Alpha Warranty Services, Inc.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:I disagree with lack of lubrication and 2 quarts low for the basis of denying my claim. The service tech never told me I was down 2 quarts of oil. No warning lights were on the car. No smoke from exhaust indicating lack of oil. There was no oil leaks shown in the diagnostics. No other engine issues due to lack of oil. The service tech repeatedly told me that this should be covered by warranty and it was not due to my lack of lubrication. And that the warranty was using this as an excuse to avoid paying the claim. In fact the adjuster who came to look at the car approved the claim. Then it is denied at underwriting. How can you confirm actual quarts low? During the claims process oil was never added or drained & changed. No way to confirm it was 2 quarts low. The dipstick on a mini cooper, only reads 1 quart. How can you say it was down 2 quarts?Do you have a phone recording or written notes from my technician saying it was 2 quarts low?  Without proof, it is hearsay. In the warranty agreement, what constitutes lack of lubrication? There is no definition. Is it “X” amount of quarts of oil missing? The wording is too vague and subjective.  The timing chain is a known issue on a mini cooper. The tensioner is a defective part. Mini uses a metal timing chain rather than a “belt” made of composite materials. The reason for this is because unlike most cars that have a traditional timing belt made out of composite materials, MINI Cooper’s have a timing chain made out of straight up metal. Because it is located within the motor rather than in a safer environment and when it goes out, pieces of plastic and what not, is going to go flying around. Again, it is well documented issue for the Mini Cooper on the timing chain. There are 2 lawsuits active in NY and NJ courts on the dangers of the timing chain. There has been 500,000 cases with the timing chain problem.  BMW has a recall on this issue but for my claim, they said since I have the extended warranty through Alpha, they should cover it. And I agree
Sincerely,
Karen K[redacted]

Unfortunately I am unable to find an Alpha VSC under the name or phone number provide. Please provide us with your contact number so we can look into and address your concern.

Thank
you for contacting us about your concern, we regret to inform you that your
warranty service contract was canceled due to the modifications on your vehicle
such as; lowered suspension, aftermarket coil springs, shocks and struts and
the cold air intake system.  We understand the...

vehicle was purchased as is
with above mentioned modifications, however we are unable to warranty a vehicle
with aftermarket modifications of any kind, even if purchased with such. We do
apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. The service contract
states this exclusion under What Is Not Covered: ”#12. No
COVERAGE will be granted under this contract for any damage caused by failure
to maintain the VEHICLE to the standards of the manufacturer. This includes,
but is not limited to: failures resulting from aftermarket modifications.
Examples include, but are not limited to: suspension LIFT KITS (unless applicable
surcharge is applied), superchargers, nitrous oxide kits, GPS systems, lighting
accessories, stereo systems, headers, altered ignition system, altered engine
management systems, and free flow exhaust system, regardless if VEHICLE was
purchased with such.” You will
be refunded the retail cost of the service contract minus a $90 inspection fee
for your claim.  We appreciate your understanding.

To whom it may concern,After reviewing the claim, the sequence of event is as such. 10/21/16 8:49 am., the customer called in and started the claim. At that time she stated the car has been at the repair facility since 9/26/16 and they had told her they were waiting for us to send an engine for two...

