Community Forums

jjm22 · 04-10-2015, 02:56 PM

My furnace stop working so I put it in for repair. The sail switch loosen and fell into the blower wheel (made of plastic). We received the OK from USA to order parts, less then $50.
After installing new parts the furnace fired up but the fumes from plastic burning in the heat exchange were so bad you could not stay in the coach.

Repair shop called USA back and told them we need a new furnace ($1200)and the claim was denied. Rep said the furnace is running that's all we cover, we do not cover flumes. I tried to explain that it was do to mechanical failure so it should be covered, they did not want to here it.

Then we called suburban who makes the unit and told them what happen, they said it is out of warranty but we will send you a new furnace but you have to pay the labor. ($300) OK good company to do that.

I am now trying to get USA to pay just the labor and they will not even call us back.
Learning experience with extended warranty insurance

Stay away from USA Travel Care ..........

D Lindy · 04-10-2015, 04:33 PM

Something is OFF kilter here. The burner assembly is a SEALED chamber, so how did plastic get in side it? Seems that maybe the service that did the work screwed something up and just won't admit it.

jjm22 · 04-10-2015, 04:38 PM

If air can blow across the chamber so can the plastic. The flumes started as soon as the wheel broke.

nothermark · 04-10-2015, 04:53 PM

go away while the furnace runs for a few hours and the plastic will get cooked out of the heat exchanger.

jjm22 · 04-10-2015, 05:14 PM

Ran the furnace for a long time not getting any better.
The new furnace is on it's way. The question is why wont the warranty company pay for this.

Ray,IN · 04-10-2015, 05:27 PM

Read your contract CLOSELY! It was written by lawyers, you must understand the details and procedures, and follow them to the letter BEFORE permitting any work to be started. What you describe is consequential damage, re: broken piece falling into the blower wheel, which broke (secondary damage/consequential damage). If your contract does not contain a consequential damage clause, and many do not, your provider is not liable. Many extended service contracts contain an appeal process for claim denial, which must be done in writing, does yours?

JFXG · 04-10-2015, 09:33 PM

Another factor to consider is that many policies, both service contract and roadside assistance, will only take action once on any given diagnosis. In your case, it sounds like they authorized certain parts to repair the failure that was diagnosed. Their position now is that if that diagnosis was wrong, that is not their problem. Seems unreasonable from your end, but they can't allow themselves to be drawn into a situation where repairers are just throwing parts at a problem.

Mr_D · 04-10-2015, 09:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JFXG

Another factor to consider is that many policies, both service contract and roadside assistance, will only take action once on any given diagnosis. In your case, it sounds like they authorized certain parts to repair the failure that was diagnosed. Their position now is that if that diagnosis was wrong, that is not their problem. Seems unreasonable from your end, but they can't allow themselves to be drawn into a situation where repairers are just throwing parts at a problem.

That would be my guess on what's happening!

AC Orange · 11-08-2015, 11:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jjm22

Repair shop called USA back and told them we need a new furnace ($1200)and the claim was denied.

Then we called suburban who makes the unit and told them what happen, they said it is out of warranty but we will send you a new furnace but you have to pay the labor. ($300) OK good company to do that.

I am now trying to get USA to pay just the labor and they will not even call us back.
Learning experience with extended warranty insurance

Stay away from USA Travel Care ..........

.
x2 on your last sentence ! They are awful to deal with. My rooftop AC went out a little over 2 months ago. The repair service called USA Travel Care first and was authorized to replace the unit. They told him that we should pay the bill and send all the paperwork in for reimbursement. Sounded good in theory. In reality it is not going so well. For 2 months now they won't pay us. First they were saying we didn't have the proper paperwork (even though we had sent them everything they asked for). BTW, they would never return phone calls. Then they said we needed to have the repair service send them an affidavit covering the price. We wound up having the repair company go through this 2 times sending the document to 3 different people. Long story short ... we've made over 40 phone calls to these creeps (yeah, that's right, over 40) and there's always some excuse or somebody never calls back when they promise they will. We've talked to 5 different people, the last one being a supposed finance manager who was so rude it was unbelievable. He said a check would be sent tomorrow (Monday). This was the third time we were told a check was forthcoming. This bunch does nothing but lie to us. When (or if) I ever get a check, I'm canceling this thing and getting back whatever i can get (I've only had the warranty for 6 months). I'm also going to write a letter to the RV dealership management (a pretty good sized business with quite a few dealers around the country). I want to let them know what a disservice they are handing to their customers.
.

Gadget Man · 11-10-2015, 06:19 PM

That's sad to hear. I had USA TravelCare for seven years until my policy finally expired. They never denied a claim and were always quick to respond to requests for repair. My policy paid for itself the second year of ownership - my coach was used.

Craig

Gary RVRoamer · 11-11-2015, 06:58 AM

I think USA Travelcare is typical of RV extended warranties, so probably not any worse than another. We had their policy on a previous coach and had no problems, but the limitations, e.g. consequential damages, often result in a disappointment for those who thought they had something akin to a factory warranty. An extended warranty isn't even close to that. There are many such restrictions in these policies and you need to be aware of them.

I had a broken fan problem in an Atwood furnace and the plastic pieces scattered everywhere. A couple of them ended up on top of the heat exchanger (not "inside the burner") and melted as soon as the furnace was fired up again. Stinks! The top of the heat exchanger (above the burner) gets plenty hot to melt plastic. I ended up having to pull the furnace out to get the pieces of plastic off the top of the heat exchanger. That stopped the smell. And yes, that is considered "consequential damage" under most any RV extended warranty.

jjm22 · 11-11-2015, 08:26 AM

I guess it is another learning experience for me, for some people these warrantees work.
Maybe I'll have better luck next time but it won't be with USA TC.