Okay, I'm venting and that usually gets me in trouble but I'll be civil and it may be interesting to see if others ever encountered similar issues.
I took my truck in for service and an A/C check (low freon/coolant) and mentioned the lifetime power train warranty that came with the purchase and the bumper to bumper extended warranty I bought a few months later. Basically except for wearing parts at most I pay a $100 co-pay for everything else. I was using the dealer I bought from 11 years ago. The clerk could not find the warranty and said it had been cancelled. My obligation is to bring it in every 5 years for a power train inspection which I did in March last year and they produced the work order which showed it passed.
It turns out the parent company had decided I was no longer the original owner which voided the warranty so now to get it restored I have to send proof of purchase by e-mail attachment back to the company. The local dealership seems to have met their obligations and nobody on the customer service (?) line could explain why they changed the ownership code but they would not fix it without more proof.
I have the bill of sale in my owner's manual and it really won't (Should not?) be difficult to prove but it amazes me people can just arbitrarily change something then make me prove it has been mine all along? I wonder if these guys moonlight at or train with the IRS? :D
You have to laugh or you will go crazy. ;)
Sadly not a surprise. My wife worked for an agency for a couple of years that had an office located in another state, never lived there, never actually worked there, never even spent a night there for any purpose, but "somehow" they decided we were residents of said state and claimed we owed a ton of taxes to them as a result. Going through their "appeal process" nobody could tell me how it was we were determined to be residents suddenly, "the computer did it", was the answer. When I asked if they needed passwords and login codes to get onto "the computer" the crickets got loud. Best part was when it came to paying me the interest they owed me, the answer I got as to why the check was late was "your name was spelled wrong on the check and we only make checks once a month". Of course I asked if they hand write the checks and they said "no the computer does it", so I asked for an explanation as to what they checked my name spelling against since the computer would spit out the name spelled the same way as they have it on file, crickets, and suddenly a check showed up. Sometimes you have to swing hard.
You really screwed that warranty up, your not suppose to keep a truck that long, you should have traded it in 5 years ago so they don't have to pay out any more on the "lifetime" warranty. ;D
Southside your story reminds me of the time the workers compensation guy came around to check on me and "helped" me fill out the monthly forms and messed it all up, I ended up getting a bill for 10 times what it should be, when I called his boss to get it fixed I must have been complaining a bit too hard. The boss says "Sorry I can't hear you" I said "you can't hear me?" to which he replied "no I can't" so I replied "so why did you answer me?" short pause then he hung up.
Howard, sadly you have it wrong. You just pay the extended warranty people. They do not pay you. That is why I never buy those things. They get lockjaw when it comes to having to pay out money, they just like to take it in.
Shame on you for keeping that truck so long. Now a days history is being changed!
I have several stories like that. However, it makes me mad every time I relive those moments, so I will spare us all!
It's the "new math". You only have to be close to be 'right'.
Yes, in my confused and befuddled mind I had thought this was going to be the last vehicle I would ever have to buy.
The last time they cancelled it I showed proof I had the vehicle in their shop twice during the period it was to be inspected for other work and their paperwork showed it was time to be done. I sent a registered letter to the Ram CEO asked it be restored, since the local dealership does not have access, and his rep called, I took it back for the check up and they restored it. This is the first indication the extended warranty I bought was tied to the lifetime power train warranty which was part of the original purchase/contract. I asked to talk to the supervisor and the rep said he was not there and I needed to give them 24 hours notice to talk to him.
Oh well, I guess I better locate the address in Ann Arbor and send another letter. ::)
What is it they say "Eat a worm first thing every morning and maybe nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day." :D
Derisive comment about a certain vehicle brand with held ;)...I hope you get to wear a 4 or 5 more trucks and still need another one...That warranty move was designed to hose you when you didn't catch it. Good chance it happened to more than just you.
Social media. Let RAM know that if this isn't fixed and like pronto, somehow this will be released all over multiple social media sites. I usually accidentally relate how my brother works with several very prominent social media sites and they'd love a story like this....
I leave the keys in most things here. if someone is going to steal it, if they start it in the night, Libby will wake me up, and they might not get away with it. Tractor supply sells sets of universal keys.
Doc,
My grandfather left the keys in his old 57 Chevy all the time. He said if anybody stole it he'd catch them at the first intersection when they tried to shift gears and got the linkages crossed up. :D
My USMC boss and next door neighbor had an old beat up, yellow Toyota wagon he called Spot and he'd ask me to crank every day if he went on vacation or it would not start when he got back after a few days. I rode with him one day and he left the keys in it and I asked him "Major, what's going to keep someone from stealing Spot?" He replied "Well, pride mostly." I guess he figured anybody else would be too embarrassed to be seen in it. ::)
I just made copies of various documents I will send in a registered letter to the CEO of Ram like I did last time. I told the customer service rep yesterday she really did not want the bad press but she could or did not fix my problem so I gave her a chance.
I bought extended warranty once and it paid for itself. I had a used Mitsubishi built Dodge pick up, the manual tranny was giving me grief so took it into the dealer. The service writer called to say I wouldn't be getting it back that day, they were going to replace the box. Oh great how long will that take? She cheerfully said they would have it the following day from the Nissan warehouse. So Nissan built the transmission for Mitsubishi to put in Dodge trucks! I had the truck back in two days, had to pay fifty dollar deductible which I could live with. Most of the time it is a cash cow for the dealer, they love it.
You know, if you were not such a persistent old coot, they would have gotten away with canceling that warranty. Cheers for you.
I have only ever been screwed by those aftermarket contracts. NEVER AGAIN!!!!!
They are like bad insurance companies. Somehow they always find a way not to pay out.
My thinking is if they were a good deal for me, they wouldn't be offering it. Sure, some people win, same as lottery, but I don't do that either.
Update - last Monday I sent the original purchase paperwork, the original extended warranty cover sheet, the last power train inspection record, the last oil change and A/C report from last week, several years of tag receipt renewals dating back as far as 2012. The Customer service guru from Dodge Ram called yesterday and advised my wife they had restored my lifetime power train and extended warranty. So far so good.
Of course you never know if it is actually there till you need it as they don't call to tell you they cancelled them. Time will tell.