Consumer complaint received 2022-11-17
Product: Vehicle loan or lease — Loan
Issue: Managing the loan or lease — Billing problem
Company: FORD MOTOR CREDIT CO. (PA)

Complaint:
At approximately XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX a neighbor called the police when he observed a tow truck forcibly taking our work truck, a XXXX Ford XXXX XXXX ( Ford XXXX ), that was parked in front of his house. The police woke up my wife to see if she could determine whether the Ford XXXX was stolen or repossessed. Since payments for all our work vehicles are on automatic payment and since there was only a small balance of approximately {$6000.00} on the Ford XXXX, we initially did not think it had been repossessed. Historically, we had no missed payments on either our current Ford XXXX or on our prior Ford XXXX. I take our Ford XXXX for regular servicing to the dealership at which it was purchased, XXXX Ford, XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, XXXX XXXXXXXX. However, despite taking our Ford XXXX to the dealer for service and having consented to electronic communications on the Ford Credit website, I received no communications whatsoever from Ford Credit leading up to the repossession. When I contacted Ford Credit the following morning, I learned they had not attempted to contact me and issued a repossession order because they had not received a payment since XX/XX/XXXX. Further, Ford Credit stated the reason they had not contacted me was because they were not permitted to make contact under a Pennsylvania statute prohibiting such electronic communications. However, Ford Credit misinterpreted this Pennsylvania statute. When I consented on the website to receiving electronic communications about my Ford Credit loan, my consent permits Ford Credit to contact me about my loan and account without violation of the statute. 

We are small XXXX XXXX  with several XXXX and personal bank accounts. We have been victimized by the scams plaguing the U.S. Postal Service and banking industry because weve have had our legitimately written checks get intercepted, bleached and rewritten to other recipients and for amounts well in excess of the original check amount. Once our XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  XXXX ) accounts were compromised by this fraudulent activity, XXXX closed our existing accounts and opened new accounts. Unfortunately, our Ford Credit payments were on autopayment through a compromised XXXX account closed due to fraud and the monthly payment for the Ford XXXX was not moved to the new XXXX account. Because Ford Credit failed to contact us about the missed payments, we were not aware of this issue. 

After learning that Ford Credit repossessed the Ford XXXX, I paid the overdue amount of {$1500.00} and the repossession fee of {$500.00} ( totaling {$2000.00} ) on XX/XX/XXXX to recover the vehicle because Ford Credit did not allow us to pay off the loan as we requested. After making the payment on XX/XX/XXXX, I was still not able to regain full access to my online account and Ford Credit would not provide the location of the Ford XXXX. Ford Credit subsequently provided contact information for their agent, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ). I contacted XXXX and made an appointment to pick up the Ford XXXX the next day. However, when I contacted them at the appointed time to get a location, I was informed they hold their weekly auction on that day so I would not be able to pick up the Ford XXXX until the following day. Once I finally received the pickup location in XXXXXXXX XXXX, I was escorted to my Ford XXXX, which had been damaged and ransacked. I refused to touch it or enter the vehicle until the XXXX lot attendant took pictures of the Ford XXXX on their lot showing the damage done to the front, to the undercarriage where the tow bar was inserted to the remaining contents inside the vehicle that had been strewn about the front seats. I learned once I unlocked the vehicle, that the work tools used for repairs on our heavy equipment that are normally stored in the Ford XXXX had been stolen. I told the XXXX lot attendant that if he was able to recover the work tools from the towing company, no questions would be asked. While driving the Ford XXXX back to my house, the transmission light came on, so it was promptly brought to the XXXX Ford dealership where it was purchased and where it is regularly serviced to have XXXX Fords service department assess the damage to the transmission and undercarriage and to provide a quote for repairs. 

Our calls to Ford Credit attempting to get these issues resolved were met with hostility and unprofessionalism. While Ford Credit may customarily deal with people that purposefully do not make their payments, this is not at all the case in this situation. Our XXXX banker provided a letter stating the issues that occurred with our business and personal bank accounts resulting from fraudulent activity that caused the automatic payment to be missed. XXXX Ford has the history of work performed on the Ford XXXX and on XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX Ford provided a preliminary estimate for replacing the front bumper and grille repairs totaling {$920.00}. Due to staffing issues, XXXX Ford has not been able to assess the total damage to the transmission. The Ford XXXX is under warranty and the dealership believes the damaged transmission will be covered by the warranty. The Ford XXXX which, as previously stated, is a work truck has now been at the dealership almost 20 days. It is not drivable and we are not able to use it for work while it awaits further assessment and repairs. To date, I have not been contacted by XXXX about my work tools, which I believe should be replaced by Ford Credit since they issued the repossession order and hired the tow company that repossessed the Ford XXXX. Following is a list of the heavy equipment tools and parts contained in the two ( 2 ) tool bags stolen from the Ford XXXX together with the current estimate of repairs for items not covered by the warranty : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX {$640.00} XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  {$500.00} XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX {$39.00} XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  {$29.00} XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX {$23.00} XXXX XXXX XXXX  ( XXXX ) sized : XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX {$14.00}, {$21.00}, {$79.00}, {$110.00} XXXX XXXX XXXX {$19.00} XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) Flat {$12.00} each XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  : XXXX, XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX {$20.00}, {$27.00}, {$28.00}, {$42.00} XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX$89.00} XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX {$74.00} XXXX XXXX XXXX  {$94.00} XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) {$31.00}, {$36.00} XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXXized : XXXX XXXX XXXX {$200.00} Miscellaneous ( XXXXXXXX XXXX screws, XXXX XXXX set XXXX nuts, bolts, etc. ) {$100.00} Tools Total {$2500.00} Preliminary Estimate {$920.00} Total {$3500.00}

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation