Flow Automotive Companies

Review: I recently submitted my information to Flow Automotive Company in regards to purchasing a car, during that time they was slow to answer me and in some cases not at all, so I told them to cancel my appointment, later that day I had a call saying they was working with the 'bank' now to get me approved and ask that they move my appointment to next week and will give me a call Monday or Tuesday. Those days when by and I never heard anything back. A few days later I start receiving numerous letters from banks regarding my loan, they had went behind my back without my disclosure or approval and being submitting my information to random banks. I looked over the fine print and it stated: "You authorize the dealer, as part of the credit underwriting process, to submit this application and any other application submitted in connection with the proposed transaction to the financial institutions disclosed to you by the dealer for review." In which at no point in time did anyone from the dealership disclose to me any financial institution at all ever! I could understand submitting my information to one bank but to date there has been five that I know of, Flow Automotive should of contacted me each time before sending my information to a new bank, as I would never of approved Flow to submit my information to this many places at all.Desired Settlement: I would like Flow to go back to all the banks that they submitted my information to wrongly and ask that they take the unauthorized inquiries off my records.

Business

Response:

We regret that the customer is upset with our attempts to

secure financing on their behalf. Please

allow us to offer an explanation of what occurred.

The customer submitted an application for credit on November

18, 2014 through [redacted].com – a site owned and controlled by [redacted],

not Flow Companies. Therefore any “fine

print” quoted in the complaint belongs to [redacted], not Flow Companies. We received the customer’s credit application

from [redacted] as well as an email dated November 18, 2014 (Attachment 1)

providing more financial information directly to a Customer Advocate in our Customer

Relationship Center. In that email the

customer requested that we “please check on the options I may have and get back

with me.”

We submitted the customer’s credit information to an initial

handful of lenders – a total of three major organizations: [redacted]

and [redacted]. Given the information

in the credit application, our salesperson contacted the customer to inform

them that we were still pursuing lending on their behalf but based on their

credit standing, the customer may need a cosigner or to provide money down in

order to secure the vehicle.

On November 20, 2014, the customer wrote another email

(after speaking with our salesperson) with the hope of us securing a lender:

“…I would like to know for sure that there is a lender setup and ready to

approve me” (Attachment 2). At that time,

as the customer was still seeking financing for the vehicle and funding from

the three initial organizations looked unlikely, we moved to our credit union

relationships and submitted the information to [redacted] and [redacted] for the total amount of the vehicle (as instructed in the customer’s

email on November 20, 2014).

On the afternoon of November 21, 2014 the customer cancelled

their appointment to see and possibly purchase the vehicle. Our team returned their call to reschedule

the appointment for a later date as we were waiting on our credit inquiries to

report, which we believe were in line with the disclosures from [redacted] and

the customers expressed wishes, as stated above. The customer agreed and we waited to hear

from the lending institutions. We were

unsuccessful in securing full funding for the customer to pur[redacted] the vehicle,

as per their request.

Yet, on December 10, 2014, we received another email from

the customer (Attachment 3) with a letter from the second round of inquiries

seeking to pur[redacted] the vehicle. They had

secured a portion of the financing as a result of our credit inquiries and

were, again, interested in working a deal on the vehicle. Our stated Pre-Owned vehicle pricing policy

is “One Price” – this means that the price on the vehicle is the price that

everyone is able to pay, there is no negotiation. Therefore the customer would need to provide

the loan and the difference as a down payment in order to secure the

vehicle. We were currently working a

deal on the vehicle with another customer who had full financing in place and

were unable to assist the initial customer in purchasing the vehicle.

In this entire situation, given the disclosures and the

customer’s continued interest in securing financing, what we actually failed to

do was keep the customer properly updated on the process. We did not do anything untoward or

unauthorized, but in our pursuit of full financing and with a hesitation toward

communicating the initial difficulties in securing that financing, we failed in

our customer service and for that we apologize.

The customer did receive letters from the appropriate credit

organizations regarding all inquiries as this is standard practice.

