Today’s post is a bit of a rant and a bit of a public service announcement. It’s the story of one of the biggest run-arounds I’ve ever had.
It all started in May of 2021 when I bought my Chrysler Pacifica. It’s a 2017 and I bought it used. You can read the story of that HERE if you missed it.
I paid for part of it in cash but took a note out for the rest of it. The dealer helped arrange the financing. It was to be autopay from my bank account and would come out twice a month for five years.
I had every intention of paying it off early…and I did. Early this month I made the last payment.
Fast forward to mid-July… I checked my bank account and what?? My van is paid off but I noticed on my statement that money for the payment was still taken out. UGH. Of course, when I realized, it was Saturday and couldn’t call and ask about it. Then I started debating…even if I do call someone, do I call Wells Fargo who loaned the money or do I call my local bank that is not Wells Fargo affiliated.
Monday rolled around. I had Kelli’s kids here that day. In the afternoon just after Emmett woke up from his nap, I remembered I had forgotten to call about the money being taken out of my account.
I called Wells Fargo. After the wait period and going through the whole “press one” routine, I talked to a service agent and they said they were sorry but it was my bank’s problem. At least that’s what I understood. She had a thick accent that it made it hard to understand.
So I called my bank. That involved no “press one” routine but the gal I got didn’t know the answer to my question so she talked with someone who did. That person said it was not the bank’s problem and they could not cancel it.
So I called Wells Fargo again. I went through the whole processing my call routine and I finally got someone who tried to be helpful but again…they said they could not cancel the payments that were coming out of my account.
So I called my bank. By now, I was starting to feel frustrated. At least when I called the bank, I didn’t have to re-explain everything but that’s about when Georgia woke up and wasn’t really happy. The bank assured me again that they could not stop the payments from coming out. BUT…they could stop payment and that would cost me $35.
Paying the $35 would be the easy route but in my world…$35 is the cost of the supplies for a cross stitch project and I’d rather have my $35 paying for that.
Both the bank and Wells Fargo kept asking me how I set up the payments. I said at the dealer. It was all just part of the paperwork. They kept asking who did you authorize to take the money out. Well, I didn’t know. I’m sure if you’re like me, you buy a vehicle and just sign the papers they tell you to sign. That’s what I did. Besides, that was a year ago. I don’t remember…but that’s what I assumed I did.
I decided that I was going to call Wells Fargo and ask them if they would go on a three way call…Wells Fargo, me and the bank. So that’s what happened. I had NEVER done a three way call on the phone. I had no idea how I put it together but I did.
By now, Eli was awake too.
After a long back and forth, each of them denied that they could stop the payments from coming out of my account. The Wells Fargo guy finally said, “I think you need to talk to your dealer.”
I called the dealer…again, I had to explain the whole thing twice. Once I told the receptionist…the next the person in finance. They told me I needed to call Pegasus. What? Who the heck is Pegasus??
Apparently, Pegasus set up the payments. I had no idea who Pegasus was. The dealer gave me the number. I was sure this was going to be another runaround.
AH…All three of the kids were awake and none were very happy but I was this far and closing time for places was approaching. I needed to get this call made.
I called.
Someone answered.
I quickly told them I was told that they were taking money out of my account and I wanted that to stop.
They asked my name.
Birthdate.
Last four of my Social Security Number.
Ask why I was canceling.
Thanked me for my business.
I WAS DONE. That call took a max of maybe two minutes. No joke. Two minutes. After all of the runaround that happened in the six previous calls, it only took TWO MINUTES!!
I’ll be honest. I almost didn’t believe it really happened. It happened so quickly once I got to the right person.
A couple of days later, this came in the mail…It finally got me to believe it was all real and somehow some company named Pegasus Pay that I had no idea existed were the real people taking money out of my account. AHH!!
Why this middle man? Who knows?
All I know is that I am very proud of myself for getting to the bottom of it. I’m thankful that I watch my accounts. I’m glad I didn’t have to pay the $35 to stop payment and glad that I contacted Pegasus so I could be reimbursed for that payment.
That’s so helpful as not I don’t feel bad for the purchases I made when I was at the cross stitch retreat. HA!!
I didn’t know if I should write about this or not but then I decided, yes, I was going to. I’m sure I’m not the only one something like this has happened to…and I think we all need a friendly reminder in this digital bill pay society we live in that it is so important to watch our accounts.
