Retail Observer

RETAILOBSERVER.COM SEPTEMBER 2022 56 I n the early 1990s, my mother Dorothy worked in the coding department at Key Prestige Inc. (KPI), where they received thousands of warranty claim forms from the North American Retail Dealers Association (NARDA), representing thousands of service companies. Dorothy's job was to manually apply various codes to each claim that were specific to each manufacturer. With the introduction of electronic claims filing in 1993, responsibility for coding switched from Dorothy to the manu- facturers' authorized servicers. Today, Mom is 95 and living in Laguna Niguel, CA, spending her days solving puzzles. But servicers still often overlook the very important procedure of entering required warranty claim codes during the claims process. What happens then? Simple answer: no payment! Warranty claim coding involves assigning codes to the diagnosis and repair of appliance products that will be reimbursed under the manufacturer's warranty provisions. But there's much more to the process than just translating the work performed into a series of codes and into a language that the manufacturer's software can understand. You must also know when to use a Complaint Code, Fault Code, Repair Code, Resolution Code, Job Code, Call Code, Failure Code, F-Ident or Defect Code. There can be many names for the code(s) you need to apply to your warranty claims before you can get paid. Nearly 30 years ago, the NARDA and the Electronic Industry Association (EIA) introduced a standard code list. Some of these codes are still used by certain manufacturers for warranty claims. However, some manufacturers have either changed the name of the code field or they've added new codes. Here are just a few of many examples: GE Rather than use the standard codes, GE decided to use the code field to determine the labor amount. They have two codes: MA00 pays standard labor rate, and SS00 pays the sealed system labor rate. AIG AIG uses numeric codes to determine if the repair was done as an on-site repair or a stock repair. The on-site repair code is 8001 Asurion Asurion changed the name of the Defect Code to Failure Code and the Repair Code to Resolution Code. Bosch For the Bosch family of brands you'll need to have four codes per warranty claim – a Failure Code, Repair/Job Code, MFG F-Ident and Call Code. If your business management software doesn't allow you to enter one or more of these required codes, you'll need to log into the manufacturer's warranty claims portal of choice and enter the codes for all incomplete claims. In summary, coding warranty claims is an exacting, frustrating and mandatory task – you will not get your claim processed and paid without them. It takes the right mindset to do it right, and do it right consistently. Learning the manufacturers' codes and claims system is just a matter of education and some practice. Given the choice, a detail-oriented beginner is better than a sloppy person with experience. Janice Salmon is founder/CEO of JustPressOne, an AVB BrandSource partner that provides claims administration services for independent service companies and self- servicing dealers in the home appliance industry. For more information, visit www.JustPressOne.com. RO THE SECRET TO CODING WARRANTY CLAIMS Get it wrong and your repairs will go unpaid Janice Salmon Warranty Trends

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