The efforts we go to and the manner in which we secure

financing on the customer’s behalf is not normal practice. Normal practice in the automotive industry is

to blast a large network of banks with the customer’s information. We do not do that and what we do, after

receiving authorization to seek financing, is work with our small network of

lending institutions based upon lasting relationships with those organizations

and allow them to compete for the customer’s business – thereby offering the

customer the highest opportunity for favorable terms. The customer should also be assured that the

credit bureaus recognize when a person is seeking financing for an auto loan or

mortgage and the actual number of inquiries in those pursuits do not affect a

credit score. The credit reporting

agencies view those inquiries as only one inquiry as long as they are made

within a short period of time, usually 14 to 45 days depending upon the credit

reporting agency and the rules applied.

We provided this service to the customer, as authorized, within a 3 to 5

day period – well within the window for the credit reporting agencies.

Consumer

Response:

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]

Review: [redacted]

I am rejecting this response because:

I was never told that they had moved on to submitting my information to

another bank at all, from my understandings and from the phone calls, I

was told they was waiting on the 'bank' decision, I was under the

impression the entire time that they was working with one bank, at no

time was I informed that any of the banks had denied me or was I ever

informed that they was going to try at another bank, I agree that their

customer service was not to par at all and that I should of been kept in

the loop a lot closer, I made every attempt to keep in touch with them,

while getting very little communication in return. If I was kept in the

loop and proper communication was provided, I would not of allowed Flow

Autos to submit my information to so many places, I should of been

informed on each finical institution that my information was sent to

before they did it, not keeping me in the loop was very unprofessional.They

did get up with me to let me know that they are still working with the

'bank' and that they needed more time and would give me a call next week to setup a new appointment to come see them and that entire week went by

with no more communication at all! I did not know that my personal

information had been spread around until I begin receiving letters from

all these banks and may I add just received another one yesterday on Dec

23 for a total of 6 banks so far that my information was sent to

without me knowing, again I was under the impression that they was

working with one (1) bank this entire time and was never told I was denied or that they was going to check at another bank.Had there been better communication on Flow's behalf this entire issue could of been prevented. In the prior note Flow submitted here it states,"The customer submitted an application for credit on November

18, 2014 through [redacted].com – a site owned and controlled by [redacted],

not Flow Companies. Therefore any “fine

print” quoted in the complaint belongs to [redacted], not Flow Companies." This

is where I provided Flow with my personal information and this is the

only fine print I have ever agreed to at no point beyond this did I sign

or agree to any other terms from Flow Auto, I do believe that if Flow

auto is using [redacted] for advertisement and that they are receiving

applications and personal information that they should be bound to the

guidelines provided by [redacted] and respect the fine print in which I

agree to, as I am pretty sure they had to agree to some fine print of

their own on [redacted] or they would not of been able to post the car.

In which I should of been informed to each financial institution that my

information was submitted to. I did ask for my options, in which I was told they have many options, I did ask to have a lender before I drove all the way up there, however; I was never told any options, nor was I ever told they was working with more than one lender. When we talked on the phone I was told they was working with the "bank" not "banks."

Regards,

Business

Response:

We regret that the customer continues to take issue with our

attempts to secure financing on their behalf. As previously stated, we followed normal operating

procedure for [redacted], our company, and the industry as a whole. In fact, our process is more conservative

than what is considered the industry standard.

The customer authorized us to seek financing on their behalf and that is

what we attempted to do. Before

financing was secured, the car was purchased by another customer.

We made two attempts to finance the customer, as previously

stated – one round with three major banks and a second round with three credit

unions. In the customer’s original

complaint, the customer’s desired resolution was that we contact the financial

instructions to remove the “unauthorized inquiries.” First, we contend that these inquiries were

authorized as stated by the customer in multiple emails as well as their credit

submission to [redacted]. In fact, had

we not performed the second round of inquiry – which the customer was pleased

with in the email dated December 10th – the customer would have

received exactly zero financing options for the vehicle.

