you're now out of luck. She says you don't need that. She says I can use my article that I was in, in the Chicago Tribune (others might be able to use the same article) then get a written statement from your mechanic saying that they called in to make a claim and service was denied because of NWIG being found insolvent.

You won't get back all of your money, but whatever tax bracket you fall into is what you will get back. So if you fall into the 15%, 30% etc. you will get that percentage of the total amount up to $3000 for this year and then next year you can claim the rest if it is more then $3000. Call your tax preparer to confirm this. I use Jackson Hewitt.

jhungness

Go on the WG website and then NWIG website and print their finger pointing. Should be proof enough.

cstrom1

If anyone is interested in the attorney's phone# that is doing the class action lawsuit, please e-mail me and I will send it to you. They also have a web page that I will send you the link for. Just click on my name above in this post and e-mail me. It seems my previous post with the phone# for this law office was deleted from this message group so I assume it was a no-no. So e-mail me and I will send it to you.

cstrom1

Here is a web site that might help www.gerardlaw.com . This is the guy that is forming the class action lawsuit against WG.

smaco2

I too am caught up in this mess, bought a $1620.00 policy and still owe $700.00. Right now I am out $920.00 but in the process of filing a dispute with the Mastercard.

One thought, Warranty Gold can claim all they want that our money is tied up at NWIG, but I do believe the legal system will tell them, it was not our money they deposited, it was Warranty Gold's money. I feel the only way Warranty Gold could not be forced to honor the contracts or refund our monies is if they in fact filed for protection. Keep up the rant and raving, because eventually if Warranty Gold wants to remain in buisness they will have to clean this mess up. I find it hard to believe this company continued to charge my credit card and not disclosing this information sooner than 5 months from when they knew they had a problem. This will be the last 3rd party warranty I will ever buy.

rainman168

I'm with you, SMACO2. To notify the contractholders almost 4 months after claims are no longer being paid is unexcusable. I made 3 $130 payments without receiving anything. To think what I could have done with that money makes me sick and disgusted to my stomach. I am in the process of filing a dispute with my credit card company back to June at least. Thanks for letting me vent.

mikefm58

You two guys can get some of your money back from your credit card company. Some of us paid with a debit card and we're totally out of luck. There are significant differences regarding fraud like this between credit and debit cards. I paid $904 last October and so far I've found no avenue where I can recoup some of my losses. I too will NEVER buy any kind of 3rd party warranty.

cstrom1

Just some info I found while researching into aawarranty.com . The contract on their web page said it was administered by Millenium Investors in Bedford, TX. I could not find this company anywhere, so I put in the listed 800# from the contract page on the BBB web site and it came up with "Member Care Services" in Bedford, TX. and Reliance Insurance Company in Alpharetta, GA. The BBB listed Reliance as unsatisfactory. Member Care Services had hardly no info as it only showed up on the BBB site on August 11th, 2003. When I entered in the address for Reliance in Alpharetta, GA. a totally different company came up in Google. Also this Member Care Services administers contracts for www.bestwarranty.com as well as www.firstcallmotorclub.com and www.rvdiscountwarranties.com. I still have to do a search on the BBB for the above mentioned warranty resellers, but just looking at what I found it sounds like the administrator has changed names and I cannot find hardly anything about them. I guess I am going to also steer clear of these companies when looking for a warranty. The best bet is to either go with manufacturers extended warranty offer e.g. GM or Chrysler, or just put $2,000.00 into a good mutual fund and then withdraw it when you need repairs.

Makes you wonder if any 3rd party extended warranty companies are above board. Guess I had to learn a $1600.00 lesson the hard way.

cstrom1

I did a search on the address of Member Care Services in Bedford, Texas and this company was listed at that address. Here is their link, I will let you judge for yourselves.

http://www.warrantech.com/auto/overview.asp

jratcliffe

Blood from a stone. If a judge were to tell Warranty Gold that it had to refund everybody's money, they'd just throw up their hands and go bankrupt. The money's tied up with NWIG, and if WG can't get it back from them, they can't get it back to you. Frankly, those of you who have NWIG-WG warranties and can't get cc refunds should be doing everything you can to help WG sell new warranties - without the revenue flow of an ongoing company, you'll never be made whole.

quigonjohn

When I signed up with aawarranty.com, I had a choice between 2 plans, each administered and insured by separate companies. The one I chose was backed by Great American Ins. Co., as I indicated. Warrantech of Florida is the Plan Administrator, but it says right on the Contract, "The obligations of the provider under the Vehicle Service Contract are insured by a policy issued by Great American Insurance Company, 49 East 4th St, 9th Flr, Cincinnati, OH, 45202. Should Warrantech Automotive of Florida, Inc., fail to pay a claim within sixty (60) days after proof of loss has been filed, you may file a claim directly with the Insurance Company."

jratcliffe - thing is, I doubt WG ever plans to pay our claims or give us refunds, unless they do get their money out of NWIG. Otherwise they would have already started paying off at least those who have actually complained or cancelled and demanded refunds.

Just so you know I wasn't trying to mislead anyone and I am not a representative of aawarranty or any other parties. And I am another victim of the WG failure.

cmikego

I purchased a Diamond policy in May and got the e-mail notification about NWIG last month. I called WG and they said they could transfer me to a new policy/ new (A+) underwriter--crediting what I have paid already--with total cost $116 more than my original policy. I would have 10 payments of $74 to go. Anyone have similar offers ? What do you think of this offer?

cstrom1

I bet you purchased it in late May, right? Other's have been offered the same deal that purchased around that time. I purchased my contract in June, 2002 and I tried to get this offer and was told no way could they offer me this deal as my money was at NWIG. They probably never deposited your money in the TRA at NWIG so they can still access all the money you paid for this warranty.

You could take them up on their offer to get transferred over to the new provider and then cancel that contract and you would be assured of getting your money back unlike the rest of us who are stuck with NWIG.

Just my two cents worth.