Great Lakes Warranty Company won't pay claim

I bought a 2000 VW Beetle and purchased an extended warranty w/the vehicle. Recently my engine blew and I had my repair facility contact Great Lakes. They said they'd send out an independent inspector to check out the car. He/she said that a $20 radiator hose cause the engine to blow and that part wasn't covered, therefore they wouldn't pay for the engine. I couldn't believe it. These people are despicable and I'd really think twice before you purchase a warranty from this company. I've had other extended warranties and have had no problems. I hope this prevents other people from buying policies with this company. Learn from my mistake!

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Any word on the bankruptcy case? I got the notice of filing, then the meeting of creditors was in October but I haven't heard anything since. I doubt we have any chance of getting anything out of this, but just curious...

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for everyone information on Great Lakes warranty we purchased a used vehicle on 7/6/2010 come to find out today 2/11/11 that the extended warranty that we purchased for a year is no good. i was informed by my attorney that the car dealor who sold me the warranty is acting as the agent for the warranty company there for is responsible for repairs that he sold the warranty on because he is the representive for Great Lakes, they should of check to make sure claims were being paid and that the company was in good standing. they went bankrupt 7/14/2010

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It has been confirmed by a previous employee of Great Lakes that teh owners of Stone Bridge and Great Lakes are the same. Avoid this company like the plague!!!

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It appears the same people that ran Great Lakes Warranty are running Stonebridge Warranty Company; you can also tell by the crappy warranties they sell and no surcharges on certain vehicles. It even looks like they have the same post office box number. The new company owner is Bobby Zwigart, Great Lakes Warranties prior Sales manager, and I have heard the he and the previous owner, Keith Jimenez, used to work together at a dealership in PA years ago. I would imagine that all the other previous owners are still involved: John Ewart, Bill Heagy, Jim Fullerton (John Ewart and Keith purchased the business from Jim Fullerton). All these names pop up in the business search. John Ewart is also the companies legal counsel since he is a practicing attorney.

This is probably one of the more unethical warranty companies in the US. You should contact an attorney, if Traveler's isn't covering your warranty costs, and sue the dealerships that sold you the warranty. Several states in the union have set a precedent with this and have awarded plantiffs money from dealerships after the warranty companies collapsed. Start a class action, literally. Do as much research into this "new company" as possible because you'll be surprised what you'll find out; I'd guess most of the old employees are still there.

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Strange that Stone Bridge's website was only created as GLW was shutting it's doors?

Domain Name: STONEBRIDGEWARRANTY.COM

Registrar: GODADDY.COM, INC.

Whois Server: whois.godaddy.com

Referral URL: http://registrar.godaddy.com

Name Server: NS1681.HOSTGATOR.COM

Name Server: NS1682.HOSTGATOR.COM

Status: clientDeleteProhibited

Status: clientRenewProhibited

Status: clientTransferProhibited

Status: clientUpdateProhibited

Updated Date: 14-jul-2010

Creation Date: 01-jul-2010

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Stonebridge Warranty cannot pay for Great Lakes contracts. It's illegal. Great Lakes filed bankruptcy and listed every creditor (over 4,700 pages of them!) Stonebridge is also owned by Keith Jimeniz but under Robert Zwigart's name and using Keith's home address as the office. So you are dealing with the same thieves that robbed you with GLW. They think they got away with robbing all of you blind, but they will pay somehow...

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Great Lakes file bankruptcy (case #:10-26037-MBM) and notices are/have been mailed to creditors (consumers that purchased warranties). The notice instructs creditors to contact an attorney to determine whether recourse can be taken. I've engaged my attorney and will also investigate enacting a suit against the repair shop that recommended and sold the warranty to me (12/2009). I'm sure the repair shop made a commission on selling the warranty. After investigating other complaints it appears that complaints against GL go back to 2008. So, it appears that sellers of the warranty may have had knowledge about claims not being paid by GL. After all, anyone who sells a warranty is clearly "acting as an agent" of GL. Not sure that a class action suit is being pursued by Tom Corbett (Atty Gen of PA) since nothing is available from his www.attorneygeneral.gov website.

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Stone Bridge has nothing to do with Great Lakes Warranty. They are not accepting any Great Lakes Warranties. I understand Great Lakes Warranty is out of business and filed bankruptcy. So, if you have a Great Lakes Warranty your out of luck, plane and simple. So am I.