Banks and other institutions don’t like to carry loan debt, so they sell loans to middle men, who collect the debt. They take the risk and keep the interest. Student loans and mortgages are often sold like this. Or Pegasus could simply be the finance company your dealer uses. Sounds like Pegasus is the one who knows what’s going on. I’m glad you got that cleared up so quickly. I was afraid it would take several days to resolve.
Jo! What a mess! Many customers have had very bad experiences with Wells Fargo. That institution has been in the news for years for its cheating and stealing from its customers, opening multiple accounts on their behalf, but without their permission. I hope you never, ever have to deal with them again.
Warrior Jo !!! You go girl. Never give it up
Good for you! I have just received a refund of several hundred dollars from Verizon for an order that they never shipped. Over 3 months, I made about 20 phone calls and three visits to the local Verizon store. They all said my card would be credited within 48 hours, but it never happened. I finally mailed a long letter, with all the details, to the Executive Vice President and CEO of the Verizon Consumer Group. I found her name and address on Verizon’s website, where it said she oversees services for 100 million customers. I wasn’t at all sure my letter would even be read, being one person in 100 million, but I got an apologetic phone call from an “Executive Customer Service” rep, and in another week or so, got the refund. I think my detailed log of all the phone calls was a big help. But I will never buy something from Verizon again, unless it’s in stock in the store!
I had 11 1/2 months of something similar with Frontier re a product I did not want,need or request.During this fiasco I was having the worst case of shingles by MD had ever seen.Finally able to make contact with the person in charge of returns who claimed everyone had been informed of the return and documentation proved he was correct….GRRRRR
Congratulations on getting your refund. Even though it is exasperating and consumed a lot of your time being persistent paid off. One thing I have learned when I’ve had situations like this is to keep a notebook of dates and time called, name of person you talked with, and notes of what was said.
For future reference, go to your bank and work out a pre-authorized loan amount. Then tell the dealership to use them. They won’t benefit but that’s not your problem. It worked like a charm for me 2y ago!
I feel your pain! Two years ago when our attorney suggested we file bankruptcy…loss of jobs and covid…we turned in our expensive car and took a loan out for a cheaper one. Fast forward to this year and we wanted to know what our payoff would be. Well no one kind could find a record of the car…yet we faithfully pay the loan each month on time and they apply the payment to the car no one has a record of! Can’t make this stuff up!
Congratulations on handling a stressful situation by yourself. As a widow myself (4/04/19) I know how much I miss the assurances that my husband always shared with me on occasions like this one. I may have been dealing with the issue but it was nice to share the burden of it with him. I’m proud of you. Good job!
we had problems with wells fargo to
Glad you got that all straightened out, Jo!
So glad you got to the bottom of this in one day! I have only used the auto withdraw once because something similar, but not so bad, happened too. It is hard to stop payment sometimes.
Well done you !!!! I’m continually believing if I could just talk to a person FIRST, things could be handled so much more quickly. Pegasus proved the point. As has been explained to me several times-the auto tree doesn’t cost a salary- but it does cost consumers many more phone calls, time ,hassle, and most of all
frustation. And after all WE ARE their customers. I wish I knew how to deal only with small businesses, ones who don’t feel they need to cut down on employees to save the salary. My rant for so many days-every time I have to call any major company. I won’t start naming names or I’d be here a long time !!
I would NEVER use autopay for anything! It is much easier and safer to set up online payments yourself. You can stop them or change the amount as necessary. I just made the last oayment on my auto too. I had set up the number of payments and the amount 4 yrs ago. Thelast payment was a dollar or two different and I did need to adjust it.
There were people in my area that had autopay for their electric bills. The company made some billing changes and some,peoplesaccounts were debited for thousands of dollars. That can’t happen if YOU set up the payments yourself. You are the only one who can initiate charges.
I’m happy that you were successful in solving your issue. It’s not always so easy to solve.
I agree with this process – I have online payments set up through the bank and I estimate the max monthly payment. I can always change to a different amount before the payment date, but if I forget, I am overpaying by a small amount.
For those accounts that require auto payments, I use a specific charge card so it is easy to cancel the card if necessary.
I think it is necessary to check you bank and credit card account on daily basis. It is also good to use a accounting program – I use quicken – to track your income and expenses. Heck, it makes tax prep easier.
