B
Blackwell
Guest
What is the name of your state? CA
I leased a new Ford Expedition about 6 months ago -- the lease is through Ford Motor Credit, and I live in So. Calif. In May, my wife was in contact with FMC to see about a lease extension, since she was out of work and we were behind on the payments. We filled out the lease extension paperwork and faxed it to them -- they called a couple days later claiming they never received it. Over the next few weeks, we faxed the SAME paperwork no less than 5 times; the final fax I followed up with a call to FMC to confirm they had it and to make sure they gave it to the right person (they confirmed they had it and would take care of it.) This was July 11. The following week, my wife made arrangements with a FMC rep to make a phone payment (1 month's payment) which she said she would make Friday the 19th, which is a payday for me. Monday the 22nd at 11:45 in the evening, there was a knock at the door - the repo guy was there to take the car. The paperwork they had from FMC claimed we were 3 months late, owing about $1600. There was nothing we could do at this point, so the car was taken. We immediately called Ford's automated line to find our balance -- IT claimed we owed $1000 (2 months.)
As it turns out, even though they took our money for the lease ext. way back in May, and our payment on the 19th, they never processed the paperwork and we were only about 30 days late. Also, the rep claims we said we would make a payment on Tues. the 16th. After arguing with FMC, they agreed to reinstate our lease (something they claim they "never do" -- I heard this from multiple FMC reps, which to me sounds like they are admitting to being at fault by reinstating it) but they required me to pay the $300 repo fee, claiming they could have repo'ed it anyway. Not only am I out the 300, but the yard charged me a $50 dollar storage fee. We picked the vehicle up this afternoon (the 31st) -- noticing that the car had an additional 1200 miles on it. Someone probably went to Vegas....
Sorry for the long story - my question is, do I have any legal recourse? I'd like to sue FMC in small claims court to recoup my $350. Also, can Ford be held responsible for the additional mileage on the car, since it was no longer in my possession?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I leased a new Ford Expedition about 6 months ago -- the lease is through Ford Motor Credit, and I live in So. Calif. In May, my wife was in contact with FMC to see about a lease extension, since she was out of work and we were behind on the payments. We filled out the lease extension paperwork and faxed it to them -- they called a couple days later claiming they never received it. Over the next few weeks, we faxed the SAME paperwork no less than 5 times; the final fax I followed up with a call to FMC to confirm they had it and to make sure they gave it to the right person (they confirmed they had it and would take care of it.) This was July 11. The following week, my wife made arrangements with a FMC rep to make a phone payment (1 month's payment) which she said she would make Friday the 19th, which is a payday for me. Monday the 22nd at 11:45 in the evening, there was a knock at the door - the repo guy was there to take the car. The paperwork they had from FMC claimed we were 3 months late, owing about $1600. There was nothing we could do at this point, so the car was taken. We immediately called Ford's automated line to find our balance -- IT claimed we owed $1000 (2 months.)
As it turns out, even though they took our money for the lease ext. way back in May, and our payment on the 19th, they never processed the paperwork and we were only about 30 days late. Also, the rep claims we said we would make a payment on Tues. the 16th. After arguing with FMC, they agreed to reinstate our lease (something they claim they "never do" -- I heard this from multiple FMC reps, which to me sounds like they are admitting to being at fault by reinstating it) but they required me to pay the $300 repo fee, claiming they could have repo'ed it anyway. Not only am I out the 300, but the yard charged me a $50 dollar storage fee. We picked the vehicle up this afternoon (the 31st) -- noticing that the car had an additional 1200 miles on it. Someone probably went to Vegas....
Sorry for the long story - my question is, do I have any legal recourse? I'd like to sue FMC in small claims court to recoup my $350. Also, can Ford be held responsible for the additional mileage on the car, since it was no longer in my possession?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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