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I purchased a 72 month extended car warranty from Signet Financial Group on 11/26/04. The warranty was refundable if there were no claims on the warranty. There were no claims so in July of 2009 I requested a warranty refund in writing via regular mail. I did not recieve any information, so in September of 2009 I sumbitted another request and sent via certified mail. I recieve a letter back saying I was not a customer.
After several phone calls, message left and no response I finally did get ahold of someone live. We found out they had my information incorrectly in their system. I was then told my request had to be sent 30 days from the end of my term and I did not do that.
The term on my contract clearly states 72 months purchased on 11/26/04. My notice in July and September are well within that 30 day notice. Apparently Signet claims my term actually started on 6/13/03, a year and a half prior to me even purchasing the vehicle. How is that possible? How can someone purchase a 72 month extended warranty on a vehicle a year and a half prior to them even owning the vehicle?
That said, my July notice would still be sufficiant notice. Signet asked for a copy of the letter which I sent. They then said it wasn't good enough and I would need to provide a copy of the postmarked envelope or a certified reciept. The letter was sent to them, they have the postmarked envelope, I can't provide that to them, it's already in their possesion. Secondly, the July request was sent via regular mail, there is no certified reciept. I is not required to send requests certified per their own contract but yet they ask for it as proof.
This company is intentially deceptive on their contracts to avoid refunding warranties. A live person never answers, you only get voice mail and they rarely, if ever, call you back.
Ty Tyson-
Yes you would think if I purchased a 72 month warranty on 11/26/04 that I would have until 11/26/10 to request a refund, however that isn't the case. Signet claims that the 72 month warranty actually started at the "inception date", the date the vehicle was first put into service, a year and a half before I even owned it. I appears that I never really did buy a 72 month warranty or I some how managed to buy the warranty a year and a half before I even owned the vehicle? However, I did send a request to Signet for a refund in July which they 'never recieved" now they claim they don't owe me a refund. Doc R. is 100% correct in saying that Signet gives you the runaround and drags things out for months, that is actually an understatement. Best I can tell, Signets entire business model is to use intentially deceptive contracts and make customer jump through several firey hoops to get the refund and if all else fails, delay, delay, delay. In addition, their customer service is terrible. It is almost impossible to get anyone in the organization to return a phone call. In fact, I finally was able to speak with the president of Signet to complain about the poor customer service I recieved as well as my warranty refund situation and he has yet to call me back after he said he would research the situaiton and call me back. This was a month ago and I have left him a message as well as sent an email.
I have been working with the president of SFG for the last several months now. It hasn't been any more successful that working with the staff members. Case in point, I sent him an email 3 weeks ago and have made three calls directly to him since then and I am still waiting for a response. This is not the first time I have had to send multiple emails and make several phone calls before I finally get a response from the SFG president. He has also inacurrately reviewed my case information by looking at documentation from my bank by the date they sent me the information rather than the date within the actual body of the letter from the bank. Basically, he didn't even bother to read the letter! He just looked at the date they sent it to me and didn't even read what they wrote. After dealing with SFG for almost a year, it seems pretty apparent that their business model is to delay payment or make the customer jump through so many firery hoops that they don't have to give the refund. They are hoping that most people will just give up and then they can keep your money. FYI, the presidents name is Gregg Lehman and the contact information is glehman@signet-financial.com, [protected] ext. 102. By the way, in my last message from him, he was upset that I reached out to warn other customers via sites like this one and "[redacted]". It seems as if he feels I should not have done this but this company is intentionaly deceptive to customers and everyone needs to know!
It took almost a year (short by about two weeks) but I finally received my refund. I had to really keep at it and call and send emails every week. I also submitted complaints to the BBB and the AG's office. If you are due a refund from SFG, do not give up. Keep after them to get your money.
It took me almost a year and I needed to call and email every week before I got my money back. Even when I did get my money back they tried to say they were doing me a favor by giving me my money back because, according to their records, I didn't meet the requirements for the refund. Keep fighting, keep calling.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Just a follow up. I was supposed to get a phone call back from someone on Tuesday, which of course never happened. I then called them twice to no avail. On Wednesday morning, I called up and talked to a supervisor. She tried to tell me how they are busy and have lots going on, etc. I reminded her that its not acceptable for one of her people to brush me off like he did. I then got connected to the same guy. He started saying that he put in the request for a second check to be sent out but the accounting group hadn't gotten to it yet and I should take it up wih them. Anyways, I got prety angry with the guy and told him that that is not my job, to run around their company playing phone tag. I then told him that I live 160 miles away and can be on his front door step in a matter of 2 hours. After I started saying that, he said to wait a half hour. He then called back, which I let my voice mail get, in which he gave me a check number and a routing number for UPS, sending the check to me. I called back, talked to him, and verified. I did get the check yesterday and immediately deposited it. It does seem to have cleared which amazes me.
So, if you are in the boat that I was and am being promised your check, but it miraculously does not show up, you have to almost hound them for a result. Demand that your check be reissued and sent with a tracking number that you get. You will probably get resistance and have to hound them for that, but it forces the issue.
I did some research on these people and the Better Busines Bureau review is a joke. Gee, perhaps a little palm greasing going on there too. It states that there have been 200+ complaints over the last couple of years. I really wish people would follow up on the comlaints. There must be more. Anyways, the response or resolution tends to read something like "the customers are too stupid to read their contract and its not Signets fault". I just about had a vein pop out when I read that. If there is a company I have dealt with in recent times who definitely do not work in good faith, this company is it. They find every possible avenue to make a refund fail. Then, if their "process" resolves and someone is due a check, they "schedule" your check at least 60 days from that date. I haven't looked but there may be some clause in thier contract that says they have 60 days to pay. In my case, they went past the 60 days by essentially lying and saying they had sent a check. I was unable to get the original check number from the guy.
Long story short. My check has been deposited and it appears to be good. Now, I would like to do some follow up against these people. I want to jump hoops and file a BBB complaint. I suspect it will go nowhere. Then, I want to take the resolution of that complaint, and I want to file somethng with the CA State Attorney General's office against Signet and I want to invlove the BBB as well. I have a hard time believing they could give this company an A+ rating. Its despicable. I also am collecting a list of dealerships in my area and near where this company is in Vacaville, Ca. I want to query them to see if they are still dealing with Signet adn how they feel about selling a product from a company that essentially defrauds customers.
I will post things as I go along with them and results. If anyone else would like to follow suit with the formal complaints, please do so. It would definitely help.
I am now nine months into the process. My refund was scheduled to be sent this month. Yesterday I called to get the status and was told my documentation was in sufficient or never received. Later in the day they said my paperwork was stapled to some other persons by mistake and now had to be sent off yet again for approval (60 more days of waiting). I was also assured that the people responsible for the mistake were no longer with the company. I am now going to pursue a lawsuit against them and the dealer that sold the warranty.
I have been looking for my refund since the policy expired in July. I have passed all the hurdles, and finally, the check was cut and mailed on January 18, 2011. Today is January 31, and gosh, what do you think? No check! Based on what I read above, I think they have a thief in their mail room!
These folks are chiselers. The whole game is a scam. First, they hope you forget, and fail to file for the refund in the narrow window provided. If you don't send your paperwork registered, it will never get there, and you lose.
Just came across this thread. I have been in the process of trying to get my refund since September 2010. I submitted my paperwork and tracked everything. After batting the mail back and forth with Signet two times, everying was in their court. I called once a month and finally in November, they said that I had been approved for a refund. So, then they said that they would schedule my refund for January 14th, 2011. I was ticked, but what can I do. Just happens that its just about 120 days on the nose, the number they keep going by. So, I bugged them again on the 14th. They said that it was scheduled to be sent off. I waited two weeks and no check. I called them again and was told it was sent and I may want to wait a few more days since they would need to void the check in the mail. I waited until this week, the 28th of January. Nothing. I called them up this afternoon and told them what was going on. THey said they would rip another check. I told them they would do that right now, and they would also be overnighting the check and getting me a tracking number for the shipment. The guy then said that nobody was in the office to be able to sing a check. Its Friday now and the guy said that he would get me a tracking number for a check that would be sent on Tuesday. I was ticked to say the least. So, I seriously doubt that any check was sent in early June. When I mentioned that they better send a check overnight with tracking, the guy never even argued or tried to justify it being missing "in the mail". You can get mad with them and its almost like there is an unspoken knowing between both of you that they are not dealing in good faith. This company is a rip off. It sounds like if I wait long enough, I may get my check, but this is rediculous. I haven't gone to the dealership where I got it from originally, but I am tempted to see if they are still offering these warranties from these folks.
