Heritage Warranty won't cover dealer verified warranty work for my pregnant wife!
I noticed an oily patch about a foot wide on the floor of our garage under my wife's SUV 3 weeks ago. I took it to the local dealer to have them inspect the car for me and they said I had a leak in my transmission and they would call Heritage Warranty company to have it fixed. An inspector (one my service writer says routinely tries to deny covered claims) came out and said it was "seepage" and not a leak. My contract covers leaks, but not seepage (they define seepage as an oozing and leakage as drips). When the dealer called me to tell me the claim was denied I went home immediately and took a picture of the oily patch on the floor of the garage to show that clearly there were MANY drips from a LEAK that caused the foot wide stain. The dealer said they would continue to pursue it because their mechanics saw the leak and they were confident that it was covered by my warranty and that they were afraid that there may be transmission damage.
I was given a small rental car for my pregnant wife and I expected to receive a call from the dealer when the work was completed. 12 days of my wife getting in and out of the rental car and without her comfortable SUV, and still no car. I called my service writer at the dealer and asked what was happening. He told me that he was still being stonewalled by Heritage and that his boss couldn't offer us the rental car for more time and that he thought I should come pick up the car and he could try to resubmit the claim with Heritage. He was baffled by their refusal to do the work and once again cited my contract that stated clearly that the work should be covered.
When I got to the dealer I checked my contract one more time and realized that it had actually expired just 2 days previously. I was irate. While the dealer was being stonewalled and the claim was being denied, Heritage was just waiting out the end of my contract so that me and my claim would just disappear. I was pissed and my service writer was as well and he convinced me to drop the car off for one more day and he would try to make Heritage see the error of their ways.
He had no luck and gave me the direct line for the company and said maybe they would listen to me as the contract holder. I called and was able to speak to a man named Gordon at Heritage who said my contract doesn't cover "seepage", that it only covers leaks that drip. I asked him, "How the hell do I have a patch of oily fluid under on my wife's side of our painted garage floor, where only she parks, if there weren't leaks with drips??? He had no answer. The dealer's mechanics and the inspector Heritage sent out could see fluid under the transmission!!!
Then Gordon tells me that my warranty also states that I should inspect and replace gaskets in a timely fashion and that our car, with 92,000 miles on it (covered until 100,000!) wasn't covered because of this! I said, "What does that mean? I have a contract to cover leaks for 100,000 miles or the end of the warranty. Period. I had no leak in my transmission until 3 weeks ago, and when I saw it I brought the thing in to have it inspected by the dealer IN A TIMELY FASHION!!!"
I couldn't believe what B.S. This guy was slinging! I asked him again if his company was going to step up for the repairs that they were contracted to cover and he said no. I told him I would be filing a complaint with the Ohio Better Business Bureau and the Ohio Attorney General because his company actively stonewalled a legitimate, dealer made claim, and that I wasn't going to let them get away with it without a fight!
Whatever you do, if you are offered a Heritage Warranty, run to any other company! My dealer service writer says he has NEVER experienced such a blatant and unreasonable refusal to follow through on warranty covered work by any other warranty company.
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