Consumer complaint received 2024-08-26
Product: Payday loan, title loan, personal loan, or advance loan — Installment loan
Issue: Problem with a company's investigation into an existing problem — Investigation took more than 30 days
Company: Affirm Holdings, Inc (WA)

Affirm is refusing to investigate and provide a fair resolution to my dispute with a fraudulent merchant who delivered a product to me that is materially different from the advertised product I thought I was purchasing. I initially opened this dispute on XX/XX/year>. Under Affirm 's dispute resolution policy, they are required to request evidence from the merchant that the product delivered to me was not materially different from the advertised product. Affirm did not contact the merchant to request this evidence, but instead attempted to close my dispute on XX/XX/year> in the merchant 's favor even after I provided evidence that the merchant is clearly fraudulent and has repeatedly acted against their policies. After I appealed the dispute decision and provided further evidence, Affirm 's customer service rep claimed to have forwarded my case to a different department for further investigation. I still haven't received any updates about this investigation, but I am receiving daily text messages and emails intended to coerce me into making payments on the disputed loan. According to Affirm 's dispute resolution policies, I am not required to make payments on this loan while the dispute is in process. Affirm keeps changing the case number of my dispute and closing the case without contacting me or the merchant, and whenever I call customer service, they claim my case is closed and that they will damage my credit unless I keep making payments. The customer service reps also claim that Affirm is just a lender and is not required to dispute purchases. This is blatantly against Affirm 's clearly posted dispute resolution policies. Here are the details of the dispute : On XX/XX/year>, I originally purchased a XXXX XXXX XXXX from the merchant, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, which was listed as an overstocked, manufacturer-liquidated product. They did not process my order for XXXX weeks after payment, even though the listing stated it would ship within three days. When I called to inquire, I was given the runaround and hung up on multiple times. A rep from XXXX called two days later to say the XXXX XXXX I ordered was out of stock, but they had other lower-priced models I could order. My instincts immediately told me to cancel, and I requested to cancel my order. However, the rep said I could only cancel by email. That was shady and the reason for that only made sense when it was too late. To avoid the hassle of being given another runaround, I researched and chose one of the lower-priced models they claimed was available. I was assured that it was also an overstocked model and that I had been refunded the difference between the higher-priced Artis Climb ( {$1900.00} ), which would go back to my original form of payment in a few days. I received a notification the next day that my order shipped. I paid for XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  On delivery day, XXXX abandoned the equipment in my elevator lobby, stating that the delivery didnt include in-home services. When I called XXXX, they claimed that XXXX didnt deliver inside apartments. They had lied about offering white glove services to bait customers into ordering. XXXX also didnt wait around for me to confirm that the equipment was in working condition as promised on the XXXX XXXX. Once I managed to haul the XXXX machine into my apartment and remove the packaging, I realized that XXXX XXXX sent me a filthy, heavily used equipment with multiple broken parts. XXXX customer support also confirmed through the serial number that the equipment was not liquidated by them but had previously belonged to a country club. This meant that I had been sent a pre-owned item that was listed as liquidated in the item description. This is fraudulent because XXXX 's pricing distinguishes items accordingly by tiers of pre-owned, liquidated, and new. XXXX kept giving me the runaround whenever I inquired about why I hadnt received the difference between my original order and the lower-priced item back to my original form of payment. After a back and forth with their customer service, I received an email with a gift card for store credit for the {$1900.00} price difference. The merchant, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX fraudulently listed an item ( XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX  ) as in-stock when it wasnt, didnt notify me for almost three weeks until I reached out to inquire, and then switched my order to a lesser product ( Technogym Climb Live ) that happened to be in-stock. They then sent me a pre-owned, broken item that was listed as a liquidated product on their website, failed to highlight the damages in their listing, baited and switched out the shipping service I paid for, and are now attempting to refund the difference they owe on the original order as store credit. To justify this fraudulent behavior, they claimed that I cancelled my order outside of their 48-hr commitment period. They effectively baited me with an out of stock item and categorized their failure to deliver a product I ordered as a cancellation. Going by multiple XXXX reviews about the business, it is clear that this is their intentional, regular pattern of business.