Mack Warranty-- Scam or just incompetent? - Page 2

I offer this little aside to give perspective that may or may not indicate what the problem with Mack could be...

I had a postal money order stolen from the mail and cashed. I had my receipt and filled out the claim form as required which said 4 to 6 weeks. After 6 months of agony trying to figure out how to get my $500 back, I discovered that the ENTIRE USPS money order fraud division was run by ONE MAN. I got his unpublished number and badgered him until they changed the number. After 11 months, I started calling the Inspector General's office in Washington DC and finally told them to be sure to buy a copy of the Washington Post for the upcoming weekend as I was going to tell my year long story in full, documented, names published detail. They called me back and mailed the check that week. 13 months of fun fun fun.

Rebates and these kinds of things commonly take 8 to 12 weeks in some cases. I'm glad mackcamera on here is willing to listen and check into things just to help folks out.

Check came in the mail yesterday. Thanks to the mack camera people on this site that took the time to look into this.

To clarify: The mack people I PM'd on this site told me the normal time is 6-8 weeks. However, the person I initially talked to on the phone (when I chose to take a reimbursement check) said it would be 25-30 days. That's why I was worried when I hadn't received anything after a month and a half.

Thanks again to the mack people for the help on this issue.

fwiw,
the good news: i needed a lamp replacement for my sony vpl-vw60 under the mack warranty and had the replacement lamp in about 2 weeks.
the bad news: the replacement lamp failed after 3 weeks.
the good news: mack took my call and within an hour had linda from purelamp on the phone to send me a replacement...so far i can't complain about their service, although it seems that the replacement product is perhaps not of the same quality as the original.

Well because of this thread and a few others I have read, I decided not to buy a MACK warranty. Seems like more hassle than it is worth. Buying a Denon AVR-1611. My last Denon lasted 10 years. If the 2 year Denon warranty isn't good enough, I guess I'll just spend my $40 for the warranty and $50 shipping on another receiver.

I had a problem with my projector. Sometimes the lamp would not strike. Mack sent me a new lamp quickly. The new lamp cost $565.45 from Accessories4less (Marantz projector). Invoice was in the box. Their service was good for me.

Some of the people they have working there are incompetent, but they have always came through for me as far as the bulbs are concerned.

I shall share my on-going experience with Mack Camera Warranty, and let you decide if they're a scam, or purely incompetent.

I've had the pleasure of dealing with Nicole and Cheryl at Mack Camera Warranty.
My first contact date with Nicole would be May 23rd. (Nearly a month ago)
Yet I'm still working on trying to get the television repaired.

The television I am trying to get repaired is a Samsung LN52A750.
The problem with the television is that the bezel was delaminating in the corner.
As it appeared the bezel was made from numerous compressed pieces of plastic.
As well as the front bezel actually coming apart from the back of the unit.
Seems like a minor quick repair right? Just replace the front bezel.
Apparently not so.

I'll try to explain my situation as briefly as possible.
To me it seems Mack Warranty tries to elongate the entire process in the hopes of you giving up.

I've had everything from Nicole blaming me for picking Lakes Electronics as the local repair center, and them taking long. (Though I didn't pick Lakes Electronics, as per her requests I located the nearest AUTHORIZED Samsung repair-center, Lakes Electronics is the only AUTHORIZED repair center that tends to South Florida)

When requesting to me called back the same day with an update I was promised by the supervisor Cheryl specifically she would call me back today, only not to be called back, because according to her she had "no updates" -

Lakes Electronics was not able to attain the part as Samsung had no ETA for when, or if they will attain the bezel.

Nicole's original response was to blame me for not wanting to wait for the bezel to come available with Samsung. My response was, do you really expect me to wait up to a year? She tells me, no one said it will take a year. My response was, has anyone said it won't be a year? There's no ETA.

So Mack Warranty Camera came up with a genius plan to attain the part, order it from a third party.
I specifically asked numerous times both Nicole and Cheryl if the part is indeed a genuine Samsung part, AND BRAND-NEW. I was informed by both of them that indeed the part was NEW.

