Budget Extended Warranty refuses to authorise for my car repair

<p>I have a Mechanical Extended Warranty with Budget insurance. On the 7th of December 2016, after dropping my son at school…my car couldn’t start. So I called my service provider –he advised that I let the engine cool for 10-20 minutes and restart it again. Which I did, and the engine responded.</p> <p> </p> <p>Long story short. I got home, I called budget – and explained what is wrong with my car (a starter problem) and the fact that it wouldn’t start. After waiting for the lady who was ‘supposed to help me’ for more than 2 hours, I called again. And again. Until I got to a lady that really assisted me.</p> <p> </p> <p>She said mam, you will need your vehicle to be towed to the Land Rover dealer. I said yes. But she also suggested that I contact them to find out for how long they will have my vehicle – so that she can arrange and advise me for the car hire. I called them (Land Rover). The ‘technician /principal technician’ I spoke, also confirmed that it is a starter problem (gathering from my explanation) – he also said that they don’t do things like starter – they give such work to RC Auto Electric in Parow. He gave me their numbers and said that I must advise my vehicle be towed in Parow – after speaking to Chris (auto electric). I contacted Chris, he said he’s fully booked, he has lots of land rovers and he has no space to keep my vehicle – I can bring it on Monday (referring to the 12th of Dec) but they will look at it towards end of the year. I thanked him and feedback to this lady from budget, because she was waiting patiently on the line while I was making these calls.</p> <p> </p> <p>So I said to her, there is another place in Paarden Island – but I was not happy with this guy’s explanation of things – so I also gave feedback to the lady. I said there is one last place – somewhere in Steenberg – she then said she will speak to someone to give me a list of places to choose from then we can tow my car there. But almost immediately she asked, the place is in Tokai? I said yes, she confirmed the address, I said yes, that is the place. So I called them, they said they close at 17:00 or 17:30 (I can’t remember) so it will be better if we bring my vehicle tomorrow morning.</p> <p> </p> <p>I thanked the lady and said, ok, please tell the tow truck company to be at my place at 6:00 – so that my car will be the first in line. She then mentioned that I will have to pay for the tow truck – then send the receipt to budget for a refund. I said I have no money. She advised that I contact my comprehensive insurance as I will not be required to pay for the towing services. I did that and my vehicle was towed yesterday to Landy Centre, in Tokai.</p> <p> </p> <p>Yesterday morning I called the insurance Budget, asking for the process to get authorization for the repair work. The lady I spoke to, said I must let them (Landy Centre) to contact budget, and I did that. This morning, Mr Stuart Cloete from Landy Centre called and told me that my insurance (Budget) is instructing them to take my car to Land Rover N1 City. I called the insurance, after an hour I was able to speak to someone (Marko Bezuibenhout) – who read the policy schedule to me. Telling me that his manager (Enoch Katebede) is saying the car must be at the manufacturer according to the policy I have with them, because Landy Centre is RMI.</p> <p> </p> <p>I said fine, but Land Rover don’t do this kind of work, the place where they normally send the vehicles to is fully booked. I spoke to them myself. I was asking then who will pay for the other towing services of my car? He said it will be me. So we had a whole lot of argument, me and Marko from Budget, because to me it doesn’t make sense to take my car to Land Rover when they are not going to do the job themselves, send it to a company that is similar to the one my vehicle is currently at.</p> <p>2. that I must pay for towing services (but in the policy schedule towing services is one of the benefits I have).</p> <p>3. I was asking who will pay for the work that has been done by Landy Centre so far to look at the problem?</p> <p>3. my car will be there until next year. how am I gonna be able to get to work? How am I gonna get home in Eastern Cape for the holidays?</p> <p> </p> <p>The only thing this Marko guy said, was you are going to pay for them all mam. I became upset, because when I took this policy I wanted to have a peace of mind. But no, they are making my life very difficult. This company (Landy Centre) is on their database, is no different to the Auto Electric – and they are available now, to look and repair my vehicle – but they make my life miserable. I am at work. This stress is no good. When I took this insurance, I thought it would make my life easy. I did everything I could to make sure that this experience is not as bad as it looks. But they make it unbearable to me.</p> <p> </p> <p>I cant have my car repaired next year. I need it. My home is more than 1000km from my place of work. The service I have received from Budget, from this Marko guy is below standard. It makes no sense. It is not practical. So what is the point of having an insurance when you need it most – they give you all the excuses in the world. They completely refused to give authorization to Landy Centre. Instead, he said I must log a complaint against the lady who advised that my vehicle be towed to Tokai. I said no, why must I complain about someone who went out of her way to assist me? And I will not complain about that lady, she was very helpful.</p> <p> </p> <p>Here are the details of my policy with Budget:</p> <p>1. Policy number THE 30000 46</p> <p>2. Budget phone number ********** </p> <p>2. Make and model Land Rover Free Lander II</p> <p> </p>