Consumer complaint received 2021-08-12
Company: General Motors Financial Company, Inc.
State: MN
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:
Before I begin, I will note that I am uploading 10 pages of materials to support my complaint. I tried to add page numbers to these pages, but they aren't showing through on the scan. What I have uploaded is : 1 ) Lease document ( pages 1-5 ) 2 ) Vehicle return and odometer statement ( page 6 ) 3 ) Screenshot of my online account with GM Financial showing the lease is paid in full ( pages 7-8 ) 4 ) Screenshot of all payments made in XXXX and XXXX ( payments for XXXX and XXXX do not show up on the website ) ( pages 9-10 ) This complaint is against GM Financial. On XX/XX/XXXX, I signed a three-year lease for a XXXX XXXX XXXX. I decided to turn the car in early on XX/XX/XXXX, and I carefully followed all protocols as outlined on the GM Financial website. First, before turning in the car, I had the car inspected by a XXXX deal in XXXX Minnesota, who stated it had no excess wear and tear. Further, I had purchased excess wear and tear insurance from GM Financial in the event that any small items were found later ( see page 2 where I agree to pay {$990.00} for EWU over the life of the lease ). I have photographs of the car which document lack of wear and tear in part because it was not driven very much ( see mileage report later ). Second, on XX/XX/XXXX, I paid the lease in full ( see payment of {$970.00} on page 9 ). GM Financial 's website has a feature I consider very problematic which allows it to keep taking payments from you even after you pay of the lease in full. So, my plan was to pay the lease in full and then stop auto-pay. However, after I paid the lease, the button to turn off auto-pay greyed out. And GM Financial took another payment from me on XX/XX/XXXX, which is not legal and not allowed for in the lease. I was only able to stop the payments by calling GM Financial, waiting for an hour on hold, and getting them to stop the payments manually. Third, I got a vehicle return receipt and odometer statement when I turned the vehicle in. I was allowed XXXX miles under the lease ( see page 8 ). The odometer reading as indicated on page 6 was XXXX, far below the XXXX miles allowed ( and the EWU insurance also covered excess miles, which turned out not to be a problem ).

After turning the vehicle in, I called the dealer to verify that they had submitted the vehicle return receipt to GM As specified at the top part of the vehicle return receipt. After getting no confirmation of this from GM Financial, I called the GM Financial Customer Service line and they indicated that they had received the vehicle receipt and would process the lease end in 30-60 days. At that time, I complained about the additional payment they had taken, and they indicated that it was their policy to hold these types of payments ( which they were not authorized to take ) and net them out against the disposition fee of {$390.00} ( see page 1, item 4A ). I have read the lease carefully, and this scenario is not described in the lease nor does the lease give GM Financial the ability to take extra payments after the lease is paid in full. 

Before finishing the rest of my complaint, I want to take a sidebar here to explain what it is like to try to get resolution of an issue from GM Financial. I made several calls to GM Financial about the end of my lease between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. Those often involved hold times of 1-2 hours, and certainly never less than 30 minutes. It was not uncommon for agents to hang up on me as I was just beginning to state my name saying " hello, hello '' and then hanging up. This is after we had made a connection over the phone and they asked for my name. They just quickly said " hello, hello '' not even waiting for a reply and hung up. I have the name of the last agent who did this, upon request. Then, I would have to start the process all over and wait a second hour. GM indicates that they have Live Chat. I tried that. It promised an agent in 10 minutes or less, but an agent never appeared even after 30-40 minutes. They promised service through text, but I never received an answer. I finally found a complaint form on the GM Financial website ( which I attempted more than once and as late as today ), but it always said " System error. Try again later '' ( or something quite similar to that ) after I spent the time to fill it out. So, getting anyone to respond to you at GM Financial is very difficult and requires long hold times. And even if you connect, there is a risk of immediate disconnection with no effort invested to see if you are on the line. 

