Was my rebuttal over the top? I don't know.
Was it all true? Yes.
Could I have coddled him? Sure, and I actually do sometimes, but I probably wasn't in the mood when I responded. Sue me and welcome to the internet, I guess. There's coffee in the back.
Sorry I didn't sugarcoat things for this guy, but he irks me. His Rip-Off Report opens with, "Do not use Chase Auto Fiance for your auto loan needs. They refuse to waive any late fees to their loan accounts, even though the error is the fault."
There is no error on their part. He owes them money and quite frankly, he's quite delusional about the way the world of finance works. It doesn't matter if he's retired, 50, 40, 30, or 18...he's got no clue that he's in the wrong here and it's going to hurt him financially for the rest of his life. I don't care about his situation because it's ultimately irrelevant. Rich, poor, young, old, it doesn't matter. What does matter is that he has to pay his bills according to the schedule he agreed upon, or he's going to continue to ruin his credit and rack up late fees. He can't continue to think that he's the victim here if he wants to avoid this type of situation in the future.
What's that? Times are tough? Can't afford the car payments? SELL THE CAR. People today live with all these privileges, all the while mistakenly thinking they're somehow entitled to them. I bet you if he canceled his cable, internet, and cell phone services, with all the money he saved, he could cover that car payment no problem. If times are tough and money is tight, it's all about priorities. He's surfing here thinking he's been ripped off instead of paying his bill and it's going to cost him.
You can feel free to type out a nice rebuttal that calmly explains things for him on your time if you want. That's your prerogative. Don't vilify me though because I didn't sugarcoat things for him.
If he were ripped off, it'd be a different story. I would be more than pleasant with him and if I couldn't offer help, I'd offer condolences. But he's not getting ripped off! The only thing he's a victim of is his own ignorance.
And besides, a wake-up call never hurt anyone. Not that it matters… As you saw by his reply, it's not like he's going to learn anything anytime soon. He still thinks he's the victim. He's an excuse machine and will continue on having problems like this until he changes his ways.