Complaint Review: Laser Rite business solutions

Coming from a securities industry which is highly regulated, very compliance and disclosure driven, I was shocked to find that in my first week of training that this company does a significant amount of what we call "churning" in the securities industry. My manager did not like my feedback and concern when questioned about his lease proposal to an existing customer replacing existing equipment with existing lease with still almost 2 years left on lease. What that means is Laser Rite is making money on a former 5 year lease they sold by convincing the customer to convert to a new lease on new equipment and ARE NOT DISCLOSING THE HARD DOLLARS OF THE COST TO SURRENDER THE LEASE 2 YEARS EARLY BY BUILDING THE NEW COMMISION AND BUYOUT EXPENSE ROLLED IN TO THE NEW MONTHLY LEASE AMOUNT. I actually was brought into watching my manager prepare the deal from beginning to end and with my 25 year financial advisory experience was able to follow this transaction very clearly. He was upset when I challenged him to be more disclosure oriented and that the customer should be told that they still have approx. $9000 left on their current lease and by buying a new machine/s they would have to pay for this hidden undisclosed amount that is rolled into the new 5 year lease payment. In my former industry which is securities, this type of business practice without full disclosure and signature from client acknowledging the early surrender lease cost would result in significant punitive consequences such as termination, fine and imprisonment. I challenged my boss of this small Sarasota based Sharp printer distributor about my concerns of making this their core business practice and as a result I was terminated after 4 days, obviously they gave a different reason for my termination such as saying that I was not right for this business, my background and sales experience was not conducive to their business model which the irony was I was hired after a comprehensive personality test, background and a couple of interviews and scored high on the charts, so why did this not come up before? Easy answer: they felt I would exposure their unethical non-disclosure practices making up a large portion of their business.

IS IT UNUSUAL THAT 1 DAY AFTER EXPRESSING MY CONCERN AFTER JOINING MY SALES MANAGER ON A SALES CALL WHERE HE SOLD PRINTERS TO A CUSTOMER WHO HAD ALMOST 2 YEARS LEFT ON THEIR CURRENT LEASE ON CURRENT EQUIPMENT AND DURING THE ENTIRE SALES PRESENTATION AND THE WRITTEN PRESENTATION, THERE WAS NO MENTION OF AN APPROX. $9 000 COST TO SURRENDER THE CURRENT LEASE EARLY TO THE CUSTOMER. HE FOCUSED ON SHOWING THE CUSTOMER HOW THE MONTHLY LEASE EXPENSE ON THE NEW EQUIPMENT WAS GOING TO BE $50 TO $70 A MONTH CHEAPER THAN THEIR OLD LEASE MONTHLY PAYMENT HOWEVER WHAT IS OMITTED THAT IF THE LEASE WAS NOT PREMATURE IN SURRENDERING, THE CUSTOMER WOULD SAVE SIGNICANTLY MORE, CLOSE TO SEVERAL HUNDRED A MONTH, BECAUSE THERE WOULD NOT BE A $9 000 SURRENDER FEE, OR LEASE OBLIGATION AMOUNT STILL OWED! SO I GET FIRED AFTER SHOWING MY CONCERN FOR THE CUSTOMER??

I REALIZE THIS IS WHAT THEY DO ALL DAY LONG IS TO TEACH THEIR SALES FORCE TO SEARCH FOR CUSTOMERS WITH MANY MONTHS STILL ON THEIR CURRENT LEASE AND CAMOUFLAUGE THE EXPENSE AND SURENDER COST BY BUILDING IT INTO THE FUTURE MONTHLY COST TAKING THE BUYER OUT ANOTHER 5 YEARS AND MAYBE THE NEW EQUIPMENT AND TECHNOLOGY IS MORE SUITABLE FOR THE CLIENT BUT FULL DISCLOSURE WOULD ALLOW THE CUSTOMER TO MAKE AN INFORMED DECISION AND TO LET THE CLIENT DECIDE THAT AFTER FULL DISCLOSURE OF ALL THE EXPENSES, MOSTLY IMPORTANTLY THE BUYOUT EXPENSE THAT IS ROLLED INTO THE NEW MONTHLY PAYMENTS. I AM CURIOUS IF THE D.A'S OFFICE OF ETHICS HAD TO GO THROUGH THEIR CLIENT LIST OF ALL CUSTOMERS WHO HAVE BOUGHT NEW EQUIPMENT REPLACING AN OLD LEASE, HOW MANY OF THEM WERE DISCLOSED THE THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS THEY ARE PAYING BY NOT WAITING UNTIL THE LEASE EXPIRES AND HOW MANY OF THERE CUSTOMERS HAVE THEY SOLD TO THE LAST 5 YEARS WITHOUT THIS CHOICE? WITHOUT FULL KNOWLEDGE OF DISCLOSURE OF THIS COST? HUNDREDS OF CUSTOMERS? WHEN I BROUGHT THIS CONCERN UP TO MY SALES MANAGER ON MY SECOND DAY, HIS RESPONSE IS "WE ARE NOT OBLIGATED TO TELL THE CUSTOMER OR DISCLOSE TO THE CUSTOMER HOW MUCH OF THE BUYOUT EXPENSE IS ROLLED FORWARD AND HIDEN IN THE NEW LEASE PAYMENTS" HE SAID I SHOULD KNOW THAT COMING FROM BEING A SUCCESSFUL SALES PERSON WHICH IS OFFENSIVE AS HE WAS IMPLYING ONE HAS TO BE UNETHICAL AND NON-DISCLOSURE ORIENTED TO BE A GOOD SALESMAN. I WOULD NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THESE GUYS!

I WOULD URGER THE D.A.OFFICE OF SARASOTA AND FLORIDA TO INVESTIGATE ALL THEIR CONTRACTS WHERE OLD EQUIPMENT STILL HAD MANY MONTHS LEFT OF LEASE PAYMENTS AND WAS REPLACED WITH NEW EQUIPMENT WITH NEW LEASE CONTRACTS TO SEE HOW MANY CLIENTS SIGNED A DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT SPECIFICALLY BEING AWARE AND ACKNOWLEDGED IN WRITING THE DOLLAR AMOUNT LEFT ON THE PREVIOUS LEASE AND HOW MUCH THE DIFFERENCE WOULD COST THE CLIENT IFTHEY WAITED FOR THE LEASE TO EXPIRE FIRST BEFORE SIGNING A NEW LEASE PAYING COMMISIONS AGAIN BASED ON A 5 YEAR LEASE AND THE MONTHLY HIGHER PAYMENT WITH THE BALANCE ROLED INTO THE NEW PAYMENT? THAT IS WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE IF THESE CLIENTS WERE ALL CALED AND ASKED IF THEY WERE AWARE OF THE ADDITIONAL EXPENSES AND COSTS?