ComplaintsforAutomotive Product Consultants, LLC

• Initial Complaint

  07/15/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I received a few letters that were on ************* letter head from my local dealer, and looked like they were coming from MB directly. I called the number and spoke with who I thought was an agent at **. I learned after the fact that she was an independent agent posing as a MB employee. I purchased an extended warranty, that I was told was through MB however I learned it was from Automotive Product Consultants. I never received an email or packet of my insurance policy and when calling, they had all of my information based off of my cell phone number. They said they would send an email immediately of which I have yet to receive and that they were to overnight my policy. None of which has happened. I was told by the "agent" that this was an extension of my original warranty from MB. Again, lies. Calls to the agent were unanswered and unreturned, going by the name of **********************(sp) ************. The number she gave me for APC was ************.

  Customer response

  07/17/2024

  I am working with this business and have been told I will receive a full refund.  Upon receipt of the refund I will amend my complaint.  

  Customer response

  07/18/2024

  I wish to retract this dispute immediately.  The president of Automotive Protective Services(APS) reached out to me, and was an absolute professional, and a very nice and understanding person. He took the time to thoroughly explain how extended automotive warranties are sold from dealerships through his company.  He was empathetic with my concern of perhaps being defrauded by the lack of follow up from their sales broker and without a policy in hand after a month.  He completely understood where I was coming from. He apologized for the gap in communication and any confusion created by the sales broker who sold me the policy.  He went on to explain why it happened (she moved into a new department - phone cal were not forwarded) however he did not use this as an excuse, he just wanted to provide transparency as to the reason, and he took full accountability.  I started the week feeling like I was a victim of a scheme and I leave the week knowing that APS is a legitimate and professional company who provides extended warranty services to over 3000 dealerships in the US  They can be trusted and if something goes wrong they will swiftly fix it.  I was offered a full refund and there was absolutely no "hard sell" for me to change my mind.  This is what good customer service looks like and I am 100% satisfied with the outcome and would recommend APS to those in search of an extended warranty.  While there was a snafu in communication - which can/does happen at every company - APS, once they learned of my issues, promptly, professionally and  hassle free made it right!  Thank you to their president who called me and remedied this issue.

   

• Initial Complaint

  04/19/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Prime Protect ********************************************************************************** Scam for vehicle service protection.First payment:: 4/2/2024 $593.30 Reported as fraud to my bank and credit card used

  Business response

  04/30/2024

  So we have resolved the issue with the consumer.  The person who submitted the complaint is not a customer of ours.  We have spoken to the customer and already resolved it.  

  Business response

  05/14/2024

  ***************************** was issued a full refund in the amount of $593.30.  Refund was processed back to **** card ending in 2496 on 4/22/24. 

  Customer, *****************************, contacted us shortly after receiving contract to let us know there were a couple items on the paperwork that needed to be corrected.  We were in the process of making those corrections when customer called to cancel the contract.  We canceled the contract and issued full refund on 4/22/24.  Copy of refund receipt is attached. 

  Thank you,

  ********;

• Initial Complaint

  02/13/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I purchased a 2019 *** extended warranty lasting 5 -year/125,000s, whichever came first, in August of 2020. It was advertised to me that it was a money-back warranty once the warranty had expired and the warranty was unused, which was the final selling point that led me to purchase the warranty. Roughly 2 years ago, I was almost finished paying the $3,750, and I called ***************************, a certifird Mopar Plan advisor, to see how the repayment worked. He informed me that it was not on my contract for the "money-back" clause, and that was needed to refund me the money once the warranty expires. After much deliberation, he went back to listen to the phone recording of the conversation I had with the purchaser, and it was in fact proven that I WAS supposed to receive the money-back clause in my contract. He said that he would get it fixed, and that I would be taken care of. I received an email recently stating that my contract was set to expire 03/18/2024, so I called mopar extended warranty customer service, and they told me that the money-back clause was still not on my contract, and there was nothing they could do. They sent me to the sales department, who told me that there is nothing they could do either. So I tried to call and email ***** at ************** and emailed him at ******************************** with no response.I would not have even purchased this product if not for that money-back clause, so it feels like I was tricked and lied into buying a product that was not what was advertised to me.

