Manheim review: Damaged My Vehicle 2

My car was repo'd a couple weeks ago because I was late on my payments - standard story there; except the week before it was taken I had made a good faith payment saying I would be able to send more once I got paid on the Thursday the following week. My car was taken on Tuesday. 2 Days before I planned on sending a huge bulk payment.

I was able to transfer funds in a timely manner but when I finally got information about where my car could be picked up, I was told it was at Manheim in Fontana. Fontana! I live in San Diego. How the hell was I supposed to get to Fontana without a vehicle?!?

I made the appointment for 11.4.11, arranged a couple different times with friends and made the 2+ hour trip to Fontana. Upon my arrival, I was immediately asked if there was anything wrong with my vehicle. "Nope, nothing." Then I overheard the guy asking for gas and a jump. Concerned, I asked if "jump" was a code word or if it meant what I thought it did. No, you're car won't start." I was assured by his officemate who said it was probably just the battery and that they remove all gas from vehicles during transit (umm...I had filled up my tank a day prior - goodbye to another $50) After several moments, Giovanni told me my car wasn't operating properly, it was likely the gas-pump and advised that I should contact my bank.

I called Rocky at Wells Fargo Dealer Services. He went through the condition reports, said they all stated the car was in good condition at every stop along the way and that I needed to take it up with Manheim.

What do you mean? I didn't hire these people. They don't work for me. Why am I now responsible for something I had no part in? Someone along the way damaged my car, I had taken a day off work (not to mention my friend who drove me there), driven 2 hours to find that my car wasn't running properly and everyone involved was playing the finger pointing game?!?

Giovanni @ Manheim made a phone call to his supervisor, Nicole, who said the managers were in a meeting and would be until 1. I was told that since it was Friday, it was unlikely anything would happen with car that day.

I asked to see the vehicle. How did I know they weren't making the entire story up? I was told I couldn't enter the storage facility but that my car would be visible through the fence. My friend and I located my car. Noted that it was in spot it had clearly not been stored in and was so close to other vehicles there was no way it was towed there. It had been running properly enough to move it to the spot it currently sat. I also noted, the bottom of the front bumper had been pulled loose and was hanging near the ground. Needless to say, before this whole situation, that was not the case.

Defeated, my friend and I returned to San Diego. What am I supposed to do now?

The following Monday (11.7), I left a message for Rocky @ Wells Fargo Dealer Services and spoke with Giovanni @ Manheim. Giovanni told me he had left messages for his managers, Nicole, who didn't return his call, and, David Thompson, who also hadn't responded.
I called back on Wednesday (11.9) to be told Manheim's condition report said the car came in as a "non-runner" according to David Thompson. Weird, since there wasn't any mention of that at any point prior to the Friday I had tried to 'will call' my vehicle or even when I was contacting Wells Fargo. If that was case, why has Giovanni asked me if there was anything wrong with my car if they already declared it as a 'non-runner'!? Also disturbing, is that the tow truck driving actually drove the car to reposition it to load it on his tow truck. Something's definitely not making sense here and I'm getting the run-around. I left a message for Rocky @ Wells Fargo Dealer Services - thinking they might care if the companies they employed to repo their vehicles damaged "their" cars along the way.

Did I mention when I first spoke with Rocky @ Wells Fargo Dealer Services, he actually said they had to find out why so many cars end up in disprepair after being taken to Manheim? Right. Fishy!

On Friday, 11.11.11, I left another message for Rocky @ Wells Fargo asking him to please call me back. I had done everything they asked of me and to be strung along for as long as I had was unacceptable.

I left another message for Rocky @ Wells Fargo Dealer Services today. I am beyond frustrated with this entire process, with both these companies. My car was running perfectly fine before it was taken into their custody. It's such a scam. They have you in such a position, you feel like a low-down dirty dog, as though you have no rights or say so in the matter. They give you just enough information then drop bombs once you've done what they ask.

This is beyond aggravating. I will tell everyone I know, post on every site and call daily until this issue is resolved.

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