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I found out that Great Lakes is out of business. I also found out that Great Lakes Warranties are not being transfered to Stone Bridge.It seems Stone Bridge has nothing to do with Great Lakes so I guess I am out of luck. I guess I will chalk this one up to lesson learned. I will not buy another extended warranty on any thing I buy!!@!!

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Any news yet about Stone Bridge Warranty Co? "The dealer said the warranties from GLW are being transferred to The stone Bridge Warranty Co. I am not sure yet but hopefully they will fix cars and pay claims."

I am having a very similar problem, working with Pennsylvania Attorney General but if the company is now in the hands of someone else, I would love to find out more so I can get my issues taken care of, not sure yet if Attorney General will be able to do anything or not, my warranty expires Jan. 23, 2011 and I want my check that they promised me as well as the rest of my contact honored. Please get back with any details if you have them. Eagerly waiting reply.

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I'll be contacting the PA AG next, but I want to be included in any upcoming class action suit. I bought a 3-year warranty 10/29/09 for $2,925.00 for a 2005 M-B CL65. A coil blew last month. $1,555.00 and they gave the dealer a claim # 7/10/10. Now I'm out $4,480.00 and I want Keith M. Jimenez's head.

Don Allen, DVM

4501 Market St.

Youngstown, OH 44512

330 782-7333

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I just found out the my GLW is not any good. Bought a car in May 2010 and bought the extended warranty was not any good. Talk to the Dealer he gave me a number of a guy thats is suppose to be a partner in GLWC, he has open another warranty compamy named Stone Bridge Warranty Co 702-325-4404 his Name is Doug, the dealer said the warranties from GLW are being transferred to The stone Bridge Warranty Co.Im Not sure yet but hopefully they will fix cars and pay claims

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Well, I found out this morning July 16th, after a claim # was issued to my Chrysler Repair center on the 12th, that this company is no longer in business....can you believe the sheer audicity of this company to issue a claim number knowing it would not be paid...I, like a fool went ahead and paid the Chrysler dealership the money up front thinking I'd receive a check from Great Lakes in a timely manner.....I will never buy an extended warranty again! $2200 for the warranty that was useless....$1200 for the reapir which I will now have to eat.....all the rest PRICELESS. I hope these owners do jail time!

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I hear that they are closing their doors on Thursday, July 15, 2010. Hope the attorney general and others have a huge plan for them! BBB gave them an 'F' rating. Way to rip off the public guys! Hope you are proud of yourselves! I think all of us will be watching and waiting to see you led away in handcuffs!

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Wayne,NJ purchased used car with Great Lakes Warr. in Sept. 09'. Car lasted 5 days blew head gasket. Contacted Warr. Company had car towed to shop. Shop talked with warranty company, they authorized work with conf.# Shop fixed car but never got paid. Both the shop and I have got the run around for 10 months. Now the... shop is taking me to small claims court for 1,790.00 I never authorized I would pay for this...

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I have also joined the boat on being frauded by Great Lakes Warrenty Company. I had a claim back in March (it's now July) that they still have not paid. One, they suprised me with only paying a percentage of the damage (not in the contract)and a deductable (not in the contract). Two, they refuse to return my calls. The receptionist refuses to put me on the phone with a person. Overall, this company is the worst I have ever dealt with and I would keep FAR away. Plese let me know if there is a class action law suit because I would like to be apart of it.

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I had a claim approved in Dec09 for a tranny replacement. They lowballed the price by almost 1K, but something was better than nothing. I paid out of pocket, called GLW after a month or so. They said they never received the fax. They asked me to fax it again, I refused to fax. I said I would only email it, so now I have a comms record. They told me 45-60 days, it has now been 6 months. I have left close to 50 messages, including sara, Jody, Mary, and even the owner Keith. I contacted the BBB few months ago. GLW never responded to them either. I then contacted the PA attorney general. I just got a letter saying there is an ongoing investigation with this company and they are requesting a bunch of info. They also recommended I go to the dealer that sold me the warranty. I am working both routes, I will post up any info I find out.

