This is a story of a small business in Ohio who needed to get a loan for a dump truck. We did not have good credit so we had to think "outside" the box to get a loan for a truck. I did research about getting a loan and finally came across Innovative Commercial Finance.
The first contact I had was with Matt Fitch-polite-helpful and will to help us get the truck we need. Below is a series of emails from Matt Fitch -see how it goes from good to bad to UGLY!
06/13 email from Matt Fitch —
My name is Matt and I’m with Innovative Commercial Finance (ICF) a preferred Financial Services Provider of iBank. I am confident that we can be a great resource for you on this purchase and
hopefully many others later on as we look to establish a long-term working
relationship with you and your organization.
07/18 email from Matt Fitch—
Thank you for choosing to explore a relationship with Innovative Commercial Finance. If you would like to accept our offer, please sign where indicated on page one and complete the information required on page two. Your agreement and advanced payment can be submitted for acceptance via overnight delivery or via fax/wire as indicated at the bottom of page two of the agreement. If you
have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.
07/18 email from Matt Fitch—
I just received confirmation of your payment and will let you know if I need anything else as
soon as we hear back from underwriting. ($1,691.00 to be exact!)
07/31 email from Matt Fitch—
We made good progress today! The underwriter we are currently working with on this is
interested in speaking with you tomorrow. A brief phone interview is typically the last step before they sign off on the approval, so if we can successfully get through the interview tomorrow, we should be able to have this wrapped up soon. We submitted the transaction with you only having 1.5 years in business under just OH Pool & Patio alone, nothing previous. On the interview, they are going to want to know about the business and how the equipment will be used.
08/02 email from Matt Fitch— Here is where the bottom starts to crop out!
I have one last source that may be able to give us the approval, but it would have to be a
different truck. This underwriter won’t finance anything older than a 2006 model, do you think you could find something that would work or is that going to be too expensive?
08/03 email from Matt Fitch-after being denied from all lenders and ICF has my $1691.00 I have just asked for my refund-which I was promised if they could not get me a loan.
You will receive a refund release form next week. You will need to fax it in and we can close out
the file on our end. We can take another look at this for you again in a few months.
09/18 email from Matt Fitch—
I checked your file and it looks like the refund statement was sent to you via email on
08/28. I will have it resent again today to this email address.
09/26 email from Matt Fitch—
The standard refund policy is 4 to 6 weeks, but I will follow up on this again in the next
couple of days and push for it to be processed as quickly as possible. I will let you know when the file has been closed out on our end.
10/30 email from Matt Fitch—
I don't see a confirmation in the system yet, but it should be closed out any day now. Once the check is released you will receive an email confirmation.
11/08 email from Matt Fitch— I am still asking about my refund.
Admin is finishing up with the closeout paperwork this week and should have your check out at some point next week. I will let you know when I see a confirmation on our end.
11/23 email from Matt Fitch—
I will follow up on this with accounting again, but the check should be going out any day now.
12/04 email from Matt Fitch-I have just asked for his supervisor.
I am your point of contact and am in the process of closing out your file. I understand you are frustrated and I understand this has taken too long, but you don't need to involve your
attorney to get the refund as we are taking care of it by week's end.
12/06 email from Matt Fitch-here is where the BS gets deep and he wants to send me a BAD CHECK!
We are still experiencing delays with accounting and I wanted to see if you would be okay with us sending you a post dated check. I understand this is not best case scenario, but it does show a good faith effort to resolve the issue and you would at least have payment in hand that can be deposited on the first of January. Please let me know if this is okay and we can get the check out right away.
12/06 email from Matt Fitch-Now Matt is trying to back out of returning the deposit
the proposal we moved forward on for the lease states the deposit is non-refundable. Rather than stick to those terms, we offered the refund however the funds have to come from a different account and that is the reason for the delay. We can hold off on sending a check for now, but I thought you would feel more comfortable having a method of payment in hand now rather than to wait longer. I will push to have a cashier's check to you by next Friday.
12/14 email from Matt Fitch-now that I have threatened him with an attorney
I know we wanted to have this resolved today, but can we have just a few more days to clear this up on our end? ICF is not intentionally delaying the process and you will definitely receive your refund, however I do not have the ability to get the payment to you today. Considering the
circumstances, ICF is going to waive the $450 processing fee so the refund amount is going to be $1,691 rather than the $1,241 as previously agreed.
12/19 email from Matt Fitch-I sent him an email telling him I have contacted the Texas Attorney General-Austin BBB and my Attorney!
I do understand your frustration, but I wish you hadn't taken those measures regarding complaints. Battling a legal dispute with the AG would slow our ability to resolve this, but I do appreciate your consideration regarding the extra time will push to have the refund to you next week.
12/27 email from Matt Fitch-
I have said I am going to continue to follow up with you until you have received the refund. I have been doing all I can to have the check released this week, but we won't have access to the ICF account for a refund to be issued until after the first of January. I apologize for the inconvenience XXXXXX and I hope you understand that if ICF did not intend to provide a refund, I wouldn't be continually following up.
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