weeks. This was an untrue statement on their part as no claim had ever been started by them. On 10/21/16 2:12 pm., Mercedes-Benz Manhattan called and started the claim. At that time we advised they needed to get authorization from the customer to tear down the engine to the point of failure and to call us back when it was torn down and ready for inspection. We didn’t hear back from Mercedes-Benz Manhattan until 11/3/2016 2:17 pm. At that time they asked where the inspector was and why he hadn’t been out yet. He was advised that we were waiting for his call to verify the vehicle was ready for inspection, and to send in the estimate of repair. The next contact from the RF was on 11/7/16 9:12 am.We then authorized the self-inspection so we didn’t have to wait for the 48 hours a third-party inspection would take.On 11/9/2016 we followed up with the RF as we hadn’t received the inspection photos as requested. They had sent them to the wrong email address. Later that day we reviewed the inspection pictures, and they did not demonstrate the failure and we had to order the third-party inspection anyway.   The inspection report was received on 11/11/16 10:18 am, reviewed and the claim was ready to authorize. We called the RF at 11:44 am and left a message the claim was ready for review and authorization. Mercedes-Benz Manhattan called back at 11:55 am and the adjuster explained the options available for the customer regarding the engine replacement. The customer then called in at 12:07 pm., to inquire about the warranty provided on the used engine that was available. We heard nothing back until the customer called on 11/15/16 upset because the RF had told her the engine had been ordered and should have been delivered by then. We had not heard back from the RF on her decision of what she wanted to do. The RF did call back about 15 minutes after the customer called and ordered the engine. It appears there have been multiple delays in processing this claim caused by the repair facility Mercedes-Benz Manhattan.In regards to the request for monetary compensation due to BS and being without vehicle, on the first page of your service contact it states, “Subject to the terms and conditions set forth in this VEHICLE SERVICE CONTRACT, the ADMINISTRATOR agrees to pay for the replacement or repair of parts listed in the COVERAGE set forth above, if those parts suffer a MECHANICAL BREAKDOWN. Under no circumstances shall the ADMINISTRATOR be liable to YOU or any other person for any incidental or consequential damages, whether arising out of breach of any warranty, breach of contract, or otherwise; including but not limited to: time lost acquiring parts or scheduling repairs, inconvenience, quality of repair, poor workmanship, misdiagnosis, or seller’s misrepresentation”.

Dear, Girard G[redacted],
 
 
Thank you for letting us know
about your issue. The A La Car Service Contract that you have with us is an
itemized contract, the parts must be specifically listed on the contract to
obtain coverage. Your repair facility had requested the following...

items for
repair:  Wheel Bearing and Stabilizer Link which are Suspension items,
unfortunately your contract does not have any coverage for the suspension 
and also the Axle Seal  and the right front outer Constant Velocity Joint,
which are not listed components for coverage under your Warranty Service
Contract. Your seals & gaskets option covers you for only seals and gaskets
of covered components. We did however Authorize the Pinion Seal for $29.51
after your $100 Deductible. The A La Car Service Contract that you have covers
you for major high dollar repairs such as the Powertrain and also the
selected  optional coverage for: Air Conditioning, Drive Axle, and Seals
& Gaskets.  We do apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused
and we appreciate your understanding.

We would be happy to send an inspector out to document the failure. Please have your shop contact us after you have returned the vehicle to the shop and they have disassembled it and can demonstrate the failure to the inspector. Once we hear from your shop the inspection takes 24 to 48 business hours to be performed   The vehicle service contract expired on 11-16-2016, we need to have you take your vehicle to the shop and have them call us within 5 business days from tomorrow 12-16-2016 Should the vehicle not be taken back to the shop, dismantled to the point the shop can demonstrate the failure and Alpha Warranty Services contacted to order the inspection the contract will be considered expired and there will be no benefits left in the contract

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: diagnostics is not down time it is part of the repair. Still no attempt to answer about customer service..! 
Sincerely,
[redacted]

The contract the customer agreed to says the following regarding tear down: CONTRACT HOLDER OBLIGATIONS: YOU are responsible for authorizing and paying for any tear down or diagnosis time needed to determine if the VEHICLE has a covered breakdown. If it is subsequently determined that the repair is needed due to a covered breakdown, the OBLIGOR will cover such diagnostic and/or teardown charges per approved CLAIM, not to exceed diagnostic times listed in the ALLDATA® software (if not listed, up to sixty-five dollars $65). If the failure is not a covered breakdown, YOU are responsible for payment of such tear down or diagnosis. It is the customer’s responsibility to authorize the tear down to the repair facility. If it’s found that it is a covered repair, we will pay for the tear down as long as it doesn’t exceed what’s listed in ALLDATA. When it is determined to be a covered item we are very fair with our tear down reimbursement. If the customer would like more clarification on this they are welcome to give us a phone call. If it really is $700 for teardown the shop might not understand what’s expected of them. The shop is welcome to give us a call as well for further clarification. The only way the customer ends up with out-of-pocket expenses for this tear down is if it’s determined to be a non-covered repair, the shop was wrong about their original diagnosis, or if the shop charges a markup beyond the industry standard times. Thanks,Jeff R[redacted]VP of Risk & Operations

