Gotta watchout for that lease turn in protection programs. They often times have all sorts of grimey details like panel limits, exclusion of ‘accessories’, etc.
I suggest lawyering up and taking the dealer and Ally to arbitration. For details, please see recent posts on lawsuits vs dealers.
No really!! Just kidding. Pay 275 and move on
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Wow lot of responses, lol thanks everybody.
No chance I’d waste time over small claims, ended up paying the $275 today begrudgingly. Will explore avenues to report the dealer for sure and will never lease thru Ally again. Hope this saves somebody else from making the same mistake (if you can call it that) or avoiding potential issues.
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I’m sure the dealer has social media accounts, blast them on there and your own accounts (if you wish) and also the forums.
Now that you’re on the right side of justice:
- Google review
- Yelp review
- Facebook review
And if you are feeling extra spiteful as I have once or twice in past:
- budget 100% of the injustice ($275) to buy ads on social media, max ~$9 day, to drive traffic to your negative reviews. Those 10,000+ impressions targeted to the dealership’s market will taste delicious.
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This is expert levels of petty and I love it lol
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One of my 
cars had a (very popular) website. Complaining on social media isn’t enough: you want your complaint to annoy the managers at the dealership when they are facebooking on their break just as much as they annoyed you.
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I have lease protection with Ally hope I don’t go through a situation like this lol. mainly got it because it gave me 2k more miles along with the wear and tear. I don’t think I even have a spare tire because of runflats
my dealer has been awesome so far with regards to service though
Judge Judy.
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Haha great idea. Posted the reviews to social media for Santa Monica Audi if anyone wants to like/support it.
But really I hope this helps anyone who has a Maserati or has a car financed through Ally. Lesson learned, take pics of literally everything and insist/force a pre-inspection beforehand. Hope I save someone a potential issue.
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We have been trying to return our lease vehicle for a month. Returned to dealer on 9/28. It’s now 10/26 and it’s still sitting on the lot. We faxed the odometer reading twice, both with confirmations, but it seems the first got lost. After the second one went thru, an inspection was finally done 10 days later. Ally can’t or won’t transport the vehicle and informs us that they can’t terminate the lease until they sell the vehicle. Can’t find that anywhere in my contract and have asked them for the details of where it is located in the contract. Essentially they’ve gotten free storage for the vehicle for a month. We returned it 2 weeks early and 2000 under allotted mileage. After reading these reviews I’m wondering what they’re gonna gig us for in regards to unsubstantiated repairs. The car was immaculate other than a tiny ding by the tail gate which was smaller than a dime. Several calls and emails have resulted in total confusion as nobody knows what’s going on and their excuse is people are working from home due to covid. AWFUL COMPANY AVOID ALLY SMARTLEASE AT ALL COSTS By not having a pre-inspection they’re able to create charges out of thin air . How can they sell a vehicle that’s sitting on a dealer’s lot that no buyer can see.Why hasn’t this vehicle been transported after a month? They keep saying they make leasing easy. This has not been the case with our vehicle
I had a couple of issues with my lease return on an Alfa Stelvio. They dinged me for a missing key and windshield (this was broken but replaced by the dealer).
I sent pictures of the missing key and a letter for the payment minus the key that said “By cashing this check, Ally accepts this as payment in full for the account listed above with no further monies due or charges to be levied.”. I also marked the check accordingly with “full and final payment for account xxyyzz”.
If somebody dings your credit without reason, you can dispute. Ally may produce something but the letter and check would go a long way with the credit bureaus to say that you satisfied the account.
John
Well I hope you never have to lease with Ally again.
You can always dispute / chargeback, but when you need them again, they won’t be as charming.
Sorry to necropost, but this is relevant.
I returned my Alfa Giulia lease recently and got back a list of things I owe with detailed pictures. I need to dispute some of the charges. What is the best way to do it, and what is a chargeback?
Thank you in advance.
You should’ve gotten that list BEFORE you turned it in. If you turn it in uninspected you will owe whatever that bill says.
You can always dispute, but if it was turned in sight unseen, you will be held responsible. Maybe they might lower some charges?
If you don’t pay it, expect a credit ding. There is no ‘chargeback’ path as you haven’t paid it yet.
Thank you. There was no option for pre-inspection. The only option Ally gave me was to return it and they would have it inspected by an “independent” company.
One of my issues with the inspection is they charged me for a 1" inch scratch when their rules on excess wear is anything more than 2 inches. They also allege the spare tire is missing and took a picture of the plastic in the trunk that sits over the spare tire.
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There should be a preinspection option. The other option is always there but your ‘disposition fee’ would pay for the PreInspection.
But as it wasn’t done, well you get to call and argue. Some 1" Nicks go down to the bare metal and those are chargeable no matter how long.