Consumer complaint received 2022-10-31
Company: ALLY FINANCIAL INC.
State: CA
Product: Vehicle loan or lease
Sub-product: Lease
Issue: Problems at the end of the loan or lease
Sub-issue: Excess mileage, damage, or wear fees, or other problem after the lease is finished

Complaint:
I returned a leased XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX in late XX/XX/XXXX. The lease initially ran through XX/XX/XXXX, but I was able to extend the lease into XX/XX/XXXX. My lease, which I signed on XX/XX/XXXX, was for XXXX miles per year. The vehicle had XXXX miles on it at the time of leasing, so my maximum allowed miles on the lease is XXXX ( i.e., ( XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX ) XXXX XXXXXXXX ). When I returned the leased vehicle, there were XXXX miles on the odometer. Both the lease holder ( Ally Financial ) and I agree on that. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I received a bill from Ally Financial that included a charge of {$810.00} due to Excess XXXX of XXXX ( @ {$0.00} per mile ). When I called Ally to inquire about why they thought I had excess miles when I clearly returned the car with fewer than XXXX miles, the person I spoke to said in their system they showed a lease with maximum allowed miles of XXXX miles. I do not know where that " lease '' came from, but it appears to be based on a XXXX mile/year lease option. Howevr, I find it odd that that false lease also shows the vehicle had XXXX miles at time of leasing, so it is very strange that the total miles allowed on that lease is XXXX when, if it were a XXXX mile/year lease, the total miles allowed would presumably be XXXX ( i.e., ( XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX  ) XXXX  XXXX. Given that the total of XXXX is a strange lease amount for a vehicle that started with XXXX miles, I can only assume Ally somehow created an inaccurate lease or perhaps transposed a number with another lease. Regardless, the lease I signed and have in hand has total allowed miles of XXXX. 

I brought this to Ally 's attention in XX/XX/XXXX over the phone, and was told they would check on it. I called again in early XX/XX/XXXX and no action had been taken. When I complained about this, they asked me to send a copy of my lease in an email. I did so on XX/XX/XXXX ( addressed to XXXX with attention to XXXX XXXX. I did not receive a response to that email. On XX/XX/XXXX, I sent a follow-up email noting I had not received a response and requesting an update. I got not response. 

Throughout this time, I was receiving bills from Ally for the Excess XXXX charge ( the bills also had other charges on them for other lease end costs, which I paid in the amount of {$530.00} on XX/XX/XXXX ). In XX/XX/XXXX, I called to ask why I was receiving bills for this when I had provided evidence Ally 's data was wrong. The person I spoke to did not know but took notes about my dispute and escalated it for management review. 

Throughout XXXX and XXXX, I had multiple conversations with Ally regarding the issue. Some of these calls were initiated by Ally reaching out to me to collect the amount they think I owe- in those calls I explained the matter, looked in their records, and saw it was under management review and told me it was still under review. I also called to check on the issue and was told it was under review. 

Today ( XX/XX/XXXX ), I called to check on the matter again and learned that a manager named XXXX XXXX had denied my dispute and my account had been referred to a collections company. I did not receive any communication regarding the outcome of the management review and never had any opportunity to speak to somebody and explain that their data on file is inaccurate. 

Throughout my time trying to work through this with Ally, I have spent hours upon hours on phone calls constantly getting transferred among departments. Nobody, through multiple calls over the last six months has been able to help with this other than to escalate it to management and to let me know it was " still under manager review. ''

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 non-monetary relief