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Service Protection Direct review: Zero reliability

J
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11:31 pm EDT
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I recently had signed up for an extended warranty that I was from the start very skeptical about, but a few months later everything I thought about this company became true.

They offered me a month-to-month contract of $90 a month. My 2007 Honda Civic was COMPLETELY fine as I signed up for their plan. 60 days later, my engine starts making loud pulley noises and I realize that my AC compressor clutch needed to be replaced. And I was thankful that I had signed up for this warranty 2 months ago. However, when I brought it into the repair shop, my claim was denied. Here's what happened:

Day 1, I bring my car in for repair. The repair facility calls me saying that Service Protection Direct will be sending a mechanic to look at my car.

Day2-5, the mechanic doesn't show

Day 6, he shows up, finally

Day 7, they deny the claim.
I ask the Honda repair facility why it was denied, they said,

"Your warranty company said that you havent passed the waiting peroid of 45 days and you havent driven past 1000 miles from the date of the sign up"

I look back at my contract.
Date of sign up: 3/3/2011
Mileage recorded: 48085

I look at my car and today's date:
Current date: 5/5/2011
Mileage: 49300 (estimated)

so THAT WAS a LIE.

I call the warranty company: they say that my condition was pre-exisiting and that they could not cover it.

Here's where I get mad. They tell the dealership that I was still within my deferral peroid. They tell me that its a pre-exisiting condition. Two different stories.

me: "How do you guys know that its pre-exisiting?"
them: "We had a mechanic to check it out, he concluded that your condition occurred within your deferral peroid"
me: "but my car was running fine, it only started up late April"
them "sorry thats what the mechanic told us"

And I ask them to send a copy of the mechanics report. They said they can't give that out.

I ask them if I could speak with their Claims Officier (named Mark). This guy was rude, didn't give a single explanation as to why they concluded it to be pre-exisiting. It's becoming a the mechanic's word against mine type of deal.

I reason it out with him, I said
"I didn't know that this was a pre-exisiting condition. My engine hadn't made this kind of noise until recently. It might have been a pre-exisitng condition but i did not know about it. And if my engine breaks down, and you deny my claim saying that it was a preexisiting condition, you may be right, but my car had run over 2000+ miles with a slowly degrading engine. Would you guys deny the claim then saying that my engine wasn't up to par during the deferral peroid? HOW DO YOU GUYS ASSESS A PRE-EXISITING CONDITION?

His answer
Sorry, I can't help you

So the next thing I say is
Transfer me to sales, im getting off of this plan.

And so he did.

Zero reliability, Zero integrity, Customer service was terrible. Yes, they probably do fix cars, its not a scam, but these rats try in every way to turn the favor to themselves. It's sleazy and unethical.

No I do not approve of this company.
Save your monthly premiums, and when something does happen, you can fix your car with the money you saved. Rather than have these [censored]es handle your case with a relatively high chance of your claim being denied.

Regardless of what you think, an insurance company's target is to make profit. GOOD companies place the trust of the public before profits, and their reputations matter more. This one, unfortunately, will be willing to take your money at the expense of any trust and their integrity.

I won't be surprised to see that this company will struggle down the years. Please be wary of Protection Service Direct, please.

Update by jhuang37
May 07, 2011 6:52 am EDT

So it seems that one of the higher ups contacted me today wanting to know why my experience with SPD was so poor. I was surprised that I receieved this call and was grateful that someone on the other end was listening.

After several minutes of explaining the guy goes to talk to the claims officer (Mark) and calls me back saying that the claim will be paid.

I'm glad that there are some checks and balances it seems within this company. We'll see how everything turns out next week to see if this claim has really been covered. Stay tuned.

Update by jhuang37
May 26, 2011 3:11 am EDT

Consider this complaint resolved.

You have to be persistent. I had the chance to talk to one of the VPs there and he was able to arrange a payment for my claim.

There is accountability in this company, it seems. For a typical company though, there is a claims committee, whereas in my case there was one claims officer who single handedly makes the decisions. Therefore, if there is obvious foul play, it isnt the end of the world.

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