CARCHEX Responds to complaints
Complaint
Jason Goldsmith
Country: United States
Dear Consumer,
My name is Jason Goldsmith and I am the Co-founder and CEO of CARCHEX. I appreciate the opportunity to respond to the concerns posted on this site. I think forums like ComplaintWire can be very helpful to consumers. The flipside is that these sites also allow people to provide inaccurate information and they do little to confirm that the poster is even a customer of the company in question. That said, there is more good done than harm for the consumer on these sites and one positive component of complaint sites is that they give me, or any company for that matter, an opportunity to address many people's concerns at once.
I certainly don't blame anyone for being concerned about the Vehicle Service Contract (Auto Warranty) industry. Many of us, including me, have had bad experiences around this product. My negative experience happened many years ago at my local new car dealership when they tried to pressure me into buying a service contract when I was in the finance and Insurance office eager to get all the paper work signed in order to drive off in my new car. I was stuck in that little room for over an hour. There was no transparency, they didn't provide an actual Vehicle Service Contract for me to review, only a marketing brochure and they told me "don't worry about it we'll just roll it into your auto loan and it will just cost you a few more dollars a month." I knew a Vehicle Service Contract could be very valuable but I was so turned off by the high pressure, low disclosure experience, that I passed on buying the VSC.
That experience was the catalyst for CARHCEX to offer Vehicle Service Contracts direct to consumers. That was 12 years ago in 2004. I knew that CARCHEX could provide a low pressure, consultative and 100% transparent sales experience to the consumer. Since that time we have disrupted the whole VSC industry with a much smarter way to shop and purchase a Vehicle Service Contract while trying to live our brand promise of "Customer Experience Above All" every day. Are we perfect? Far from it. Do we get it wrong sometimes? Absolutely, but we are by far the highest rated (by our own customers) and the most third party awarded Vehicle Service Contract reseller in the United States.
I know many people will read this and take the approach of simply bashing me and my company from the comfort of their homes but if you want actual facts about CARCHEX I think what I have to say is worth the short read.
In the past 3 years alone, CARCHEX has sold 46,570 Vehicle Service Contracts. We have 56 complaints in that timeframe with the BBB, which in my opinion, yes just my opinion, is the largest outlet for legitimate customer complaints because they are the only source that works with the customer and business to actually provide resolution to a complaint or even arbitration if needed. That is only .001 or .1% of our customer base. To add, all of those complaints with the BBB have been resolved. This is the reason we have earned and keep our accreditation and A+ rating. Contrary to comments I have seen on this site, you cannot pay the BBB for your rating. Here is a link with the standards that a BBB Accredited company must adhere to.
http://www.bbb.org/greater-maryland/for-busin ... tion-standards/
Further, If you added up every complaint you could find on the Internet about CARCHEX including this site and even duplicate complaints from the same customer, my best guess is that our complaint rate is still below .003 or .3% of our overall customers sold. I’d of course like to have 100% happy customers but after being in an insurance related industry for this long, I realize that’s just not possible.
So why are we getting negative reviews at all? Most negative reviews come from a claim denial. People are upset when a claim is denied. To be clear, CARCHEX MAKES NO MORE OR LESS MONEY WHEN A CLAMIN IS DENIED. I guess you could argue we make more money, because we have a happy customer who remains a customer and tells their friends about us. So of course we would like to see every claim paid. We are not the contract administrator but we do work with the best Administrators and insurers in the business and since 2004 over 90% of all submitted claims across our contract administrators have been paid. If we disagree with the way a claim has been adjudicated by the contract administrator we work on behalf of the customer to get the admin to change their determination or we often pay a claim out of pocket to help our customers.
Unfortunately, in our industry, consumer fraud is a big issue. A percentage of business comes from customers that currently have repair issues, and they want to purchase coverage to get those issues paid for. When a major claim is called in a few days after a customer’s contract is in-force, our administrators will often send a “third party, independent “ inspector to help determine if the repair in question is existed prior to the purchase of the contract. Because of this common fraud our admin’s losses in the first 90 days of a Vehicle Service Contract are staggering. The administrators are trying to protect themselves from getting taken advantage of since the Vehicle Protection Plans do not require an inspection prior to purchase. Most but not all of the complaints you see online about CARCHEX fall into the pre-existing category. I don’t want to blame all of these complaints on fraud or pre-existing conditions, because many complaints are certainly legitimate, but the vast majority of our complaints do fall into this category. We find that the customers who did intentionally try to defraud CARCHEX and the administrator are usually the loudest complainers. I’m not sure why, that’s just a fact.