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:The contract does not stipulate the diagnoses of repair, the vehicle was in the shop two nights and thereform the  repair was not completed in four hours. The part was clearly covered or you wouldn't have replaced it. The total time for diagnoses and repair is well beyond the four hour minimum for rental reimbursement. Also this only try's to answer one concern the other is customer service and the time it takes to get something approved..! It shouldn't take two hours to approve a claim especially when we told you the closure time of the repair shop and rental car establishment. This is taking a lot of time for a 35 dollar rental reimbursement..! Timeliness of repair has cost me way more than you are paying out. Unless you can guarantee the shop only took four hours to repair my covered part you cannot claim it did. My down time without a vehicle is currently 36 hours and counting. And since you have cleverly covered your tracks on down time you need to redo it to cover diagnostics.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Thank you for contacting Alpha Warranty,   We apologize for the misunderstanding regarding your claim.   upon reviewing your claim and contract I believe we have determined where the confusion lies.   The contract you purchased is indeed for the 5 years OR 100,000 Miles, as you can...

see on the first page of the contract (The Declaration Page) it specifically states that the Full Coverage Contracts are “On ODOMETER”.   What this statement means is that the miles are based on what the odometer reads. When you called in to start a claim on March 7th 2017 your repair facility advised that the current mileage on the odometer read 127,463 therefore the claim was denied due to the miles clearly being over the 100,000 mark.   Once again we apologize for the misunderstanding, however we do have to facilitate the contract verbatim and this contract states under the “Term Of Plan” section that the contract will expire at 5 years OR 100,00 miles.   Attached is a copy of your contact.   If you have further questions, please contact us directly.

Mr. [redacted]:
Thank you for your response to Revdex.com Utah and for eventually
honoring the terms of my warranty contract. However, I am not sure why you made so many words, giving a wrong picture of
this case as the fact is: the policy terms are very detailed and accurate and
the warranty conditions are defined unambiguously (at least on paper, which I saw before I bought this). Still, despite my car was considered covered at
the time of the No-start event, Alpha Warranty rejected coverage multiple times
thereafter. Luckily, for companies like yours, which do not particularly
appreciate the rights and time of consumers throughout our country, reporting and consumer protection
agencies like Revdex.com exist to provide help and information. They helped to get you respond and to honor the warranty. The
information part I find at Revdex.com is that your company got already lots of bad reviews on this
website alone (way more long & bad reviews than short, 1-sentence good or neutral reviews). Thus, I will be watching very carefully how this claim will be
handled by your company and will post back here and also to many crowd-sourced
review platforms like Yelp!, Angie’s List and others about the outcome of this
claim.
Respectfully,
*. [redacted]   
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Thank you much for your help!
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Mr. [redacted], Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to address your concerns. Upon reviewing the claims that have been submitted to us on your 2008 Cadillac CTS, we have found that we received a request for a repair on 4/3/2017 it was determined that a repair was needed to the fuel...

system. At that time, we approved the claim to be paid in the amount of $500 which is the Limit of Liability for your fuel system based on the terms of your contract.  We called your repair facility several times to provide them with an authorization number so we could pay them the $500, we never received a return call or a signed invoice indicating the work was completed. Therefore, we were unable to pay the repair facility for the repair. If the repair was completed and you can provide us with a signed invoice and proof of payment for the repair of the Fuel Tank Sending Unit we will be happy to reimburse you the amount of $500. The other claim we received on 1/9/2018 we were advised that the failure was to the water pump, this item is eligible for coverage, once again we authorized the Limit of Liability as per the terms of your contract in the amount of $400 for the cooling system. Once again, we were never contacted by the repair facility or by you to request payment. We are prepared to honor the above-mentioned amounts if we can be provided with proof of completed and paid for repairs. You mentioned in your correspondence that you would like to cancel the service contract, if this is the route you prefer to take you will need to contact the dealership where you purchased the vehicle and the service contract. All cancelations are done through the dealership, they will provide any refunds due back to you, this is done on a pro-rated basis. Any refund will go to the lien holder if there is one and if not, it will go to you.  If you would like any further information or a cancelation quote please contact your dealer.

