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This just reinforces what many of us have probably heard all their lives about making a physical written complaint about a product or company. Here's a short version of my recent experience.
In December, my daughter's 2 1/2 year old, 44" Vizio television purchased at Costco for $197.00 broke. After contacting Vizio they agreed the cost to repair it or even send it to them would out weight the value of this inexpensive television in the first place. We simply went back to Costco to purchase a new one seeing that the warranty had expired. Sure enough the Costco sales guy reminded me that if I had used my Costco Citi Bank Visa card for the original purchase, they offered a third year warranty which I didn't remember about.
I went home and filed the proper paperwork online with Citi Banks third party warranty company which they use. During this process they continued to require proof of breakage such as a detailed estimate of the repair from either Vizio or a licensed television repair company. After going back and forth with this company I tried multiple times to explain that the cost of sending the television in for repairs would out way the value of it simply in shipping costs alone. I also reminded them that we have no such thing as licensed television repair shop in our area. This wasn't 1970 all over again!
After going back and forth with this warranty company for two months they continued to refuse our claim even though they knew it was an honest one with plenty of proof such as receipts, photo's and Vizio Company case numbers. I even ended up calling Citi Bank customer service to complain and all they could do was agree with me and offer an apology simply because they had no control over this third party warranty company which they contracted with.
Not one for taking no for an answer, I wrote out a detailed physical letter explaining this entire situation along with my complaints and sent it by mail to both Costco Customer Service, Citi Bank Customer Service and this third party warranty company. Sure enough, two weeks later and I get this nice email from Citi Bank explaining they've "reconsidered" my claim and a check in the amount of $197.00 would be following. There's no doubt in my mind that if I hadn't sent a letter to all 3 companies, I would never have gotten this claim approved. Unfortunately it only confirms that you sometimes need to fight for what's morally right with these big companies. It may have cost me more than $197.00 of my time but at least I finally won one.
End of rant!
In December, my daughter's 2 1/2 year old, 44" Vizio television purchased at Costco for $197.00 broke. After contacting Vizio they agreed the cost to repair it or even send it to them would out weight the value of this inexpensive television in the first place. We simply went back to Costco to purchase a new one seeing that the warranty had expired. Sure enough the Costco sales guy reminded me that if I had used my Costco Citi Bank Visa card for the original purchase, they offered a third year warranty which I didn't remember about.
I went home and filed the proper paperwork online with Citi Banks third party warranty company which they use. During this process they continued to require proof of breakage such as a detailed estimate of the repair from either Vizio or a licensed television repair company. After going back and forth with this company I tried multiple times to explain that the cost of sending the television in for repairs would out way the value of it simply in shipping costs alone. I also reminded them that we have no such thing as licensed television repair shop in our area. This wasn't 1970 all over again!
After going back and forth with this warranty company for two months they continued to refuse our claim even though they knew it was an honest one with plenty of proof such as receipts, photo's and Vizio Company case numbers. I even ended up calling Citi Bank customer service to complain and all they could do was agree with me and offer an apology simply because they had no control over this third party warranty company which they contracted with.
Not one for taking no for an answer, I wrote out a detailed physical letter explaining this entire situation along with my complaints and sent it by mail to both Costco Customer Service, Citi Bank Customer Service and this third party warranty company. Sure enough, two weeks later and I get this nice email from Citi Bank explaining they've "reconsidered" my claim and a check in the amount of $197.00 would be following. There's no doubt in my mind that if I hadn't sent a letter to all 3 companies, I would never have gotten this claim approved. Unfortunately it only confirms that you sometimes need to fight for what's morally right with these big companies. It may have cost me more than $197.00 of my time but at least I finally won one.
End of rant!
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