Dont expect then service plan to pay at all then.
When I had enough I was in the same position with ball joints on my 04. I called them and found the problem. They wanted to come by and verify the problem, 3-5 business days. The was on a Friday at my fathers shop, 2.5 hours north of where I live.
I told them that I could send them the ball joints with pictures. Not good enough.
They would not even pay for the parts.
They also stated if the truck had been lifted at all then everything was voided. Well called the salesman after this one and got my money back.
(2) chances for them to pony up, power steering pump blew the front seal, they paid for half, ball joints, paid for none. Extended plans can go to hell in my eyes.
I have been on the other side working on peoples cars when I worked for my dad. There would be days I would spend 3-5 hours on the phone, hold, faxing, discussing the problems for them to approve a 2 hour job. They all say they pay and time for shops to get approved is almost none, which they all are full of crap. I have dealt with a lot of them and they are all the same. I got paid flat rate, so no wrench time no money. So I just quit accepting peoples cars with an extended warranty. I would tell them to go to the selling dealer for them to deal with it. Some of the time even the selling dealer did not want to deal with it either.