Consumer complaint received 2021-03-02
Company: ALLY FINANCIAL INC.
State: TX
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Problem making or receiving payments

Complaint:
I booked a trip with XXXX XXXX to XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX, pre COVID. The trip, obviously, was cancelled and temporarilypostponed or credited for a later time. I made 2 payments on XXXX and XXXX for this trip that cost approx. {$2800.00} orXXXX XXXX. Throughout the year, I did not dispute the charges because the initial trip or credit for it was issued back in theform of a credit note with XXXX XXXX. Unfortunately, I did not receive notice about the insolvency of the company, XXXX, until mid XX/XX/XXXX. I did not receive information on steps to take directly to the bank, Ally, until XX/XX/XXXX. I proceeded to immediately file a dispute and attempt a chargeback in order to get my money back. I received a lot of pushback initially from Ally 's representatives and Ally did not attempt to attain any documentation or information regarding my dispute. Only stating that the dispute was already past 60 days of the initial charge and rejecting my dispute with a letter a few weeks later. I tried again on XX/XX/XXXX after the insolvency company XXXX attempted to get information on where I was in the process and to try to attain the original dispute letters from Ally. Again, I was told that there would be no point in putting in disputes because it was past the 60 days of the original charge. No attempts to get documentation from me again. 

I received the following response from the insolvency company that I'm dealing with in order to try and recover the funds used for a trip that I booked before the COVID pandemic. 

I have all the documentation outlined in the response below from the insolvency company. 

Hi XXXX, You made three payments using your Ally Bank card ending XXXX. 



XX/XX/XXXX - XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXX - XXXX XXXX XXXXXX/XX/XXXX - XXXX XXXX You should get in touch with Ally and dispute the charges using the Mastercard chargeback code 55 for debit - Merchandise services not received. Please read how to dispute a charge section of this article : Tell them that according to the Fair Credit Billing Act it is your legal right to claim a refund when the service you paid for is not received due to a company 's bankruptcy. You only found out about the bankruptcy on XX/XX/XXXX. 



Please make sure that you submit the following information to your bank : Official insolvency email from XXXX ( sent to you by XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX ) Original booking receipts ( see attached ) Refund Credit Note ( attached ) T & Cs relevant to your booking ( see attached ) Flowchart provided by XXXX ( see attached ) Email from the XXXX XXXX XXXX : XXXX : XXXX Email from XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX postponing your trip and offering you a refund credit note ( attached ) Despite what you may be told by your bank clerk, the time limit for making a claim should start from the date you were expecting to receive the service/trip not from the purchase date, given you are buying something to be delivered in the future. In your case your refund credit note was due to expire on XX/XX/XXXX which is well within the time to claim. Alternatively, they may use the date you found out you would not receive the trip ( XXXX XX/XX/XXXX ). 



If your bank dont open up your dispute then you go straight to the CFB and give them all the above information : https : //www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/ I know this feels admin heavy but it has resulted in nearly all XXXX XXXX customers getting a refund. 



I will be one email away if you have any issues. 



Warm regards, XXXX

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