Mepco - National Auto Warranty Services - Warranty America ripoff VERY misleading service wouldnt be good even if free! Arvada Colorado

I had a similar problem with Warranty America. All four of my struts had gone bad (I drive about 1500 miles per month and am the 2nd owner of the car). The vehicle could barely stop, was bottoming out during turns, and I could feel every bump on the road.

I am also a former ASE certified mechanic and while I am in another career now, my knowledge is still valid. With Warranty America, I hoped that my warranty would help me relax a bit by letting someone else do the work needed. This was only partially true.

I purchased the warranty after reading the material and deciding that this was a good deal. However, my first claim was a nightmare. The front-line staff were rude, uncooperative, and refused to follow the guidelines of their own contract. After I was without my vehicle for 3 days and they continued to refuse to pay for it, I contacted the vice-president of the company and was able to get the enitre matter straightend out. If it was not for him, I had an attorney already chosen and was ready to fight. The vice-president made a very good settlement offer and the entire matter was resolved to include a few people possibly losing their jobs.

Warranty America now treats me very well and while there has been some minor grief here and there, i just call the VP office and it gets all straightned out. After this warranty expires, I will probably never do business with them again but will enjoy it in the mean time.

My advice, don't talk to their front-line staff as the majority of them could care less about customer service (to inlcude one particular secretary in the VP office). Call the supervisors or the VP instead by using the claims 1-800 number and getting an operator.

My name is Dan. I don't know if my name will sound familiar or not, but I remember speaking with someone from Arvada Colorado and your address looks very familiar. If my suspicions are correct, I was the sales representative who first spoke with you and gave you the details on the warranty you purchased. How ironic that I should have found this. Or maybe not. I worked for the sales vendor you refer to for close to two years and sold a lot of service contracts for them. The company is called National Auto Warranty Services or NAWS abbreviated and is based out of Wentzville, Missouri which is near Saint Louis. I just responded to another gentleman before you who also filed a complaint against NAWS on this website. It is only fitting and fair that I respond to yours as well, especially since I may be the one who sold the service contract to you in the first place.

Let me start by saying that I no longer work for NAWS and do not have any obligation to protect them or bend the truth in their defense. Let me also state that any opinions or views I may express about NAWS are mine and mine only. That being said it is probable that I will say something in this rebuttal that they may not agree with though I will endeavor to tell only the truth as I know it without revealing trade secrets or copyrighted material. I write this only to cover my own behind as NAWS is currently sueing me for breech of a Non-Compete clause and I'm not entirely sure if what I'm about to say will violate that or not. It is not my intention to do so and since I was never given a copy of the non-compete clause I don't see how I could be expected to know if I will or won't.

To my knowledge and belief NAWS is a direct marketing and call center company. They do not in and of themselve provide the warranty coverages they sell, but rather they sell the warranties and in return earn a commission from the warranty company on what is sold. That comission is then shared with the salesman who sold it. The rest is used to pay the bills, cover backouts and cancellations and to pay the rest of the employees. What's then left is pure profit. And let me tell you, there is a LOT of profit. As salesmen we used to love selling Warranty America to customers because the profit marigin was so high. I would sometimes favor it over more comprehensive, more expensive warranties simply because by doing so I would earn a higher commission. I do not believe I was alone among the salesmen in this practice. This is not to say that Warranty America is not a good company. Their service contract provides a very good coverage at a very affordable price. Even you yourself said that some things were covered, (the AC and the wiper motor I think you wrote) even though some weren't. If I am not mistaken, those two problems alone could easily total over $1500 once labor and parts are factored in, and all you had to pay was your $100 deductible. Saving you an estimated $1400.00. Even if I am way off on those prices you still saved alot of money on the repairs. And another thing in defense of Warranty America and all warranties in general. Whether the most comprehensive or the least, they all state in writing that repairs will not be covered until the part actually breaks. Just because it starts rough or shifts hard or makes a queer little noise every now and again is not evidence of mechanical breakdown or total part failure which is required by the warranty company. Is it proof of optimal vehicle performance? Probably not, but if an adjuster comes out and the mechanic cannot hold up a broken part and say "This here part is broken." then a repair cannot be authorized. Those are the rules and they are stated in the paperwork you recieve after you purchase the warranty. It is your job as a consumer to read that thoroughly once you get it and to complain then if you have a problem with it, not wait until after the car breaks and a claim is denied.