The gentleman from Lakes Electronics came to install the part this past Saturday.
The part was packaged without foam support, only with paper and inflated packaging material as it's support. It had no plastic on the front of the bezel.
Instantly I had concerns.

Once installed and the television was set up right you can see scratches through out the bezel. Along with the stretches were smudges that not the technician nor I could remove. The bezel cosmetically looks worse than the one replaced.

I emailed Cheryl at once, informed her of the situation and asked her to give me a call first thing Monday morning.
Surprise surprise, no call.
Instead I received a lovely email about her trying to get a hold of the gentleman in parts that's apparently on the road, and she informed me that she's going to contact Lakes Electronics and see what they say. (Apparently she needs to "verify" what I'm saying, instead of calling me in the morning as I requested)

Finally I receive an email roughly 6 pm stating that due to the fact that I didn't want to wait on Samsung and their no ETA, they ordered the part from a third party vendor, and the third party vendors website didn't state if the part was new, used, or refurbished. (So they assumed it was new)
Yet prior to ordering the part Cheryl and Nicole both informed me the part was NEW. Interesting.


Scam or incompetent?
You decide.

I read this thread, and get the impression that Mack Extended Warranty is "slow rolling" its accounts payable. This has become common practice in industry. I work for a company who went from 30 days to 45 days, and now to 60 days accounts payable. Considering the grief I have gotten from vendors for 45 days, I dread going back with 60 days.

60 days on accounts payable is good for the balance sheet, but may ultimately be bad for business, especially in a competitive and crowded market like extended warranties.

I just filed a claim this morning for my projector bulb and it was assigned to Nicole L., keeping fingers crossed. I just hope they let me buy a factory bulb and get reimbursed for it. I don't look forward to waiting weeks for an aftermarket bulb and having my projector down the entire time.

Hanlon's razor:

"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

...or in this particular case, incompetence.

I'm holding hope that they may have ironed out some of this stuff. It's just a projector bulb right? Pretty cut and dry...

Well hell, I got a call a little bit ago from them but didn't leave me a message and the number isn't a direct line so I have no extension info. GRRR..!

It seems I'm stuck in the movie "Money Pit" where I got one shot at contact (remember the inspector coming over?). I just wish they'd left me a message

What kind of idiot from Mack calls and doesn't leave a message?

I did get a call today and was luckily near my phone. Spoke to Nicole, she asked for one additional piece of documentation which I emailed to her as we spoke. She immediately updated my case and said the order for a bulb would be placed with Pureland Supply today. No confirmation on that piece yet but it's looking good. I just hope the Pureland bulb is up to par with what came with my Mitsubishi, that thing lasted 3800 hours on "standard". Pureland says the bulb is OEM and the housing is aftermarket made to specs. OEM seems to get tossed around a lot though to mean different things but to me is very specific in it's meaning. We'll see.

Been 5 days and still no confirmation that it's been ordered. Pureland shows it in stock and claim if you order by 5:00 they ship the same day. Not sure what the holdup is.

Having worked in a similar industry, I'll tell you likely what the problem is. They slow pay their customers which means they also slow pay their vendors. They're probably on credit hold until they get somewhat or completely current, which is why they don't place your order. That's really the only thing it could be. Otherwise, why wouldn't they just order the bulb?

Actually a short time after I posted I got and email from Nicole letting me know the bulb shipped the 12th along with the tracking info. It should be here tomorrow. I think someone is watching this thread perhaps.

They SHOULD be watching it. Reading through this and other extended warranty threads makes me happy I didn't get sucked into one!

Good luck to you and I hope that bulb measures up to OEM standards!

Ed

That doesn't explain why they don't return phone calls.

Michael

TapeWorks Texas Inc has been an Authorized Mack Cam reseller for more than 10 years and their customer service and support has been excellent, especially compared to other Warranty Service departments throughout this industry. Our customer's continue to respond with good reference's pertaining to their experience with Mack Cam. I have plenty of returning customer's who contact me to purchase a new warranty as they upgrade their equipment. TapeWorks Texas Inc customer's know that we are also always available to assist as best we can for any claims.

I'll say since my first experience I have since filed another claim and everything was nearly instantly responded to. Used MACK's ticket system and it was flawless.