All I can say is that I am glad I never needed to actually use the warranty because I would hate to think what the run around would be if any kind of process for a claim included them. No way this bunch should be in business. Just have to be patient. Not sure of any other remedies someone can have with them. There really is not much to threaten them with.
We finally received our refund check, something I never thought would actually happen. They supposedly sent a check December 24th and we never saw it. I can guarantee they never sent that one! We had to wait 10 business days for them to be willing to reissue a new check. So after those 10 days, I called every single day, left messages and waited countless amounts of time on hold until they finally wrote a check. We received it January 20th. So I say keep on top of them and make sure you get your money back! Good luck to everyone, this whole process took us 7 months!
We are going through it now. We submitted everything we thought they wanted, only to find out that one of the forms was incorrect. We had to go to the dealer to get the exact one they wanted. We resubmitted, and a then made multiple follow up calls. None of the reps we spoke to ever made it sound like there was a problem, until today, 3.5 months after starting this process, we received a letter from them stating that we missed their 30 day window by 5 days because of the form we had to resubmit. What irks us is that we wouldn't have even known we were missing a form unless we had called and followed up. This really is a joke. All of the hoops they ask you go through just to submit the application, and then all the run-around afterwards. We brought this up with the dealer (a Ford Dealer in Salt Lake), and got pretty much the same response as others have posted - the dealer acted surprised like they'd never heard any negative feedback about them before. The worst part? The warranty we bought, wasn't from Signet, but the original holder must have resold it to them, so the terms we're being asked to abide by with Signet, were not the terms given by the original company. Why hasn't any legal action been taken? I saw on California's Consumer Protection site that financial services aren't something they get involved with. Why!?
They are such hypocrites. If you are 1 day past your 30 days for sending in your application for refund the refund is void! If you don't do anything they ask you to do perfectly, within thier timeframe then the refund is void! Yet thier promise to refund and refund within 60 days very rarely if ever happens. Seems like they hold others to a much different standard to which they hold themselves.
I am so incredibly glad I found this site, now I don't feel alone, and now I know that I am being screwed along with everyone else! I started the refund process June 18, 2010. Today is January 8, 2011 and no check. We actually made it through the process, which I now know is a miracle in itself. We were told that our check was mailed December 27 and they were so surprised when I called time after time with no check in the mail. Yesterday we were told that Monday they will cancel the old check and write us a new one. I will be calling Monday and letting them know that I am contacting the AG and BBB and that I want my money by the end of the week. This is so angering and so lame, I can't even believe it. I better get my money...
I just read the back of my Toyota "Extended Service Agreement" and my Signet Financial "Service Contract Refund Agreemnt". They have conflicting information in them and they are obviously structured so it's impossible for you to get a refund. The sales people don't even understand what they are selling. They sell what Signet tells them. It's obvious they don't actually read any of that tiny fine print on the back and ask questions. Maybe any sales agent willing to sell it should have to buy one for themselves so they can see what the experience is really like! I will be blasting the Dealership with calls, faxes and emails regarding this warranty for the next 2 years. They will be sorry the ever sold this to me...belive me :)
I finally received my check in full from Signet. It was mailed on Nov. 29. It took over two weeks to receive in the general mail. But before all of this could happen the General Manager of the dealership cut a check to me directly for the full amount of the refund promised by Signet. He did this with a hand shake agreement that I would endorse the check if and when I received it. I kept my end of the agreement.It is a very good feeling when a reputable car dealership stands behind the products they sell (as they should). The G.M. assured me that Signet will no longer be offered at their dealership. Apparently I am straw that broke the camels back, so to speak. The complaints are coming from multiple people. I am fortunate the dealership went to bat for me. Multiple phone calls were made to Signet that eventually led to a direct phone call from the president of Signet to me. It is my strong opinion that I would not have been so fortunate if it weren't for the G.M. taking up my cause.
