WMS Warranty Rip Off & Court Action

[TEanciousP]

Firstly, EVERY point in this review and statement here is backed up with copies of emails, court filings and recordings. So whatever WMS say in response it is true and court records reflect that.

 

What to say about WMS? Sit back because this is a hell of a story. Well my father in law purchased a 5 star policy from them to cover his Range Rover Sport. He paid extra to have main dealer work undertaken should anything go wrong.

 

2 years into the agreement the engine was destroyed by an incident where was breached after an internal failure. Pretty much fatal. He tried to make a claim against this warranty. This is where our near two year battle started to get a payout on this warranty.

 

At first it was declined because he didn’t use a Vat registered garage even though this wasn’t a requirement of the policy he took out.

 

he was told he HAD to take it out of a main Caffyns dealer as they would not pay dealer pricing even though he paid for the 5 star warranty which included this.

 

After 3 months we finally got them to agree to get an engineer to inspect the vehicle. They used ACE, a company they have used on numerous occasions and who does work under contract for WMS. Not surprisingly they decline the claim. Firstly they claimed low oil. Then aerated oil. Because it was oil related they said they would not pay out. At this point we were dealing with the MD directly.

 

Worth noting the mechanic found 4 litres of oil in a 5 litre sump AFTER the engine failed. He also found ZERO warning lights and zero fault codes meaning there could have been ZERO notice. The failure happened at 70 MPH on a dual carriageway.

 

Obviously unhappy We asked to appeal. At first WMS did not have a clue what they are doing. In fact pretty much throughout despite numerous requests they never once supplied me with a formal complaints for appeal process.

 

Eventually they agreed we could get another engineer to comment. We did and they found that this was not oil related. We submitted the report to WMS who then asked a senior engineer at ACE to reply (he had and has never seen the car). He stood by ACE findings even though the report from DEKRA picked apart the claims. Claim was declined again. During this time we were accused of riving the car to destruction, low oil and not servicing the vehicle correctly by Mr. Collingswood who always had a reason to not want to pay out.

 

We instructed a further engineer MET who also found that this was not oil related and not wear and tear. Report submitted to WMS and again ACE response via an engineer who had never seen the vehicle.

 

The claim rejection was upheld. Again we asked to appeal. Again WMS had no idea of what their own policy or procedure for this was which was even more worrying as we were dealing directly with the company MD.

 

Also over this time as I was helping my father in law, the MD called my employer and the police on me (I was sending him regular emails which in his eyes was harassment). My employer wasn’t bothered and the police said it was a civil matter. These bullying tactics were prevalent throughout – blocking email accounts so we couldn’t contact then, legal threats, insults (he accused me of having “special needs” in one email)

 

We were eventually told a joint report would need to be undertaken as the final part of the appeal but this never took place as ACE and WMS kept moving the goal posts. Eventually WMS tried to charge us £1500 for this report to take place. Which obviously we refused. Not one cost had been refunded or met. They refused to issue a formal decline letter or settle on an actual reason for decline. They blocked further email accounts so we could not speak to them and would not take our calls.

 

As this was not a FCA agreement we could not go to the Ombudsman and had zero come back.

 

Over the course of this period we exchanged hundreds of emails and calls with WMS, put forward evidence and tried to reach solution until they cut off all ties with us. The MD, Claims Manager and everyone else had ZERO interest in paying out our helping us.

 

Most people would have walked away. We took the case to the small claims court. It took over a year. 3 appearances in a court room. And literally thousands of pages of emails, notes and work.

 

WMS hired a firm of local solicitors at great cost (the solicitor costs would have been at least 3 times what the final settlement and claim was if not more). They even hired a barrister to represent them in court (at probably several £100 an hour). At every turn they tried to out spend, out muscle and threaten and scare us off. They failed. After MUCH work and a whole day in court, a year later we won a judgment and pay out.

