Complaint Review: Rita Gerney

Reasons how not to let your dreams cloud your judgment of the Ethics of people you do business with.

Facts 1-7

1. On 4/1/12 I entered into a contract with Ed and Rita Gerney address listed in Corning, California 96021, into a lease purchase agreement on a 2005 Holiday Rambler Ambassador Class A RV for 139,000 dollars.

3. Paid the $7000 security deposit to Rita and Ed Gerney per agreement.

4. Paid the $14,500 monthly to Rita and Ed Gerney per agreement.

5. Paid The DMV Registration Renewal Fees on the RV per agreement.

5. I never has physical possession or use of the RV. 

6. On 9/28/2012 Rita and Ed Gurney declared me in default of said contract with all my applied monies (approx. $15,000.00) to be forfeited to them.

7. Lost approx $15,000.00 thousand dollars to Ed and Rita Gerney ($7000.00 security deposit plus $7000.00 in payments over 5 months) This loss totally devastated my family savings and has caused serious collateral effects on my family's well being.

Keep in mind I never touched the RV. Never got within 2000 miles of it's location in the Phoenix Arizona location. 

I believe I am a victim predatory financial opportunism. Conveniently not refunding a $7000.00 security deposit and while having the advantage of trusting individual like me of good faith in satisfying their $1450.00 monthly bank lien-ed RV payment. It appears to their benefit in getting their RV paid off by the financial earnings of someone else while playing on their hopes and dreams.

Rita and Ed Gerney told me, before we entered into the contract, that the reason the RV was in Arizona as opposed to their home in Northern California was because they had loaned it to a friend in Arizona and later they later stored it on an RV lot. I believe this now to be a total misrepresentation on their behalf. At the time a red flag did go up with me over this. It seemed odd that anyone with a $200,000 dollar investment would not take such property into their watchful possession and rack up monthly rental lot fees where it was for all practical purposes unattended. I was subsequently told by a source the real circumstances of why it was sitting for months in the RV Lot in Arizona. They had previously gone into a lease purchase with an individual down there and declared him in default and repossessed it. It appears that Instead of absorbing the cost of transporting back to their home in Northern California Ed and Rita Gerney shouldered the cost on to the next willing lease purchaser of the ongoing storage fees. As the storage fees mounted they declared me in default. They also claimed that the RV suffered a broken window while in storage and I was liable for that. To their advantage they did not even have to repossess it from me because I never had it. They just declared that all monies paid to them by me thus far were theirs ( Fifteen thousand dollars)

A few months ago I became suspicious when I saw the RV advertised for sale on other websites during the six months I was under contract with Ed and Rita Gerney. After doing some research I realized that these solicitations date back to 2008. Coincidentally as well as fatefully, I found had contact with Ed on an RV message board site back at that time. As fate would have it I did not realize that this was the individual that I would eventually lose $15,000 dollars to. Here is the link from 2008 
http://www.rv-coach.com/current_category.57/Forum.123543/forum_thread.html

I suspect Rita and Ed Gerney will defend themselves by saying I defaulted on their interpretation of a legal contract because of a few payments that were ten days past due, unpaid storage fees and the broken window justify them in not returning several thousand dollars to me, but they cannot deny I always paid and never gave me any indication or ultimatum they would take such action until they abruptly declared default resulting in a 15,000.00 loss for an RV I never had use of, while always conveniently and willingly accepting my payments late or not late. They also cannot deny they took possession of and have not returned any portion of my $15,000.00 of my hard earned money. Their only defense rest on legal technicality and not ethical.

Of course, since the loss of my $15,000.00 Rita Gerney or Ed Gerney will not respond to any of my outreaches through any medium. Upon further research in attempting trying to create some form of ethical resolution in this unsuccessful process to reach them, I found three business listed at same address that is on the RV lease purchase agreement in Corning, California. They are: Rita's Tax Service, Corning California (Tax preparation, accounting and notary services), Gerneys Landscape and Maintenance, Corning California and Eddieg Marketing, Corning California.

It appears they strung me along according to their convenience using my money and then seized the opportunity to default me for an RV that I never came within within 2000 miles of me. The last words Rita Gerney said to me after telling me that she would not not return any of my $15,000.00 dollars was, Hey, what's the big deal, it's just business. Ed Gerney then got on the phone, and before abruptly hanging up on me, said have a nice life Bill.

To put the loss in perspective this was about three and a half months earnings working 16 hour days. I would ask the Gerney's to examine their conscience and ask themselves how they would explain and absorb that loss at the expense of their dependent children if the tables were turned.