Palmer Administrative Services and Direct Auto Protection review: Extended car warranty

On 11.22.22, I received a phone call from one Tiarra Lee from phone number [protected], Ext 1 indicating that they were offering me an extended warranty for my 2013 Toyota Highlander. As she did not identify the company, I mistakenly assumed they were affiliated with Toyota Motor Corporation. After hearing the offer and what was covered, I accepted the offer and arranged the $159 down payment and waited for my paperwork to arrive. After two days, something struck me as odd, so I called the number she had given me. She actually answered the phone and I asked if this program was legitimate and she confirmed that it was. I asked if they were affiliated with Toyota Motor Corp and she said "No, but we are the administrative service company that handles all the claims necessary to pay for repairs." I felt pretty good about that and then started making my monthly premiums of $159 until June. I paid in a total of $1113.00. The problems began on May 3, 2023 when my car was in the Toyota dealership for required maintenance. Upon the in-depth inspection, it was discovered that both lower ball joints on the car needed to be replaced. I gave the Assistant Service Manager the phone number I had on me which was for Paylink Direct (the entity that collects the monthly premiums). The folks at Paylink informed my service manager that he needed to call another number [protected] for filing a claim. This number belongs to Palmer Administrative Services in Ocean, NJ. My service manager spoke with someone in claims and followed their instructions to forward the repair estimate to them which he did. As it was already late in the day and almost closing time in NJ, we did not hear back from them that afternoon., therefore I paid the $807.00 repair bill and went home. The next day went by without a return call to my service manager. By Monday of the following week, I called my service manager and asked if he had heard anything and he told me "No, I haven't". So, I began my attempts at contacting someone for assistance. I first phone Palmer Administrative Services Customer Services Department at [protected]. I was told that starting Thursday morning May 4th that all the IT services for Palmer were down and there was no way to get any information regarding claims. The Customer Service Rep promised to get a message to the Claims Department to move my request up the queue to expedite my request for help. So, I started calling everyday hoping that the IT systems had been restored. The phone call would go through, but I never got through to a live representative even though I would be on hold as long as 45 to 60 minutes at a time. After another week or so of calls, I called back to Palmer Customer Service and was then informed that a tornado had struck the Orange, NJ area and that phone services were still not functioning. Now I was getting very suspicious. By early June, I was convinced I had been scammed, so I immediately contacted my bank and Paylink Direct to halt the payment of the premiums. The kind folks at Paylink informed me that in order to get a cancellation of the policy I needed to contact yet another company, Direct Auto Protection based in Delray Beach FL. Instead of calling, I put together a comprehensive packet of details with all email correspondence I had plus the information I have outlined in this complaint. I only had one address in my booklet for Direct Auto Protection as 601 N. Congress Ave, Delray Beach, FL 33445. I put that address on the package and in a week, it came back to me as "Insufficient Address, Unable to Forward". I found a suite number 438 listed with the BBB which has them rated as an "F". Direct Auto Protection is not affiliated with the BBB, but has received many complaints. I will resend the packet and call their number which is listed as [protected]. At this point I don't expect much better treatment than I have been getting. I hope there is a class action lawsuit against these companies as this is truly unethical treatment.

On Linkedin, I found the name Rich Mack as being the General Manager of Direct Auto Protection since it's inception in April of 2011. Other names associated with Direct Auto Protection include Ken Merritt and Ralph Mancuso. Appears there are numerous companies at this same address with variations of Direct Auto (Protection, Warranty and Insurance). Obviously a boiler room operation.