Wynn Extended Warranty Company, owned by Phoenix American who is part of Nationwide Insurance Group takes the cake as a warranty company ripoff. For all of those who have had experience with them, you will get a chuckle (or at least a big sigh) out of this. Following is a copy of Wynn's mission statement quoted directly from their website:
We seek to enhance the value of the Company by achieving regular increases in earnings without taking risks that might threaten our ability to grow and meet the needs of our customers. We strive to provide our customers with affordable mechanical breakdown protection and to ease the financial burden and personal inconvenience to them when a mechanical failure occurs to their vehicle. We understand the problems our customers experience when their vehicle breaks down and believe in treating our customers as we ourselves wish to be treated. We consistently create a corporate culture that encourages all our employees and business partners to contribute to the growth and success of the Company.
I bought a 2005 GMC Envoy new several years ago and also purchased an extended 100,000 mile warranty from Wynn. My Envoy has slightly over 54000 miles on it. On March 31 my son was returning from the grocery store to his grandmother's house driving my car. He turned onto the road where she lives and as he turned he heard an awful grinding noise and the car just stopped in the middle of the road. My niece's husband came to help move the car out of the middle of the road. The next day the car was taken to a repair shop. I gave the repair shop permission to do a teardown to diagnose the problem. They determined the transmission had gone out and called Wynn for an inspection. Wynn authorized $2938.43 for the repair of the transmission, towing, and a rental car. (Are you surprised? Keep reading.)
The repair shop performed the repair. They took it down off the lift to take it for a test drive. The car didn't move. The mechanic put it back up on the lift and determined that the differential was out too. They called Wynn. Rather than authorizing repair based on their previous inspection, they required another inspection which cost me $95. Several days later they authorized $2315.76 for the repair of the differential. (And this is where Wynn starts to act more like the company you have read about in these reports.) They also informed the service manager that they were withdrawing their authorization for the transmission repair (they weren't going to pay for it). They said that the transmission failure was a consequence of the differential failure and so they weren't responsible for it.
So I had based my decision to perform this repair on their authorization, the repairs had been done, they withdrew their authorization, and I was now supposedly responsible for these costs. (Just wait. It gets a lot better.) I have been informed that in reality since both the transmission and differential are covered under the warranty; the failure of one as a consequence of the failure of the other is a moot point. I reread my contract and sure enough consequential damage only refers to the situation in which a covered part is damaged by the failure of an uncovered part.
So after a lot more back and forth about details over whether a couple bearings were going to be replaced, etc. Parts were ordered for the differential repair. The afternoon after the parts were ordered Wynn contacted the repair shop and told the service manager they were withdrawing authorization for the differential repair too. They said that after further review they had decided that the failure was due to owner abuse. At first they said the car had been driven after the part failure causing worse damage impossible. Then they said the car had been driven while making a noise signaling impending failure no. Then they said the vehicle had been stuck in the snow and rocked back and forth causing the failure. I have no idea how they came up with these stories. There wasn't any snow on the ground where the vehicle was and it had stopped right in the middle of the road.
So Wynn had authorized 2 repairs and then come up with inconsistent, changing stories to justify withdrawing that authorization. There are many more details to this report but this complaint is long enough. I'm not only stuck without a car the differential isn't fixed yet - but also a bill for almost $3000 for the work that was done on the transmission. UNBELIEVABLE!!!
Now go back and reread their mission statement. Did you notice that it begins and ends with taking care of the company? The part in the middle about taking care of the customer apparently is a joke. I find it very hard to believe that a company as large as Nationwide Insurance would risk being associated with a company like Wynn. I will continue to contact everyone I can think of to get satisfaction and payment for all of my expenses. The dealer I bought the car from and the dealer associated with the repair shop are both totally behind me and helping in every way they can. (Both of these dealers no longer sell Wynn extended warranties as I have read in many of the other reports written here.)
My phone calls to Wynn are much the same as those described in other reports never getting to talk to the person who is supposedly making decisions, difficulty getting to speak to the same person twice, etc. I have contacted a lawyer, began gathering statements from witnesses, am gathering documentation of any contacts anyone has had with Wynn, and, barring any satisfaction from Wynn, will be pursuing this into the courts as that seems the most reasonable avenue left to me at this time.
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