I had a very bad experience today with Litton Loan Servicing on what should have otherwise been an extremely simple matter. My loan was acquired by Litton for servicing and I setup automatic payments to make it convenient for the both of us. To make a long story short, instead of simply drafting the full amount that was due on my account, they were drafting in 1-month increments and applying it to the previous month. This was generating consecutive late fees that were accruing, and would have continued indefinitely had I not noticed after a couple of billing cycles.
Instead of extending the "benefit of the doubt" to their new customer who clearly acted in good faith by authorizing Litton to draft ANY balance due from my checking account, their customer service rep actually insisted that I was responsible for the late fees. After about 30 minutes of arguing back and forth on this issue, the customer service manager finally gave in but still charged me $9.99 to accept a phone payment and bring this matter to a close (by this point it was no longer about the stupid money, it really was the principle of the thing).
With all due respect to Litton Loan Servicing, this was without a doubt the worst customer service experience that I can recall, and certainly not the way to start off a 30-year relationship. I have never been tardy paying any of my bills and could understand the hardnose position if this were a chronic problem. As a NEW customer whose loan was transferred (and having gone through this a dozen times already since I own 20 properties), I have never been treated so badly for a few lousy late fees before in my life.
I did however find the phone number to Mr. Litton himself and called him at his house (actually, I thought I was calling his office but this worked out better). I explained what had happened to me - and he was mortified. It is my opinion that Mr. Litton is a very nice person since he was patient enough to hear me out, but needs to address the customer service issues at the company that bears his name. There seem to be a few websites out there and people who appear to be EXTREMELY angry with this company for a variety of reasons, but in my case it was a completely avoidable circumstance that led me to find this website in the first place.
Anyway, I hope some of the tactics identified by other users of this website are not true since they are servicing one of my loans. I think it's easy sometimes for executives to disconnect themselves from the front-line operations and allow fundamental customer service 101 procedures to slip as it did in my case. Hopefully this company that provides jobs for over 500 people will get their act together and avoid further negative feedback.
For the record, I'd like to say that I really respect Mr. Litton for taking the time to listen to one of his customers, after hours, and at his home no less. I think under the circumstances any other executive would have hung up the phone or passed off the call to one of his underlings. The fact that he genuinely listened to my gripes, took notes and my information speaks volumes about his concern for the reputation of his company and the service it provides. It is my sincerest hope that he can improve both the perception and customer service of his company for both his sake as well as that of his 500 employees.
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