  Business response

  02/21/2024

  After receiving the complaint, we researched what happened with this contract. The customer is accurate in stating the contract was initially purchased with the money back guarantee. The customer did in fact call us in August of 2022 to find out how that part of the program worked. At that point, it was identified that the contract did not include the money back guarantee option. Our company is a service provider of **********. We perform marketing and sales services under contract with Mopar Vehicle Protection (MVP) a ******** of ********** (formerly FCA USA, and formerly Chrysler Group). We are not engaged to perform customer service for the contracts we sell on their behalf, those services are performed by MVP's customer service team.  Thus, when an issue like this comes to our attention, we are required to pass it along to the customer service department of MVP for remediation. In this case, we did submit a request to MVP to have the money back guarantee option added to the contract in August of 2022.We have an email confirmation approving the correction from MVP dated 8/11/2022, but unfortunately the correction was not actually completed by them.Had the correction been made in August of 2022, we would not have received this complaint. Accordingly, we sent this email thread to MVP so that the contract could be corrected once and for all. In addition, we sent the corrected contract to the customer. I spoke with the customer directly to explain the sequence of events. The customer was very understanding and was very appreciative that we fixed the issue. He also understood the relationship of our company to MVP and that these issues involve multiple parties. I also had our sales manager send an email to the customer with instructions on how to redeem the money back guarantee given his contract will expire in a few weeks.  I also left the customer with my direct phone number so that if there are any issues whatsoever in exercising the money back guarantee, he can contact me the directly. 

• Initial Complaint

  01/19/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  In January, I received a letter from this business asking to purchase vehicle warranty coverage and recommending a vehicle service contract for my recently purchased 2020 Chevrolet Sonic. In this letter, they impersonated the dealership that I purchased the car from ***** ***** ***** in Richardson, TX); and when I contacted said dealership, they said to ignore said letter because a third party sent it. I have identified the "third party" as this business. They have obtained my contact information illegally and impersonated my dealership in an attempt to commit fraud, all of which are federal offenses. This is an ongoing incident in which several so-called "vehicle warranty services" are involved

  Business response

  02/07/2024

  In an effort to honor the consumer's wishes we did not reach out to the consumer regarding this complaint. Normally we always reach out in order to explain to the consumer what happened. Most of the time the complaint is not due to poor service or a lack of service but rather a miscommunication, which is certainly the case here. We actually do have a contract with Lute ***** ***** to perform marketing services on their behalf. Lute ***** is a Sonic Automotive Group owned franchise dealership. Our agreement is with Sonic Automotive and covers ALL of their new car franchise locations. We have been performing services for Sonic Automotive owned dealerships for a total of 9 years and continuously since 2018. Unfortunately, someone at the store misinformed the consumer. We have uploaded our agreement with Sonic Automotive Group as proof of our relationship. We perform similar services to over 3,200 new car franchise auto dealerships nationwide. We have been providing services to dealerships for over 22 years. 

  Due to the miscommunication, we have retrained the employees of Lute ***** *****. In addition, we have removed the consumer from future marketing by our company per his request. 

  Unfortunately, there are dozens of "direct" marketers out there either illegally dialing consumers or marketing them aggressively through direct mail using purchased marketing lists. Our company works under contract with the dealer so that consumers have the ability to buy these products from a brand they trust. We are SOC 2 Type 2 certified and all of the data we receive under contract with our dealerships to perform the services is delivered through certified interfaces.

   

   

• Initial Complaint

  12/28/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I received a letter in the mail with the ***** West (my dealership) logo on it, offering me an extended warranty on my ***** CR-V. My husband and I bought an 8 year warrant over the phone on 11-29-23 and paid $3600+ for it using a direct bank payment. A week later, we received nothing in the mail confirming our purchase, so we contacted our dealership on 12-7-23 (***** West) and they told us that they had never heard of this company and that this was a scam and to cancel our contract/call our bank. The next day, we received our contract/paperwork from this company in the mail, and it states that we have 30 days from the purchase of the plan to get a 100% refund if we canceled. We canceled this policy on 12-8-23 (we have phone recordings and screenshots of all contact we have made with this company) and was told that our money would be refunded to us in 3 days. 3 days pass, and we do not receive any sort of refund. I called this company again on 12-15-23 and explained to the woman on the phone that we have not received our refund. She tells us that it will be via check and to give it two weeks from the cancelation date to receive it in the mail. 2 weeks pass from the cancelation date and we do not receive anything in the mail. We call again on 12-22-23 and speak with a supervisor. She informs us that it will not take up to a month + shipping time to receive our check. We are flabbergasted at the changing "refund time"s that we were given and we want our check is***d right now and mailed back to us. If we do not receive our check within the next 2 weeks, we will take legal action for breach of contract and will notify various media outlets on how this company is a scam and should be shutdown. Our dealership will also *** if we are not refunded (for false impersonation and other illegal practices) . This company also looks like it uses a "shell" website, with no address listed.

  Customer response

  01/02/2024

  I have received a check from the vendor in the full refund amount. Thank you.

• Initial Complaint

  12/23/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  On 9/15/2023 I was contacted by ********************* offering a Vehicle Service Contract good for 60 months. My understanding was 60 months AFTER the expiration of the 3 year factory contract. I paid him $99 at that time. When I received the contract a week later it became apparent it was only good for 24 months (the 60 months included the 36 month factory warranty). I immediately called the customer service number on 9/25/2023 and cancelled the contract. Today I received a letter dated 12/12/2023 indicating a cancellation date of 11/22/2023 and miles at cancel ****** (my odometer has ****** miles on it as of this writing). Both statements are deceptive and totally incorrect. The Agreement number is ***12661224. Even though it states in the *** that a full refund will be given if the contract is cancelled within 60 days, they inform me I will not get any refund. The total cost of the contract is $1653.00. At no time did I sign anything.

  Business response

  01/09/2024

  After receiving the complaint, we contacted the customer. I had a really good conversation with the customer. We went through the call recordings and the system in order to figure out what happened. Our customer service representative notated the account for cancellation but failed to forward the "Notice of Cancellation" to our cancellation team. Had our representative done this the customer would have been provided a refund within 3 days. As a result, the contract stayed active until it defaulted for a lack of receiving the monthly payment. At that point the system automatically sends a cancellation letter with information basically letting the customer know we do not have the miles to properly calculate the refund. But as previously stated the customer had already called to cancel. Normally we request the customer to send something in writing which triggers the cancel process. Our representative decided to handle the cancellation on his own rather than have the customer send something in to make it easier for the customer. But unfortunately failed to deliver the notification to our cancellation department. After explaining this to the customer we made sure we refunded her 100% of her downpayment. Moreover, we mailed her a $50 gift card (Mastercard) for her troubles. Finally, I made sure the customer service manager listened to all of the calls and instructed him to take any remediation steps with our customer service representative if he did not handle the call correctly in terms of how he treated the customer. At this point the customer is happy with how we handled the complaint. I also gave her my direct line just in case she has any issues so she can contact me directly.

  Customer response

  01/10/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *******************************

• Initial Complaint

  10/04/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I was suppose to receive a $ ****** refund for a cancelled policy and a customer service rep *************************** told me I was a week a ago then I just spoke with a representative name ***************** and he said I dont get one back. I will upload the letter they sent with incorrect mileage on my car put it because no one ever called me to get the mileage on my car. This company is a fraud and should be reported. I need my refund check back asap.

  Customer response

  10/05/2023

  The representative **** left me a message on my voicemail and I called him back today at 3:24pm and his phone was off or my number is blocked. I left a message or tried to do this company is a fraud and no one should do business with this company because its a rip off. If I havent heard back by today or Friday about my refund then I am gonna keep calling and reporting this situation until I get my refund back. I have documentation to prove that your company solid me a policy and took money and I have copies of my repair bill that u all didnt cover. This is not good business and you will be reported and taken to court if I dont receive my money asap.The number is **************. 

  Business response

  10/24/2023

  After receiving the customer's complaint, we researched what went wrong with the refund process. What we found was that when the customer called to cancel, the customer was frustrated with the requirement to submit the cancellation request in writing. This can be done with a simple email. Our customer service representative decided to submit the cancel request himself on behalf of the customer. At this point, our customer service representative submitted the request with an errant mileage. The mileage submitted was an odometer reading that was less than the odometer reading at the time the plan was purchased. This of course should be impossible. Thus, our system triggers a True Mileage Unkown letter out to the customer using an estimated cancel miles with a request to contact us if the estimate is not correct. We had the manager get in touch with the customer after receiving this complaint so that we could fix the odometer and calculate the proper refund of $319.44. We sent the refund to the customer. We also contacted the customer and left a message to confirm receipt of the refund check but the customer has not called back. At this point we assume this has been resolved as the refund check has been sent and the customer did have a conversation with our customer service manager regarding the issue. 

