Consumer complaint received 2020-02-27
Product: Vehicle loan or lease — Lease
Issue: Getting a loan or lease — Changes in terms mid-deal or after closing
Company: HYUNDAI CAPITAL AMERICA (NY)

On XX/XX/XXXX, my wife and I went to Hyundai XXXX  XXXX XXXX XXXX, New York, to lease a new vehicle : a XXXX XXXX XXXX  XXXX XXXX. We believe we were swindled by both the salesman who leased the car to us, XXXX XXXX, and the Finance Director who handled the paperwork, XXXX XXXX is no longer with the company. When discussing the lease terms with XXXX, we were led to believe that our monthly lease payments would be in the low {$300.00} range for a 3-year lease and 15,000 miles a year. The car 's sale price was listed on the company website at around {>= $1,000,000} ( I can't remember exactly ), which is significantly cheaper than the car we leased before this, a XXXX XXXX XXXX  XXXX. We were paying $ XXXX/mo to lease that XXXX XXXX, even though the car was listed at over $ 32K and we were paying for 16,500 miles a year. So when XXXX came back to us ready to close the deal with the paperwork, and instructed us that our monthly lease payment would be $ XXXX/mo with {$3000.00} down, that made no sense to us. He " explained '' that the monthly payment was higher than what the website calculator said it would be ( low {$300.00} ) because of all the unseen fees that had to be factored in. One of the fees he mentioned was the DMV registration charge of {$330.00}. This even though we had an existing registration for the XXXX XXXX   that we were transferring to the XXXX XXXX, and only owed {$60.00}. He said that the way the DMV worked was that we had to pay Hyundai  XXXX  XXXX XXXX XXXX the {$330.00} upfront, and then once they got reimbursed {$270.00} by the DMV, they would send us a check for that amount. That didn't really make sense to us, but fine, we said. Then when we go to sign the paperwork with XXXX XXXX, and he says he likes us so much he's going to give us a Hyundai maintenance plan for " free. '' We thought that was nice. We sign the paperwork and we leave. The next morning I review the contract and see that a {$500.00} fee has been included for that maintenance plan. We go back to the office to complain, and suddenly XXXX tries to avoid talking to us for about two hours. Nobody in the office will talk to us. Finally after waiting forever, a different finance manager sits us down and tries to explain why that fee is there. He says XXXX just had to write it in so we would get the maintenance plan, but we were not actually charged. I don't believe that for a second. I think that fee was one of the fees XXXX told us about that jacked up our monthly paymentand then XXXX tried to act like it was " free. '' Finally, after we're exhausted trying to figure out exactly how we're getting screwed and have accepted this other finance manager 's " explanation, '' XXXX comes into the office to say we'll be getting a refund that day of {$270.00} for the difference in the DMV registration charge. He hands us a receipt for a Check Request that he's filled out and had authorized by Sales Manager XXXX XXXX ( signed with initials XXXX  on the form I've attached ). He said the check would be sent to us in the mail. We were convinced we were being swindled out of thousands of dollars but didn't have any more energy to argue and honestly we had no idea exactly how we were getting swindled, so we accepted this olive branch. But we never received the check. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I took the car into the shop to get an oil change and cash in on this " free '' maintenance planand I took this opportunity to ask about my refund check. I asked for XXXX XXXX and was informed he no longer worked for that office. I found XXXX and showed him the Check Request form, which he'd signed. He said, Yeah, just show me the lease contract. So I did. Fifteen minutes later he said he didn't see anything on the lease about the DMV registration fee. Lo and behold, it wasn't there! He asked XXXX to come over and explain. Of course XXXX had no idea what had happened. So XXXX says they're going to look into it and get back to me over the holidays. I asked him why he signed the Check Request form if there was no documentation of the charge. He said XXXX came and asked me to sign it. I asked him why XXXX no longer worked there, and he didn't want to answer. I'm pretty sure XXXX was fired from the office for doing some shady things. 

It is now XX/XX/XXXX, and I have not received the refund check nor heard anything from Hyundai. 

These people are crooks. How else do you explain getting a check request for a {$270.00} refund for a charge that they said helped to explain unseen fees, and then when you ask for that check they say there's no documentation of that charge anywhere on the lease? Why did XXXX sign this check request form? It's a RECEIPT for a check. But then he says we have no right to check, because there's no evidence of the charge. 

The lease contract says the agreed-upon value of the vehicle was {$27000.00}. How on earth was that possible if the price listed on their website was under {$25000.00}? 

I do not want to make any more attempts to ask XXXX for this refund check, because I know he will just make up some reason not to give it to us. I know we've been swindled out of thousands, but all I really want to secure some kind of little victory is that {$270.00}. Hope you can help.