What a pain in the [censor]!... Fist of all start with the dealership. If that doesn't work...Lawyer up!
GOOD LUCK!
I have a Signet warranty scheduled to expire in August 2011. After reviewing these comments, I will begin the process now and make sure I have all my documents and a plan in place. I will contact an attorney to discuss the process, the attorney might provide help for a bit of financial compensation. A percent of the refund might be a good solution instead of personally fighting Signet for months or a year. Thanks for all of the comments.
This company appears to have financial issues to say the least. I would like to suggest that instead of a scam perhaps this company is another business treading water and going down for the count. Are there people who actually followed through and filed any concerns with authorities or the parent company?
Yes the system is hard to beat. The little people like us (the consumer)really don't have much of a voice. I guess this forum is our voice and if posting here stops someone from purchasing a Signet warranty, that is a small victory. Thanks for your support!
And to top it off the Better Business Bureau gives Signet a high grade! I guess the special on 20/20 (I think) regarding how the BBB grades companies is true. They were able to show if a company paid BBB their fees you recieved a good grade no matter how many complaints you had! Good luck on getting your money as we never did.
Just the pissed off guy venting some more,
Today is Nov. 30th. Still no check. Imagine that! Signet states they mailed the check on Nov 26th and it is on it's way. Lets see, do the math...Aug.22 - Nov. 30th=100 days and counting. 100+ days to process a check and send a refund. Who can run a business this way. I am going to call all of my creditors today and tell them my next payment will be in the mail in exactly 100 days. See how far that gets me. Had I been born a century ago I would round up a posse and head to vacaville! Phone calls have been made almost daily to the Signet crooks and they assure me the check was mailed Nov. 26th, even though they were closed that day for the holidays. I have spoke with the dealership and they assure me I will get my money.
If any dealership tells you they are selling a Signet backed warranty ...Run as fast as you can!
Well don't feel bad everyone I bought my vette in 2004 and thought this warranty will really be neat you know get back money after you pay off your car. That was the problem the warranty ran out exactly one year before my car was paid off and of course the car dealership had lead me to believe that I would get my refund after my car was paid for. Well I should have read the amounts of months because my loan was 72 months and the warranty was for 60 so I am just sick I could have had my refund a year ago. But from what I hear it takes along time to get anything out of this company. I think the car dealership should have to be responsible for part of this.
Wow, I feel vindicated reading all of the complaints. Now I don't feel alone. My wife purchased a fully refundable warranty in her name for a used vehicle. We sent the information Signet requested in the requested time frame. They promplty sent a request via mail stating we were missing one piece of the puzzle. This missing info was returned to them and they recieved it on Aug. 22, 2010. The date of this writing is Oct 25, 2010. Still getting the run around. Through the first several phone calls we made they state they did not "process our paperwork until the first week in Sept". From that date they told us it would take 6 to 8 weeks to receive our refund. After contacting them today they state the "date of refund notifications take place on the 15th and 30th of every month". They also state our date of refund will take place on Nov 15th not Oct 30th. When they are asked why not Oct 15th (since it is at the end of the 6 to 8 week period, more like 9 weeks) they state they do not have an answer. This pushes the date out to approx. 10 to 12 weeks. On Nov 15th they state they will contact us(Also stated, "Do not contact us.") From there Signet states they have 60 days to pay the claim if were are awarded one.
I am red hot mad and feel this is criminal at best. These people take our money. OUR MONEY and do with it what they want. They apparently give the run around to everyone. They most certainly have not heard the last of me. I contacted the dealership today and spoke with a sales person about the delima. He states he has not heard of any complaints ( which I find hard to believe!), but he will look into it and call me back. Since the Signet people will not deal with me the car dealership will. Some one has to be held accountable for these criminals! I will keep everyone posted.
