Consumer complaint received 2024-04-18
Product: Vehicle loan or lease — Lease
Issue: Managing the loan or lease — Billing problem
Company: TOYOTA MOTOR CREDIT CORPORATION (CA)

XX/XX/XXXX - Started a lease and signed a contract for a XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  at XXXX XXXX of XXXX with XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX. I attached XXXX voluntary services to the total cost of the vehicle : XXXX XXXX XXXX = {$1000.00}, XXXX XXXX XXXX = {$1100.00}, and XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  = {$1100.00}. The XXXX XXXX cost on the vehicle contract is {$48000.00}. My monthly payment as written and signed on my contract is {$760.00} for XXXX  months due on the XXXX of each month ; this is broken into divisions : Monthly Base Payment = {$690.00} + Monthly Sales/Use Tax = {$64.00}. The amount due and paid for at the signing was {$7000.00} which came from XXXX rebates : XXXX XXXX XXXX = {$500.00} and XXXX XXXX = {$6500.00}. At the end of the XXXX  months, per my contract, I would have paid {$27000.00} in monthly payments. There was a {$350.00} disposition fee listed on the contract. Finally, the contract stated I would have paid a total of {$34000.00} at the end of the lease. These are set amounts that I signed for. 

XX/XX/XXXX - Contacted XXXX XXXX at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX to cancel the XXXX XXXX XXXX and the XXXX XXXX XXXX. The XXXX XXXX XXXX had the amount of {$1000.00} and the XXXX XXXX XXXX had the amount of {$1100.00}. Totaling {$2200.00} to be refunded to my account. Discussed doing a buy out with my own funds of the vehicle. XXXX informed me I would have to either come into the dealership or contact Toyota Financial Services ( TFS ) for a document of sale directly. I opted to contact TFS. I informed TFS of my cancellations and inquired about their reflection on my total payment and was advised to do a document of sale to pause my monthly payments and reach out for a new document when the refunds had been reflected in my account. The document of sale at the time had a total of {$42000.00} due by XX/XX/XXXX. 

XX/XX/XXXX - Contacted XXXX XXXX to see when the refunds would be reflected to which he informed me that it could take a few weeks. 

XX/XX/XXXX - Contacted XXXX XXXX XXXX Department at XXXX and spoke to XXXX XXXX ( a XXXX ) who was able to get the refunds pushed through. He confirmed both the XXXX XXXX and the XXXX XXXX XXXX were cancelled and would be reflected on my next billing statement. 

XX/XX/XXXX - Contacted TFS to inquire about the cancellations being reflected on their end and was advised to call back in a week after being bounced around between XXXX departments. 

XX/XX/XXXX - Contacted TFS to inquire about above. Was informed that a different department wrote a massive check for multiple parties that was only just sent out last week and that it may take time to divide the payments amongst the accounts. I inquired about how this would work with the document of sale and that I had now acquired a late fee of {$38.00} for the XXXX payment. The woman on the phone processed a refund of the late fee for me and said to give it a few days to be reflected. I have provided a screenshot of my purchase amount of {$42000.00} and due date of XX/XX/XXXX. 

XX/XX/XXXX - I made a combined payment for the XXXX monthly payments of {$760.00} which equaled {$1500.00} to TFS online. 

XX/XX/XXXX - I checked my TFS account page to see my remaining payments equaling {$42000.00} which is incorrect and based on my calculations should be {$41000.00}. 
I reached out to TFS who bounced me around to XXXX different departments. XXXX different people went through the math with me and could not tell me where an unaccounted {$96.00} went. XXXX women broke down the divisions of my payment with me. Here is the math we did : Monthly payment = {$760.00} ( as per contract ) - {$64.00} ( sales tax as per contract ) = {$690.00} as the base payment Of this, the woman explained, only {$460.00} goes to paying off the car, while {$230.00} is for the rental charge - This is something they NEVER informed me of, nor did I agree to nor sign on my contract - However, going off her explanation, {$460.00} should be subtracted from my total payment monthly. 

For the XXXX months that had passed, {$460.00} x XXXX = {$920.00} subtracted from the total amount. 

This would be {$42000.00} - {$920.00} = {$41000.00}. 
However, on my posted statement, it has {$42000.00}. This is {$96.00} unaccounted for. 

The woman tried to say it was an adjustment to my sales tax, however per my contract the sales tax is a set amount not to increase or decrease monthly. She then said it might take awhile for my full payment to be reflected on my account. 

Not only was I not informed that my total Base payment would not be applied to paying off my car, that somehow there is an additional Rental use tax Ive never heard of, but on top of that there is money unaccounted for that I paid that no one can tell me what its for, where it went, etc. 

In addition, my cancellations had still not been reflected on my account. 

Next, XX/XX/XXXX, I contacted Toyota Financial XXXX  to speak with XXXX XXXX again. He informed that my cancellations were issued XX/XX/XXXX and should have been processed XX/XX/XXXX and he could see that is was on his end. I explained the situation and that they had not been reflected to which he commented that that was weird and to contact Toyota Motors about the issue. 

XX/XX/XXXX - called Toyota Motors and was sent directly back to TFS. This time I marked the information of the person/people down. 
XXXX ( ID : XXXX ) is who I spoke with to first see about the update on the refund for the cancellations. I then clarified if the base payment of {$690.00} was the total amount to be reduced from my total payment and that it doesnt get split up further to which he confirmed that is the case that my base payment should be subtracted from the vehicle amount. This means that the previous woman was incorrect in her tacking on a rental tax. XXXX then went through the math with me and confirmed that it/I am correct that {$1300.00} shouldve been subtracted and my remaining total should be {$41000.00} and that the system shows something different at {$42000.00}. He stated that maybe its some other taxes the dealership put on and to contact them for my contract. I stated that I had just looked over my contract and it is a set base payment and set sales tax payment. He stated he was not able to get into the system to see how the money was divided or where it went. When I asked to speak to someone who manages the system he told me they do not have contact information for that. I asked if there was contact information for a CEO or CFO and he said no, that they dont like to be called or contacted. 

In the end there has been no resolution or answer to where the unaccounted amount of {$560.00} went or what it is for. 

XX/XX/XXXX went to find my original sale documents for the lease buyout only to discover the email is now empty and the attachment is corrupted. So contacted TFS again to have them resend the documents for this form. XXXX ( ID : XXXX ) from the XXXX department assisted me and when I explained the situation, he stated he wanted to look into it himself and see if a new sale document would have the reduction of {$560.00} that is unaccounted for. 
He stated my original document of sale actually stated {$43000.00} - so this is even more weird. So now theres a {$340.00} difference. Which makes it more confusing. I have a screenshot of the TFS website with the purchase price listed at {$42000.00} XXXX was unable to make sense of any of it either. Why a month apart the purchase amounts would be different and why there would be unaccounted for payments. 
If my purchase price was indeed {$43000.00} as my original lease buy-out sale document states then that changes the mathematics again. 
{$43000.00} - {$920.00} = {$42000.00} which is {$250.00} more than the now listed {$42000.00}. 
In the end he said to give it some days to see how it may change. 

I have provided photos of an original purchase amount and date from the TFS website, a document of sale from TFS, my payments made to the account on the TFS website, the current purchase amount and date from the TFS website, cancellation form, contract pages, and my calculations.