As to your claim that the salesman (in this case, probably me) misinformed you, I do not believe that for a moment. First off I would like you to ammend in your complaint the facts about who called who first in your scenario. I worked for NAWS. We did NOT cold call customers to sell them warranties. The only way you could have been contacted by us was with a letter from my former company which is formatted and marketed in such a way as to get you to call into us so we can begin the process of selling you a warranty. You HAD to have called us first. It's the only way we contacted customers. The fact that you misrepresented that leads me to belive that you are sugar coating other aspects of your story as well.

On the surface, every sales representative at NAWS is a trained warranty specialist, but the truth is that the only thing we are, or were, trained to do is to sell. We are trained from the first moment we walk through that door to control the conversation when you call and to get you to give us a credit card number with as little information given back to you as possible. Does that mean we lie? No it does not. It means we are salesmen. If you ask us direct questions we give you the truth, even when we find it unpleasant or feel that it weakens our chance for a sale. That is called ethics and commitment to honesty and that is something that every sales representative I knew at NAWS had. When you called us it was not our job to make sure you knew everything there was to know about warranties. Most sales representatives at NAWS don't even know everything there is to know about warranties so how could that be our job? It was our job to make sure you knew enough about them to know you needed one. Not telling you something you did not know and did not ask about is not misrepresentation and it is not lying either.

What I will grant you is that salesmen can be adept at telling you things in such a way as to make it easier for you to hear whatever you want to hear. And we hit the high points without dwelling on the low points. We stress what the warranty will do (and in your case what it did do) which is save you money when the car breaks down. We don't sit there and tell you about the things it won't cover. What kind of salesman in his right mind would do that?

"Hello sir, let me tell you about what our fine product doesn't do."

That's never gonna happen as long as there are salesmen with something to sell. Realtors don't sell you a house by talking about the old wiring, Car salesmen don't sell you a car by talking about how much value it's gonna lose as soon as you drive off the lot, Cigarette companies don't sell you cigarettes with pictures of cancerous lungs on the pack, and the fry clerk at McDonald's doesn't sell you a Big Mac by telling you how much fat and cholesterol it has. That's just the way the world works. It's the way it has always worked.

I remember my pitch from when I worked at NAWS and I would have never told you that "everything" was covered except for oil changes and routine maintenance unless it was. What I said probably was. "This warranty will cover all your major mechanical and electrical components. If anything mechanical on the vehicle breaks it will be covered and all you'll have to pay is your deductible. Obviously it won't cover oil changes or your routine maintenance but you're covered as far as the most common problems a vehicle can experience." Or something to that effect. And if you don't believe me and still think that I lied to you you'll be happy to know that NAWS records every conversation between it's sales reps and it's clients. It can be played back at any time to verify what was said.

If you truly believe you were lied to then file a case in court and get that tape subpoenaed, But if you're not confident enough to do that then you should be willing to admit that you yourself did not ask enough questions. And maybe you should be willing to admit that other people cannot be held accountable for beliefs you have which may not be true. We're born, we live and we die. And no matter what anyone tells you we have to do that alone ultimately. So take responsibility for yourself. I read your complaint and I see a man who bought a good product which did exactly what he'd been promised it would do, but who got upset and annoyed once he realized that he'd mistakenly thought he'd been promised more than that. And who felt ahsamed once he realized he did not ask enough questions before buying something. I understand shame. It burns with foul unpleasantness and it is easier to transfer that shame into anger at someone else than to bear it against ourselves.

But in the end I wish you all the best, Joe. With the greatest sincerity I wish it. And I am truly sorry that a product I may have sold to you did not satisfy you and that it did not cover your particular problem. I have heard from customers who are happy and it brought me feelings of self-worth but it is the ones who are unhapy that affect me the most. It is impossible not to feel a moral twinge at the thought that maybe I did a job of selling too well and sold you something you didn't really want after all.

I just wanted to say that as well as you write and with your honesty, I can't believe that you participated in this company's misrepresentations... Corey Johnson from AAAutoWarranty.com is pushing me big time, telling me that the company he is selling for is Warranty America and that he is just a broker. I have referred him to two Rip Off sites for the two companies he claims he's working/brokering for and told him that I won't be doing business with him. Thank You Rip Off!!
Sincerely,
Glenco
Saved By Rip Off -again!

Daniel,
Sorry to tell you it was not you that sold me my policy. Never been to nor am I planning to be in Colorado. I have all the notes and original paperwork from my policy and I found nothing for you.

So you need to understand my complaint was fueled by frustration. What I put in for my original complaint was valid. I was told 1 thing and given another. In my state its fraud, and doing more research on the original company they have had files against them and lost.

Its the typical result you get when you give your phone sales personell commissions. They generally dont care what happens to the person on the other end of the phone, they just want to sell. Later down the road they will either be gone or simply have no way of proving who said what.

So you feel free to rebute if you'd like, but as for me it was one of the more expensive lessons I've learned in awhile. I loved how when I finally got them in a contract clause which allowed me to cancel, I was still being told how great the service and warranty where. As if I'm to ignorant to know how I was treated and it was my fault I didnt get what I had expected to get. No thanks.

I am the CFO and co-owner of Warranty America. I can understand someone's frustration if they are told one thing when they buy the contract and what they are told later turns out not to be true. Everyone reading this needs to understand one thing: there are 2 companies involved here - the service contract company that develops the contract and administrates the claims (Warranty America) and the sales company that Daniel used to work for that sells our contracts, and many others. Unfortunately sometimes it does happen that salesmen mislead people, but that is not unique to this industry. If we find out about that we make sure it is dealt with immediately. However, it has nothing to do with Warranty America. Every customer gets a copy of their contract and they should read and understand what they are buying. There are exclusions and conditions for EVERY service contract, even from the manufacturers. The smartest thing you can do is get the information in writing and, no matter what you were told, if you do not like what you see, ask for a refund. Most states only require a 30-day full refund policy, but we provide everyone 60 days.

One point in kind that remains consistent, a lack of honesty and consistency do destroy business. Your employees violated many areas of the contract that I purchased through you guys, fought with me over the minorest of details, and one even had the nerve to challenge whether my contract was even valid. When I had to threaten and prepare for litigation once I had enough, convieniently your company complied with the contract terms and paid for my repairs.

Recently, I experienced further problems in just getting an account status and after dealing with the runarounds for the last 4 weeks, I gave up and took my business elsewhere. However, the same lack of service, communication, and complete disrespect still prevailed.

I hope that your employees think the same way you do as warranty companies come and go, and bad employees tend to lead the charge in adding another warranty company to the list of bygone businesses.

I understand that I am probably a low percentage of the people out there who have not been happy with the contract / service given. I also understand that those selling the "contracts" are not the same people that actually work for the company that is providing the actual coverage and/or service of the contract. My original complaint is that the contract described to me over the phone (and then later sent in writting via mail) is a very "grey" area. As any legal counselor will tell you its not what you write, but rather how you write it, that determines your legal obligation(s). I do believe that the original company that would held liable to honor the contract went into the agreement with all the right intensions.

Unfortunetly the initial 'cold sales' staff that they employed to sell their services did not hold to their true intensions. The problem is that when you hire an outside company to do the cold calls and/or sells of a 3rd party contract, they dont care about your risk and/or reputation. They simply care about making the sell and moving on. Its kind of like bill collectors, they dont know any information about the account it is simply there job to get closure. So the original company may have the best intentions in the world, but what is promised and what is given may simply turn out to be two different things.

I, like many of the people you attempt to sell to, am a simple person. I expect that the person that calls me on the phone is the person and/or company that I would deal with throughout the life of the service that I pay for. As a small business owner myself I would never knowingly obtain clients that my company would not have direct contact with. In my opinion the actual company providing the service/contract/and-or agreement should be the one making the sells' , not using the service of a private company, which normaly has a high risk "whatever it takes" attitude. Those types of comapnies generally do not care about what happens after the sell is made, but concentrate more on making the sell.

I have no further issue with the original contract. I read the fine print and found that I was able to cancell the contract, after submitting many things in writting. All in all I basically ended up paying for a service that would have costed me the same out of pocket, only instead of being 1 transaction it was 3. The local Dealership was confused and had a hard time interacting with the company to get the matter resloved, as well as my own personal headache. For some people this deal may work out beneficial, but for me it was not. I have no personal ill will to Mepco, but I will never go with any type of "extended" warantee through a private company again.

