Complaint Review: Instaloan - Longwood Florida

This company has been a nightmare to deal with. We thought that they were saving us when we only needed a small loan to fix a simple oversight, and they turned out to be the worst decision we have ever made. It would have been better to get the money we needed literally any other way. 

We live nearly two hours away and Instaloan seemed like the best way to deal with our problem so we filled out information online and were contacted and told we were approved. So we made the trip to the Longwood location where we were run around for over an hour - this should have been our first clue to not use this service.

The lady there told us we were not approved, so we were angry because on the phone they said that we were. Another man who must have been a manager came over and said that it was ok and she could do the loan, so she started going through more information. Another issue came up and she said that it didn't look like we would be approved again. Again the manager came over and said that it was alright and to go ahead and do it. This should have been the second clue to get out.

The last thing we had a problem with was that we only needed about $100, but they said that we would have to take at least $500 (even though the website says they go as low as $250) so we finally agreed and got out of there like 2 hours later (even though the website says it takes about 30 minutes). We were relieved that we could get our finances back on track, however short lived the relief was.

We made our first payment of about half of what we had borrowed, but was told that over $100 was going to be fees and we were ok with that because they are a business and have to make money somehow. However, the fees keep going, so every month is more and more fees to the point that our $500 loan quickly spiraled into about $800 and it still isn't all paid back.

The biggest problem though is the customer service. Since we live so far away we contacted Instaloan to see if there was another way to pay without having to take a 2 hour drive to get there.  We were told that it would be fine to mail a money order to make payments and that all we would have to do is call and let the manager know that it was in the mail so that they would know to expect it. 

Twice we were told this information, once at the store and once using the online live help chat. So we mailed a payment and then called to let them know that it was in the mail. It was then that we were told that we could not mail a payment and had to be there in person. I told them that they told us that mailing is ok and again the lady was adamant that it was not ok and they would not accept the mailed payment. 

I was angry, because I work in a customer service environment, and if I had been in the position of their customer service I would have been fired for telling a customer wrong information. Anyway, we told them that we wouldn't be able to make it to the location the day that the payment was due and finally they arranged another day for us to stop in. The lady on the phone was not friendly or helpful in any way.

Fast forward to the new date they gave us to stop by, we get a call in the early afternoon asking where we are at. We told them that we were going to be there as soon as we got out of work, but the lady started claiming that there was a promise we would be there at 10am, which we never once said at all or agreed to because we knew we had work. So the lady became irate again and said that we needed to make it and then told us that they were closing early that day. 

We told them that we never told them we would be there at 10am and they never told us they were closing early that day and there was no way for us to make it because how far away we live. The lady again gave horrible customer service and promptly told us to just come in Monday and hung up on me. 

This place has been deplorable in their business practices and most importantly their customer service. The website claims that they are there to help and have friendly staff, but the website if nothing but lies and has obviously fake testimonials meant to dupe people out of as much money as possible. After dealing with Instaloan once, I will never go back for anything. I would rather be homeless and living in a box than dealing with the staff at Instaloan.