I had 1 payment left on my car. I was rear ended when stopped at a light and my car was totalled. Even though I was in a huge amount of pain I wanted to make sure I took care of business so I called WFS Financial to let them know what had happened, gave them the insurance agents name and number and the claim number.
The total loss adjuster from AAA Insurance called them, sent in my and my husbands signatures to WFS and WFS sent him a "total loss payoff guarantee". 4 days later I received a call from WFS on my cell phone, I was at work (I didn't know it was them at first because they didn't leave a message, the number came up in my missed calls call log. According to the Fair Debt Collections Practices they have to identify themselves.)
At my lunch hour I called the number and explained to the girl on the phone what had happened and asked if it was noted in my account? She said it was but they had not received the paymnet from the insurance agency yet and it was now late so if I didn't pay it they were going to report to the credit bureaus.
By the way, there were 6 of my co workers sitting with me as I made the call, so I had plenty of witnesses as to what I said. I asked her if she would note that on the account and was told she would after I hung up and she diconnected the call.
When I left work for the day I looked at my phone and saw there was another missed call, again from the number of WFS Financial but there was no message left. When I was at home that night my home phone rang, I looked at the caller id and saw that it was AGAIN WFS Financial. I answered the phone and apologized to the person on the phone saying that I knew it wasn't her but were there no notes on the account? She said yes there were but no one had called me that day. I explained the situation again and asked her to note the account, she said she would but it wouldn't stop them from calling.
I asked to speak to her supervisor, I was on hold for about 10 minutes then a woman named Patty came on the line and said she was from the Roseville, CA office, I asked if she was a supervisor, she replied no she wasn't but she was the closest thing there was for the night. I explained to her what was going on and asked why they called me 3 times in 1 day, she told me they hadn't.
I of course became even more angry and asked her why she would be calling me a liar. She told me she could see absolutely nothing in my account showing anyone had called me earlier in the day or any reason why they should.
She said it did not matter that the insurance compnay was making a payoff, my payment needed to be made then. I asked to speak to her manager and she told me to call "Oscar in the morning" and gave me a number. I asked for her and his last names and she refused to give them to me.
I called my insurance company the next day and of course only got voice mail and no response until the following day. I talked to a general claims rep who told me the check was sent to mail 2 days later. I called WFS again that night because I said I would even though I had no new info, I talked to a woman named Riva and explained the situation again, she acted very concerned and apologetic and told me they have a new system that keeps calling a person back until the rep puts a specific pay date, amount and check number in the computer.
I was very angry at this point and asked her to note the account that I had called in again, the information that I had told her, that I would be talking with the insurance people again the next day and did not want to be called again. Her suggestion was to provide them with a post dated check and if the check from the insurance company got there first I could call and cancel mine otherwise after they both cleared and after the processing time I would get a check returned to me.
The payoff amount was 416.27, I asked her if she had an extra 400 dollars laying around to just let someone else hold on to because I don't. I did not make the payment. I also told her if I got called again I would contact an attorney, she then changed her attitude and told me not to waste my money... They have lawyers too and everything they do is approved by the attorneys before they do it as being legal. I told her they were harassing me and hung up.
The next day my adjuster from AAA called and told me when WFS received our signature for power of attorney and sent him back the payoff guarantee they had accepted that he would be the contact person after that point and they had no legal right to call me. He released the check that day to them.
I called them once again and asked the girl who answered the phone to note the account with that information, she told me again that I had to make the paymnet, I gave her the adjuster's name and number and told her I would be filing a compaint with the company, the Department of Consumer Affairs in California and as directed by them the Federal Trade Commission.
On a separate note I asked all of them if any of them had given thought to the fact that my car was totalled and I woulkd need another car and another car loan, they still tried to assure me that their rates were the best and they would welcome another loan for me. I have gotten another car already and the loan is through my credit union thank god!!!
Also, They added insurance on to my loan 3 times also but it turned out to be my car insurance company not sending them the proper information, as soon as I changed car insurance compnaies to AAA it never happened again, I had to call their insurance company to have it credited back, they wouldn't do it. Oh and by the way, Weird, I work for a very large investment firm and WE do not do business with companies that practice that kind of business.
Concerned Citizen
Sacramento, California
U.S.A.
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