In contrast to our complaints, I think it’s only fair to point out our verified customer reviews. These are websites that verify that the reviewer was/is actually a customer. As you probably know, negative reviews are what usually make it on to the Internet. I think this will give you, the consumer, some comfort to know just how many positive reviews we receive from these verified customers.
• https://www.trustpilot.com/review/carchex.com
• https://www.consumeraffairs.com/auto_warranty/carchex.html
The most trusted third parties have also done their due diligence on CARCHEX. We have received more awards then the rest of our competition combined. We proudly display our awards and accomplishments on our website, www.carchex.com. The award I am most proud of is our Baltimore Sun Top Workplaces award, 5 years in a row. That’s all five years The Sun has had such an award. I firmly believe if you treat your team members well they will take great care of your customers. As I mentioned earlier, our brand promise is “Customer Experience Above All” and we do everything possible to deliver on that promise. That includes me providing my contact information on just about every piece of communication we send to our customers. I'll provide it here in case anyone has questions, comments or an issue they want me to help resolve. I can easily be reached at jason@carchex.com or by phone at 1-877-227-2439 ext. 1449.
Bottom line is , CARCHEX is made up of regular people. We are just a small business out of Baltimore and not an evil empire trying to take over the world. We are made up of 100 plus individuals and families that want to provide value to our customers. Our roots began in mobile vehicle inspections. We started protecting consumers over 16 years ago by offering Pre-purchase inspections in order to verify a sellers description of a vehicle that was for sale and to help used car buyers avoid purchasing a lemon. We have and always will be, an automotive advocate for the consumer.
Now I know I'm inviting the haters to attack me or my company but that's the Internet and the world we live in today. All I can do is provide facts, it's up to consumers to do their homework and make a choice whether to purchase a product or service from any company. Like I said at the beginning of this post, I just appreciate being able to add my two cents to the conversation.
If you have made it all the way to the end, I'm grateful you read what I had to say. Thank you.
Best,
Jason Goldsmith
CARCHEX
Co-Founder and CEO
My name is Jason Goldsmith and I am the Co-founder and CEO of CARCHEX. I appreciate the opportunity to respond to the concerns posted on this site. I think forums like ComplaintWire can be very helpful to consumers. The flipside is that these sites also allow people to provide inaccurate information and they do little to confirm that the poster is even a customer of the company in question. That said, there is more good done than harm for the consumer on these sites and one positive component of complaint sites is that they give me, or any company for that matter, an opportunity to address many people's concerns at once.
I certainly don't blame anyone for being concerned about the Vehicle Service Contract (Auto Warranty) industry. Many of us, including me, have had bad experiences around this product. My negative experience happened many years ago at my local new car dealership when they tried to pressure me into buying a service contract when I was in the finance and Insurance office eager to get all the paper work signed in order to drive off in my new car. I was stuck in that little room for over an hour. There was no transparency, they didn't provide an actual Vehicle Service Contract for me to review, only a marketing brochure and they told me "don't worry about it we'll just roll it into your auto loan and it will just cost you a few more dollars a month." I knew a Vehicle Service Contract could be very valuable but I was so turned off by the high pressure, low disclosure experience, that I passed on buying the VSC.
That experience was the catalyst for CARHCEX to offer Vehicle Service Contracts direct to consumers. That was 12 years ago in 2004. I knew that CARCHEX could provide a low pressure, consultative and 100% transparent sales experience to the consumer. Since that time we have disrupted the whole VSC industry with a much smarter way to shop and purchase a Vehicle Service Contract while trying to live our brand promise of "Customer Experience Above All" every day. Are we perfect? Far from it. Do we get it wrong sometimes? Absolutely, but we are by far the highest rated (by our own customers) and the most third party awarded Vehicle Service Contract reseller in the United States.
I know many people will read this and take the approach of simply bashing me and my company from the comfort of their homes but if you want actual facts about CARCHEX I think what I have to say is worth the short read.
