Consumer complaint received 2024-01-05
Company: HYUNDAI CAPITAL AMERICA
State: ME
Product: Vehicle loan or lease
Sub-product: Loan
Issue: Problems at the end of the loan or lease
Sub-issue: Unable to receive car title or other problem after the loan is paid off

Complaint:
I purchased a new XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX  from XXXX XXXX in XX/XX/XXXXXXXX and bought both an extended warranty and a service plan with it. The car was totaled XXXX XXXX, and communication with Hyundai both for myself and my insurance company ( XXXX XXXX ) has been appallingly bad. XXXX XXXX sent them the paperwork they needed 3 times between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX, when they finally acknowledged it and started the process of applying the insurance payoff to the lien, which took another 2 weeks. At the same time, I contacted hyundai motor finance inquiring into the refund process for these products. I filled out an application online XX/XX/XXXX and received word on XX/XX/XXXX that I would be receiving a refund, though not the amount. The email specifically stated that the refund would be issued by my dealer. I sent a reply asking for clarification about the amount and the process and on XX/XX/XXXX I received an email stating the refund amount, which was substantially lower than what I had expected based on talking to the dealer I was working with to purchase my next car. They said I'd be receiving XXXX, when I knew I was owed over {$4000.00}. They said the minimum processing time with my dealer would 3-4 weeks. The would not answer my question about whether this refund reflected both products I had purchased. It did not. Meanwhile, my local dealer was not responding to voicemail or email. It took almost 2 weeks to get a reply from someone at the dealership, and they were surprised to hear that they were the ones to issue the refund. After more delays from them, I made an appointment to go talk to them in person, since they clearly planned to stall as long as possible. When I got there and showed them my paperwork for both products and the part that said I was entitled to a pro-rated refund, they acknowledged I was entitled to a refund and had me fill out the proper paperwork with them. At this point, ( mid XXXX ) I knew that my settlement check from my insurance company to pay off the full amount of the lien had been issued and was in transit, and I wanted to avoid having the XXXX I was owed get applied to a lien that had already been paid off. I had emailed Hyundai Motor finance about this concern XX/XX/XXXX and never got a reply. The dealer and I decided it was best to have him hold the paperwork until the check from my insurance agency had been applied to the lien, and then send it in. I was keeping an eye on my account online so I'd know when that had happened, and on XX/XX/XXXX, two payments showed up on my account : one for XXXX, and the other for XXXX. I emailed my dealer to ask if he had forgotten we were going to hold on to the paperwork and he assured me that he still had it and was waiting for me to give him the word. I called Hyundai and was told that despite everything they had told me about who would be responsible for the refund ( the dealer ), they had in fact processed it themselves, causing the exact problem that I had told them I was concerned about : the overpayment of the loan by {$4400.00}. I asked them how I would get that money and they said that after they received the money from the insurance company, which would take 7-10 days, it would take another 30 to issue a refund. I told then this was absolutely unacceptable and that it needed to be expedited because their own delays and poor communication had caused the problem. This conversation was on XX/XX/XXXX. The customer service agent said she would request this. I called again today, XXXX, to check up, and was told that they were still processing the insurance payment from XX/XX/XXXX, and once that had been completed it would be another 30 days. Again, I told them this needed to be expedited, and the customer service agent put me on hold to look into it, and then disconnected the call. I had to call back and start all over with a new agent, and this one gave me a new piece of information that no one else had mentioned : on top of waiting 30 days for the refund, the refund would not actually be issued to me, but to the party that had paid the lien, my insurance company. This means I would have to go through another process with XXXX XXXX to claw back money owed to me. I asked to talk to her supervisor, and after waiting on hold for quite some time, he insisted on the same time frame and process, until I read back to him all the emails I had received from Hyundai since XXXX and pointed out that if the original email had been accurate, I would be receiving my refund directly no later than XX/XX/XXXX. He took my address to send the check, which he said I would receive by XX/XX/XXXX, but he would not give me a phone number I could use to follow up if it does not arrive. Then he hung up on me.

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