okinus credit solutions quality time tried to overcharge me Pelham, Georgia
Made the worst mistake when I agreed to finance my Ashley Furniture through Okinus Credit Solutions! This is a company in Pelham, Ga. (formerly known as Quality Time of America) and only became accredited with the BB on 9-30-10, which was 16 months after I signed a contract with them. This company contracts with furniture stores for a "lease-to-own" program. Ashley never explained this to me, but I signed the contract on 5-27-09. I had initially paid Ashley (located at 2401 Interstate Drive, Opelika, AL. 36801) 169.94 up-front for a furniture delivery fee (69.99) and a 5-year Guardsman Furniture Protection Plan ( 99.95), thinking that those fees were paid for up-front.
Not so! Ashley declared this 169.94 to Okinus as a taxable "down payment"....which became the first of my 19 payments to Okinus, which began July 1, 2009. The total price on my Okinus contract was 2692.20. plus "applicable taxes". They were deducting 167.00 from my checking account each month. The payoff date would have been 12-4-10. However, as of 10-4-10, I had already paid 3043.94. The price of the furniture was 1151.73. Our state tax is 8%. As of 10-4-10, I had paid 351.74 in taxes. I made repeated calls to Okinus beginning in early October. I was treated like dirt, repeatedly asked to talk to Mgr. Lisa Caraway (always denied), laughed at, and had to call over and over. Guess what? Okinus voluntarily suspended my last two months of payments because they knew they had overcharged me!! I received a pay-off letter pre-dated 10-11-10 signed by Lisa Caraway. "Brittany" (conveniently still on maternity leave) is the one who drew up the contract. I spoke with "Brian" who repeatedly said, "You still owe us two more payments. Can I get your credit card number?" I was repeatedly transferred to him. He eventually said, "We'll send you your payoff letter if you stop calling us". Finally spoke to "Leon" (a part owner?) who was the only one at Okinus to admit that I had been overcharged. My correspondence with Okinus was a nightmare! But, there's a reason my last two payments to Okinus were voluntarily stopped.
I have my pay-off letter, and will never do business with Ashley or Okinus again. Ever!
If there is a "reply" to my post from Okinus, (or Ashley) I will state right now that they're just trying to cover their you-know-whats for making a huge mistake! I have documentation, and a $14.00 check from Ashley for the taxes I should have been allowed to pay for a delivery fee and a Guardsman 5-year furniture protection plan which I paid for on 5-27-09. The Alabama State Tax Commission will be receiving a copy of this check, which is illegal, since Ashley kept my untaxed 169.94, but referred this to Okinus as a "down payment". Okinus then proceeded to tax me on this "down payment"!
There's also a reason why Okinus just became accredited by the BBB on 9-30-10, when everyone I've talked to in that company says they've "been in business for a couple of years".
If Okinus replies to this, I will guarantee that they will be making excuses. It would be nice to have a written apology!
3 Updates & Rebuttals
Miguel
Jacksonville,North Carolina,
USA
Read the contract
#4Consumer Suggestion
Mon, January 25, 2016
I have used okinus twice now. The key to doing so without paying triple you original balance is to pay it off early. The contract tells you how many months and how much you will pay each month. Use a calculator, months X payment amount, will give you the total amount your going to pay. They do a 90 day same as cash and if you can do that it's great.
Making extra payments also helps because that all goes to the principle and will take off months of payments. People are complaining about something that was in front of them in black and white. The biggest mistake you can make is not reading the contract first before signing it. They report to the credit bureaus. For someone who has bad credit and needs open accounts to raise their credit okinus is great. My credit was really bad and only okinus would finance my purchase. I will be using them again very soon for just that reason.
Ataylor
Indianapolis,Indiana,
Also ripped off by this company
#4Consumer Comment
Sun, July 20, 2014
I too have submitted a complaint against this company and am currently reveiwing all applicable laws in my state. I too was misled by the company where I purchased my furniture from and was charged the same taxes, fees, excessively high interest rates, and "down payment". Okinus seems to always apologize for the consumers negative experience by throwing blame back on the consumer. This is a horrible company and I am in the process of reporting every furniture store who deals with them in my city to the BBB as well as write against them on Rip Off report. I am starting a petition on Change.org against Okinus and urging Furniture stores to stop using this company for consumer financing. Okinus practices usary and poor, poor customer service. I have already began interview people in my town who have dealt with Okinus and not one has anything positive to say of this company and all are willing to be a part of my petition to stop these bad people!
Got robbed?
Birmingham,Alabama,
U.S.A.
Okinus Customers
#4REBUTTAL Owner of company
Fri, November 19, 2010
Okinus wishes we could have made this customer happy. She was charged exactly according to her contract, and she paid the same charges and taxes as every other customer. On the Lease the sales tax is charged per payment, not on the cash price of the furniture. Okinus prides itself on customer service, and we train daily to provide to achieve high customer satisfaction. We would like to have every customer satisfied; however, we know it is impossible to have 100% of customers happy all the time. Okinus has a lot of satisfied customers who are glad we exist and glad that Okinus is willing to help people who currently have credit problems. We are grateful for our customers and look forward to helping them for as long as they need us.