Complaint Review: Genesis Commercial Capital

I have leased equipment several times and used a couple of companies, but nothing like this has ever happened.

I signed an extended lease, which would end in Aug. 2006, with Genesis Capital. Before the first payment was to be made I was contacted by letter (the only written communication to date) informing me that the payment would be made to GE Capital and that ALL rights and obligations had been assigned to GE.

Later I had a similar lease with Balboa Capital which was for a shorter term and would end in Sept. 2006 and was also transferred to GE Capital but without the notice of assignment of rights.

In Dec. 2005 I contacted GE capital by phone to get the "fair market value" of both leases as I was making plans for the coming year with my accountant. I could not make the decision as to whether to purchase the leased item or return them without some information on which to make the determination. I received a call from Balboa Capital in January confirming the request and later the fair market value price. I gave them the notice required under the lease and received a confirmation.

I recieved no contact from Genesis what so ever. The equipment is automated and requires computer control, which was DOS based and will only run well under Window 3.1. The Windows 95 emulator does not work as well for the diagnostics. Given this technology is outdated at best and the new models of this system far outpace the old modles, I assumed this meant there was no real market value and proceeded with business as usual.

When the lease period expired I then got a bill from Genesis for rental, which I assumed would be the nominal purchase price, although it was a bit higher than expected. When I called I got the voice mail for my "single point of contact" (part of their ad for "better" service) and I left a message.

Over the next few days I received return phone calls on my voice mail at or near 5:00 PM Pacific time which was 8:00 PM my local time from three or four different people. One evening I called after 7:00 PM local time and got through. I was told that the lease was extended for a year because I had not notified them of my choice to buy or return the equipment. I explained the situation and the letter assigning all rights and priviledges to GE, which was contacted to get the information to make such a decision. I was asked to provide proof of my contact via certified mail stating my option, which had not happened as I wanted information to make that determination.

I was sent copies of my lease via e-mail, which I already had, and offered to roll this into a lease for one of the new models or to provide a "buyout price" for the lease. I was not interested in doing any further business with these folks so I declined the new lease. I have not received any figures on the fair market value price or the lease buy out, but I have received calls from several people daily and several times a day just to let me know they called or try to resolve this issue, but with no offer of resolution once they find out I was never given any other information.

I provided written notification that I had contacted several used equipment dealers and none could give a value on the equipment nor were they interested in buying it at any price. They were unwilling to even discuss a consignment sale if they had to take possession of the equipment. I was able to find another used system that I could purchase for $95.00, which set the market value below the $101.00 limit the lease required before I had to provide the 6 month notice of my decision to purchase or return the equipment to Genesis.

I finally had to turn this over to my attorney who informed them of this information. The daily calls have not stopped, but I was informed by the company which made me the offer to purchase their system that they too are getting daily calls in the attempt to cause them to change their price to $10,000.00, which Genesis tells them is the residual value of the equipment and also the value of the year's lease they claim is owed.

This is still ongoing, but I would be wary of any dealings with this company.

Wayne
Durham, North Carolina
U.S.A.