Consumer complaint received 2022-10-01
Company: VW Credit
State: OR
Product: Vehicle loan or lease
Sub-product: Lease
Issue: Getting a loan or lease
Sub-issue: Confusing or misleading advertising

Complaint:
I've recently experienced what I believe is unethical practice from Volkswagen Credit. I had always planned to purchase my vehicle by financing through my XXXX XXXX. I was told there was a representative of my credit union at the dealership to facilitate the loan. But when I went to pick up my vehicle I was told I needed to lease the vehicle so I could get the benefit of the electric vehicle incentives, that they told me was to offset inflation, and that was not guaranteed... They were helping me out. I told them I would switch to financing through my credit union in the next couple months. They said it would not be a problem. 

A few months went by and in XXXX I notified the dealership that I wanted to payoff the lease through financing with my XXXX XXXX. I was told I would need to come into the dealership. So I did. But when I was there, I was told they could not do that. I would need to call VW credit. I went to my credit union for help. The loan officer called for a payoff amount and the paperwork. We were told we would need to wait for them to send me the paperwork in the mail. This took a couple more weeks. As soon as I received the paperwork, I went back to the credit union loan officer, who cut a check for the pay off amount listed on the paperwork, although the payoff amount ( @ {$36000.00} ) was much higher than the remaining cost of the vehicle ( @ {$21000.00} ). We submitted the odometer and title paperwork. 

Now, at the end of XXXX, although they have cashed the check for $ XXXX, I am being told that I am overdue on my lease payments and being charged late fees. I am told they will not accept the paperwork my loan officer submitted ( who has completed lots of car loans ). I am told that because the check did not get to VW credit on time, the payoff amount has changed, and I am in arrears. 

It seems to me that this tactic of not letting me payoff my lease directly, slow walking the information to pay off the lease, has resulted in them charging me hundreds of dollars. I feel I was given false information. They were slow to mail terms to pay off, which put me into the next month, with added interest payment. When I called in, I was told there was no way to electronically send the forms, which also slows down the process, resulting in more paid in interest. 

This is only the latest problem with Volkswagen Credit I've experienced. The following is the initial complaint I filed with XXXX regarding what I found to be misleading and fraudulent practices : From : XXXX XXXX XXXX Date : XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX To : XXXX Subject : Re : XXXX Please confirm you have received my complaint. I would like to know whether Volkswagen is considering changing its reservation process so people who reserve can compare dealer prices. Should I expect to hear back about my personal experience purchasing the XXXX? 

Thank you, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX I reserved my XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX, as it it is marketed as a moderately priced electric SUV with MSRP just over {$50000.00}. For the next 9 months I was budgeting for that amount. 

I received emails that it would be here soon. In fact I was notified by XXXX XXXX that it was out for a test drive with someone else. Then they said they were mistaken. 

I checked the car ads. They were advertising my vehicle, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX for {$54000.00}. It was over MSRP, but I thought I could live with it. 

XXXX XXXX dealership in XXXX reached out to me on XX/XX/XXXX to tell me my XXXX had arrived. I told them I was getting over XXXX and would like to wait until the following weekend to pick it up, when I could also get my financing in order, transfer money in my accounts. I was told they would only hold my vehicle for 5 days then sell it to someone else. I XXXX XXXX and went to the dealership to pick up the car that Sunday. 

Thats when they told me I would need to pay more than {$61000.00} for my vehicle, because they could sell it to someone else for that amount. I felt trapped. I could not move my business to a different dealer. If I ordered another car from the factory, it would take another 9 months and would not be built in XXXX ( which I preferred. ) I was told that the state and federal incentives were available to bring the cost down closer to XXXX. I told them the purpose of the incentives is not to counter inflation but was to encourage people to switch to electric. They stuck to their story that the state is offsetting inflation to normalize their price gouging me. 

They talked me into the lease instead of financing because I hadnt had time to get my money in order. They did not put the {$500.00} I had spent reserving the car toward my cost. I had to return to the dealership a couple of times to get that money back. 

I did not get a test drive or any explanation of the vehicle. When I was leaving with the car, I was told I would have to return for a XXXX for the vehicle. I guess it had not been fully set up yet. 

It would have been helpful if I could have compared prices ( mark ups over MSRP ) between dealerships so they could compete for my business. so I could have had a choice on how much markup I would be willing to pay for the convenience of picking up my car near my home. As it was, they could charge me anything, and they did. They cashed in on the state and federal rebates with none of it coming to the consumer. If Id known ahead of time, I could have flown to XXXX XXXX XXXX to pick up my car and paid less. 

I believe I was over charged for the vehicle because they did not have to compete for my business. I had no choice but to pay whatever they asked to get the vehicle I had reserved. I was pressured to come in while I was still XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX because they said they would sell it to someone else. 

I believe the {$11000.00} mark up was excessive, made possible because of the lack of competition in the reservation process. I was pressured into making the deal. Sent out with a vehicle that was not fully set up and serviced. 

I am stuck with service contracts through XXXX XXXX, a dealership I do not trust. 

I thought Volkswagen was trying to regain public trust with their new XXXX My experience purchasing this vehicle does not engender trust. I am hoping Volkswagen will do something to make right on my purchase of the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX wrote : Hi XXXX XXXX Thanks for reaching out, Im very sorry to hear that your experience picking up your XXXX was not what you were anticipating. 

Do you mind starting with your best contact phone number, full postal mailing address, and the name of the dealer where you picked up the car? Then I would be like to know a little bit more about your experience. 

Thanks, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Volkswagen Customer CARE Volkswagen of America , IncXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX United States of America XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation