Consumer complaint received 2024-01-19
Product: Vehicle loan or lease — Lease
Issue: Problems at the end of the loan or lease — Excess mileage, damage, or wear fees, or other problem after the lease is finished
Company: ALLY FINANCIAL INC. (CA)

As I approached the end of my lease, I reached out to Ally to ask about the process and lease end date. After being transferred a couple of times to find someone who could answer my questions, I finally landed with someone who sounded like she knew what she was talking about. She was able to give me my lease termination date... great. I also asked her about the process to return the vehicle - she told me that I had to bring it back to the dealership I purchased from and they would do an inspection. After that, the leasing company would auction off the vehicle and depending on what was received at auction, they would bill me for the balance due. Well, I XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  knew this part wasn't true- this is an example of a repossession, not a lease return. As frustrated as I was, I called again closer to the termination date to ask about the process. They told me that I could bring it back to the dealership and that was pretty much it. After calling the dealership, they told me that it didn't have to be them, that I could return the vehicle to any XXXX dealership and the leasing company ( Ally ) would take possession of the vehicle and do an inspection and then bill me for any amount due. The lease termination date was XX/XX/XXXX. I waited for notification that the vehicle was processed so I knew what to expect as a bill - there was never any notification, neither mail or email. My last vehicle payment was made on XX/XX/XXXX, in the amount of {$660.00}. On XX/XX/XXXX, I received a text message stating that my vehicle payment was processed - much to my surprise, as I no longer had a vehicle payment. The amount processed was the exact amount of my payment that had been set up on auto-pay. After visiting the website to check the 'auto-pay ' feature, I saw that the button to 'enroll in auto-pay ' was disabled, leaving me no option but to leave the previous autopay in place. I reached out to Ally via phone and sat on hold for about an hour before I had to hang up for work obligations. Right after that, I reached out via their messaging center to send in a request for two things -- 1. Documentation that stated the vehicle had been processed so I knew how much I owed. 2. My money returned, as there was no longer an option to manage 'auto-pay ' as my lease was terminated. Apparently, this means that they can just reach in to my account and take money any time they want?? Case in point -- still with no documentation to state the vehicle was processed, on XX/XX/XXXX, I received another notification that my 'payment ' was processed. They reached into my account a second time and just took the balance due ( {$620.00} ) - no notification, and still no documentation that my vehicle was processed. I am extremely frustrated at this ENTIRE process, however them processing payments that were outside of my lease agreement is the most frustrating. To this day, they still have no responded to my initial messaging request sent in on XX/XX/XXXX, after the first installment of the balance due was taken without permission.