 

WMS lost. And decisively at that. The judge ruled that this was NOT lack of oil, was NOT caused by not maintaining the vehicle, was NOT due to the vehicle being driven to destruction and was NOT caused by anything we could have foreseen. It was a mechanical failure and therefore the policy should have paid out. The judge dismissed the ACE engineer and his report, the opinions of the MD and awarded my father in law a settlement of just under the small claims limit. In short we won, we beat WMS and they had to pay out because they declined a claim for no just or reasonable reason.

 

Again WMS Lost in court. The judge found that the excuses of low oil, wear and tear, oil related failure were all rubbish. It was a mechanical failure pure and simple.

 

My father in-law still lost money – hire car charges not covered, loss of wages etc. (not to mention the cost of the worthless warranty) - but the money paid for the engineers, experts and the replacement of the engine which he funded himself out of his own money.

 

WMS tried to bully us. Scare us. Threaten us. All so they didn’t have to pay out on what was a valid claim. If we lost we would have been liable for several thousand pounds in costs, court fees and expert fees. It was a risk but we were in the right and knew it form the off. They tried to spend more, use their solicitors to try to scare us off. Didn't work.

 

The message here is simple: DO NOT USE WMS. Don't even think about it. Move on. Read forums and other review sites other than Reevoo (see below) They are a terrible company who use under handed tactics and bullying to avoid paying out. There MD is not above using underhanded tactics to scare you off – from calling employers, to the police and lying to both. If you do not have a FAC regulated agreement you have NO legal come back unless you are willing to go to court and risk losing.

 

Again AVOID WMS like the plague. There warranty is not worth the paper its printed on. Checked out the Revoo score on their website ? 96% This is ONLY from people they have paid out to (read the small print) and does not reflect the real feedback that is all over the net. WMS do NOT payout. The warranty is worthless. More over the company are morally dubious in their tactics and way they treat customers.

 

There is no external or formal appeal and if the MD doesn't like you he will try to ruin your life as well as take money from you. The company are a shambles. They have no idea of their own process.

 

We are free of WMS now and their tactics after near two years hard work. Please don't put yourself in this position.

 

AVOID WMS AT ALL COSTS.

[BankFodder]

You could now consider claiming from them further some measure of compensation for your losses caused by their unfair treatment of you in breach of ICOBS.

 

If you have a judgement which is very clearly against them and the way they behaved, then it seems to me that if you claimed a modest amount, that they might feel inclined to pay you rather than face another court action. You have proved to them that you are prepared to go the distance. They may feel that they don't want to test you again.

[Conniff]

Well done TEanciousP. I have been warning about warranties claim of wear and tear for years.

 

You have taken it all the way and won - congratulations.

 

I think it fair to name the company in full - WMS Group and give a link so others are aware of who the actual company is.

[BankFodder]

Looking at this review site http://www.reviewcentre.com/Car-Service-and-Repairs/WMS-Group-Ltd-www-wmsgroupuk-com-reviews_1436609 , there seems to be an awful lot of people who are not very happy with the WMS Group

 

Also - http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=88797

 

http://www.renaultforums.co.uk/308-transmissions/19378-%A32400-bill-laguna-6-speed-gearbox-warranty-problems.html

[Conniff]

I've linked this post to their Youtube video with wonderful claims of how great they are - I bet it gets deleted.

 

Where's the bit about not paying out out on warranties, where's the part about taking money and then saying 'sorry, wear and tear'.

 

Where is your report on the court case you lost http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?464699-WMS-Warranty-Rip-Off-amp-Court-Action(2-Viewing)-nbsp&p=4902215#post4902215

 

I see you have disabled responses to your warranty upload - you would only do this if you had something to hide.

 

[Robbo777]

I have a WMS warranty that came with the car i bought recently and am now making a claim for the timing chain on my BMW.

 

They have rejected this claim as the engineers report states "wear and tear".

 

It would be good to know what evidence you used against them.

 

Thanks

[Conniff]

I've removed your last line Robbo, if there is any info that would be useful to anyone else, we would rather it was posted on here for all to read.

[heliosuk]

Would the initial failure described be for the turbos failing by any chance or a bottom end seizure?

[Conniff]

Would love to be kept up to date with this Robbo777 ??