My parents financed a vehicle through Capital One Auto for my husband and me. We made our payments on time until this past November. At that time my husband was put off work due to bad weather. We immediately called the company (I am authorized to make contact regarding the account) to let them know of the change in our financial situation and make payment arrangements. We followed through with these arrangements until late December. My husband was still out of work and we called again to make other arrangments, which we followed.
Approximately 3 weeks ago I again contacted the company to make new arrangments since my husband is working again. I was told to send a half payment and given instructions to complete additional payments so we could get caught up. We made the half payment as directed.
Three days later, this past Monday, I was home sick with the flu. I got a call from Brenda at Capital One demanding payment on the loan saying it was 120 days past due or she would be charging off the loan in 5 days. I attempted to explain to her the arrangements that were made and tell her that there must be some mistake. She became snotty in her tone and told me not to talk.
She again made her original statement and told me no one would make payment arrangements with me (calling me a liar). I told her they did and that I would need to hang up to find the person's name and information and that I would call back.
Brenda would not let me off the phone and continued to argue with me telling me again that no one would make the arrangements I was telling her about and that if they did they weren't aware of the circumstances behind her collection effort. I tried to assure her they were aware of it and she continued to talk over me. I hung up the phone.
Immediately following, my parents began getting phone messages from Brenda threatening to take the car if they did not pay.
On Tuesday at 11pm a man knocked on our door 11pm, wanting to know about the car. He stated showed paperwork that the car was 144 days past due and that it needed to be picked up. The car was in the garage and we did not give it to him.
Wednesday morning I contacted Capital One and asked to speak to a supervisor over Brenda. I was repeatedly told that the only person I could speak with was Brenda and that she was the supervisor. I eventually agreed to try to speak with her again.
I asked Brenda to explain to me how we were 120 days past due when we had been sending money and making arrangements. Her statement was that since I did not call back after sending payment to tell them to put it toward the car payment they put the payments toward the interest only on the loan. I had not been told to call back and I questioned why they would put money on the interest when the arrangement had been made and should have been logged in their system and why they would put money toward interest when there is a past due amount.
Brenda did not have an answer and started getting short with me again. She told me that whatever arrangements I had made "did not matter" and that she needs to collect 4 car payments. I asked her why a representative would tell me to send a specific amount at specific times if it "didn't matter." Her response was that the representative "Just threw out some number amount to get you off their books."
When I continued to question this I got no answers and instead continued response that the matter was the 4 car payments and "nothing else." I was then told that even if I made payment the car was going to be picked up. (What happend to 5 days)
I told her the money was not going to be paid in the manner she was demanding and began to ask her questions about the repossession process. Brenda told me "These questions you are asking don't matter. What matters is the payment due." I told her it does matter because I need to be able to explain to my parents what is happening.
She then told me she had no information to give me. I asked to speak to someone in the department that handles the repossession and was told I could not speak to anyone. I asked for a name and was denied this information and told that I could not have it since the process had not gone that far yet. I then made arrangements to turn the car in.
Later in the afternoon my husband contacted Capital One. He requested to speak to a supervisor and was told that he would have to speak with Brenda. My husband stated he did not want to speak with her, that she was part of the problem and that he wants to speak with a supervisor or someone over Brenda. He was put on hold and then transfered to Brenda.
He told her that she needs to go back and check their information because the information she has been giving me is wrong. He also told her that we don't appreciate they way we have been treated and he questioned their business practices. All of a sudden Brenda could not discuss the account with anyone but my parents.
My husband told her that we are aware of our rights and that we will be taking action and again requested to speak with a supervisor. He was denied this. He became upset and told her that if he had to he would have her job. She replied "you don't have enough money to have my job."
My husband called back two more times demanding to speak with a supervisor or someone other than Brenda. He had to argue and finally told the person who answered that he would keep calling back until he spoke to a supervisor. After being on hold for a while he was finally transfered to one.
The supervisor, Michelle, was very pleasant and helpful (what I thought customer service should be) but also knew the call was "probably being recorded." After hearing the complaints from my husband she agreed to go through the account history with me to figure out what the problem was.
While going through the history with me Michelle stated she was going to try to explain what Brenda was trying to tell me because I probably just didn't understand what was happening.
During our conversation it was discoverd that one of our payments had been credited to someone else's account. This put our account at only 90 days past due which is what we had been arguing with Brenda. It also proved that the payment arrangements we had made prior were in fact valid as we had tried to tell Brenda. And we had been right all along.
Of course there was no spoken admittance of this but the "oh" she gasped out when the error was discovered proved it to me.
Michelle helped get the payment corrected and cancelled the repossession order while I was on the phone. Something that could have been done 3 days ago if Brenda had done her job correctly instead of treating us like crap.
My family has spent the last 3 days of our lives in hell due to Capital One due to their mistake and poor customer service.
Michelle did her job wonderfully. Brenda should be fired. We want out of our loan with Capital One because we wish to never give them any more of our money. I am pretty sure that the way they behaved boarders on illegal and I am contacting lawyers as well as the BBB, my State Attorney General Office, and the Federal Trade Commission.
Amy
Olathe, Kansas
U.S.A.
0 comments