We live in North Carolina but through a series of events on June 24th, 2016 we bought a 2013 Dodge Journey from Drivetime in Dayton, Ohio. We thought we were lucky, considering the situation that led us there, but it turned out to be the worst thing we could've done. We began making bi-weekly payments a month later starting on July 22nd, and using Bridgecrest's online payment service it went through fine. The next payment was due August 5th, which I paid again online. Due to me being off work the week before I wasn't able to make the next payment due on August 19th, but since I was back to work I figured I'd just pay it on the 26th, being a week late. Also I work for a company that travels and works nights, and I noticed a number calling me during the day when I was asleep and assumed it was probably Drivetime calling about the late payment on the 19th, but it was always too late to call back by the time I got up at night and it slipped my mind when I would be getting ready for bed in the morning. Then on the morning of August 26th, I get a worried phone call from my fiancée back in North Carolina telling me the car is gone, and I immediately thought they must've repossessed it for being a week behind. So I contacted Bridgecrest to see about resolving the matter, and the first associate I talked to explained that he car was repossessed for being 21 days past due, which surprised me. She said the payment on August 5th was returned as non sufficient and that they've been trying to call me. When I asked what I had to do to get the car back, she told me that I wouldn't be able to get it back because they changed their policy at the beginning of the month and they don't reinstate loans anymore. I then asked to talk to a supervisor, and his story was different. He said I wouldn't be able to get the car back because since it was so far behind so early into the contract they decided to part ways with me and repossess the vehicle.

I was a bit angry at this point so I hung up and looked at the payment history on their online payment service, and it showed where I made payment on August 5th, but it showed it was returned 5 days later on August 10th as non sufficient. So I looked into my online banking history, which I rarely look at or else I would've seen money being returned to me, and there was no transaction for my $217 payment in my history, but there was one for a fee of $35 from my bank for the NSF to Bridgecrest on August 9th, so something had happened. I asked my fiancé to contact the bank and see if they could look into it because I remembered that it was the first thing I paid that day and it should've been calculated into my balance first, so maybe the bank was at fault and there might be a way to get the car back. When she talked to the bank however, in their systems they saw where Bridgecrest removed the money on August 8th when there was more than enough in the bank account, then put the payment back into my account, and then tried to take it out again the next day but there wasn't enough that second time they tried, and I never even noticed the payment had been returned. But why take it out and then give it back? This was where I started putting the pieces together and saw what was going on.

After a few days of searching online and looking over our contract and trying to find a law or anything that would let us pay what was owed and reinstate the loan, I gave up trying and called them to ask about getting our belongings out of the vehicle. This would be the 2nd half of our nightmare. Because the vehicle was only in my name, and I was out of state working, in order for my fiancée to get the stuff from out of the car I would have to sign a 3rd party release form, get it notarized, fax it back to them, and wait for them to confirm that the lot where the car was held had received everything. At first they told me that the 3rd party release was just a letter I could type up with the vehicle info and who will be going in place of me to retrieve the items from the car, then I just had to sign it and get it notarized. Since I wasn't in a familiar place, it took me a day to find a notary. Luckily the day I found a notary I received a call from Drivetime apologizing about the confusion but there was actually a form I needed to print out, fill out, and get notarized also. So after wasting a few days doing that I finally faxed the paperwork in on Sept 2nd, and waited 30 minutes to call them and verify they received everything like they instructed me, but when I called they had closed already for Labor Day weekend. I was finally able to get an answer on Tuesday the 6th, and they told me they received the paperwork but they had to send it to the repo lot in NC where my car was and they would let me know when they heard back from them. By Wednesday I still hadn't heard anything, so I called again, got confirmation that they had sent it and the other place had received it, and gave us a number to call to schedule a time for my fiancé to retrieve her stuff from the car. When we called, we were told the lady we needed to talk to was only there on Tuesdays and Thursday's, and they require a 24 hour notice before you come.

Long story short, we finally got everything from the vehicle on September 13th, well everything that they pulled out of the vehicle before Bridgecrest came and got it. They told my fiancé that they came to get the car only a few days after it was repossessed, and they've never seen anyone pick up a repo'd vehicle so quick like they did. When my fiancé was getting her stuff, she noticed her laptop bag and charger she had left in the repo'd car were there but the laptop itself was missing, along with our daughters car seat and several other smaller items. If they were in a hurry to clean out the car for Bridgecrest's pickup guy, the laptop could've slid out of the case easily, or one of the repo lot workers took it. The lady at the repo lot even thought she remembered seeing it when they were taking everything out.

It's just been one thing after another and I'm still working on the road for about another month, stuck out here while Bridgecrest continues to screw me and my family over. From what the repo lot people were saying, Bridgecrest got the car only a few days after it was repossessed, which would be between August 29th - September 2nd....it's now September 17th, and still no communication from them regarding whether they sold the car at auction or what they did or will do with it, and I probablly wont hear a thingI feel like they put that payment back in my account intentionally without me noticing just so I would default on a payment, allowing them to repo the vehicle, sell it elsewhere for it's Kelley Blue Book value of around $8,000, and leave me with a debt of $11,000 or more when I could've just paid the past due balance the same day they repo'd the vehicle and avoided all of this. The repossession has even already hit my credit report, it's like the company is only out to do all they can to screw everyone they deal with, and it won't end with us...

Well that's my story, and I'd like to be added to your list. Contact me at [email protected]