I purchased a vehicle from a local dealership in October and because of my credit rating had to agree to have a Paytek Smart Box installed on the vehicle. This box needs a six digit code entered into it every month so that the vehicle can continue to start. I was told by the dealership that if I made my payments on time or they sold the loan, the Paytek Smart Box would be removed from the vehicle.
My loan was sold to Mid Atlantic Finance in June and the box was not taken off the vehicle. I had not missed a payment, in fact the payments were made 22 days early. I had to call Mid Atlantic Finance Co to receive the code for my box, which was mailed to me immediately when the car dealership received my payment in the mail, even after I had requested the code be mailed to me and had given Mid Atlantic my email address.
This is where the frustration level rose. Getting the code became a long term process. The first time I called them, they told me the dealership had the codes. I called the dealership and they told me that Mid-Atlantic had the codes. So I called Mid Atlantic back. Took ten minutes to go through all the stuff to get into the que to talk to customer service, then I was on hold for another ten to fifteen minutes waiting to talk to customer service. Once I fianally got to talk to a real person, they had no idea what I was talking about or needed, so they put on hold for another fifteen to thirty minutes while they went and found what I needed. Then I got the code. This process continued until December when I had medical appointments, the holiday to worry about and other things going on and I didn't make the call. Even though the payment was made 22 days early, my vehicle was disabled.
I know the simple thing to do would have been to call them, be frustrated by the wait and get the code, but it was a matter of principle now. James, the first person I had talked to said it would be "no problem" to email me the code for the vehicle. Obviously, it was a problem, since it was never done. I was tired of being bounced between Mid Atlantic and the dealership like I was a tennis ball in a tennis match. I was without use of a vehicle for one month, had to pay someone to take me to medical appointments at. 47 a mile. And I made my payment early in January.
Because of the frustration with the inefficient way Mid Atlanic Finance was handling things, I did the following: emailed the Florida Better Business Bureau for St. Petersburg with my complaint; got a complaint form off the computer for the attorney general in my state and filed a complaint, complete with evidence of what I was saying; contacted an attorney to see what could be done.
The Florida BBB, forwarded the complaint to Mid Atlantic and they responded with an email that was full of names and extensions that I could call. I responded to their solution with a NO it did not resolve the problem, since I had one of the extensions, had called it and NEVER received an answer back with the code. I then got an email with the codes I needed for two months, and telling me that when I made a payment to email the company and get the code.
The attorney general's office responded with a letter telling me other steps to take to resolve this issue and they forwarded a letter to Mid Atlantic and the dealership. I am waiting for the response from both.
I am waiting to see what the attorney has found. To find out if there was a "breach of contract" or not.
I replied to the email I got directly from Mid Atlantic asking them for reimbursement for the mileage that I had accrued due to the fact I had to hire someone to take me to medical appointments while my vehicle was inoperable. I have been waiting six days for the reply.
This company has lousy customer service. People there do not know what a person needs, speak broken English, put you on hold until you become disconnected, lay down the phone and walk away for twenty minutes, cannot do what they promised, and all in all the whole company is unsatisfactory in dealing with any kind of complaint.
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