In Sept I bought a 2002 C320 Wagon on ebay from
* (ROR REDACTED FOR SECURITY PURPOSES)
In the process Squaretrade offered me an Extended Warranty plan ("Gold
Coverage Vehicle Service Contract"), which I bought for $2496.96.
Warrantech is the actual insurance behind this extended warranty
contract. Squaretrade apparently just acts as a broker of sorts
selling these contracts.
The vehicle arrived here with 32000 miles on the odometer and I drove
it for just 9000 miles, because it burned more and more oil.
At 41000 miles an oil consumption test at a local Mercedes-Benz
Service Center concluded that the car burns 1 quart of engine oil per
570miles.
So I dropped of my vehicle at Mercedes-Benz of Laguna-Niguel to have
it fixed and asked them contact Warrantech for warranty coverage.
That was 9 weeks ago.
Warrantech sent out an inspector as the diagnose work progressed,
Mercedes-Benz wrote 3 different estimates for the repair, $8.5k for an
engine rebuilt, $13k for a remanufactured engine, $21k for a factory
new replacement engine.
Warrantech said they would not cover these amounts, though the
Warranty clearly and above all covers the engine.
Warrantechs "Senior Adjuster" Bill Belchar from Fort Worth, TX
handles this case and claimed that they, Warrantech, can supply a
cheaper replacement engine and thus have the repairs done for
about $6.5k. Accordingly thats the maximum amount they cover.
So watch out here:
Squaretrade Reps will tell you that your car under "their" (or better
Warrantechs) extended warranty will be repaired with NEW OEM parts,
while in fact they only cover repairs performed with salvage parts
they gather from some liveries and car recycling operations.
Nonetheless, I accepted Warrantechs offer and they have ever since
delivered TWO replacement engines (Mercedes Benz M112), which both
were found to be defective by the MB Service Center:
1.) The first engine arrived without a cable tree and without an
intake manifold. It was completed by MB, put in the car, ran at idle
for just two minutes, made clacking sounds and died.
Diagnose: no compression on 2 cylinders, wobbly crankshaft.
Damage beyond repair.
2.) The second engine arrived more complete from Warrantechs engine
supplier but had front-end damage. MB techs had to remove the engine
front covers (covering the timing chains) and found
a.) a damaged keyway on the driveshaft, so the crank dampener would
not fit on
b.) a damaged head gasket that would have resulted in a sizeable oil
leak.
MB has provided damage documentation
Bottom line:
My vehicle is now in the shop for 9 weeks (!!!) and is still not
repaired, without any timeline for when it will be repaired again.
All this because Warrantech supplied two defective replacement engines
and they now try to weasel their way out somehow.
Conclusion:
I would never buy any Squaretrade or Warrantech Extended Warranty
again and can not recommend these services to anyone else.
Warrantech is an extremely unprofessional company to deal with, they
will just put you on hold for 20-30 minutes to drive you away - just
as it was described by others here on this website.
The Service Advisors at Mercedes Benz Laguna Niguel made the very same
experience and complained about Warrantech not being responsive.
Anything more expensive than a light bulb seems to be routed to 'Bill
Belchar' who resides over your Warranty claim case and never returns a
phone call. Whenever I tried to call him, I only got his voicemail and
none of my VMs was returned.
This seems to be part of their scheme in trying dissuade customers
from making claims and getting repairs paid.
Thorsten
Oceanside, California
U.S.A.
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