Warrantiy claim denied

[was_butnotnow]

I have a 05 Monaco Cayman 36PDQ and going across western AZ and my radiator developed a leak. Right now am at a repair shop in Quartzsite (been here a week and the build time is another week) when Source Eng. builds me a new radiator. The shop had talked to the warranty company servicing agent Strategic Administrators and said this was covered. Now they called back denying the claim. Said it must have been caused by a stuck thermostat and claim denied. I have a call into WW claims help desk. Is this normal for radiator claims to all be denied? There is nothing I could have done to prevent this and just had all serviced two weeks ago at Cummins in Tucson, AZ
Are all warranties a rip-off? My radiator springs a leak and somehow it is my fault.

[hawkeye-08]

Glad you are getting your RV fixed and it is covered..

[was_butnotnow]

An update
The warranty issuing company has stood up for us and has now approved the claim and the new radiator is being built.
The warranty company Wholesale Warranties is now bypassing the claims administrator company and handling it all with the repair shop.
We have been stuck here for almost two weeks just getting up to this point.
I recommend WW they were very helpful in getting this resolved.

[maillemaker]

Glad it all worked out.

[was_butnotnow]

Wholesale Warranties has approved the claim and will deal directly with the repair shop instead of going through Strategic Administrators.
I highly recommend WW. They listened and acted and took care of the issue.

[was_butnotnow]

Just heard from Wholesale Warranties and they have approved the claim.

[dougrainer]

drsteve wrote:

was_butnotnow wrote:
The warranty company sent out an independent inspector and he tested the thermostat and found it to be good, and said even if it was stuck it could not cause the radiator to fail. He will send his report to the warranty company and we shall see how it goes.

The inspector probably cost as much as the radiator.

Inspector's get from $125 to $250 depending on the specifics of the claim. The fact that the Inspector TESTED the Tstat, indicates he was a special Inspector. I deal with Inspectors all the time and NONE have technical skills to test items. WHAT WE have to do is set up the RV for what we did to diagnois and SHOW them the readings or the failure. They take pics and then relay that info to the ESC. When you have items that have failed and must be partially disassembled to show failure, THAT becomes a problem. Because, the ESC will NOT pay for disassembly IF the problem is NOT covered by the contract. If the failure is a covered item, then the ESC pays for the repair completely minus the deductible and certain fluids. It is BEST to READ your contract completely and not ALL the various exclusions that will keep you from having a covered repair. This is NOT Lawyer wording but plain and simple detailed things that ARE covered and what is not covered. Most Contracts state that IF a item fails and that item is not covered and it causes a failure of a covered part, then the ESC does not have to pay because the other part caused the problem. It depends on the Contract. Some do and some don't. Doug

[was_butnotnow]

Bird Freak wrote:
I think I would consider another shop for the repairs. I don't believe they are very bright or honest.

Can't move as the radiator is disconnected and this is the only repair shop in town.

[Bird_Freak]

I think I would consider another shop for the repairs. I don't believe they are very bright or honest.

[was_butnotnow]

PaulJ2 wrote:
Stuck thermostat or not has nothing to do with a blown radiator. The radiator is protected by its 15 psi cap.

The independent inspector said the same thing.

[PaulJ2]

Stuck thermostat or not has nothing to do with a blown radiator. Radiator is protected by it's 15 psi cap.

[was_butnotnow]

Build from spec and labor $6 K

[drsteve]

was_butnotnow wrote:
The warranty company sent out an independent inspector and he tested the thermostat and found it to be good, and said even if it was stuck it could not cause the radiator to fail. He will send his report to the warranty company and we shall see how it goes.

The inspector probably cost as much as the radiator.

[was_butnotnow]

The warranty company sent out an independent inspector and he tested the thermostat and found it to be good, and said even if it was stuck it could not cause the radiator to fail. He will send his report to the warranty company and we shall see how it goes.

[maillemaker]

I agree the repair shop probably doesn't want to deal with the warranty, as most of these warranties pay fixed, pre-agreed-upon repair rates. They would rather charge you market rates. And of course, the warranty company would rather not pay anything.

So, if you get the repair shop to agree with the warranty shop that it was a stuck thermostat that caused the problem, you are stuck.

I would ask for the original thermostat back. Do not ask why, and don't wait or it will get "thrown out". When you get it back, test it with the boiling water test above. If the thermostat opens and closes in boiling/cold water, then you prove that the thermostat was functioning properly. You can make a video of this test and post it to YouTube and share it with the relevant parties (and the rest of the world).

Everything rests on getting your hands on that thermostat before they have a chance to "lose" it or monkey with it.