It pays to ask questions on the phone when someone is trying to sell you something. It pays to know exactly what you are getting into and what the terms are should decided to leave at any time.

Interesting,

Having been in the extended warranty business since insception, I have seen it all, but when I read complaints like the ones posted here, it is nothing new, the industry is known for complaints. The reasons are many, but the number one reason I see complaints is because the consumer never researched the details of the industry first before making purchase.

There are hundreds of extended warranty companies on the market, some good, some bad, so you have to do your due diligence first before purchasing any of them. Never purchase at the car dealers or you will be paying for more than you could have, never mind the fact you could have gotten better coverage for less elsewhere.

Most do not know that the dealers often earn more profit selling the extended warranties than they do on selling the cars. Why give up $500. to $1,000. or more to a dealer markup when it could go in your own pocket. Also, look into transfer allowance, zero deductibles, towing, roadside assistance, rental reimbursement and most of all, ask if their is a refud if no claims are made.

Simply put, there are so many variables in this industry that you have to take your time and research it carefully first or you will always end up paying too much. Warranties-For-Less is the new way to protect yourself from the pressures of a car salespersons tactics to earn a larger commission. Again, go on line and research all the options you have and compare the coverages, it is simple to do, just use Google Warranties For Less search to find a better way, purchase from yourself, not a car dealer.

Good luck to all, Mike

Jason, I read your response. Let me just make clear that we do NOT simply "give in" just because someone threatens litigation. I firmly believe and know that my employees attempt to make the correct decision every time. Of course we are still humans answering the phones here and mistakes can and will be made. The difference between us and most other companies, besides the fact that you can always reach an owner or officer of the corporation if there is a REAL problem, is that we will actually admit if we made a mistake and make it right. I know because I respond personally to any and ALL legal issues. Your name does not ring a bell off the top of my head, but I handle all that myself. I can assure you that at NO time did we attempt to "violate the contract terms" - that is plain and simply not the way we do business, and if we changed our decision and decided to cover the claim then I would have been invovled and we would have admitted we made a mistake.

If you have a complaint about a service contract or service company, file it with the Consumer Affairs Division of the Arizona Department of Insurance.

Alot of people are confusing Dealer Services or National Auto Warranty Services with other companies. They do NOT dial outbound to their customers. The best way to figure out who is calling you is to do something like this:

1. Answer the call nicely and sound interested
2. Play along with the rep, the first person you speak to is probably just screening calls so you may have to agree to speak with specialist or a sales person.
3. Go through the sales pitch and tell them you need to call them back with your credit card
4. Get their callback number and post it here. I'll check back every so often. I can look to see who the phone number belongs to and also verify it with the utility company.

I have spent many years in the extended warranty industry, both as a claims adviser, supervisor and a sales rep. I can tell you that not all warranty companies administer claims the same way and not all sales companies sell or represent them the same. There are very few companies selling their own warranties, due to the cost to support this it is more economical to have and outside company handle this. The administrator (claims department) has little to no control over what is said to sell the warranty, let's face it most salespeople are not 100% honest to start with no matter what they sell. You also have to factor in the insurance company that underwrites the warranty. They really dictate how strictly the administrator has to adhere to the contract language and where they have flexibility.

The single biggest way to protect yourself with a warranty purchase is to get the actual contract BEFORE you ever give them a dime. If a company will not provide with all the legal terms, definitions, and exclusions before you buy, then do not do business with them. There are many key terms you must understand in contract language as well. There can be several ways for an administrator to limit the amount they pay per claims, for labor or parts, what kind of parts they will use, even where you can take the car. There is not one single company that you can go to and avoid potential problems. If you do not understand what you are buying, then you are setting yourself up to have a problem. The people you are dealing with for a claim are professionals and we understand the terms very well, and we use them in the best interest of the insurance company that backs the warranty. If you are not sure of it, you will lose.

