Consumer complaint received 2025-01-09 00:00:00
Product: Vehicle loan or lease — Loan
Issue: Repossession — Account reinstatement or redemption after repossession
Company: Exeter Finance, LLC.
State: GA

Complaint narrative:
When I was behind in my payments in XXXX, I let the Exeter Finance company know, but I wasn't eligible for an extension at that time. So, I tried to make as many payments as I could but wasn't able to make enough. In XXXX, around the week of the XXXX, I was told that if I made a monthly payment, I would now be eligible for an extension. By XX/XX/XXXX, I finally could make a monthly payment. I went online to the Exeter website and tried to make the payment, and they told me I would have to call to make this payment. When I tried to call, they were closed. I ended up sending a message through their customer portal letting them know I was having this issue, but I realized I had the option to pay through a third party via XXXX XXXX. I sent the payment and got a confirmation a minute later that the payment was sent on XX/XX/year>. 

The next morning, XX/XX/year>, at XXXXXXXX XXXX ( EST ), I sat in the vehicle in the parking lot of my apartment complex and called Exeter Customer Services. I spoke with a representative named XXXX who was able to verify that she received the payment and proceeded to put me on hold to note my account. Once she took me off hold, we went through the verbiage for the " Fine Print '' for the extension, which I had to respond to by agreeing or disagreeing. I agreed to the " Fine Print '' of the extension and was told by XXXX that my account was now out of the repossession status. As the representative was asking if I had any other questions, I was asking questions regarding how to check if this request was completed, but at the same time, I was exiting the vehicle to go into the apartment. I went upstairs to grab another coat and went back downstairs and saw that the car was gone. I was so glad that the representative was still on the phone so I could inform her that they had picked up my vehicle. XXXX told me that was weird and not sure what happened and put me on hold to talk to her XXXX. After talking to her XXXX, she told me that she would have to get this approved before we could get the car back and that she was going to personally reach back out to me. 

After around XXXXXXXX XXXX ( EST ) on XX/XX/year>, I called back Exeter and spoke to various agents, re-explaining the story and being told different information, such as : My request was denied. 
A manager had already put in a request and it was pending.

I wasn't eligible for an extension because I didn't have six payments yet.

I was most likely to get the extension since it was my first time.

Extensions take between 24-48 hours if not longer if they aren't backlogged.

After calling back throughout the day to obtain more information, it was about XXXX XXXX  ( EST ), and the agent I was working with, named XXXX, transferred me to a XXXX named XXXX, who told me something very alarming. I was told by XXXX that the very first agent I spoke to, named XXXX, wasn't authorized to handle the extension and that she would have to resubmit this. I was put on hold, and finally, XXXX, the manager, was able to put in the extension request to be reviewed. XXXX asked me if there was anything else she could help me with. I advised her that this was a weird situation due to the misinformation that every agent had given me and the lack of communication between departments within the company. 

After getting off the phone with Exeter, I called the vendor named XXXX XXXX, who would have to switch the vehicle status to indicate that they had received the vehicle. I was informed by the representative at XXXX XXXX that they could see vehicle information from the last 6 of my VIN number, but there was no extra information available regarding where the car was located. I asked the company if they had appointments or if it was first come, first served, and they told me that they worked off appointments only. This was the end of my contact with Exeter and XXXX XXXX for XX/XX/year>. 

On XX/XX/year>, I called around XXXX XXXX  ( EST ) to check on the status of my extension and was told that it hadn't been reviewed yet. I asked to speak to a XXXX who put in the request and was told that they could not transfer the call and that they would send a message to let them know I was asking for them to reach out. No XXXX has reached out. I called every hour from XXXX XXXX  to XXXX XXXX  ( EST ) on XX/XX/year> and was told the same thing ( my extension had not been reviewed yet ). This was the end of my contact with Exeter for XX/XX/year>. 

On XX/XX/year>, I called around XXXX XXXX  ( EST ) and spoke to XXXX, who informed me that my extension was approved on the backend, but there were no updated notes on my account, which I didn't understand why it was so hard for this company to have accurate information across the board. From there, I asked that the agent named XXXX transfer me to Reinstatement, who could tell me the stipulations of my approved extension. Once the reinstatement agent, who only really gave me her employee ID, which is XXXX, told me that I would have to pay another additional full monthly payment due to being past the XXXX payment due date. Which I ended up doing through XXXX XXXX again. I asked her what the next steps were, and she told me that her XXXX named XXXX would be able to send this documentation off right away to the vendor so I could make an appointment to pick up the vehicle. 

By XXXX XXXX  ( EST ), I had talked to the vendor XXXX XXXX, who still didn't have any information for the vehicle. I suddenly realized that I could track my car and find out which lot it was actually at. I contacted the actual vendor named XXXX XXXX. Once I spoke to the operator at XXXX XXXX, she told me that they had secured the vehicle and that the account was closed and that Exeter would need to call back and get this taken care of. I called back to Exeter and couldn't get anyone to tell me if they could get the account re-opened, only that I would have between XXXX hours depending on first come, first served. At XXXX XXXX  ( EST ), I called back to XXXX XXXX, and they told me they still didn't have release papers, and I asked when their earliest appointment was once they received the documentation, and they told me it would be XX/XX/year>.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation