The issue I would like to report involves some rather suspicious business practices of Toyota Motor Credit Corporation. I purchased a 2000 Subaru from a Lexus Dealership in Owings Mills, Md., made my payment as scheduled on-time via T.M.C.C. EFS or online payment service. Of course being an IT professional, and understanding the pitfalls of this service, I made sure that I kept records, not of the online transaction which T.M.C.C. could say later that they lost; I maintained a record of the deduction from my bank account, which T.M.C.C. had no control over.
In June of 2004, T.M.C.C. kept calling my work number for some reason. I thought nothing of it since I was actually a month ahead in payments. However, they eventually were able to speak to me, and to my horror, were saying that the account was past due several months. They said that the account hadn't been paid on-time since I purchased the car. They even stated that there were payments missing for the previous year, although there was documentation from them in my possession contradicting this.
The customer service agents that I dealt with were very rude, and one even made a statement, although I don't think she meant to let me on to this, that it seems as though your account is crossed with someone else's. They demanded all this proof of payment from me for what was materializing to be their mistake. Anyway, I kept making payments; however I stopped using their online service, as I didn't trust it at all at this point. I started using my own banks online system, since they would have control over what happens to any payments, and would have full research capabilities since the system was their own.
T.M.C.C., stopped calling so I thought, however they were calling a work number that I didn't use, although they had my home number on file. They repossessed my car claiming arrears of 3 months, and were very rude and unwilling to listen when I called them to find out why they reclaimed my car. Post repossession was very disturbing, as I was given the run around made false promises etc They told me to provide proof of payments, and that the car would be released immediately, however reneged on this promise. Customer service basically did nothing, and appeared to not know very much about their online payment system. The agents appeared ignorant and ill-informed.
Ultimately, I got so fed up with the outright unprofessional responses, and lack of knowledge, that I sought to escalate the matter to the executive level. The executives within T.M.C.C., seem be hidden behind a shroud of secrecy, and it's almost like getting into the Federal Reserve to contact them. However, my business knowledge has made it fairly easy to research and find whosoever may be trying to hide within the executive corridors. The gentleman I spoke with offered to look into the matter, and wanted further proof of payments from me, so I provided them. Then no to my surprise, the claim wasoh we already show these payments as being posted, so we need additional information. So I provided the gentleman with everything that would illustrate payment continuity from the point they claimed the last payment was received.
All payment inconsistency information was provided thus leaving no holes in payment continuity. Of course, I get a call telling me that I needed to provide more information, however had provided everything I could, the burden was now on T.M.C.C., but they were now trying to skirt the real issue and that was that they should not have repossessed the car. It seems that the representatives at T.M.C.C. convolute the facts, and send customers on wild goose chases so that they don't have to admit to mistakes that they have made. They still have my car, and have held off returning it.
I also suspect something else, the dealership that I purchased the car from was in Owings Mills, Maryland, and my statement comes from a location out of Pittsburg, Pa. I never knew of any T.M.C.C., business location in the Owings Mills area, and wonder if this is a legit location, or a dealer based masqueraded location. (Just a note).
I plan to fight them to the end, and will not under any circumstance allow them to get away with this. I want them to correct the erroneous information submitted to the credit bureaus, return the car, and if they don't return the car, still correct the bureau information as it will not be correct.
I must say that T.M.C.C. operates in a rather strange and suspicious fashion, and attempt to place blame on the customer even when it is clearly the neglect of T.M.C.C., which is at the root of the issue. If anyone else has had a similar experience with this business, we should speak, and perhaps formulate a class action complaint against them, who knows what may uncover?
Al
Newark, Delaware
U.S.A.
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