In the past 3 years alone, CARCHEX has sold 46,570 Vehicle Service Contracts. We have 56 complaints in that timeframe with the BBB, which in my opinion, yes just my opinion, is the largest outlet for legitimate customer complaints because they are the only source that works with the customer and business to actually provide resolution to a complaint or even arbitration if needed. That is only .001 or .1% of our customer base. To add, all of those complaints with the BBB have been resolved. This is the reason we have earned and keep our accreditation and A+ rating. Contrary to comments I have seen on this site, you cannot pay the BBB for your rating. Here is a link with the standards that a BBB Accredited company must adhere to.
http://www.bbb.org/greater-maryland/for-busin ... tion-standards/
Further, If you added up every complaint you could find on the Internet about CARCHEX including this site and even duplicate complaints from the same customer, my best guess is that our complaint rate is still below .003 or .3% of our overall customers sold. I’d of course like to have 100% happy customers but after being in an insurance related industry for this long, I realize that’s just not possible.
So why are we getting negative reviews at all? Most negative reviews come from a claim denial. People are upset when a claim is denied. To be clear, CARCHEX MAKES NO MORE OR LESS MONEY WHEN A CLAMIN IS DENIED. I guess you could argue we make more money, because we have a happy customer who remains a customer and tells their friends about us. So of course we would like to see every claim paid. We are not the contract administrator but we do work with the best Administrators and insurers in the business and since 2004 over 90% of all submitted claims across our contract administrators have been paid. If we disagree with the way a claim has been adjudicated by the contract administrator we work on behalf of the customer to get the admin to change their determination or we often pay a claim out of pocket to help our customers.
Unfortunately, in our industry, consumer fraud is a big issue. A percentage of business comes from customers that currently have repair issues, and they want to purchase coverage to get those issues paid for. When a major claim is called in a few days after a customer’s contract is in-force, our administrators will often send a “third party, independent “ inspector to help determine if the repair in question is existed prior to the purchase of the contract. Because of this common fraud our admin’s losses in the first 90 days of a Vehicle Service Contract are staggering. The administrators are trying to protect themselves from getting taken advantage of since the Vehicle Protection Plans do not require an inspection prior to purchase. Most but not all of the complaints you see online about CARCHEX fall into the pre-existing category. I don’t want to blame all of these complaints on fraud or pre-existing conditions, because many complaints are certainly legitimate, but the vast majority of our complaints do fall into this category. We find that the customers who did intentionally try to defraud CARCHEX and the administrator are usually the loudest complainers. I’m not sure why, that’s just a fact.
In contrast to our complaints, I think it’s only fair to point out our verified customer reviews. These are websites that verify that the reviewer was/is actually a customer. As you probably know, negative reviews are what usually make it on to the Internet. I think this will give you, the consumer, some comfort to know just how many positive reviews we receive from these verified customers.
• https://www.trustpilot.com/review/carchex.com
• https://www.consumeraffairs.com/auto_warranty/carchex.html
The most trusted third parties have also done their due diligence on CARCHEX. We have received more awards then the rest of our competition combined. We proudly display our awards and accomplishments on our website, www.carchex.com. The award I am most proud of is our Baltimore Sun Top Workplaces award, 5 years in a row. That’s all five years The Sun has had such an award. I firmly believe if you treat your team members well they will take great care of your customers. As I mentioned earlier, our brand promise is “Customer Experience Above All” and we do everything possible to deliver on that promise. That includes me providing my contact information on just about every piece of communication we send to our customers. I'll provide it here in case anyone has questions, comments or an issue they want me to help resolve. I can easily be reached at jason@carchex.com or by phone at 1-877-227-2439 ext. 1449.
Bottom line is , CARCHEX is made up of regular people. We are just a small business out of Baltimore and not an evil empire trying to take over the world. We are made up of 100 plus individuals and families that want to provide value to our customers. Our roots began in mobile vehicle inspections. We started protecting consumers over 16 years ago by offering Pre-purchase inspections in order to verify a sellers description of a vehicle that was for sale and to help used car buyers avoid purchasing a lemon. We have and always will be, an automotive advocate for the consumer.
Now I know I'm inviting the haters to attack me or my company but that's the Internet and the world we live in today. All I can do is provide facts, it's up to consumers to do their homework and make a choice whether to purchase a product or service from any company. Like I said at the beginning of this post, I just appreciate being able to add my two cents to the conversation.
If you have made it all the way to the end, I'm grateful you read what I had to say. Thank you.
Best,
Jason Goldsmith
CARCHEX
Co-Founder and CEO
Comments
I have been ripped off by other vendors like that unfortunately and now I am very suspicious.