Warrantywise Warning! X5 Suspension

[jackbauer]

Here is my story about my Warrantywise Warranty or lack of it!

The other day upon arriving at work there was a hissing noise coming from the front offside wheel. Tyre, I thought initially, but alas it was the air bag for the suspension.

Still only 19 days into my Warrantywise warranty I was afraid of the 30 day wear and tear get out clause so phoned my Indy who stated that the part should not be classed under that part of the policy but as a FAILED part.

I then telephoned Warrantywise to see if I was indeed covered. I was told that they could not tell me, and that I had to take it to a garage and have the technician/mechanic call back with the part number to confirm if it was covered. Ithen asked for a list of the parts that they did not cover on my car to which they replied "I just answer the phones."

Worried by the lack of detail from Warrantywise I took my car to my Indy who confirmed the failed part and telephoned Warrantywise. They then told him that the part was not covered as it was pneumatic suspension and they did not cover that. My Indy argued in vain with them as as far as he was concerned the policy covered suspension parts including shock absorbers and road springs and the failed part was essentially doing the same job! But to no avail.

I then received an email from Warrantywise informing me that my "claim" had been rejected as the part was not covered.

I then contacted tham with the same query as my Indy to be told that I had a parts listed warranty, if it was not listed then it was not covered. I then queried them as to my "claim" as I had only initially enquired as to whether or not I was covered and then followed their instructions to establish the part number to contact again with the same query.

I then emailed my complaint to them.

To give them their due at this point they were very quick to respond, offering 50% toward the labour and parts. On the face of it the offer seemed reasonable but when you do the maths, £1100+(warranty + 50% cost towards repair) for a £700 repair and left with a warranty that does not cover the main suspension parts it did not make sense to me.

I replied stating that unless the full cost of the repair was covered then I would have to cancel my policy and receive a refund.

They agreed that I could have 50% towards the repair bill or cancel my policy and receive a refund minus £50 cancellation fee as I had "claimed" !!??

I then argued that I had not claimed, merely enquired. I also asked for a list of covered parts for my car as I felt that since they had asked for the registration number, make, model and service history relating to my car then they should be able to provide me with a list of exactly what is covered and what is not.

They replied stating that my warranty policy booklet listed the parts covered, "if it was not listed it was not covered."

I then queried how far I was to take that statement as my car was a V8 and the policy merely stated cylinders and did not refer to a specific number, how many were actually covered? Which other parts, which they must know that are fitted to my vehicle, are not covered. They declined to give me this information stating that their policies were generic not vehicle specific. I argued that the exclusions were vehicle specific so I should be informed prior to taking out the policy, if they weren't, what was the point of asking for a detailed history and carrying out checks prior to offering me a warranty?

With that point exhausted I turned to the "claimed" part of the query. I argued that I could not possibly claim for a part under the conditions of the warranty policy if the part was not covered in the first place.

It seems that it is standard practice if you telephone them with a query and state that your car has a fault that they automatically log that as a "claim."

Anyway, the customer service response was prompt. I received an email at 8 o'clock at night from the business partner of Quentin Wilson stating if a line could be drawn to close the matter, then they would withdraw the offer and refund me in full my policy premium.

This I accepted.

In short, NO X5 is covered for the pneumatic suspension under the terms and conditions of a 10/100 (under 10 years old/less than 100000 miles at inception of policy-  7 year old X5 with 91000 miles) warranty from Warrantywise. Goodness knows what else is not covered. Without being a mechanic or having some sort of intensive vehicle mechanics background, Joe Public is not going to know what is covered and what is not.

To say that I was disappointed with Warrantywise is an understatement, they just appeared to be like any other shark warranty company. On the list of claims paid out by Warrantywise they have listed just under £600 for a suspension repair for an X5.

Not a great experience, so I thought that I would share it with the forum. :-[

[X5Sport]

I've seen some horror stories on the web with regard to this company which tends to indicate that they are far from being as good as Quentin Wilson would have you believe.

I've come to the conclusion that few (if any) extended/aftermarket warranties are actually any good.  I has Warranty Direct on my E53 and they were good as gold about the gearbox but then played rough over fixing the fuel pump relay fault and left us paying for most of the work to fix a £10 part.

WD also have a very high cancellation charge too. >:(

My X6 is out of warranty in a month's time so I'm beginning to look around now.  I am hoping to see what BMW themselves offer, and how much they then decide to exclude.

Sometimes I feel that putting the equivalent of the monthly cost in a savings account may be more useful...... >:(

Richard

[bigsanj]

Shame to hear about your problems. I too have a warranty direct policey and they have been as good as gold. They paid out for my caliper and also a brand new air con condensor. To top it off all at BMW labour rates. I have an 04 E53 4.4 and the airbags etc are coveres. You can download the policey details off their website.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk 4

[CondorX5]

I had a WD policy on my first X, a 3.0i - at first it seemed reasonable value, but when I changed car only 2 months into the policy, on which no claims were ever recorded, I got virtually nothing back as a refund with all their rip-off "admin" charges, "cancellation" charges and similar shark-style rip-offs.    Never again.

BMWs AUC warranty extended via Mondial after the first year, has been pretty good on my 4.8 and has covered most repairs so far.

[Raj]

This is the exact reason I haven't bothered with aftermarket warranty after the Mondial one through BMW expired. Just not worth it tbh.