Consumer complaint received 2023-09-05
Company: ALLY FINANCIAL INC.
State: NY
Product: Vehicle loan or lease
Sub-product: Loan
Issue: Repossession
Sub-issue: Company communicating payment assistance or payment extension options

Complaint:
I am writing to you to request assistance in resolving a matter I have unsuccessfully attempted to resolve directly with Ally call center representatives for many months now. This is regarding a legal verbal agreement entered into by your associate- XXXX- and my husband/account holder- XXXX. We have been attempting to make contact and communicate with XXXX ( I was given only a first name and told that was enough to identify her due to account notes ) since before XXXX, XXXX  and have received no response from her. I have left more than 40 voicemails myself, at times leaving at least one a day pleading for a response. I never received one. The number I have consistently tried to reach her on is her direct line- XXXX. I have also reached out and left numerous messages on a general voicemail line for the Executive Customer Relations Department. This ongoing issue has now escalated to the extreme of our vehicle being repossessed, our legal right to speak to someone to discuss this matter especially since it is clear miscommunication somewhere along the line has taken place. 
We received a letter from XXXX in the Executive Customer Relations stating that somewhere a payment was missed and that the account was eligible for repossession sometime around XXXX I believe. I assume this letter was in response to the initial voicemails left for XXXX, asking for someone to call back and have an actual conversation since it was previously told to us that this was a verbal agreement and there could be nothing provided in writing regarding the terms or agreement. The letter from XXXX had a phone number which any questions could be answered by calling, well I called and left numerous voicemails there requesting a callback and received only one call back which I received a voicemail stating Ally did not have permission to speak to me, XXXX wife. He has documented giving permission to speak to me many times, once they went as far as making him give consent to speak with me THREE times in the SAME DAY. This should let you know there should be zero confusion if I am authorized on the account or not considering the number of times your associates have spoken to me with zero authorization from XXXX. 
I continued trying to reach out to Ally and XXXX, but Allys main line transferred us to the bankruptcy department which then forwards us to redemptions which ends up with an associate of your not allowing myself or my husband to properly explain the situation and request for the proper assistance. I have waited on hold for more than an hour at times asking to speak with a manager to either be hung up on ( if it were an accident, they had verified the best call back number previously and would have utilized it ), or transferred back to the front-line automated system. It became clear very early on that Ally did not have any interest in discussing this matter with us and trying to right their wrongs. 
I believe it was XXXX, when my husband was making an online payment and selected a wrong account. He was aware the payment would not clear and immediately corrected this by making the payment from the right account and contacting Ally. He did not assume everything to be in good standings until he called and spoke to an Ally representative who assured him that his latest payment was received and that the account continued to remain in good standing. I personally asked the agent to verify the accounts status because of the bankruptcy and payment agreement and again was assured all was well. 
I felt a bit better after our conversation with your representative but still wished to hear it from XXXX herself, the one who had seemingly been avoiding my calls for weeks on end. I slowed down the frequency but continued to call and leave voicemails expressing my concern and asking XXXX to please reach back out. 
Come XX/XX/XXXX  and as I walk out the front door there is a tow truck from NU-ERA towing claiming to be here to repossess the vehicle we just made the XXXX payment on a few days prior. I again call Ally/XXXX- Executive of Customer Relations dept/ and XXXX who set up the initial agreement and leave voicemails requesting an urgent call back. 
As soon as the next business day came, I was back on the phones trying to contact someone who would be aware of the payment arrangement set up with XXXX since most representatives I tried talking to would not let me explain the situation before cutting me off and either transferring to a different dept or hanging up. Again, not an error, or my phone would have rung with a call back from the accidental disconnect. I spent more than 2.5 hours on the phone before being connected with XXXX in the redemptions department who told me he would send this to be investigated further, specifically the phone recordings of the conversations with Ally reps who insisted the account was in good standing which could not have been true since my car was repossessed. XXXX told me in 3-5 business days I personally would receive a call back to my cell phone number which we verified back and forth several times. By XX/XX/XXXX I had not received that follow up call from anyone and my husband called in and was told that XXXX closed the complaint as valid that same day at XXXX CT. Yet again Ally silenced us and never gave us a chance to speak to anyone regarding the specifics of the problems and dismissed this as done and closed. I called back and this time gave my own info and did not allow them to route the call to my husbands account immediately. Feeling the account is being handled with bias I gave the same flat attitude and same explanation of issues to Ally but this time did not provide my husbands name until I had someone willing to listen to what I had to say. I was connected with representative by the name of XXXX XXXX again claims no employee ID or last name, that acct notes will lead you to the right person ). XXXX said he was forwarding this to the Complaints Team Email marked urgent as this issue has quickly become more and more time sensitive. He gave me reference number to the email sent and todays conversation. That reference number is # XXXX and I was informed that it would take 3-5 business days. That would mean someone would contact me back by XX/XX/XXXX specifically after looking into and finding the recorded conversations that your representatives told myself and my husband that his account was in good standing. XX/XX/XXXX, I had not heard from anyone so I contacted Ally again, after more than an hour of hold and transfers I was told by your representative she did not know what I was talking about, could not find that reference number, does not know of a XXXX or see any notes documented from him, but if I was told Id get a call in 3-5 days and havent I should just continue to wait. She also explained she was not willing to release any documents regarding my account and should I want access to them I would need to have them subpoenaed by a judge. She then hung up. I tried again for days, leaving both XXXX and XXXX numerous additional voicemails which have yet to be returned. Im writing to you today XX/XX/XXXX  as this issue still has not been properly addressed by Ally and the continued avoidance of conversation can only lead one to believe that there is something Ally is trying to hide. 
Once more I am requesting that someone reaches out to me or my husband regarding his account.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation