TWG Services Limited reviews and complaints

I purchased the above policy for my daughter back in September 2007 from Warranty Works when I purchased the car for her, at a premium of £369.12. I was assured by a member of staff at Warranty Works that the policy was an extremely good policy, and that it covered all major components with the exception of service items such as brake linings etc. The list of covered parts was quite comprehensive and this gave me peace of mind when I handed the car over to my daughter. Sadly this has not been the case. In your letter attached to the initial validation Certificate, you state “We hope you enjoy many miles of trouble free motoring, however, should the need arise you can call on your TWG policy for assistance” on both occasions my daughter has called for assistance under the policy you have declined the claim unjustifiably.

The facts of the most recent claim are as follows:-

On Wednesday 22nd January 2010 whilst close to home, the car suddenly lost much of its power and acceleration. My daughter immediately took the car to her local independent garage (Half Moon Garage, Main Street Pool in Wharfedale). There had been no prior warning that anything was wrong. The garage identified that the turbo unit had failed and needed replacing. My daughter telephoned yourselves, who instructed her to ask the garage to telephone you. The mechanic spent a considerable time without success trying to contact Sean at your claims office, and eventually asked my daughter to contact you as he could not afford to waste any more time, waiting on the line for somebody to answer the telephone. My daughter eventually got through after a wait of 28 minutes and asked Sean to contact Half Moon Garage which he eventually did. The garage reported to Sean that the Turbo Unit had completely broken down, and that he had ordered a new one which was being delivered that afternoon. Sean asked that the garage send the old turbo to the supplying company, to establish the cause of failure, and that the report be sent to TWG services once it was available. The garage agreed to do this.

Once the part arrived, the garage completed the repair and my daughter paid the bill of £950.00.

Sean at your claims office was advised by myself of the current status regarding the repair, and agreed to progress the claim further, once the report from the Turbo Unit suppliers was available.

The report was sent to the garage on Friday 29th January, and I spoke to Sean on the morning of February 1st. He asked that I fax to him the report from ITS Turbos, along with the invoice and a covering letter. This I did and within 30 minutes Sean telephoned with as he put it “bad news”. He told me that the claim would not be honored as the cause of failure was due to a foreign object passing through and damaging the turbine wheel. The report stated that this could have been an EGR valve and Sean stated that it could have been a piece of hard carbon.

I could not believe that you were not honoring the claim and referred Sean to the definitions on page 3 of the policy booklet which states:-

“Mechanical Breakdown”

“The sudden and unforeseen failure of a component, not by wear and tear, normal deterioration or negligence. We are not liable for parts that have reached the end of their normal working lives because of age or usage.”

The turbo unit is one of the parts specifically covered by the warranty and In this case the failure of the turbo unit was sudden and unforeseen, it was not caused by wear and tear, normal deterioration or negligence.

The definition of the word mechanical taken from the Oxford English Dictionary is “relating to or operated by a machine or machinery” and the definition of the word breakdown again taken from the Oxford English Dictionary is “a failure or collapse” In the case of the turbo unit concerned it is a mechanical part and it has failed.

I have fully read through your policy documents and all associated papers you have provided and nowhere can I find any reference to indicate that insured parts are not covered if the cause of failure is caused by a foreign body passing through an insured part. Furthermore, cause of failure is not specifically mentioned at all throughout any of the documents.

When I purchased this policy for my daughter it was to provide piece of mind for if and when such a breakdown occurred. Of course one would hope that no such breakdown happens, but when it does I expect the claim to be dealt with in line with the policy document without you putting unjustified reasons as to why you won’t honour a claim.