Due to unforseen circumstances, I had fallen behind on the payments for my interest rate gauging auto loan. On Tuesday, February 11, 2003, my vehicle was repossessed.

On Wednesday, February 12, 2003, I contacted Household Automotive Finance and spoke with a customer service representative named Lorena at ext 5559. I asked her how I could go about getting my belongings from my vehicle. She asked me if I wanted my car back. I told her that I felt that I had fallen too far behind to get caught up. She questioned me as to why, because I had been such a good customer for the past two years. When I explained to her that the very day I returned to work from maternity leave I lost my job (which was my ONLY source of income), she said "Well, we want you to get your car back and I would like to offer you a payment arrangement." I told her once again that it was not feasible for me to get the arrears on the loan caught up at this point in time since I was now single and a one income family with a brand new baby. I was only behind 2 payments, but at $450 a piece plus astronomical late charges, you can do the math.

She then told me that she "would be willing to accept one payment of $450.00 on my account and as long as I had it to her by 5:00 pm PST that my vehicle would be released that same night". I asked her several times if she was certain as it sounded too good to be true. She assured me that I should not worry, that she would take care of it.

She then proceeded to ask me if I could afford the repo fees of $300 and some change. I told her not at this time, as I would not get my first paycheck from my new job until February 28, 2003. She then advised me that it would be "no problem as they would add the repo fees onto the loan" and I could pay them as I continued to pay my contract out. She then placed me on hold, came back to the telephone and told me that "your state does not require you to sign an extension agreement so as soon as you get me this payment, I can release your car".

I then asked her where my car was being stored as I would have to make arrangements to pick the vehicle up and if it had been towed far away from my home, I would have no way to pick it up. She gave me a telephone number of 1-888-655-6555 and a name of EZ Recovery. She told me that I should call them and ask them.

Upon ending my telephone conversation with Lorena, I called the tow company and the lady was unwilling to speak with me. She told me that she had hundreds of people in line in front of me and that I was not a priority in her day to day life. I told her that I understood that, and all I needed was a general idea of where my car was being stored at so I could determine if I were going to be able to pick the vechicle up.

The repossession lady, who refused to identify herself told me that "For now the car is being stored on a lot in Lee's Summit, Missouri (which is 10 minutes away from my home), but if you do not lose the attitude with me, I'll have the car transported to the dealer's auction in Springfield, Missouri (which she knew to be 5 hours from my home) and then we'll see how long it takes you to get your car back, if you ever get your car back. She then proceeded to curse at me and told me to back off and hung up on me.

I called Lorena at Household back. She assured me that I should not worry, repo people were "like that", that my car would remain at the loacale in Lee's Summit, Missouri, and that the agent could not transport the car without orders from them. I said ok, I am on my way to send you your payment right now. She asked me to call her with the money control number as soon as I returned home so that she could verify funds and get the release faxed on my car.

I sent the payment via Western Union Quick Collect at 4:57 p.m. CST. When I returned home, I called Lorena back with the MTCN as requested, she verified funds, and told me that she would have my release faxed over that night and that I should call the repossession agent the next morning (Thursday, February 13, 2003) when they opened at 9:00 a.m. CST.

The following morning (02-13-03), I had my father call the repo company since I did not feel I could handle being subjected to any more verbal abuse and threats by the repossession agent. The lady who answered the phone advised him that the vehicle was transported to the auction the prior evening and hung up on him.

When I arrived at work, I telephoned the repossession agent questioning her as to why my car was transported to the auction when she should have gotten the release from Household. She then said, "Oh, it's you, the b*tch with the attitude again. I have gotten no d*mn release from Household and I told you last night what I was going to do." She told me that "I had mouthed off to the wrong person and that because of that fact, she had one of her agents make a special trip out to the auction that prior evening so she could make sure that I was dealt with accordingly." She told me that "Generally our transport trucks only run out that way on Tuesday and Friday, but we made an exception in your case." She advised me that "in the future I should watch my mouth and I would find that I would have alot less problems in life". She then stated that "Oh yeah, we shipped your car with the license plates on it since I couldn't leave your stuff in it so you're going to have to go to Springfield to even get them" and she hung up on me.

