As part of my financing for my 1999 Kia Sportage, I also purchased a repair warranty and GAP insurance for an additional $2000. I cancelled both coverages within a week of buying the vehicle and was told that it would be no problem because it was a flat cancel. I told that the payoff amount on my car loan would now be $2000 less. However, when I tried to refinance my vehicle through another finance company for the new payoff amount I was given by the dealership, the finance company told me the refi check was $2000 short and that they could not process the refinancing. I let the dealership know that GMAC financing (the original finance company) had no record that I had cancelled the coverages and it was still showing on my account. Each time I was told that they were handling the situation or that the situation was handled, yet the $2000 still remained on my account.
The last time I talked to a live person at the dealership was on January 2. Even though the financial officer stated that cancellations and credits can take up to a month to process, I informed her that at that point it had been almost three months. She gave me a copy of a document that proved that the dealership had cancelled the coverage and been issued a refund by the companies, however, I informed her that the refund had not been credited to my account. The last I heard from her is that she would have someone who processes cancellations contact the financing company to see why the credit hadn't been issued.
I have followed up since then with the dealership since then because my account balance still does not reflect the cancellations. I have made phone calls every week since January 2 to the person who handles cancellations and her supervisor only to be transferred to voicemail or to be told that those persons are not available (off that day, out of the office, in a meeting, etc.). Usually I did not leave messages hoping instead to talk to someone personally. Finally, after going through weeks and days of this phone tag, on January 26, I left a detailed message on the voicemail of the person who handles cancellations and her supervisor letting them know that after almost four months, the situation of cancellation had still not been resolved and instructed them to call me back. I never got a call back from either one of them and I still am only getting voice mail or being told that they are not available.
In my line of work, I work with paperwork too and know that it can be misplaced or be delayed in processing. I know how if a person felt that they had to go to my supervisor in order for something to be resolved how I will jump to correct it, simply because they had to go a level beyond me. Finally, I know that one phone call, one fax, 10 minutes can resolve a problem that might have been ongoing, yet this dealership has refused to do this. I gave them every opportunity to resolve this issue, yet they feel as if they do not have to answer to me nor respect me. My husband feels I have been far too polite. Well, I have disliked the face-to-face interactions I have had with various people from the dealership, because, except for the salesperson who sold me the car, none of them seems to want to resolve the issue and have acted like I am bothering them for asking them to.
Besides feeling like they are purposely dragging their feet because the dealership wants to lock me in to their financing at their interest rate, I just feel like I've been had— and I consider myself a pretty savvy customer. Bad financing and bad customer service. Like all that was important was making that quick sale and who cares how satified I was with the result. Like after the sale, they are under obligation to ensure my continued satisfaction. I'm not even making an unreasonable demand. I cancelled my coverages well before the deadline and all I'm asking is that they follow through. It's a shame they do business this way because it's one of the few new car dealerships in our area. I think they feel like for every one complaint, they still will have five more customers coming in the door. They don't even care about the negative publicity I or other customers report about them because it hasn't stopped them from selling cars. To me, however, the sale is not when the customer signs on the dotted line and hands you the cash. It's also in how you treat the customer after they make one of the biggest purchases of their life.
Christina
Chicago, Illinois
U.S.A.
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