I learned a couple of years ago that if you want to set up an automatic payment, to do it yourself at the bank. I use a credit union, but they explained that if you authorize a company to take the money, the bank can’t stop it. But, if you set it up yourself, you can stop it whenever you want to. But, like most people, I did learn this the hard way! I’m so glad you finally got to the bottom of it!
My sister paid off her house this year and Wells Fargo has charged her $15.00 per month penalty for the house being paid off. Needless to say, she is done with Wells Fargo.
Yup, we had dealings with WF 30 years ago. NEVER again.
Yes, I had the same thing happen. I was having money charged to my credit card for our church offering each month. I decided to stop that form of payment but no one could do it. It took us over two months to stop it, it went through some obscure company similar to your Pegasus account. It taught us a big lesson to be very careful when we sign anything.
Good for you, persistence pays!
I bought a certified used Toyota. Fast forward a couple of months, it was making a funny noise so I took it to the dealer close to me. Did not buy the car there. They said it was not certified. I called the dealer, the salesman who sold me the car no longer worked there. They said it was not certified. After a few go rounds with them, my daughter told me to write a letter to the dealer and cc Toyota and the state attorney general. Within two weeks the dealer called and had me bring in the car to be fixed and gave me a 25,000 mile warranty. I also got a letter from the AG making sure the problem was resolved.
I feel your pain, we are going through the run round with my MIL life ins. they have no problem when taking your money. Were you able to get back the overpayment?
Your story reminds me of my 98 year old mother’s recent comment from her telephone company. My brother filed paperwork for her to receive a reduced monthly rate. It was denied. When my brother finally talked to a live telephone representative he was told “We have no record of her ever having telephone service.” Jo, she has had a phone for 70 years! She and my dad even had to pay part of the cost to bring a poles and a line across a pasture. I told stop paying the bill and see what happens.
Funny how it works when you finally contact someone of importance, like AG, as well as a company VP. I had an issue with medical insurance a number of years ago. The insurance company wouldn’t authorize anything to be paid to the physician. My claim just SAT there for months because they “didn’t have the paper work. I contacted our AG and consumer affairs division or something like that. Within 24 hours the insurance was all over me about not contacting him FIRST. I didn’t even know the man as my insurance was through my employer. But his butt was in a sling because of my complaint, and my claim was processed with lightning speed after that. Funny how that works, isn’t it?
I’m quite sure some of us have those kinds of stories. Need to pay attention to our bank statements, CC statements, etc. I’m also a widow, but I was the one who dealt with all of this stuff. Didn’t like it, but it went with the territory. Ugh. As someone else said, when my husband was alive, at least I had someone to vent to. Now, I vent to the dogs, but they don’t give me any kind of support! Good for you, Jo, being persistent. It just warns all of us to pay attention to all financial dealings.
That’s why I refuse to do autopay. If there isn’t an alternative, I do my business elsewhere.
I think the moral of the story is that we should be very careful about whom we give the authority to tap into our bank accounts.
I had a problem with WF a few years back when they opened a savings actt in my name.Just happened to open what I thought was junk mail and it turned out to be a statement from them.After a few Hours on the phone the matter was resolved somewhat, they would not tell me how they got my social security which is necessary to open accounts.I also refuse to do automatic withdrawals or renewals.
I never allow a second vendor to auto deduct my account. I worked in banking and saw too many times when something was paid off and the vendor continued to debit the account. We did have a process to stop that type of payment, but it required a visit to the local branch. I use online payments that I can control. Jo I hope you received the Title for your car when you paid it off. It can take up to 60 days for you to receive it.
I refuse to use autopay for any of our banking and I refuse to do online banking, too. Wells Fargo is not our bank but they tried to cheat us by reading the amount on a check we wrote to pay a utility bill as $1,000 something instead of $100 something. We took the copy of the canceled check to our bank and then to the utility office. The utility office/city uses Wells Fargo and they told us this isn’t the first time WF has pulled that stunt. They were pretty mad about it and said they were in the process of changing banks. Our bank was upset about it, too. WF reluctantly credited our account with the overdraft.
Teresa F.
I am glad that your issue was finally resolved and hopefully, the money will be returned to you quickly. I realized today that I hadn’t received any new posts from you in a few days. I came onto your site and signed up again, so I hope that resolves my issue. Have you heard about anyone experiencing this?
Thank you for sharing! It is great knowledge for us to know when we hear of someone else going through this.