Signed, A very pissed off customer!
I too signed up for Signets extended warranty agreement. Luckily I perused the documentation a month before the timed expiration. The hurdles they put me through were outrageous! I also checked out their BBB standings and was amazed at the amount of people who were unsatisfied. I did all they required and on time. I did however send several of their prerequisites through the mail BUT I also sent them by certified mail. The paltry cost and inconvenience were well worth it. To those who dont know, you must provide current registration, original contract, original invoice showing extended warranty payment in full and a picture of the vehicle showing current tags along with a picture of your current drivers license. Do all this and send it CERTIFIED! I was approved for refund six weeks ago but just got my check today. I will never do business with this company again. Good luck to all who purchased through this company...
Is there anyone interested in pursuing a class action lawsuit against Signet Financial? It appears that they are engaging in fraudulant practices, and that there are an abundance of complaints against them. I am trying to obtain my refund after contacting Signet. I missed the 30-day contract window by 18 days, with a number of extenuating circumstances. My Toyata dealer advised me to write to Signet explaining my situation. I was denied a refund. I cannot reach the refund manager, by phone. I am now prepared to contact the president of my Toyota dealership and inquire as to why they are promoting the sale of extended contracts by a disreputable company. After my bad experience dealing with Signet, I did a quick Google search on "Signet Financial" and the fourth hit was this site with the complaintsboard. Also BBB came up, indicating a pattern of complaints.
Here's my question: Why is Toyata still promoting this product when thre is a pattern of complaints against them, all having to do with not providing refunds? How much of a commission is Toyota receiving? I would like my dealer to stand behind this contract, do the right thing, and refund my money.
I, too, will be contacting the FTC and the California State Attorney General. I am also contacting media to suggest a story on Signet, and any dealership which might be knowingly promoting the sale of extended warranties through Signet.
Keep up on it. We went through the BBB and Signet stopped responding so they just closed the case. I don't believe the BBB is worth anything other then putting another bad mark on this company. You also need to go through the Attorney General. Good Luck!
What I wouldn't give for hindsight on this issue. I am in the beginning stages, sent my first certified letter the day after the contract was completed. I am getting ready to send the second one at the 10 day mark. I am already going to file a complaint with the BBB and the Attorney General's Office as I do not want this to get away from me. I will send this information to the organization where I purchased the contract as well. The old adage "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is." fits this scenario to a "T". Good luck to everyone. I will keep you posted. CC in Oregon
A Honda dealer sophisticated me to buy a 60 month extended warranty from Signet Financial Group. I did 5 year ago. Now, it is very difficult to get the refund. Signet gives me only 30 days window, their instructions are not clear to follow. I prepared all documents and sent to them. Base on their instruction is "Copy OF DEALER SALES CONTRACT OR RECEIPT", I'd sent sales contract. After 4 months, they say, I'm missing receipt, my refund will be rejected.
I'll certainly log a record in Federal Trade Commission to complaint SFG.
This company needs to be stopped from making these profits with their games. I have contacted my dealer to let them know I blame them as well for selling me such a warranty with promises so good you'd be a fool not to take it. I paid my money paid interest on that money and now after jumping through all the hoops they tell me they haven't made a decision yet and we now have to wait another month! Now the contract they put together says we only have to wait 60 days and we've been waiting since April 2010. I will stay on this and take everyone down with me if needed. The dealer needs to jump in become involved also, and yes lets contact Jayco also let them know what the dealer is passing on with their well built product knowing we'd never need it. I tried to file on bbb but of course their site was down.
This company has quite the racket going on! We purchased a Subaru and opted for the extended warranty. We sent our claim in with Signet for a refund since we didn't use the warranty. We thought we had all the information they needed so we waited the 6 weeks they say it takes to get a check out before calling to see what was going on. This is where they tell us that we didn't get a letter from Subaru on their letter head in the time they alloted and denied our claim. We did send them what the dealership gave us but because it wasn't on their letterhead they wouldn't accept it. We are now fighting them through the BBB which has them rated as a A+ company?
Has anyone fought this company and won?