I then called Household back. Lorena was not in, but I spoke with a very polite gentleman who read the notes in my account and told me that "No way should this car have been transported anywhere". "They do not have transport orders from us, and they cannot transport it without those, and since you have paid what was agreed upon, it shouldn't be transported anyway, you should be redeeming it". He said "If in fact the vehicle was transported, we will submit this to management, find out why they transported the car, and the repo company will have to bring the vehicle back to you." I told him that the agent had advised me that she had no release from Household. He looked further into the notes in my account and said, "That is because Lorena made a mistake and you are required to sign an extension agreement". He told me that "She was new to the department and was not familiar with all of the particulars, but that he would have her call me when she arrived in the office in 15 minutes".

I waited for an hour and had heard nothing, so I telephoned Household back. I spoke with Lorena who stated that "I do not know what is going on here, first they tell me no, you don't need an extension agreement, then they tell me yes you do." She said, "In any event, it's no big deal, I can get this faxed over to you in 10 minutes and you'll be set." I then asked her about the car being transported to the auction AFTER I paid the agreed upon payment. She put me on hold while she called the repossession agent. She returned to the line and advised me that "the car was still on the lot in Lee's Summit, Missouri, that apparently the repossession agent had said whatever she said just to get a rise out of me." She said that the car "would not be transported, and as soon as I got the extension agreement faxed over to me and signed, the release would be sent and I could pick up my car before 4 p.m. CST when the agent closed." She then asked me "not to call the repo company and agitate the lady any further until the release was sent."

2 hours passed and I still had no agreement faxed to me, so I telephoned Lorena back. I told her that I still hadn't received the agreement and she asked me to "hold on while she followed up" and instead of placing me on hold, we got "disconnected". I tried calling her back several times throughout the day and got her voicemail for the duration.

At approximately 3:15 p.m. CST, I called Household Automotive Finance's main number and asked to speak with a supervisor. My request was refused and I was forwarded to a lady by the name of Nicole Quinterro. I told her I felt that I needed some answers, as I seemed to be getting the run around. She then proceeded to look at the notes in my account and told me that my car was what was referred to as a "direct drop" and that the car went to the auction directly after it was repossessed Tuesday evening. I told her basically that was crap, that the repo lady told me she had my car on her lot in Lee's Summit, and that Lorena had called to verify that information. Nicole advised me that "No one was required to tell me anything". I told her that I had the repossession lady on tape threatening me, then she got very agitated and said "look, the repo company cannot legally tow your car to the auction without our orders". She said "no one gave them orders to tow your car, like I said, it was a direct drop after it was repo'd, it didn't stop anywhere, it went straight to the auction". I then asked her how my personal belongings were at the tow location in Lee's Summit if it didn't stop anywhere. She had no answer to that question. She said, "I will tell you once more that your car was a direct drop and that is all you are getting from me". I asked her about the extension agreement, told her I was leaving my office in 15 minutes, would not be returning until Monday, and I did not want that paper faxed into my office while I was not there. She then told me that "I'll warn you now, if you take this fax number out of here, it'll start the whole process over again, and you may never get your car back". Hesitantly, I told her ok.

I then looked the number to the auto auction up on the internet and called to verify that my vehicle was there. I spoke to Sidney and was advised that yes, it was, they had the car. I asked her if she could tell me when they received it, and after a very long pause, she replied, "today, I think."

Later on that evening, I tried to get ahold of Lorena again. She was "in a meeting" from approximately 4:30 pm CST until 6:45 pm CST. I spoke with another gentleman who refused to identify himself to me. He told me that he couldn't do anything, it wasn't his account. I asked him if he could at least read the notes in the account and tell me when the car was transported to the auction. HE TOLD ME THAT HOUSEHOLD HAD FAXED TRANSPORT ORDERS AT 11:00 AM PST THAT VERY DAY! When I asked him why, when I had paid what was agreed upon, he said "BECAUSE YOU DID NOT SIGN AN EXTENSION AGREEMENT". He told me that I would need to hold for Lorena. I sat on hold for approximately 1 hour, and someone picked up the extension and hung up the call. I made several attempts to call back, but the office closed at 7:00 p.m. CST.

The next day 02-14-2003, I called HAFC because I decided that I did not want to have the agreement faxed into my office while I was not present. I spoke with a gentleman named "Scott" in reinstatements. At first, he refused to remove the fax number, and I explained to him that this was now a privacy issue as the only reason they were provided that number to begin with was because I was told I would have the agreement sent to me the prior day and it never arrived. He then placed me on hold for approximately 15 minutes and asked if I had an alternate fax number in which they could fax to. I gave him my home fax extension. He transferred me to another lady who then transferred me to Antwoine ext 6513 in the extension department.

Antwoine looked over my account and stated to me that "He would need to call me right back as he had to find out what was going on". He surprised me by calling me no more than 10 minutes later. He told me that "He apologized, he could not figure out why this extension agreement did not reach them on Wednesday evening when it should have and that he would have it faxed to me within 10 minutes and a release would be made on my vehicle immediately". He had it faxed to me in 5.

6 hours later, I called HAFC to verify that the release had been sent on my vehicle. They told me no, that they would do it right then, then for some reason they transferred me to Scott again. I explained to him that I would like some answers as to why my car was towed 5 hours away from my home, and once again reitterated to him that this was done AFTER I paid, and that while I understood I had fallen behind on payments, this particular situation was not my fault and that it was unfair for my car to be towed 5 hours away from my home after I was threatened with that to cause me further problems.

Scott got very agitated with me, and threatened to revoke the payment agreement. I told him I felt that it was too late for him to do that since I had paid, and that I had been in contact with several different people throughout the day regarding this situation, including the Missouri Division of Finance. He then proceeded to threaten me some more and I told him that he could do whatever he wanted to, that he would be hearing from the Division of Finance within the next week. He laughed, said a few choice words to me, then I asked him to please identify himself, first and last name for my records, he told me to have a pleasant day and hung up on me.

Monday, February 17, 2003 at 9:20 a.m., CST, I called the auto auction. They advised me that they still had no release on the vehicle. I then called the repossession agent, she told me that "She was entirely too busy to talk to me, that she had the release, and that she would fax it whenever she got around to it and not until." At 4:45 p.m. CST, I called the auto auction again, they advised me that they had just gotten the release, and that I would now need to pay them $530.00 to redeem my car.

I called Lorena at Household later that evening and was finally able to get her on the phone. She told me that she was not avoiding me, that she was out of the office both Thursday and Friday. I had spoken with her on Thursday, so I know that is not true. I asked her if she could explain why my car was trasported to the auction after I had did what was requested. She told me that while she was out, the repossession company had called and asked for permission to transport my car and that is why it was towed to the auction.

How many different stories can you count in this complaint? Yes, I fell behind on my payments, it was unavoidable. Household offered me the arrangement as a "niceity", but it turned into anything but.

I have been blatantly lied to by several employees of HAFC. I feel that they were very deceptive in this situation, and basically tried to get one last payment out of me (after my car was repossessed) at whatever extent they had to take it to.

It is now 8 days later, my car is still setting at the auction in Springfield, Household refuses to discuss any of these matters with me, and better yet, their repo agent still has my personal belongings, and refuses to give them back. They have even been using my cell phone, which was in the car. I retreived a message from the voice mail that some idiot left for one of the drivers!

Daphene

Belton, Missouri
U.S.A.

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