Second, as previously explained, both rounds of inquiry for

an auto loan in a short time period (14 to 45 days) is considered one

inquiry by financial institutions and credit reporting agencies. We completed both rounds of inquiry within 3

to 5 days. Therefore, there is nothing

to retract and only one inquiry was made on behalf of the customer. The total amount of letters received (six) is

exactly in accordance with what was described in our first response. And our first response explained that these

are not considered multiple “unauthorized inquiries” but in full accordance

with industry practice are one inquiry.

We understand that this concept can be difficult to grasp

but we have attempted to explain it in great detail in this response and our

previous response. According to industry practice and the standards of both financial

institutions and credit reporting agencies, only one financing attempt was

made on behalf of the customer. The

financial institutions are required by law to confirm that one attempt

and they did so by sending letters to the customer. Therefore, there are no “unauthorized

inquiries” to retract and we consider this matter resolved.

Consumer

Response:

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]

Review: [redacted]

I am rejecting this response because:Again, I agreed to the terms I read in which they did not honor, I was

under the impression from the little communications they did provide

that they looked over my credit and was looking for a bank for me to apply with, instead I found out that they made "one attempt" at six places, on December 10th I had received two bank letters, one was a denial and the other was approved for a close amount in which I contacted Flow to ask how we can worked together on the rest of the small amount (they had a lack of communication problem there too)! I did not like that two had came without once even telling me that they was submitting my information to the bank, but I could understand 2, however; as time went by in all 6 letters came, I did not approve them submitting my information to the first bank little less six, from my the terms I agree to in which they did not honor and that I was under the impression of, they was going to look at my credit and then find a bank tell me what bank they are going to submit my information to, then let me know if it was approved or not and move on from their, instead Flow Auto took my information and started sending it to bank after bank!!! This was NOT right or fair of them to do at all! I may good communication to ensure something did not go wrong on my end!!! Flow auto did not do anything correct on their behalf, they have even said in earlier letters that their customer service was not there. I was misled plain and simple, I read and agree to the legal terms on the only form in which I submitted my information to and was never told the name of any bank they submitted my information to, I do not think it is right they accpeted my information and did not honor the terms I agree to when submitting my information to Flow auto, they should not be using these services to advertise if they are going mislead people into believing that they are going to tell you the name of the finical institutions and then don't! They should of told me something, anything is better than nothing, very unprofessional! Flow wouldn't like it if they provided their information to ProviderX with the intentions that they will be kept in the loop, and then then ProviderX did whatever they wanted to with their information without any consent, so I don't see how they can expect this to be OK of them to do to me or any other person, is just wrong!The best communication I have got out of Flow Auto is the responses to these letters, in which they take forever to reply to these too! I have been prompt to reply the same day I receive these letters and I was prompt to call back or answer Flow Auto in any communications we made, there was no slack on my behalf. Again those submissions was unauthorized! Had they actually communicated with me and said something on the lines of based on your credit we feel you may be approved at BankX would you like us to submit your information to them, I would of agree to two maybe even three but NOT SIX, but how it stands they left me out of the loop, totally took my information, dishonored the only terms I agree to when submitting my information and did what they wanted to with my personal information. I HAD NO SAY SO IN WHERE MY INFORMATION WAS SUBMITTED TO AT ALL! It really makes you feel violated. There was even one bank they submitted my information to that I would not of accepted the loan from even if it was a billion dollars and no interest and the first payment wasn't due for a thousand years, I would never submitted my information to them but Flow Autos had no problem submitting my information to them!I don't care if they take my inquires off or not, they can sit there until they come off, its not right that I have them on my account since I did not approve of them, but Flow Auto should not be accepting peoples information and doing as they wish with it at all. I read over my emails, I did not see anywhere that I said just start submitting my information everywhere, I said I would like to know that there is a bank that has approved me before I drive up there! Flow should of told me lets try this bank and if it didn't work out we can try this bank and if it did not work out, I would not of drove up there! In the end, I bought me a newer version of the same car in better shape and a lower price from another dealership and the only issues I had was going to Flow Auto first!

Regards,

[redacted] has been very helpful in getting my cars serviced and to keep them in top operational shape. I can highly recommend [redacted] to others. He provides excellent customer service.

Barbara J.