   

   

  Customer response

  10/27/2023

  I have called the company and I have received the check and everything has been resolved you can close this case. I received a called the company and I left a message and they left me a message.

  Thanks

• Initial Complaint

  09/29/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Please file an official complaint against "Automotive Product Consultants, LLC (APC)" and any marketer facilitating their mail harassment solicitations. Enclosed is mail solicitations/scams which were not requested by me. The car dealership listed has no knowledge of this insurance. Please contact: APC *** ****** ** *** ***** ****. ************* ** ***** ************ ************ Contact APC and impart to them that me and my wife have been abused and harassed online, by mail and phone for 4 years by a former long term affair partner of mine. We request APC remove my name, address, phone and or email from their database as well as their marketer's databases. This woman has terrorized our family long enough thru the use of putting our names and addresses in these websites. We need their company to block online requests for informtaion.

  Business response

  10/17/2023

  After receiving the consumers complaint, we added the consumer to our suppression files so as to not market this consumer in the future. The consumer was marketed via a program we have with Volkswagen of Fallston. We entered into an agreement with the dealership in December of last year. As part of this program the dealership not only asked that we market the customers within his existing CRM system but also consumers that live within a close geographic location of the dealership owning a Volkswagen. In this case, we would have purchased this data from a marketing list company in order to provide the marketing services requested by the dealership. Unfortunately, this consumer may not have provided this information to the list company but rather someone who intended to harass or annoy the consumer. We have passed this information along to the data provider so that they too can make sure the consumer is added to their suppression files given the fact that the consumer did not provide this information but someone else for nefarious reasons. We are sympathetic to this situation and advise the consumer to contact any organization marketing the consumer to which he believes was not initiated himself requesting they remove him from their database. We wish the consumer the best of luck dealing with this person that has chosen to be a nuisance. 

• Initial Complaint

  08/29/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I was contacted by ***** ******, a representative for this company in July of 2022. He was selling warranties for continued coverage of my Lincoln MKZ. In his sales pitch he led me to believe that he was representing the Lincoln Dealer in my area and stated specifically that this warranty would basically be a continuation of my existing warranty and give me the same coverage as my current warranty with Lincoln, and that the most I would ever have to pay would be a 100$ deductible charge. He sent me a letter that demonstrates his dishonesty as he implies that he is representing ****** **** *******, my local dealer. Upon taking my car in for a covered repair I find out he does not represent my dealer and that my charges for this covered repair amounted to $1098. I am asking for a refund of $900 and that this company be cited for fraud in their sales pitch.

  Business response

  09/20/2023

  We have been working on this complaint since we received it. We are waiting to provide our final response once we connect verbally with the customer just to make sure we have handled everything to his satisfaction. We have connected via email and took care of the issue with the claim.  We will post an update very soon with more details.

  Business response

  09/21/2023

  We finally connected with the customer. We explained what happened with the shortage on paying the claim. The short story is that the dealer had raised the posted labor rates and the service contract company had not updated their system for the new labor rate. We did get this fixed and the administrator of the contract informed us they mailed a check to the customer for the balance shorted, $1,098. The administrator took full responsibility for the issue and apologized to both the dealer and our company for the shortage. They have informed us the labor rate in the system has been fixed. We also explained to the customer that our company does business with over 3,000 new car franchise dealers and if someone at the dealership informed him we had no relationship to the dealership that information was incorrect since we have a contract with ****** **** *******. The stores do have turnover and we have an office in CA that trains the stores on our program when these miscommunications occur. We submitted a request for retraining to our CA office for this store. We also told the customer we would review the call recording to make sure our sales rep did not mislead the customer in anyway. We sold the customer a plan that is the most like the current factory warranty and is the most comprehensive coverage one can buy that is outside the factory warranty. The customer did buy the best plan and the same plan that is sold inside the dealership. We also told the customer should he have any problems with the plan in the future that he could call the President of the company directly as we want his experience going forward to be impeccable. 

