Section A – Warranty Policy Manual
A.5 REIMBURSEMENT POLICIES
A.5.4 Chargebacks and Appeal Procedures
A.5.4.1 Chargeback/Appeal Categories
A.5.4.1.1 Chargebacks
Any payment for a warranty, policy, Field Service Action, Customer Satisfaction Program, Special Service Instruction, or service contract repair can be charged back later if the payment is not justified. These Chargebacks are made for claims which are duplicated, unsubstantiated, or which do not meet the requirements stated in this Manual.
Dealers should be aware of their obligations with respect to their warranty repair and service requirements as specified in the Dealer Sales and Service Agreement. A failure to perform those obligations could result in the replacement or repurchase by the Company of an owner’s vehicle due to faulty vehicle quality or Dealership service.
If such replacement or repurchase is caused by actions of the Dealership, the Company may elect to charge to the Dealer the related net cost incurred by the Company. Dealers who believe they have been charged back unfairly in refund/ replacement situations may Appeal this to their Ford Regional Manager.
NOTE: WHEN SUBMITTING APPEALS, IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT CUSTOMER STATEMENTS OR AFFIDAVITS ARE NOT AN ACCEPTABLE ALTERNATIVE IN LIEU OF THE DOCUMENTATION REQUIREMENTS IN THIS MANUAL.
Where Loss & Damage claims are submitted within 90 days of Carrier drop-off, and the supporting documentation is provided within 30 days of Claim submission, and repairs returned for corrections, completion, or additional documentation are corrected and resubmitted with 48 hours – final claim disposition will be determined within 8 months of the payment date. Claims handled according to this procedure will not be disallowed beyond 8 months of the payment date unless serious errors or omissions occurred
A.5.4.1.2 Appeals Procedure
There may be many reasons why a Claim submitted to Ford may not be paid in full. These include, but are not limited to, the following:
- The Claim contained errors or was lacking in certain details;
- The Claim was missing certain one-time use parts or other parts required for the correction completion of the repair claimed;
- Irrelevant or unclear Miscellaneous items may have been added to the claim;
- Overlapping SLTS may not have been adjusted and claimed correctly;
- Excessive NST (999X) may have been claimed with little or no supporting justification (e.g., evidence of the Technician Clocking uploaded with the Claim and a clear hour by hour breakdown of the activities performed in the NST (999X) period along with why or at whose direction);
In these occasions, the Claim may be Denied, Adjusted (e.g., some of the excessive Actual Time NST (999X) hours reduced) or Reversed (if the Claim has already been paid recently).
Claims that are Denied, Adjusted or Reversed (in total or in part) can be appealed by the Dealership and resubmitted for assessment. Claims can only be appealed once the Adjusted, Denied or Reversed Repair Order has been finalized by the Company (i.e., claims still listed as Under Review cannot be appealed until they are moved to Denied, Adjusted or Reversed). Appeals must be submitted within the limit set in this Manual under the Submission Time Limit.
The Appeal Claim screen allows the Dealer to review the original Claim submission, along with being able to see the Company’s comments as to why the Claim was Denied, Adjusted or Reversed. Dealers may Appeal the adjustment where they believe it was made in error or was unjust.
All appealed claims are automatically selected for Manual Review (i.e., they will have a human Assessor carefully review the information contained in the Appeal against the original reason the Claim was Denied / Adjusted or Reversed).
If a repair order contains multiple repairs, then only the specific repair(s) that have not been paid in full can be appealed.
IMPORTANT:- State the facts – Be specific, explain what information you feel may have been overlooked or mis-understood.
- It is critical to the success of your Appeal to provide information which refutes the reason for the original adjustment. Re-stating the same information will not produce different results.
- If documents were previously requested and the Claim is Adjusted or Denied, the original documents are retained by the Assessing Team. If an Appeal is filed and the documents submitted are different or altered from the originally provided documents, this will be considered suspicious and will not be used to overturn a previous decision.