Ford stole my car!

[treebeard]

Yeah, I know what that sounds like, but it is true. Read below and see if you don't agree with me.

In January of 2001 I lost my job unexpectedly and was unable to find work in my field for almost 9 months. During that time I made payments as best as I could and at all times I kept ford up to date as to my situation. Then in October I was able to get a new job. I informed Ford that I would be starting on the 24th of October and that I would not be able to make a payment untill after the 20th of November. Making a payment after the 20th would put me to almost 60 days past due. The rep at ford said that was no problem and that they would work with me to get caught up. I also have another loan with ford that would be about 60 days late as well at the same time.

The 20th came and I made a payment of $600.00 to Ford via Western union. Now previous to this payment I had changed my home phone number a couple of weeks before and didn't think much of it. Well the folks at ford do not communicate very well between themselves and another department decided that they needed to make collection calls on the account even though I had made payment arrangements with ford. They couldn't reach me so they left a message with my in-laws that I recieved on Thanksgiving day. Then my Explorer was Repossesed the following evening.

I Thought that there had been some kind of mistake so I called Ford to work it all out. I was told that because I was a skip risk that they came to take the car because I didn't give them my new phone number right away. Then I was told by a different rep that the reason they took the car was because they had no record of my payment arrangments with them, but that they did have record of the arrangment on my other account and that is why that car was not repo'd. I then told them that I had made arrangements on both accounts and asked why they did not have record of that. The rep had no answer.

Then I offered to pay the repo fees and catch the account up to date. I was told repetedly that was not possible because I was on a lease and repo'd leases could not be redeemed. I said why can't you take it out of repo status? It is your company isn't it? Then I was passed to several other reps and could not get an answer.

After many weeks of conversations with the reps at ford I was finally given to someone that was a "manager" he tells me that I could redeem the car but he wouldn't authorize it. So he forwards me to someone else. All I get is an answering machine for this other "manager" for weeks with no return phone call. When I finally get through to him he says yes he will redeem the car for me and will get back to me the next day. He never calls back and I can't get through to him again.

Then after all this I find out that the car has by this time been sold.

Now I only owed about $5000.00 in payments on the lease including mileage fees.

I get a bill from Ford for almost $10,000 as they are now charging me for the whole balance owing on the car not just what I would have owed on the lease, but the residual too.

Seems like a nice tax write off to me......

I am contacted by fords loss recovery unit and I am offered a settlement of 1/2 of the total if I can pay it in full. I told them that I could not pay in full.

Next I am contacted by an attorney/debt collector for the whole balance. I explain the situation to them and offer a settlement. They ignore my offer and show "proof" that I owe the whole debt and give me 15 days to reply.

I reply with a Cease and desist order and state that I wish to deal with the original creditor.

The very next day after receiving my Cease and Desist they file a lawsuit against me for the whole amount due! Interesting!

Oh I almost forgot. in the lawyers second letter to me they state that the reason Ford repo'd my car was because "I told ford that I had moved(LIE! I have lived in the same house for 3+ years) and that "I told them that I had just lost my job!(LIE! I told them that I just got a job after being unemployed for 9 months and that I would be able to pay my payments on time.)

It seems that ford has no idea what is going on between its departments. They also seem to have a way of inventing their own truth.

I am now in the process of making a complaint to the A.G. office against both FMCC and the Debt collection company they hired and also filing with the F.T.C. against both companies.

Are there any Lawyers out there that would be willing to go after these guys based on principle only? As I am completely broke at this time I wouldn't be able to pay anything.

Anyway, I hope you find this to be as crazy of a situation as I do.

I will keep you all posted as to my progress against these vultures.

[NO MORE WITH THIS GROUP]

Like I have said before ... creditors are great giving you everything they know you really can't afford by extending serious lines of credit ... but the moment you get into any kind of financial trouble they screw you very hard ... and don't even kiss you before they do! Fight back!

I hope someone can help you ... Best of luck!

Mike G

[admin]

Thanks for sharing your story. I hope everything turns out ok.

[Tooleman]

it would be cool if you could file a police report with something like this, and have ford locked up.

[Anonymous]

<blockquote>Originally posted by Tooleman

it would be cool if you could file a police report with something like this, and have ford locked up.

</blockquote>

[vonniegirl]

I am so sorry for your loss . It appears as though you're up against Goliath my friend.

Take care and take no prisoners! You have the entire board behind you for support .

Keep us informed of any progress you make on this one because there are others out there who are silent because they think they are alone.

[Sky Warner]

Good luck with your troubles. I hope you have been reading up on your state laws regarding repos and such.

Again, we are all behind ya and wish ya the best!!

[kimber6337]

Ok my jaw is on the floor!!

Thank you for sharing your story with us and I do hope you can find someone to help you through this. Do keep us updated!

Its stories like this that make my blood boil and encourge me to continue with my credit issues!

Best of Luck!

[demoncasterouter]

I finally found someone else that is having trouble with Ford! I'm not rejoicing in your trouble, I'm just glad I'm not in the boat alone. Here's what happened to me with them:

In 2/95 I leased a wonderful Taurus. Grrrreat car! At the end of my lease, they called and asked me if I wanted to continue paying on it until I paid it off. I said "yeah, it's a great car, send me the contract". So they fed-exed me the contract. I read it and they wanted me to pay on it for another 60 months!!!!! That's 7 years total!!!! I quickly turned the car in.

Next, Im getting all these letters telling me I owe the entire balance. I never signed another contract! Well, 5 years later, I check my CR's, and sure enough, trying to charge me anywhere from $2000-$12000, depending which CRA it is.

I sent a dispute letter to them. after that they verified to EX. I have another post on this, but that finishes the story. Tree beard, if you get any info on how to find out how much a car was sold for, etc., let me know, because I wanna go after them for reporting this caca!

[edubb007]

I had to bump this....

What a story! :eek:

If this guy's still around, what happened????