ufcrusher
06-25-2005, 02:53 AM
Today I unexpectedly get a letter in the mail from the dealership where we bought our BMW. Thinking that its going to be the giftcertificate we are waiting on I open it only to find that its a bill for the difference between our actual pay-off and what we told them out pay off was.
Immediately I am thinking, someone at BMW has their head firmly where the sun dont shine. We called and checked online for our pay-off on the day we did the deal and had the exact figure down to the penny. Obviously someone over there is going to get yelled at shortly.
So I call them and question why we have received this bill when the car was paid off in full? The guy starts saying that we must have given a wrong payoff quote. I told him point blank that we received that quote from BMW on the day of the deal. At this point he is obviously in over his head as he keeps asking another person at the dealership for help. He tells me that he will have to contact the bank on Monday when they are open again and will get back to me.
I get off the phone, look at the amount owed and realize that its exactly the pre-tax amount of our monthly payment. Knowing that we made all of our payments (and then some, as we extended our lease) I figure this fact is probably important as someone probably forgot to take into account to 2 extra monthly payments we made as a result of the extension.
Once again I get the same guy, explain that its exactly the monthly payment and also ask when they sent in the payoff. He tells me the 30th. Given that we bought the car on the 22nd, I find this lag to be problematic..especially since the next payment would be due on the 4th. (or in this case, the turn in date was the 4th) So I hypothesize that since the payment probably didnt reach them until after the due date it probably charged another monthly payment. I point out that since we had sold them the car on the 22nd, that payment wasnt our fault...but would be their responsibility for sitting on time sensitive information. The guy is bewildered and once again says he will call me on Monday.
Two minutes later the phone rings and its apparently the woman who was helping him. She decided to try and reach the bank even though it was after 5 on the east coast and sure enough they were in. (I checked the hours later and they are open until 9pm est) The woman had figured out what the problem was and why our payoff and their payoff quotes differed by a monthly payment.
Apparently, BMW had accidentially taken 2 payments from us in one month, so we were overpaid. Thus, when we got our payoff information it included our overpayment in that amount, thus lowering it. However, since it was an overpayment the dealer was not entitled to that amount and their payoff did not include it. The woman also told me that we would be getting a refund shortly now that the problem was discovered, but could not give me any other information as the bank would only release it to me.
When I called the bank, I only wanted to find out a few things. Why the refund was not automatic? Why did we get paperwork saying everything with the account was done when we were owed money? Why the payoff in the system was different from when we got it to when they paid it.
The answer was more or less that there was a computer glitch. A freaking computer glitch. Since very few people actually buy out their lease the computer automatically assumes there might be termination fees after the last payment. Thus, it generally keeps money up to a month after the turn in. In our case, the car was bought out and not turned in, thus there was no turn in fees. Somehow the computer decided to forget about our money.
Thus, the computer started maintaining 2 separate ledgers, our account and the payoff account. Since the 2 were being done by different individuals it didnt give the benefit of our extra payment to the payoff account. This led to the discrepancy and the letter.
A few phone calls and couple hours later, its all resolved but it was still something I could have done without. Suddenly getting an unexpected bill for a full car payment that you dont have is not good for the heart...especially when you were in the right and they screwed the pooch.
Immediately I am thinking, someone at BMW has their head firmly where the sun dont shine. We called and checked online for our pay-off on the day we did the deal and had the exact figure down to the penny. Obviously someone over there is going to get yelled at shortly.
So I call them and question why we have received this bill when the car was paid off in full? The guy starts saying that we must have given a wrong payoff quote. I told him point blank that we received that quote from BMW on the day of the deal. At this point he is obviously in over his head as he keeps asking another person at the dealership for help. He tells me that he will have to contact the bank on Monday when they are open again and will get back to me.
I get off the phone, look at the amount owed and realize that its exactly the pre-tax amount of our monthly payment. Knowing that we made all of our payments (and then some, as we extended our lease) I figure this fact is probably important as someone probably forgot to take into account to 2 extra monthly payments we made as a result of the extension.
Once again I get the same guy, explain that its exactly the monthly payment and also ask when they sent in the payoff. He tells me the 30th. Given that we bought the car on the 22nd, I find this lag to be problematic..especially since the next payment would be due on the 4th. (or in this case, the turn in date was the 4th) So I hypothesize that since the payment probably didnt reach them until after the due date it probably charged another monthly payment. I point out that since we had sold them the car on the 22nd, that payment wasnt our fault...but would be their responsibility for sitting on time sensitive information. The guy is bewildered and once again says he will call me on Monday.
Two minutes later the phone rings and its apparently the woman who was helping him. She decided to try and reach the bank even though it was after 5 on the east coast and sure enough they were in. (I checked the hours later and they are open until 9pm est) The woman had figured out what the problem was and why our payoff and their payoff quotes differed by a monthly payment.
Apparently, BMW had accidentially taken 2 payments from us in one month, so we were overpaid. Thus, when we got our payoff information it included our overpayment in that amount, thus lowering it. However, since it was an overpayment the dealer was not entitled to that amount and their payoff did not include it. The woman also told me that we would be getting a refund shortly now that the problem was discovered, but could not give me any other information as the bank would only release it to me.
When I called the bank, I only wanted to find out a few things. Why the refund was not automatic? Why did we get paperwork saying everything with the account was done when we were owed money? Why the payoff in the system was different from when we got it to when they paid it.
The answer was more or less that there was a computer glitch. A freaking computer glitch. Since very few people actually buy out their lease the computer automatically assumes there might be termination fees after the last payment. Thus, it generally keeps money up to a month after the turn in. In our case, the car was bought out and not turned in, thus there was no turn in fees. Somehow the computer decided to forget about our money.
Thus, the computer started maintaining 2 separate ledgers, our account and the payoff account. Since the 2 were being done by different individuals it didnt give the benefit of our extra payment to the payoff account. This led to the discrepancy and the letter.
A few phone calls and couple hours later, its all resolved but it was still something I could have done without. Suddenly getting an unexpected bill for a full car payment that you dont have is not good for the heart...especially when you were in the right and they screwed the pooch.