Would it be simple for a dealer to say " not covered under warranty " , charge the customer for the repair and then apply for warranty reimbursement? Is there anything to prevent that type of scam?
Would it be simple for a dealer to say " not covered under warranty " , charge the customer for the repair and then apply for warranty reimbursement? Is there anything to prevent that type of scam?
Its called larceny. Another thing the dealer needs a signed bill form the customer that the work was done. I guess there are a lot of ways to steal money and if the dealer is a thief, I just can't see them staying in business very long. It just has to be the same in any repair business because I have seen it happen with jobs that has come into my shop. When a customer knows nothing about a repair how are they to know what is done or not done? I would think there are some honest dealers and repair shops out there and some not so.
Manufacturers send surveys either through the mail or do phone surveys to determine the satisfaction level of its dealers. If a dealer charged a customer for a repair, and then also filed a warranty claim there is a chance they would get caught.
Would it be simple for a dealer to say " not covered under warranty " , charge the customer for the repair and then apply for warranty reimbursement? Is there anything to prevent that type of scam?
Warranty claim and charge customer for the same thing? Risky! Too much paper trail and you should read and understand your warranty anyway.
He'd rather have you sign work authorization, put some old parts on your machine just to get it going, telling you it's all good and keep new parts for himself or sell to his landscaping buddies.
Example: 2009 bought new Mitsubishi Lancer with MIVEC engine that came with free Mobil1 synthetic oil change as long as I own the car. Wife came back from the dealers after he changed oil in it. I looked at the dipstick, didn't like what I saw, drained the whole thing out and put "real" Mobile1 back in the car. I kept a pickle-jar full of what he put in wife's car, called Mitsubishi and told them "if you don't believe me come and get it." They didn't come to my house to pick it up but they went in to inspect that dealership. Story was published in the local paper (guy didn't even have Mobile1 in stock and many other things he was doing wrong made the article) they shut the whole place down in 2010.
I would imagine the average everyday Home Depot gets turned into Toro about a thousand times a year. Yet I have never heard of any surveys. I have never gotten any surveys from any manufacture of OPE ever. Most OPE brands are so insulated from customers about the only people you talk with are reading from a script. From the sounds of it they are not even in this country.
This would be the riskiest attempt a dealer would take to make extra money. He would be jeopardizing his entire business to gain a couple of bucks. If he try's this, he would have done a few other questionable practices in the past.
That does happen! I spent 25 years with a Central Distributor administering warranty for Kohler, MTD, and Yazoo. Unfortunately, once you authorize a dealer to make repairs to your machine and you go ahead and pay them for authorized repairs, in reality, the OEM becomes a third party to your and the dealers transaction. Now repeated complaints against the same dealer might cause the OEM to get involved in some way. And the most that will probably happen is that dealer losing his ability to collect warranty reimbursement from the OEM. But today like stated earlier, it's a lot harder to double dip than it was in the past with online filing of warranty claims and ESA certification etc. About the only recourse an individual might take in that situation is through a court sponsored remedy like small claims court and even then your going to have to cough up documentation that's probably not going to be available to the general public. And these double dippers know all that. It's best to always deal with someone you know is reputable even if you have to pay a little more for the machine and/or work performed. The cheapest way isn't always the best way!
I would imagine the average everyday Home Depot gets turned into Toro about a thousand times a year. Yet I have never heard of any surveys. I have never gotten any surveys from any manufacture of OPE ever. Most OPE brands are so insulated from customers about the only people you talk with are reading from a script. From the sounds of it they are not even in this country.
Well you can imagine anything you want and then draw conclusions from what you imagined, but seriously I doubt that any Home Depot is likely to do anything like that. Too many employees, too much turnover, too much social media. Some kid gets canned from the service department and goes FB or someplace and posts "you should see what they do at this place...".
And on top of everything OEM are a touch on the stingy side when it comes to payments for warrenty work.
Down here you get paid via invoice credits which go against your next parts bill, well down here it would be the bill in 3 to 6 months time.
At the area level there is a person who processes all of the paperwork so they would quickly notice if a single dealer had more claims than any one else in the area, also if they were faking the paperwork, the customer signatures would start looking too similar and then down here the softwear the dealers use report back to the franchise holder every time the till drawer is opened.
Finally as everyone else has mentioned it is FRAUD and down here our Consummer Affairs send hundreds of shonks to gaol every year.
All of the cases of this I have heard of have stemmed from an employee with a drug or gambleing problem
