Extended warranties - are they worth it?

We bought a new Fleetwood in 2007 and they went bust leaving us with no warranty.  I took out an insurance backed warranty with MB&G for three years, and then extended it for a furher two years in April 2012, at which time the van was less that 5 years old.  Under 5 years they were happy to take my money for their "Gold" cover, which appears to cover everything including water ingress.  We have just had the van serviced which showed up the dreaded damp.

I called MB&G to register a claim and check the process and I got a pretty unhelpful, curt response telling me to get an estimate and send it in, and they will then consider whether the claim is valid or words to that effect.  I asked if they had any prefered repairers and was told it is up to me to find a repairer.

On phoning around, I find that most repairers don't want to get involved with claims from warranty companies, they are only prepared to give an estimate on the basis of me paying them and trying to get the money back from the warranty people.  Apparently dealing with them is so much hassle that the repairers would prefer not to have the business.

I now have an estimate so I called MB&G again to arrange to submit the claim, but now they tell me that the repairer has to send it in, they won't accept it from me.  So, repairers won't deal with the warranty company, but the warranty company will only deal with the repairers.  Looks as if I've been fleeced and if I want my van repaired I have to pay for it myself.  Wish I'd kept the £500 that I have paid them and put it towards the repair costs.