Problem Solved: Delta Auto Protect strikes (out) again
Q: I had an extended warranty on my car through Delta Auto Protect. I recently sold the vehicle and canceled my Delta Auto Protect policy.
I received an email from the company promising a $925 check within 30 days. That was in October. I called, and Delta’s customer service told me I should have received it.
Delta agreed to reissue the check and gave me a check number. A representative said they sent the check on Jan. 2. But 10 days later, still no check. Can you help me get my money back from Delta Auto Protect?
Robert Haack, Virginia Beach, Virginia
A: Here we go again! Another Delta Auto Protect case. And yes, of course you should have your refund by now. More on that in a moment.
Delta Auto Protect has quite a rap sheet. Just a month ago, I resolved Owen Wallace’s case, and his $2,365 refund was seven months late. A month before, I helped Jaime Ludwig recover $3,100 from the company. And last year, I also retrieved Devon Welter’s $1,673 refund.
If you ask me, that’s too many complaints for a small company that offers extended auto warranties. It’s also a curious contradiction for a company with a stated goal of providing “exceptional” service and “eliminating delays.”
These cases follow the same pattern. A customer cancels a Delta Auto Protect policy, asks for a refund and then waits. And waits. I’ve asked the company many times why it takes so long, and when I do, it promptly finds the check and sends it.
But I’m looking at my case files now, and I have another six active Delta Auto Protect cases. Something is definitely going on here.
As I’ve mentioned before, companies have numerous safeguards to ensure they don’t send a wrong refund to a customer. These are understandable. And just as you would expect customers to take their time with a purchase, so too it’s reasonable to expect a company to do its due diligence on every refund.
Here’s where I have a problem: It’s OK to take a few weeks or even a month to cut a check and send it back. But four months? Seven months? That’s not right.
Further complicating this batch of Delta Auto Protect cases is that the company won’t say what’s happening behind the scenes. When I send it a new case, it pays quickly.
Fortunately, you had an email from Delta Auto Protect promising a refund. That’s always helpful. I list the names, numbers and email addresses of key Delta Auto
Protect customer service executives on my consumer advocacy site. You could have appealed your case to one of them.
I contacted Delta Auto Protect on your behalf, and it sent you the $925 check.
Christopher Elliott’s latest book is “How To Be The World’s Smartest Traveler” (National Geographic). You can get real-time answers to any consumer question on his forum, elliott.org/forum, or by emailing him at chris@elliott.org.