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Wow! Thanks a lot guys. I was thinking of getting this extended warranty through the dealer option for my 2008 BMW 328xi, but seriously after looking at these complaints, good lord! I have been saved by you all.

Thank you very much all for taking time to go online and alert other people.

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I also had a very difficult time getting my claim paid. I called Great Lakes Warranty every week for 5 months to no avail. I documented every phone call made to GLW and person I spoke to - when I could get someone to talk to me.. I finally called the Attorney General's office in Pittsburgh. It took six months to get paid. I suggest to anyone dealing with trying to get this company to honor their contracts to contact the Attorney General's office in Pittsburgh @ 412-565-5135.

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You are not the only one that they have not paid! I put a claim in Nov. 2009 for my 2001 BMW 750il and they told me they don't have any money to pay! I have already submitted a complaint to BBB in Pennsylvania and will proceed in other ways to get my reimbursement of $2900!

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I am in the exact same boat as everyone else here. I had the Titanium Advantage warranty on my 2001 BMW 740iL -- had to replace the engine in December of 2008. Great lakes originally approved the claim, then backed out.

After a legal battle of several months, I got a judgment against them, which they refused to pay, then got a lien against them in October of 2009 & somehow they have gotten away without paying that for six months.

I've since had another claim (I paid for the warranty, would be nice to get something out of it!) which they approved and said they would pay. That was in November of 2009, and they still haven't paid that either. I've just about given up hope on ever being reimbursed.

Is there a potential class action lawsuit here?

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I've bought their warranty a few years ago and my last claim I made september 2009 still not been paid yet. I owe the mechanic $400. The company agrees that the claim is approved but doesn't know when the claim will be reimbursed. It's been 7 months now and they are playing games. This company is really gone down the drain since last year. DON'T BUY ANYTHING FROM THIS COMPANY!!!!!!!

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Your situation is exactly like mine. I filed a claim with Great Lakes Warranty company on December 9th, 2009. Before Meineke did any work to my vehicle, I was quoted a $355 reimbursement. I was contacted in the middle of December by GL to provide an address change which I did a few days later. A representative at Great Lakes, said my reimbursement would be sent out in a few days. At the end of January, I called again and a representative said that I would receive the reimbursment in a few days or in the beginning of February at the latest because the claim takes 35-40 days to process. I've tried calling Tuesday-Friday of the third week of February to find out what is going on and I kept getting transferred to the accounting department where no one answers. I've left voicemails with Sarah and Mary and neither one returned my calls back. Also, I tried to get the receptionist to get more proactive in helping me. I've also e-mailed two different links on the BBB accreditation site for Great Lakes and neither returned my e-mail. It's very frustrating and unprofessional not to respond to customers who are trying to contact you. No other type of company would or should get away with this type of service.

I contacted the BBB in the last week of February. The representative was informative and said that Great Lakes have been getting a lot of complaints since October of last year, but when a complaint is filed they take care of it to the customer's satisfaction.

A week and two days after I filed my complaint, I FINALLY received a reimbursement of $245 which I know is $110 less than the original quote, but I'm happy I got this back and sick of fighting. Had I received less than $200, I probably would have continued to fight. So my advice would be to contact the BBB, they are very helpful.

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Two years ago, I bought a 2003 VW New Beetle Convertible with a three-year extended warranty from Great Lakes. Three months ago, I was approved to have the windshield wiper motor replaced and had the repair completed. I'm now owed $258 (as I paid for the repair out-of-pocked and am now waiting to be reimbursed). I called about 40 days after the repair was completed and was told that they never received a fax of the invoice for the repair (which is fishy, as I was standing there when my mechanic faxed it). So, I had the repair shop fax the invoice again later that same day and was told that it had been received when I called Great Lakes to follow up. It has now been nearly two months, and I still haven't seen a check. During those two months, I have left at least four voicemail messages for members of their "accounting department" and a "supervisor" (although I haven't been able to get full names for these people since they don't seem to actually ANSWER their phones) but have not received a single call back. I'm in the process of filing a claim with the BBB and would appreciate any information that you all can share about the class action suits that have been mentioned.

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I am currently being told that I will have to pay nearly 2K out of pocket due to the fact that Great Lakes Warranty are not paying on time and two different shops that have done business with Great Lakes are now in the process of making all somewhat 'major' repairs paid for up front!!! Then making me wait on payment from GL's that may take a minimum of 45 + days for me and my wife to be 'reimbursed'...We bought the best warranty available and I am very livid over the situation...we even paid extra for the $0 dollar deductible.

***BUYER BE WARE***

Timothy

Nashville, TN

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I have been raped by Land Rover.My RR has blown engine after drivetrain failure.Dealer at Hilton Head never mentioned recall.Lawyer on stand by.

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I am also in the same boat as you. 2001 range rover srs light, cruise control and radio amp all went. cruise control is covered. told it was bodycontrol mod. AND OF COURSE thats not covered. Was told dealer should have sent it out to be repaired. I asked where? I am in Phila.Pa. Jack claims adj.said the only place he recommends is in Tennesse. Be happy to join class action suit.

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I'm currently in the same boat as everyone else that has done buisness with this company. I purchased a 2002 landrover and the head gasket blew, which clearly states on the warranty this is covered. Great lakes is telling me that they won't cover it because the reason it blew was because of a $20 part in the coolant line. I'm trying to send them a certified letter and they even refused to give me their address. I currently have been in contact with an attorney so for the guy that wanted a class action suit give me an e-mail.

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I bought 2003 Acura MDX and had a warranty from Great Lakes. I have 3 repairs to date, To-date my experience with these guys had been - They want to find ways on how to avoid paying for my repairs. When you call they DONT return the call based on the reapirs, Horrible customer service. I spoke to a guy named JD, If you ever want to understand or train someone on how you DONT want your customer service team to be.. He would be the guy I would refer to.

I would list to you all my experience concerning my transmission problem: I had my external cooler on my transmission burst which bursted my radiator which inturn had radiator fluid into my transmission. I had to replace my radiator and Transmission. According to Great Lakes warranty it was to be covered per their warranty but they did not cover it. I called these guys atleast 30+ times (Ofcourse talked to JD my favorite guy). He cannot make any decisions he did not want to admit, finally he directed me to his superior who explained they did not want to cover it - Here is their explanation " Since the cooler is located inside a radiator - It is considered Internal cooler" - He did not care to look at evern owners manual. I sent letters concerning the same.

It cost me more than $4K - I wish Great Lakes would Honor their Warranty

Frustrated,disappointed and feel deceived.

Regards

Babu

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Shixx, I just joined this club of no service from Great Lakes. They sent out an independent inspector and determined from viewing the engine that I had red-lined the car. Unreal, I was doing 70 MPH on the interstate and the engine blew and now I have a 2001 Porsche I used for 4 months and no engine and no warranty. I'm looking for anyone out there who also has had problems with this company and see if we can get a class action suit against. them.

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I am also having trouble with this warranty company. I took my car into a Goodyear Service Center and before any work was done the manager had an approval from Great Lakes stating what they would pay for and how much they would pay for parts and labor. The repairs were made and my car was ready in two days. My car sat at Goodyear for a week after the repairs were made, waiting for a payment from Great Lakes. I had to make an agreement with Goodyear to get my transportation to work back. They took my credit card info and agreed not to charge the repairs for 2 weeks - more than enough time to settle this claim. 4 weeks later no settlement for claim. I was charged for the repairs and no one from Great Lakes will return my calls. My next step is small claims court.

Krystal

Jacksonville, FL

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I too am having serious problems with Great Lakes Warranty Corporation. They have Better Business Bureau (BBB) complaints in Pennsylvania from other consumers. I bought their most expensive warranty, the so-called Platinum extended warranty (automobile service contract) for my 1999 Land Rover Range Rover (cost $3000). Purchased through independent agent Warranties4Wheels.com. Covered virtually everything, at least that was how it was written. Several months later car started losing radiator coolant. Took vehicle to my Land Rover dealer (excellent local reputation). Their techs determined heater core was leaking (one of the items specifically covered in the warranty). Filed my first ever claim with Great Lakes. Great Lakes sent an inspector and claimed the heater core was damaged by the dealer tech. This was nonsense since the heater was leaking before I took it in for repair. Cost me over $2000 to repair. Warranties 4 Wheels did not help at all; they claimed no responsibility for warranty. BBB seems unable to help (businesses pay BBB member fees). Next step: small claims court.