Consumer complaint received 2016-10-23
Company: Mercedes Benz Financial Services
State: FL
Product: Consumer Loan
Sub-product: Vehicle lease
Issue: Managing the loan or lease

Complaint:
During the process of refinancing my home I discovered that Mercedes Benz Financial Services ( MBFS ) had reported multiple events of late payments that were over thirty days to the XXXX major credit reporting agencies. This was entirely unfounded. XX/XX/2016, I contacted MBFS as well as the XXXX major credit bureaus and disputed multiple errors on my credit report committed by MBFS. At that time I was told by the XXXX agent that the error would be corrected within approximately thirty days from the date of the dispute. According to the agent the thirty day term was per policy and could not be expedited. I reluctantly surrendered to the MBFS policies and put my financial plans on hold for the 30 day duration on the condition that MBFS sends me an official letter describing their error and clarifying that they are in the process of resolving it. My hope was to present the letter as documentation to my customers, lenders, and the credit bureaus. I was sent a standard unsigned printed form. One might agree that a mailed form that does not have a signature in the signature block does not carry any official capacity. I contacted MBFS several times in an attempt to get an officially signed letter and spoke with several agents, some claiming to be supervisors who turned out to be " subject matter experts '' pretending to be supervisors, in order to get an official letter stating that the relevant MBFS credit reports were in error. I was promised multiple times that a signed letter would be mailed, but I continued to receive duplicates of the original unsigned form. Eventually I gave up and waited till the XXXX days have lapsed. I checked my credit reports and found that they still carried the errors. I contacted the credit bureaus and was informed that MBFS contested my dispute. I contacted MBFS and was flatly told that MBFS has done all that it can do. At that point I insisted to speak to a manager, and finally was able to reach an individual named XXXX after approximately five hours of waiting on the phone. XXXX said that she would take ownership of the issue and would send me an official signed letter. She also committed to stay on top the issue until it is resolved and insisted that I wait another thirty days, placing my financial life on hold again. I contacted the major credit bureaus again and opened new disputes. After the new round of thirty days lapsed, I checked my credit reports and found that the MBFS error was still there. At that point I contacted the MBFS offices and was unable to reach XXXX. I was continuously stone walled, but was sent yet another unofficial form in the mail. I finally hired an attorney who was able to resolve the issue within roughly one week. 
As you can see Mercedes Benz Financial Services has placed a Mercedes Benz loyal customer in a financially vulnerable position, by sabotaging his financial credit without placing any effective effort to own the problem and drive it to resolution. Instead they focused their effort on misstatements, empty commitments, and collectively avoiding responsibility. It took roughly 85 days for Mercedes Benz Financial Services to clear their error. This was not because of their commitment to their customer, or even for their zealous passion for protecting the reputation of their brand. It was a result of my attorney 's excellent efforts to pressure MBFS. I have clearly demonstrated diligence by making sure that my lease payments were timely.I have had financial relationships with multiple institutions ranging the automobile, housing and credit card industries. I must say that MBFS was the only such institution to inflict such damages without any credible effort to to guard a brand loyal customer. As a result Mercedes has lost their credibility with me, resulting in my complaint to the CFPB.

Company response to consumer: Closed