Finance Corporations from Hell

So I bought a Toyota Prius. I'd been wanting one for a long time. Well, I'd been wanting a Hybrid for a long time. Thought I might get a Fusion, but then they decided not to come out with a Hybrid and I realized that any car I would get would cost as much as a Prius, so I went on the internet, selected the color and I wanted and got my car a week after I ordered it. By the way, I almost went with the package that had the MP3 hook up--an extra 300 bucks and then found out that you can get these little adapters for your Ipod or whatever for about forty bucks.

Anyway, came time to make a payment and I thought I'd just go on line and do it. They wanted to charge me a $9.95 "convenience" fee! Wow. I guess they really don't want you to pay on-line, do they? Not unless it's a monthly thing where they get to just go in and take your money out every month. But what if one month you're running a little short and you need to pay a couple days late. (I mean, there is a grace period.) So I tried to pay by phone. Same thing! I thought, are they crazy? It's got to be a lot better for them for you to pay by Internet or phone than by mailing in a check. Anyway, I wrote out a check and mailed it with a 39 cent stamp.

So that was crazy but my experience with Ford Credit the previous month was truly lunatic. I had somehow missed a payment at the beginning of summer. So they called me, and I was pretty surprised. I was just about to make the July payment, so I told them I was planning on paying the car off anyway that month. The person on the phone asks me when I was planning on doing that and I say, around the 20th. Then the person says, okay, pay one month now and then we'll expect another check from you on the 20th. So I go online and make a payment (no "convenience" fee, by the way). Then the calls start. The "confirmation" calls. I was out of town and when I got back, there were about seven messages from a computer telling me to call Ford Credit immediately. I was like, what is the problem? So I call them and a nice woman says, "oh it was just a confirmation call that you're going to pay on the 20th." And I answer, yes, that was the arrangement, right? And I think it's all over. But no! I get more "confirmation" (read harrassment) calls. I mean, it was their idea for me to pay on the 20th since I was going to pay it off. For crying out loud, I would have just made a monthly if I'd known they were going to freak like that. So the 20th comes and I pay a major chunk of what's left. (I decided to pay off some other bills as well). And on the 21st I get this message from a woman named Judy at Ford Credit--call immediately! Very important! So I call. Turns out it was another "confirmation" call. I had paid them several times over what was due and they were calling again because it hadn't posted yet. Well, you'd think they would know that it takes a day or two to post since it's their system. I'll make the last payment on the Ford this month, and guess what, I'll never buy another car with Ford Credit.

Agreement Number 2

The most important to me of the four agreements is never to take anything personally. When am I going to learn it?