I purchased my car in August. At the most, I've only been 1 day or 2 late, and not because I didn't have the money, but because my day may have been hectic and it slipped my mind or something. I lost my job in December 07, and still made my payments on time, even doubling up and paying 2 months at a time (which I did twice).
In June of I was 5 days late on a payment. My mother offered to make the payment for me, and I was going to wire it to them as I most often did (if I didn't just get in the car and physically take the money myself), but there was already a late fee, so I opted to pay it by check over the phone.
A collector had called me earlier in the week, and I told him that I would make the payment Friday (when it would be available in my account). Friday came, and the money was still not available, so I resolved that it would have to be Monday instead. Monday morning, the collector called and said "Ms., if you want to keep this car then you need to make a payment today!" I called my mother and she told me to get her check book and pay it over the phone. I called and a woman answered the phone; I mentioned to her how rude the gentleman was that left me a message and she gave no response. She said "Okay..." I was stunned and told her that I just needed to make a payment. She transferred me to the gentleman and I told him that I wanted to make a payment; he asked me for my account number (which I don't usually keep on hand); so he looked my account up through my SSN. He put me on hold to look up my account. When he came back to the phone he said "Okay Ms.; your payment is 274.57, and I said yes, and he then said "And you're paying by check by phone." It wasn't a question, it was a statement. I confirmed. He never asked whose check it was or anything other security measure a business usually takes when accepting payment by phone. He told me that he posted a payment of $274.57 to my account and asked me if I wanted a confirmation number; I told him yes, and he gave it to me. While we were on the phone I was writing the amount I paid on the check, and I wrote the confirmation number on the memo portion as well. He never asked me for so much as a check number (which struck me as odd).
The next day my mother's account was overdrawn and she looked at her account online to find out where it came from (as she's VERY meticulous about her money). She called me and told me that UACC had taken $389.00 from her account. She instructed me to call them and inform them of the mistake and to let them know that she had a $30.00 fee that needed to be paid as well. I called UACC and a woman answered the phone; I told her what happened and she transferred me to the gentleman who made the mistake. I explained to the gentleman that he posted more than $374.57 instead of $274.57. The gentleman told me that I told him to post that amount. So this of course put me on the defensive (as this was the same man who left the nasty message on my phone the day before). I told him that paying $100 more made no sense, and he said people paid over the amount all the time. He said that he saw that I did it too and so he didn't question it. I told him to look at my history; yes, I've come in and paid $550, but that was because I was paying April and May, which means that I paid $275 for each month. I've never just paid a random * extra oddball amount. I asked to speak to a manager and he said "And what's that gonna do? You're not gonna get the money back." I couldn't believe he'd come out of the side of his face like that and I lost it. I screamed at him and ask him who in the f*&k he thought he was talking to. It takes a whoooole lot to get me that mad and I couldn't believe that it was a company that I'd never had a problem with that was pressing my buttons this way. I calmed down and told him I was done talking to him; I wanted a manager. He transferred me to a manager who was in another call, and I had to wait 15 minutes to speak with her. She listened and then put me on hold and then finally transferred me to another manager who told me that the original gentleman said that I authorized that amount. I told him as well, to look at my history and he said that it was a matter of he/said she/said. I asked for yet another manager and before he transferred me he said "What? You just need SOMEBODY to agree with you?!" He transferred me and another manager answered (he had me on speakerphone which sent my heels spiiiining! I could just picture him leaning back in his leather chair; hands behind head, and feet propped up-I was livid!) There was no hello, no what's the problem... There was never any tone of diplomacy in the voices of anyone and that's what customer service is all about. As I've been in customer service since I was 15, I'm a stickler about it. He immediately said to me that I called the first gentleman a liar, twice. I never called him anything, I told him that he made a mistake, and he did... Period. I explained again that I wouldn't have paid $100 over; look at my history. He hung up in my face. I called the BBB. Period.
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