Cook Portable Warehouses dishonest and fraudulent billing practices Anna Illinois
I signed a contract in December of 2003 for a storage shed from this company. This contract was a lease to buy for a total of $6021.18. Beginning in July of 2006, I asked for a pay-off for this shed. I was given the amount and sent a check to this company for $350.00.
In October, I was contacted by the company and told that I owed more money. I asked for a statement of all monies paid and was told that one would be sent. Going by my cancelled checks, I determined that I owed them an additional $390.00 to pay off the total amount due. I wrote on the check "Final payment" and it was cashed by the company.
In November, I received a letter from them stating that I owed another month's "rent" plus a $25.00 late fee. I callled them and once again requested a statement. I finally received a statement on 13 December dated 7 December. According to their own statement, I have paid a total of $6745.31. After subtracting the late fees (which most of them should not even had been added because my payment date was the 5th of each month and the checks cleared the bank within 2 days of that which meant they had the payments in time) and also subtracting the miscellaneous fees (they charged me $7.50 each time I requested a statement), I still have overpaid them by $159.13.
I contacted my local BBB and today I received the response the company sent to the BBB. Besides referring to me in a derogatory way, they also lied to the Complaints Liason for the BBB. They have stated in their reply that they "have repeatedly gone over the account with her and the only conclusion they can draw from this matter is that she simply decided she did not want to finish paying for our building". They also stated that they "did charge rent and late fees for the months of November and December, as constituted by her lease contract".
No where on my contract is this stated and from my understanding of contracts, as long as the total amount due is paid there should be no late fees or "rent" accruing.
I believe this company is acting in a dishonest manner and according to the BBB reports I have accessed, they have an unsatisfactory rating with the BBB. They want to attempt to use the contract against me, but they are unwilling to follow it themselves.
Stefanie
Allenhurst, Georgia
U.S.A.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Cathy B.
Umatilla,Florida,
USA
They ripped me off too!
#3Consumer Comment
Sat, April 16, 2011
To Whom it May Concern,
Over the past three years I have done business with Cooks Portable warehouses in Anna, IL. It will become evident with supporting documents this company engages in dishonorable business practices. It is a practice of this company to require an Order deposit equal to one month rent, to be applied as a payment at the end of your contract period, then at contract signing other fees including a refundable 100 dollar deposit is required.In this contract a person may at anytime purchase their shed, for a lump sum , and 55 percent of the payments made will be applied to purchase of shed. I am including a company of the contract .
Each of the initial payments are paid by money order to the dealer rep and the dealer rep submits the first two payments followed by 35 additional payments to equal 36 payments over a 36 month period. At the end of the contract it has become my experience to now as the customer to prove the dealer did in fact make those payments and have copies of the payments they submitted on my behalf as a customer. Without copies of those payments the company has refused to refund my deposit . It is apparent to everyone involved the payments were in fact made by the dealer other wise the shed would never have been delivered.
It is also evident in the payment ledger that as the customer I made every single payment without a late fee and in fact were 60 days early, their ledger from the very start was incorrect , as their ledger shows payments late every month yet never charged me a late fee, and as stated by them numerous times it is a matter of interpretation. There is no interpretation in amounts paid or dates of canceled checks, While my check number 1576 is dated May 27 and canceled on May 30 but never listed as a paid item in the payment ledger except in combination with the 2 initial payments made by the dealer. on my behalf .
In my case my contract was in the amount of $5,671.00 as you can see from their inaccurate ledger I have paid to this company a total of 35 payments plus the initial payments of 401.98 for a total amount of 5,915.00 I have requested a refund of my over payment and the 100.00 refundable deposit, and the company has refused to send my refund as they do not acknowledge the 401.98 payment from the Dealer Rep. I have documentation for each and every payment I have made and have full filled my obligated payments including the initial order payment via the Dealer it is also acknowledged as having been received on the company's payment ledger..
It is now my desire for this company and their practices to be investigated for the way this company cheats their customers out of their initial payments PAUD THROUGH THEIR DEALER /REPS or require them to submit final additional payments. It is also noted that this is a practice of this company as it has been documented on several web sites as a rip off company for dishonorable practices.
As a disabled person feel other consumers should be protected from this type of business practice and our only recourse is through the Consumer Protection Agency of your State. I would hope your office will assist me in obtaining my over payment and refundable deposit. In the future acknowledge this company does in fact attempt to use poor record keeping to refuse customer refunds.
Thank You,
Cathryn C. B.
Stefanie
Allenhurst,Georgia,
U.S.A.
change of e-mail address
#3Author of original report
Fri, January 05, 2007
e-mail address should read rgolden@cookstuff.com