On 12-10-07, my husband & I went to First Class Cars. We were looking to trade in our van for a new car & possibly get a 2ND vehicle. We sat down with a salesperson & explained our situation. He asked for our van information in order to see what they could do to help us. After waiting for a bit, he returned with the information. They told us what we already knew, the negative equity in our van was too high & doing a trade would be difficult. We were disappointed but were used to hearing it. The salesperson then told us he knew of a way to help us. He mentioned that there is a process called voluntary repossession that would terminate our financial duty to the van. He said that FCC had done a number of voluntary repossessions. He explained that we just return the van to Low Book Sales (where we got the van) & that they would have to write it off. We would be free & clear of the loan & we could look at getting new cars without worrying about a trade. We had many questions and concerns, but were reassured that it would all be taken care of. It really was like an answer to our prayers. Our salesman invited us to look more at their cars & we were able to find 2 that would work for us. We had to pay $6425 in down payments & the 1st couple of payments. We paid the amount & finished the paperwork. As we left, we again questioned the issue of the van and was again reassured that they would take care of it.
Well, 3 weeks later, we found out that we had been duped. We started receiving phone calls from our bank about the loan for the van. We called & told them about what had happened at FCC to which they responded with confusion, they had never heard of the voluntary repossession & were demanding payment from us. I called FCC to see what was going on & I ended up getting the run around. I was wanting to know where the van was. The person I spoke with became very aloof & refused to help me. He kept telling me that I needed to call another department & ask for a particular individual. When I tried calling the other number, I was told that there wasn't someone with that name working there. I continued to call & was eventually told that I needed to take it up with Low Book. I then call Low Book, who informed me that they had no idea what I was talking about & that my situation seemed really "fishy." So, I called FCC back where the people there acted like they didn't know who I was & had no idea what I was talking about. I decided to give it some time & try calling back later. However, I soon received a call from Low Book stating that some workers from FCC had just dropped the van off & then literally ran away. The manager of Low Book told me that I had 24 hours to get the van off of his lot before he had it towed. I explained the situation to him & questioned the procedure of voluntary repossession. He basically told me that we had been duped. He explained that a voluntary surrender involves much more than we were told. He said what happens is that the lien holder, my bank in this case, would gain possession of the vehicle and would sell it at auction. Whatever they made at the auction would be deducted from what we owed & then they would come after us for the rest. I was in total disbelief. So not only would I be paying for the van, but I now have two more car payments, which is not what we signed up for. He encouraged me to seek some legal help and to keep trying to talk to FCC. I then called FCC to question the situation and was told more lies about who was & wasn't a manager, told a number of different names & eventually hung up on & ignored. My husband then called to just find out the manager's name. He was told completely different names than I was & told a different story. They told my husband they would have someone call us & hung up on him. When we tried calling, we just got voicemail.
We were lied to just so they could make some money. We NEVER would have entered new contracts had we thought we would still own on the van.
So, my husband and I decided to form a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.in retaliation, FCC came and attempted to reposses our cars when we had not even missed a payment! After consulting with a lawyer, we filed a small claims suit against the company due to their "improper sales practices."
Do not buy a vehicle from this company!!!
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