You can't blame the industry, it is no different than any other, the difference is that the consumers are not as well versed in it as they are in other industries they do business within. People will never stop blaming others for their bad decisions, I mean lets face it we are a nation of not my fault people now days, but at the end of the day it is your money and you choose to give it to someone for a warranty. Here are a few ways to protect yourself:

1. NEVER buy on the first call (or second sometimes)
2. ALWAYS get the true contract (most are several pages) up front
3. Check the BBB website (not always accurate though)
4. Call the administrator, talk to the claims department to verify they will do what the

sales company says they will. (their phone number will be listed on the contract)
5. If you don't understand something ASK!
6. If possible use a real credit card (not debit card) for the transaction, you have ways to dispute the charge that make it easier to get your money back if you find you have been mislead.

Hope this helps at least one person.

Dealer

Services, NAWS, National Auto

Warranty Services, US

Fidelis------whatever name

they chose to go by for

whatever circumstance

fits----DID INDEED---operate

a dialer--cold

calling---telemarketing until

July 28 or somewhere around

that date. I should know as I

worked there from September

of 2007 until recently. They

started sending people who

used to work in the

telemarketing department.

They sent out company emails

that said they had no

marketing ideas and would no

longer make unsolicited phone

calls.

HEY everyone, watch out as

they now have commercials on

DRTV selling their

questionable products.

NAWS---National Auto Warranty

Service---USFIDELIS---DEALER

SERVICES---all are the same

company at 100 MAll Parkway

in Wentzville, MO. The US

Fidelis uses an address of

200 instead of 100.
www.onecarwarranty.com
www.usfidelis.com

Perhaps the constant name

changes is why the never have

put the name of their

business on the building? It

is in a building that once

was a mall. Nowhere on the

outside of the building is

the business identified.

They are under investigation

by the Missouri Attorney

General. Verizon has sued

them as they have made

unsolicited phone calls to

their wireless customers. The

state of Arizona is

investigating them.

Their business practices are

questionable. Ethics? I don't

think they know what that

means. As an employee, never

ask questions as you never

get a straight answer. They

talk in circles as if

everything is top secret;

actually as if they are all

hiding something.

If you call in to cancel you

get sent to a department who

tries to "Save" you from

cancelling. It is their job

to hound you to keep the

warranty. They will put

pressure on you to keep the

warranty for numerous

reasons. They will attempt to

offer you a savings and/or

put off a payment for a

month.

Consumers------Be Aware that there are 3 separate companies involved in the process-----

The company who sells you the warranty:
Dealer Services
NAWS
National Auto Warranty Services
US Fidelis
(By the way; they are all the same company)

The company who bills you:
Mepco or
Warranty Finance or
NAWS--who sometimes finance their customers depending upon the warranty

Then there are the actual warranty companies who are suppose to cover the items in your contracts. Here are a few:
WARRANTY AMERICA
ROYAL ADMINISTRATION
ULTIMATE CARE
AM TRUST/
WARRANTECH
DIMENSION

This comment is in response to comment 74 from Jim Vandiver:

You are either a liar or a shill for National Auto Warranty Services located Wentzville, MO. We have seen your numerous posts all over the internet and we are on to your lies on behalf of the scumbags at National Auto Warranty Services.
(Note: to everyone: the following refer only to this company located in Wentzville. There are many companieswith a similar name that may be legitimate.)

National Auto Warranty Services located Wentzville, Missouri is one of the biggest auto warranty scammers and crooks in the country.

Want proof? View this link, a press release from the Attorney General of Missouri:
http://ago.mo.gov/newsreleases/2008/030608.htm

They are currently being sued by Missouri for fraud and numerous violations of the state's "No Call Law."

In addition, they are part of a national crackdown on telemarketing fraud from the Federal Trade Commission. This press release clearly shows they were involved in both the state and a federal action.
http://ago.mo.gov/newsreleases/2008/National_crackdown_on_telemarketing_fraud_includes_three_cases_filed_by_Nixon/

You can lookup this company's listing at the Missouri Secretary of State website. Be sure to click on the "Filed Documents" link at the top of the page:
https://www.sos.mo.gov/BusinessEntity/soskb/Corp.asp?411719

Guess Jim Vandiver will have to refund the $7.50 that National Auto Warranty Services paid him for his post. Good luck on your next career.

Once again.....NONE of this has anything to do with Warranty America. Our name has no business being referenced in this entire conversation.

Go to www.WarrantyBureau.com. Most of the Marketing is fraud. Your Credit Card and bank accounts have Fraud protection, USE IT!!! WarrantyBureau.com has all of the details.