We are going through the same hoops. I will never never never purchase an extended warranty again because of this. I think I am acually going to send this information to some of the local news stations and see if they will help as well. I have done everything required (including taking a photo of the back of my vehicle). They know very well they owe you the money, but make it extremely difficult to get it back. They give us 30 days to apply, but they can take as long as they want or never give you the refund. I am glad to see at least one person finally received their refund!
We're in the same boat as all of you here. These scam artists are slick.
Have filed papers by certified mail with no feedback or actions taken. All phone calls to Scamnet Financial go straight to an answering machine that probably immediately purges the messages.
The dealers that sell this trash ought to be taken into accountability as well!
Let's see how this goes...
Has the president of SFG, been made aware of these delay in payments ?
suggest you personally contact him, normally that gets results
I guess we're all in the same boat! I submitted my application for refund in January of this year and every time my husband calls they have one reason or another. We have been approved for the refund and should receive it in 90 days which would have been April. He just so happened to call today and they told him the check will be issued on June 28!
I am NOT giving up on this but agree that it is just a bunch of BS they pull to hold on to your money.
I am also going to file a complaint with Toyota for sure!
I would further like to add that BBB has given the SIGNET A+ rating.
So a basic question is what is the credibility of this organization BBB?
Who is going to rate BBB?
See http://www.bbb.org/greater-san-francisco/business-reviews/auto-warranty-processing-service/signet-capital-corporation-in-vacaville-ca-36946
It is high time this scam should be brought to Us Attorney (or CA Attorney's) office.
This society is becoming full of financial scams-- so Bernard Madoff was not an isolated case. There continue to be many White-collar crimes and people are just not vigilant enough to take action.
Let's all take our cases to the US Attorney-- they are accessible via online too.
brutus1- Thanks for the heads up, we too purchased from St chales toyota with the same policey for the warrenty- We still have 12 days left to start the process, going to post office tomorrow am to send letter Certifiied mail. Hopefully we can get everything in order before it " too late". I would be interested to know when your refund comes! thanks!
I purchased a 5 year extended vehicle warranty from a Toyota dealership 5 years ago in St. Charles, Illinois. This was through a 3rd party provider, Signet Financial Group, in Vacaville, Ca. I notified them with-in the proper timeframe that I was requesting a refund as I did not use the policy and was told a refund would be due if I did not use it. The amount due is $1070. After resending my information twice through registered mail, my policy "matured" in November of 2009. Today is March 12 of 2010, and I have yet to receive my refund. I've left messages and send numerous emails, and the last communication I got from them is "Your appication has been recieved with all the required documentation. We are waiting for approval from our insurance provider."
It's been 6 months of work to pry MY money from their pockets. This is a scam at best, tell EVERYONE you know that this company is trying to make you slip so they can forfiet your money. No one answers the phone, and you can leave messages till your blue in the face, they don't call you back. I bet 80% of people that purchase this forget about it until it's too late. and the remaining 20% that work to get their money back get the run-around. I will give the Toyota dealership a call and dump on them as it's totally a scam.
I also bought an extended warranty from Signet, did not use it, filed for refund as required, and I am getting the runaround about my refund. I did speak to a live person (I filed for my return in Nov. 09 it ran out in Oct. 09) in December, they said I should see it in Jan. I called last week Jan 21 and spoke with another live person who said we received all your paperwork and it is on the "Review" desk right now. Then it will be sent to "insurance for approval"? They had no idea how long that might take, so beware something smells funny here.
I am confused. I understand after 72 months (6 years) you have a 30-day window. If you purchased on 11/26/04, wouldn't the 30-day window start on 11/26/10? Having just purchased the plan myself, it appears there are a few ways that Signet wouldn't have to pay. These include but aren't limited to: 1) if you use the extended warranty, 2) if you no longer own the car, 3) if you fail to keep and provide copies of documentation, 4) if the car isn't continuously registered, 5) if the car is totaled, or 6) if you miss the 30-day window after the 72 months.
Again, not trying to pick a fight. Just wondering why the date confusion? I am interested because I just bought one and if I'm never going to see my money, I'd like to cancelwhile I still can.