Warranty scam hits Miramichi

Jan. 16, 2009

When one of Miramichi Mazda's customers got a call from a company saying her warranty expired, they offered to sell her a new one.

Before the woman committed to anything she wanted to check with her dealership first.

That's when sales manager Justin Somers got involved in a three-way call between the salesman and his client.

Somers said the warranty salesman asked him to honour their warranty so Somers asked them for a credit application or references before he would agree.

"They couldn't tell me a dealer they paid a claim to."

The call was one of many reported in recent weeks by confused car owners around the Miramichi who received dire warnings about their warranty expiring.

When they receive a call, an automated recording greets people when they answer the phone and asks them to respond.

"This is the final call before we close the file. Press 1 to speak with a representative. Press 2 to be removed from the follow up list," the message said on one answering machine.

But in most cases there is no problem with a warranty and the callers seem to be looking for credit card information instead of a legitimate sale.

Somers said in his customer's case, the scammers found someone whose warranty had just expired and was interested in getting a new one.

"They kind of got lucky on that one."

Trevors Hyundai general manager Lindsay Jardine said he heard one of his customers gave her credit card number to the scammer and they charged over $2, 000 to her card.

"It's money she'll never see again."

The company doing the calling is taking people's money and he doesn't understand how they can get away with it, Jardine said.

"How come nothing can be done about it?"

It's a common story around the city as every dealership contacted told of customers checking up on their warranties after receiving a mysterious call.

Miramichi Honda sales manager Come Benoit said he has been called by the scammers about 15 times about his own warranty expiring, although he has never spoken with them.

"They try everybody."

People are scared about what is happening with the big American car companies, which makes them wonder about their own warranty when they get the call, he said.

"Sorry, but it's wrong. You've got a warranty."

At Miramichi Volkswagen, general manager Alden Clark said they have heard from about 10 or 12 customers who received calls about their warranties.

"Where they're getting the names we're not sure."

Miramichi Volkswagen does offer extended warranties, but they don't contact customers about it once their original warranty expires, Clark said.

"Not usually, no."

Jill Atkinson with the Better Business Bureau said they had reports of the scammers hitting Nova Scotia through most of December. She said the scammers would sometimes call to warn people about a vehicle recall.

"It's not true."

The Better Business Bureau received about 10 reports from Nova Scotia and heard some of the people who asked questions about the company had the caller hang up on them, she said.

"They seem to target specific areas at a time."

Atkinson said people should ask a lot of questions when they get suspicious phone calls and shouldn't give out personal information or credit card numbers over the phone.

"It just seems that they are looking for the credit card information."

Miramichi Police Force Cst. Greg Scott said he wasn't sure when the calls started in the Miramichi, but people started reporting them some time in December.

"We did receive a few complaints about it."

Scott had the same message for the public as Atkinson and said depending on what the call is people should be cautious if they think it's a scam.

"This does appear on the surface to be some sort of a scam."

Somers said most legitimate warranty companies reimburse the dealership once approved work is finished and he was tipped off when the scammer told him they would pay for it all up front with a credit card.

"Tomorrow they could deny the Visa and we're out the money."