I woke up Friday morning 1/21/05 like any other. Woke my five year old son up and got him ready for school. Walking out the door I realized my truck was out of my drive way. I checked to see if there was any broken glass around, saw none and figured that my truck had been repossesed. Called Ford Credit immediately to find out what it was I needed to do to retrieve my vehicle.
Your customer service rep Valerie @ ext. 10126 was unable to help me. Valerie realized I was in distress but really did not seem to care much for how I felt. She finally told me that I would have to talk to someone in the redemptions department. After being connected to Maria Alvera @ext. 13986, she was not available (of course I'm sure this is how the redemptions department usually handles all their callers).
Not knowing what it was I needed to do, I decided to call the Ford's pay by phone department to pay off the balance before talking to the redemptions department. Since it had been two hours since I called and still hadn't received a call back I got a bit impatient.
Finally, Maria calls me back just to let me know that I had made a huge mistake and that I would have to call Ford Credit's pay by phone and cancel. She then instructed me to go to a Western Union and wire transfer the pay off plus extra fees for repossession. During this whole time with Maria on the phone she is very rude and insensitive to my needs and requests. I assured Maria that I was willing to do everything that I had to do to redeem my vehicle before the weekend. I finally got tired of Maria's insensitive manner that I asked to speak to her manager.
She transfers me to Chris @ 972-621-2663, and I explain to him my situation. He then tells me that all I had to do is pay the amount of $5606.77. At this point I also let Chris know as I did to Maria that I would have to retrieve my vehicle back today. I am a single mother with just one vehicle. I had already lost one day of work I really didn't want to lose another trying to retrieve my vehicle.
I went to a money box in Austin to make the wire transfer. As soon as I was done, I called Chris back and told him that I had just made my payment of $5606.77, it was now 11:45 A.M. I asked him to let me know what it was I needed to do to retrieve my vehicle, since I had just paid it off. I did not receive a call back till 1 P.M. Unfortunately it wasn't Chris calling me back it was Maria. She told me that the reference number that I had given her manager was from a wire transfer 3 months ago for $100.00. I know Maria had a smile on her face while telling me this since she knew how distressed I had been.
I went back to the same money box and told them what I had come across with. The operator had made a mistake inputting the correct reference number in.instead of reference # 21852392 she had given me reference # 51852392. Of course this delayed the process. I called Chris back and left him a voice mail stating my correct reference #, this was at 1:15 P.M.
A few hours went by and still no call back from Chris. I called him and left various messages with no response. I finally got a hold of him about 3 P.M. I told him that he needed to let me know where I needed to pick up my vehicle. I knew that by this time my vehicle had been transferred to San Antonio's Auction Center. San Antonio is an hour away so I felt that I needed to do something quickly to retrieve my vehicle back before the day was over. Chris was very reluctant in given me any information. I felt that they had no right to do this since I had already paid off my vehicle in full. So legally this was my property and no longer Ford's.
At this point I was very frustrated with Chris and I asked him to please transfer me to his manager. He refused and hung up on me. I called him back and left him a message letting him know that he would need to call me back with the information that I had requested as to where my vehicle was located. He finally did but by the time he called me it was too late to pick up my vehicle. The auction center closes at 4 P.M. And it was already 3:30, there was no way I could make it to San Antonio in time.
I had to rent a vehicle for the weekend since I had no other way of transportation. I ended up having to lose another day of work to retrieve my vehicle on Monday 1/24/05. I had to consult with an attorney before I finally redeemed my vehicle. When I did, all my personal belonging were gone. Evidently the towing service (which are thieves) had all my things.
When I looked in my truck, my CD cartridge was missing. Also, I have custom wheels on my truck which one rim was damaged by the towing service. I called Ford back and spoke to Chris on Tuesday 1/25/05 letting him know what had happened. He told me that I would have to take that up against the towing service.
Unfortunately, the towing guy would give me no information on his business. It's nice to know that Ford can contract such thieves and then have no liability with them.
All in all my experience with Ford Motor Credit was the most unfortunate experience I have ever had. It's sad to know that such a huge corporation is fighting an individual that has been a customer for five years. I understand that there was a contract and unfortunately I had some mishaps through out the years, but nonetheless Ford Motor Credit was still receiving payments.
I know that this will probably not make a difference on my account, but I just want to let you know that your care reps are the most awful representatives that I have ever had to deal with.
This might not make a difference at all in any way, but I want to let you know that I will never again deal with Ford Motor Credit. I will make sure that I let family, friends and neighbors know to avoid any type of contracts with Ford Motor Credit.
The approach that Ford Motor Credit takes upon their unfortunate customers like myself, is a bit domineer. I can only pray now that you can better train you customer service reps in a manner where they could at least show some compassion even though they do not care.
I can only thank God that I still have my vehicle today. Only He knows how hard I have worked for it. I know that you could never understand this since such a huge corporation like yourself would never have any type of money issues. May God bless all those awful customer service reps that I had to deal with on 1/21/05. May He also show them that we are all human with circumstances and not just an account number.
I hope that Ford Motor Credit is satisfied in leaving such a mark on me and my family. I can honestly say that I know you don't care, but regardless I am glad that I am able to write to you and let you know of my unfortunate experience.
I also know that you won't take responsibility on my now messed up rim, or missing CD cartridge, but I am willing to take that loss than to have to deal with you awful people again.
Sincerely,
Leticia D. Loredo
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