Donnaa of Hempstead, MI on Feb. 25, 2015
I read comments where ALLY purported to negotiate with the consumer and in the process of doing so, they repossessed the vehicle. Well, the same thing happened to me. Admittedly, I was late with payment due to loss of employment and illness. Not only did I make the negotiated payment as promised, the promised extension paperwork did not come to my residence until over two weeks later. I did not hear from anyone during the interim and usually, ALLY calls consistently when there is a problem.
Well, ALLY came and repossessed the vehicle on a Friday evening. Since you cannot get to anyone until Monday, we had to sit and wait. Monday, I got a hold of the account manager who negotiated the extension and he claimed that he called me and left messages. There were no messages or calls indicated from ALLY in my phone queue. When I tried to explain this, he proceeded to overtalk me. I then asked him what would happen if I showed him that the funds were taken out my account. He insisted that there was nothing he could do. He then called back later and asked me to fax the bank statement, which I did. He then called again to say that I needed to take it up with my bank because they could not find the money. I protested and he insisted that there was nothing he could do.
I filed a motion in the Federal Court and the Court granted me an emergency hearing, I served the papers upon them by fax, as permitted by the Court. An operations then manager called me and proceeded to tell me that they could not find my payment, and I then asked her what was the purpose of the call.. She proceeded to argue with me and overtalk me in a loud, aggressive tone. She first said that she called me and then said that no one could call me because I had a cease and desist letter. I replied that I found that interesting because notwithstanding, they did call me. Also, her statements were inconsistent. We went to Court the next day and the judge asked ALLY's attorney if they returned the vehicle. He said that ALLY agreed to release the vehicle and remove any inference of repossession from my credit.
Of course, when I called the repo man to tell them that I was coming to get my vehicle, they indicated that they had not received correspondence from ALLY. I called ALLY and the same operations manager comes on the phone and has the nerve to say that we could have negotiated the matter but I chose to take matters "that far". I reminded her that she repeatedly told me that there was nothing she could do and she was conducting herself in a manner that was going to cost the company some money. She was unprofessional and hostile and apparently they train their people to act accordingly.
Although we did not have to pay the repo fees and excess charges, ALLY was dishonest, and engaged in a deceptive practice designed to separate the unwitting consumer from their cash. They do this because most people are so thrown by the event of repossession, that they either lose the vehicle or end up paying fees. This is a permanent black eye on this company.