  Customer response

  09/21/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ******* ******

• Initial Complaint

  08/16/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I signed up for an auto warranty with this Company on August 8th. They told me repeatedly that the I could cancel within 30 days and that the contract would not be valid until I looked it over and signed it. Instead I received a contract that had already been signed on my behalf. IN addition, the company can look at the call logs as I see that is their mode of response. I called once and asked them to email the fine print so my wife, who is a lawyer could look it over. I never got that email. I then received another call from them ironically shortly thereafter. However, the contract that arrived does not have any signing by me, and the cancellation option involves me writing into the company to inquire about how I can cancel. Even if they read me the service contract notice, it says you can cancel at any time for a 30 day for a full refund. What they don't say is that to cancel I would need to write in just to find out how to cancel and then I have no idea if they will call, mail or respond. The holder notice is basically fraudulent. If that was laid out there is 0% chance I would have said ok send me the documents. What a joke. I am sending in the full cancellation tomorrow via mail per their instructions. In addition, the sales agent provided "a number that I could call him back to cancel". That number does not work. I have never heard of a business asking to write in for instructions to cancel. WHat is the most infruirating part of it is that they said oh it is so easy to cancel. You will need to get the final contract, etc. But what is the point of getting a final contract to review if you are claiming I already agreed to all the terms. This coverage doesn't even cover what I would need it to cover. What a waste of time. Also has no license number or phone number for the so called "agent" that acted on my behalf.

  Business response

  09/07/2023

  After receiving the complaint, I personally, the President of the company, reviewed the 3 recorded calls between the customer and our staff. The calls are not reflective of what was put in the complaint. First, it appears that the complaint was filed prior to the customer contacting our customer service department which was the same day this complaint was filed. After reviewing the call, it became evident the customer called us after this complaint. In the call the customer asked how to cancel the contract. We told the customer on the call we flagged it for cancellation, and he would get a full refund in 4-7 business days. We did not tell him he needed to send us anything in writing at all. The refund was issued later in the day the same day he called. Also, I researched the language in the contract regarding the need to send something in writing just to get instructions on how to cancel as that seemed very odd to me having been doing this for 23 years. There are actually two options on how to cancel listed in the contract. The sentence reads "To cancel this Service Contract contact Offeror or CWS in writing for instructions." Our company is the Offeror and we listed our information on the contract in the Offeror section. W also provided all of the necessary contact information in the cover letter sent in the contract package the customer received in the mail. Moreover, when I reviewed the sales call, we specifically told the customer all he had to do is contact us directly to cancel. We never said to contact CWS. We also provided our customer service number in the call during our scripted wrap-up. The only reason the contract provides the second method of cancelling, by sending something to CWS, is in case the Offeror goes out of business. CWS does not cancel the contracts. The Offeror cancels the contracts. 

  In reviewing the calls, we have the ability to review our representative's computer screen since it is also recorded at the same time as the audio. Our representative did send both a quote and a sample contract via email and even informed the customer to check the junk items if he does not see it come through. The customer explained the situation with his wife to our representative stating she may want a new car. He stated: "If I was to buy it right now and in a month I am like Oh shit we're actually gonna sell this car." Our representative told him that the contract has cancellation policies where within the first 30-days a full refund is provided as part of the "free look period" and if the contract went past 30 days a pro-rata refund would be provided. The customer's response was "yeah, why don't we go ahead and I'll put it on a credit card."

  We also communicated to the customer in the wrap-up the following:  "Since I am your licensed representative I will go ahead and sign the Service Contract on your behalf, there will be nothing for you to fill out or send back, just a copy of the plan for you to keep and put in the glove box is that okay?" The customer then replied "Yep".

  Everything in quotes is straight from the call recordings. I tried reaching out to the customer to go over my findings, but he has not returned my calls.  The customer bought the contract and agreed to everything on the phone as I have described in this response and when he called to cancel, we cancelled the contract and refunded him the same day without a need for anything in writing. 

  If the customer did not receive the refund or is in need of anything else all he has to do is contact our customer service department.

  We have been providing programs on behalf of thousands of dealerships and several OEM's for over 20 years. I am very proud of our business practices and our team. It is my belief that our team did a great job. I think the one line of the contract that is the secondary means of cancelling just threw the customer for a loop resulting in this being escalated beyond what needed to be if he would have just called us immediately when he got his package.

   
  

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