Mr. [redacted], Thank you for contacting us about this issue. When your repair facility called in this claim we requested them to get your authorization to tear down to point of failure to be able to determine the root cause of this failure. After tear down was completed by your repair facility we...

ordered a 3rd party inspector to go inspect the vehicle. The inspectors findings did indicate that the internal  turbo charger components were binding due to rust and carbon build up found inside, which is preventing the component from operating as it should. Unfortunately this specific type of failure is excluded for coverage under your service contract, under the "what is not covered" section. Due to this reason this claim was denied. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Thank you for contacting us in regards to your concern. We understand
how troublesome it must be to purchase a vehicle and then to experience mechanical
issue within one day. We understand that you may not have been aware of the mechanical
issue when you purchased vehicle, however the service...

contact is to assist with
concerns that occur after purchase of the vehicle and contract not mechanical
concerns that existed prior to the sale of the vehicle and contract. Based on the inspection findings it is not
possible the damage and/or failure to the valve could have occurred in the 18
miles since you purchased the vehicle.
Your service contact defines Pre-Existing
as:  A condition and/or failure normally
manifested through the gradual reduction in operating performance or whose
condition may reasonably be assumed to have existed prior to the sale
date/miles of this CONTRACT. This includes any part that was broken,
worn beyond serviceable limits, or making noise at the time of purchase. Any
component or system that was not functioning properly upon the first
attempt to operate or upon first inspection is also considered PRE-EXISTING.
All covered parts must be in good working order prior to sale for the VEHICLE to
qualify for this CONTRACT. Failures or breakdowns resulting from PRE-EXISTING
conditions are the responsibility of the Contract Holder.
Unfortunately due
to this mechanical issue existing prior to the sale of your service
contract it is not covered under the terms of your service contact. We apologize
for any inconvenience and thank you for your understanding

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Thank you for contacting us in regards to your concern about
your coverage.
The warranty service contract that was submitted to us by
your selling Dealership was for the A+ program (1-12), the A+ Enhanced option
was not selected and the additional $375 surcharge for A+ Enhanced option was...

not
applied to the retail cost of this contract. The documentation that you
provided shows pen markings over the computer generated check marks of the
contract option selection. The options selected in pen were not computer
generated into the system at the time of sale, because the Enhanced option was
not selected by the dealer nor was the surcharge for the option paid, we are
unable to reimburse you for the claim. We apologize for any inconvenience this
may have caused. If you have any further questions or concerns about the
coverage that was sold to you please contact your selling Dealership. We
appreciate your understanding and thank you for your business.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: THEY WANT ME TO PAY FOR IT. I have tried to connect with "Delicia" but she refuses to email me. This is an issue because I have explained to her that my phone service is unreliable at home. My car sits at the shop while they refuse to honor their contact. I paid$1700 to be scammed by these people. 
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:The terms of the contract are left intentionally vague. I do not dispute what is in the contract, I dispute the interpretation and application of those terms. As I told the company over three phone calls, I understand that if my repairs are delayed due to my inability to pay, or a lack of available parts in general, their refusal to cover rental costs is reasonable. If their solution is a part that will take a week to reach the repair facility, when parts are readily available locally, the incurred week plus of wait time is their doing and is their responsibility to cover. I am disputing their definition of reasonable. Waiting over a week to install a transmission (the source of which could not be disclosed) that cost only $500 for parts AND transit is not reasonable. Parts were available locally. It is not reasonable to wait a week for the delivery of parts available locally when the amount of the repair is covered under warranty. I have not disputed anything clearly laid out in the contract, such as the company's refusal to pay for ancillary costs such as fluids, etc, only things in the contract that are vague enough to mean whatever they want it to mean at the time. The repairs have been completed, and Alpha did pay the amount they authorized under their ridiculous, self-serving and extremely convenient interpretation of their contract. It still left me holding the bag for $2700 in repair costs, $2300 of which should have been covered by a reasonable interpretation of their contract. 
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Dear, Ladarius D[redacted],
 
A mechanical breakdown is defined as any component that is NOT
performing the function for which it was designed, any gradual reduction in
operating performance is not considered to be a mechanical breakdown. When the
inspector went to your repair facility to inspect the vehicle they had found
the following: While allowing the vehicle to idle for 25-30mins during
inspection the vehicle did not smoke from the exhaust and the coolant level was
full and no intermixing of coolant and oil, demonstrating no failure.  Also
The Tie Rod’s were inspected and no slack was felt in either outer Tie Rod
End’s. Without any proof or demonstration of failure on these parts we were
unable to cover the claim. We do apologize for the inconvenience.