Consumer complaint received 2020-01-28
Company: General Motors Financial Company, Inc.
State: FL
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:
This complaint involves issues with the termination of my lease agreement with GM Financial. The leased vehicle was a XXXX   XXXX XXXX XXXX ; it was leased for 36 months and I never missed a payment or was ever late. About 2 months before the expiration of the contract, I started reviewing the process of returning my lease and found out on GM 's website that GMs recommendation, in order to make a hassle-free return according to them, was to order a pre-inspection so I would know what to correct before returning the vehicle. Given I did not want any surprises, I requested the pre-inspection, which was supposed to be just for my information and records as to what to fix prior to returning the vehicle. As a result, however, this information was used against me when I returned the vehicle more than a month later. 

I must mention that this is not the first time I have leased a vehicle in general and that I am familiar with the process, however, this is certainly the first time that I have experienced a situation like this. Once I requested the inspection, GMs inspector went to my home and inspected the vehicle while I was traveling for work. The person or agent who went, requested my mothers signature in the document even when she was not present with him during the inspection. I want to clarify, my mother was home ; just not physically present during the inspection of the truck, she was simply inside and was just aware that an agent would be conducting an inspection of the leased vehicle. However, since this was supposed to be only a Pre-Inspection, she didnt think it would be a problem signing the document the agent requested. She gave him a set of keys so he could inspect the vehicle and got back inside the house. 

The report concluded a missing set of keys, tires that needed to be replaced or paid at a full price ( of more than 300 dlls each ), some apparent wear and tear damage to the paint and a check engine light being on. My first thought was that it was unfair and unreasonable to try to charge the full price on the tires since I didnt lease the vehicle to not use it, but on the other hand, I didnt want any trouble while returning the vehicle, thus I simply replaced the tires before returning it. I want to state that I had the original OEM tires in storage because I replaced the tires with bigger all-terrain tires for work as soon as I got the vehicle. Therefore, the original tires that came with the truck were hardly used, if not new ; less than 1,000 miles on the stock factory tires. 

Approximately a month and a half later when the vehicle was due to be returned, I went to XXXX XXXX, a GM Authorized dealership in XXXX XXXX TX, to return the car. The Used Car Manager inspected the vehicle and received two sets of keys ( which I had since the beginning but the first inspector never requested the second set ), he noticed that the tires were barely used and I explained to him that they were the original OEM set from when I got the vehicle. He mentioned that everything looked fine and that they would send me the report. 

Shortly after that, GM 's collections department started to call me to collect on the account, because according to them, I owed more than {$1600.00} dlls for all that was reported in the Pre-Inspection report. I explained to them every time they called that the report they were using was a Pre-Inspection report and that I had already resolved everything in that very same report, however, they simply ignored me and didnt care. They simply declined to conduct their own due diligence and just wanted me to pay. I requested several times to speak to a supervisor, only to be left on hold for 30 minutes to over more than an hour and after holding for that long I was simply told that there was no person with more authority that could talk to me. 

This situation turned really stressful due to the calls becoming more and more often, but since I wanted to resolve the matter I always answered the calls and explained, again and again, the situation. Having to go back and forth for months discussing on the phone with GM 's reps and explaining repeatedly that I had solved the issues described in the Pre-Inspection report. Throughout the conversations with GM, I would be repeatedly transferred back and forth to different call center agents, and to the best of my knowledge, I became aware that the agents themselves had reports and notes of the past conversations that I would have with them. I will not assume if they simply refused to acknowledge my conversations or simply decided to ignore the notes, but it is factual that everything was in writing and on their end visible. While, again, I was never transferred to a supervisor or to a person with the authority to resolve the issues even when I requested it several times. 

During this long and stressful period dealing with GM, I began the compilation of information, the receipt of payment for the installation of the new set of tires, as well as photographic evidence demonstrating the original tires on the truck at the time of the return. I also found out by the manager at the GM dealer in XXXX XXXX to whom I returned the vehicle to, that the vehicle had already been sold at a local auto auction. I went and spoke to the Auction to obtain their inspection report. I provided all this information, along with 25 pictures of the vehicle over to GM. Although I submitted all this information to GM, their collectors response was always the same. 

Finally, after a few calls from the Manager at the Local dealer in XXXX XXXX ( I will provide you with his information ), all the information submitted, and several times on the phone, stressing my position that I had fixed the vehicle ; All this in a period of months, I was finally able to get GM Financial to recognize that the tires had been replaced as well as that they received 2 sets of keys, they stated that they were Making me the favor to drop the  charges down to roughly {$450.00}. However, during this period, my credit score became affected by their negative remarks of being past due on the account for more than 120 days. 

After discussing this matter with the credit bureaus, they had advised me to either fix the issue directly with the creditor or file a complaint. Unable to reach an agreement with GM, and due to their negligence which has impacted my credit score, further impacting my normal financial routines, job reputation and limiting my ability to borrow funds for my college education, I am now requesting your intervention. I want to make it clear that I have tried to resolve this issue with GM, exhausting all my possibilities for a course of more than 6 months, and answering all their calls even when I completely lost hope in them resolving the problem. I was not given the opportunity to speak with somebody that was not a collector, somebody with at least the intention and common sense of trying to resolve an issue, apparently, for them you are guilty unless you prove them wrong, and even after that, you are still guilty. 

I have received multiple collection calls for this account, and after explaining the matter to the collectors over and over, they refused to acknowledge my situation and my solutions and instead harassed me with more calls asking for payment in a very forceful manner and not understanding that this was not about the money. In a very condescending manner, they were instead offering me payment installments in exchange for me to pay, not understanding that I dont have a financial problem in paying the amount that they were asking ( as a proof, I paid a similar amount for 36 months without problem, as if was the monthly lease payment of the car ), however, I refused to pay because I didn't and still don't owe them anything. These collection calls have made it difficult for my ability to be able to move about my day, my job and my college duties, without having to spend time on the phone with these collectors and explaining to them the situation over and over. I feel under duress and harassed by the entire way GM Financial has handled this situation with complete disregard not just to the clean record of payments that I made to them over the course of the entire lease contract for three years, but for the wrongful report on which they based their collection activity against me.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation