Consumer complaint received 2024-07-16
Product: Payday loan, title loan, personal loan, or advance loan — Installment loan
Issue: Problem when making payments — 
Company: Affirm Holdings, Inc (GA)

On XX/XX/year>, I applied for an installment loan with Affirm to purchase clothing merchandise from XXXX. Within days of receipt, I requested to return the item to the company. The company gave me the run around with returns and cited different policies, so I returned the items anyways hoping that the confirmation of receipt would be enough to initiate discussions on refunds. XXXX confirmed the receipt of the items and then quit responding to my email requests. 

I then contacted Affirm to have the loan discharged since XXXX had confirmed that they had the merchandise back. Affirm requested that I submit evidence of the items, returns, the website policy, etc. Affirm then denied the request citing that XXXX was working within the parameters of their return policy, which was false. XXXX had updated their website, but I had the original screenshots of the company policy saved to my device. Affirm requested that I resubmit that information to them and then stated that they would review the evidence and get back to me, but it could take up to 25 business days since they allow XXXX to respond to the claims. This resubmission of evidence and request took place on XX/XX/year>. 

Between XX/XX/year> and XX/XX/year>, I contacted Affirm twice to see if there was a status update. I was told by two agents that the case was still under review by their upper level head dispute team and that I would have to wait to hear back from them. Each instance, the agents stated that they escalated the claim again and that I should hear back from the team within 7-10 business days, but I never heard back from an higher department representative. On XX/XX/year>, I was sent an email that threatened to send my unresolved loan to third party collections. I then called Affirm on XX/XX/year> and spoke with someone named XXXX, who postponed/deferred my loan payments for another month and escalated my claim again to " higher department '' and told me that I should hear from them by Monday XX/XX/year> at the latest. 

Today is Tuesday, XX/XX/XXXX and I have not heard from Affirm nor XXXX. Upon calling Affirm again today, I was told by an agent named XXXX that she sees all the notes on my account and the number of times I have called regarding this loan dispute but her only option is to send an escalation notice to higher department again and that I have to wait another 3-5 business days to possibly hear back from them. Case number is XXXX. 

At this point, XXXX has both the product and the money and is refusing to reply, Affirm is refusing to reply to me regarding the loan dispute, and I am being threatened with loan collections for an item that I have not had in my possession since XX/XX/year> ( XXXX XXXX Confirmation : XXXX ) I am seeking help. I need someone to respond to me. XXXX is defrauding consumers by not adhering to a specific return policy. Affirm is defrauding consumers by advertising active consumer support, but then refuses to reply and instead gives no direct response or recourse other than a phone in customer service agent that can do nothing other than give their generalized 7-10 business days for higher department to respond. I was told that there is no direct phone number for the dispute resolution team and that even the customer service agents can not contact them directly. They would have to give their manager the note, the manager would then email and contact the dispute team and we would still have to wait the 7-10 business days to hear back.