After 30 days passed, I called GM Financial, and I asked when the lease would close, and they said 60 days. Then after 60 days, they said " we have up to 90 days to do it. '' I asked where that was in the lease, and they just said it was their " policy. '' After 90 days, I called again and asked when the lease would close and my money would be return. They were unable to give me an answer, so I asked to speak to a supervisor ( i have his first name and employee ID number upon request ). 

I was on the phone with the supervisor for about an hour. During that time, he verified that the the lease had been paid in full, that there was no excess wear and tear, and no excess mileage. These, along with the disposition fee, are the only items necessary to close out the lease whether in an early termination scenario ( page 3 ) or in a regular termination scenario ( page 4 ). However, in between those things, he did several things that are unlawful at worst or extremely bad customer service practices at best : 1 ) He made multiple false and misleading statements, including a ) He insisted multiple times that they could not close the lease until the vehicle was sold at auction. He repeated several times that I had agreed to this when I signed the lease. I have reviewed the lease carefully, and that is not stated in the lease.

b ) When I asked him what the time frame was for auction, he said said that the vehicle was scheduled to be sold on XX/XX/XXXX but was now " on hold by marketing. '' I indicated that the vehicle had been recalled a second time since I turned it in ( there was one full recall and one customer adjustment while I had the vehicle ) and therefore was not saleable. He confirmed that it was recalled but then said I would have to wait while it was sold for the lease to close. I asked him when that would be and he had no time frame. He just stated again and again that was their policy and I had agreed to it. 
c ) He indicated that it was the policy of GM Financial not to process early terminations until after the original lease date. I said that this was inconsistent with the lease because there are no penalties for early termination. He said it wasn't a penalty, just a " policy, '' However, since this is a financial transaction where time is of the essence, a significant time delay is a de facto an early termination penalty.

He made several other statements in this vein not all of which I can recall, but the above are probably the most significant.

2 ) He blamed me for the extra payment by indicating that I had made it on XX/XX/XXXX and that was " too close '' to the XX/XX/XXXX XXXX payment date and indicated it was their right to take the extra payment because I had not " turned off '' auto-pay. His statement that I made the payment on XX/XX/XXXX is false. As seen on page XXXX, the payment was processed by GM on XX/XX/XXXX. He then blamed me for not turning off auto-pay. I told him that I tried to but the functionality was unavailable. He then blamed me for paying off the lease " too close '' to the next payment date. When I asked how four days could be too close, he indicated that I needed to take the weekend into account. He continually reasserted the absolute right of GM Financial to take and hold the extra payment until such time as they decided to close the lease. I repeatedly asked him for a lease end date or a process by which one would be determined, and he refused to provide those.

3 ) He bullied me by implying that GM Financial could and would take action that would reduce my credit score. He pointed out that if GM Financial returned my money that I would still have to pay the {$390.00} disposition fee and that if I didn't pay it, they would report me to the credit bureau and my credit score would go down. I told him that I had never missed a payment for anything in my life and that was demonstrated by my perfect payment record with GM Financial. But, he continue to return to the credit score issue for a while.

Finally, after I had held my ground for at least 45 minutes, he said something like " well, I can see everything checks out, I always have to make sure. '' I have no idea what that means but then he became friendly and told me that he could understand why I was upset, he would feel the same way, and he had a special VP friend who would help him get this resolved for me the following day. He gave me his " direct line '' and employee ID. I already had his first name. I asked for his last name but he refused but gave his employee ID instead. He told me he would get the matter taken care of on XX/XX/XXXX and would call me with an update. He did not call me or otherwise make contact with me on XX/XX/XXXX. I called him in the morning and late afternoon today, got voice mail, and said I wanted an update as promised. He never called me back. 

At this point, I can only conclude, based on their behavior, GM Financial intends to keep the money they illegally took from me indefinitely and that they have no intention of closing this lease in any kind of timely manner ( I was told by the supervisor that even if he used his special VP friend to close the lease, they would need 30 days to finish the process and get my payment to me ). I can not imagine why GM Financial is engaging in this behavior. But, I am certain that if I keep calling, they will lie to me, bully me, and threaten me. I have kept my obligations under the lease in a full and timely manner. I need GM Financial to do the same.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief