Consumer complaint received 2019-05-08
Product: Vehicle loan or lease — Lease
Issue: Managing the loan or lease — Problem with fees charged
Company: Dakota Financial, LLC (CA)

So I'll try give you an understanding. We originally were disputing the XXXX  XXXX for the past couple months with XXXX from the day we picked up the truck in XXXX when it was supposed to be ready in XXXX, noticing body work that was promised wasn't done, and annual smoke inspection overdue. Took them a few days to get back with us, by then I noticed other problems wrong with the truck. After going back and forth with XXXX for the past couple months and having an attorney send a demand letter. They offered us {$8000.00} to shut up to wash their hands even though the total repairs are over {$11000.00}. We felt we had no other choice. We even pursued using the extended warranty which they say didn't cover any of the repairs needed to be done. So after calling our finance company Dakota Financial just to find out what was left on our loan of what we thought was a purchase and me bringing up the {$9300.00} down payment. We where told that that was not a down payment its a security deposit. The truck was listed at {$29000.00} with our insurance and extended warranty came up to about {$31000.00}. XXXX XXXX which is a separate entity from XXXX, which I see today ironically has the same address as XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, PA XXXX. XXXX XXXX originally told us we were purchasing this truck that California had special laws and they had to write the contract up as such but they we are buying the truck. Dakota Financial said no we signed a lease agreement for 36 months at {$1200.00} which adds up to {$44000.00} and at that point we can purchase the truck for {$9300.00} which brings up to total of {$55000.00}. Had we known this we would have never 1. leased a used vehicle for this much 2. purchased a used truck for this much. I have emails from XXXX asking for the downpayment which insinuate we were putting a down payment for purchasing this truck. Also on the cover sheet of Dakotas Financial agreement it states down payment as well. From what I read a down payment is for the purchase of property not a deposit for a lease. We have since yesterday already emailed them asking them if they are saying this is a lease that we want to return the truck to Dakota and get a full deposit and any money I've put out for current repairs. Without fixing the rest of the repairs that we can't afford this truck will be broke down for good in less than a month. The truck has been at the shop since XX/XX/XXXX and we are supposed to get it back today if the over heating is fixed which I will have to pay about {$3500.00} but none of the other issues I can fix. This truck was supposed to be a Premium truck not an as is truck. But it appears to be worth nothing. 

Attached is the lease agreement with Dakota Financial, screenshot of email from XXXX XXXX one of the emails of me reporting the issues to XXXX within the 15 grace period, copy of warranty, & a screenshot of one review out of several other bad reviews for Dakota financial I found on XXXX. So it sounds like this is a game all 3 companies have been running for a long time. We can't go after XXXX but as per the contract this truck belongs to Dakota & XXXX is the one that sold this to us which I've attached an email I sent to them this morning. It looks like XXXX left Dakota with a bad truck and Dakota financial had a bad sales man XXXX XXXX. Both XXXX XXXX and Dakota have ignored my emails. We would just like to return it and get all of our money back. So we can try to get out of this bad title loan we took out on our already paid off car. This truck was our only source of income for the time being and we have been without work for over a month now.