Complaint Review: Lease Finance Group LLC. - Chicago Illinois

My husband got deceived into signing a contract with this company for a POS machine lease. As long as they had access to his business account and could draft money out whenever they pleased we were not aware of a problem. Except for the fact that we never received a copy of the contract, no payment booklet or invoices were sent to notify of payments received or owed, and no contact number given to him from the very beginning.

When the business went south and closed so did the business account. Since he had no number to call them they found a way to contact him once the account was closed. It was then he was notified that it was a non-cancelable lease and the only way out at that time was to pay $1000. Imagine our suprise.

So he had no business and still owed for something he was not using. He was working a normal job and work became slow. Then came the layoff causing our income to decrease to the point that we paid what we had to. Since this company did not provide food and shelter we did not pay them for a few months. We had discovered that they were all over the ripoff report website plus numerous others and panicked.

We were involved with a company that has ripped small business owners off left and right! So I requested a copy of the contract. After having read it we came to the conclusion that there was no way he would have signed this horrendous piece of literature had he known what it said. The salesman said he went over everything on it so naturally my husband trusted him.

Obviously he had not disclosed all that was hidden in this contract.The final page is really great cause it is smudged and you may need a magnifying glass to read small words that are actually legible. It was unreal. I asked a couple times for this contract.

My debit card was given to draft what my husband thought was a one time payment. The unauthorized drafting started I think in July/August. I did not want my debit card drafted whenever and however much they wanted to take; especially considering the reports I read about how different amounts were taken and drafts more than once a month occured with many people involved with this company.

I canceled my card. I didn't know what to do. Pay or not pay this company. My husband was too busy working to deal with this mess so I had to take over. Though my name is not on this contract I am the one dealing with it.

We figured the right thing to do was just pay the set amount monthly until it is over in a couple of years, so starting in January 2009 we paid the full amount on the invoice. The collection calls kept coming and two confirmation notices plus an invoice were received all on the same day around Jan 26th. We had sent the payment off Jan 6 via money order as I wanted nothing sent to them with an account number on it.

As you can imagine trust was no longer an option. Still came the calls and the letters. They claimed we were a month behind and this confused me cause I thought that we paid the full amount owed and since no due date was on the invoices I figured that it must not matter when they received payment. However I found out later that I sent it way before the Jan 30th due date and that all payments were due the 30th of each month. Only recently has the due date mysteriously appeared on the invoices.

I sent the payment I thought we owed and continued to get calls saying we were behind. I would call and ask how much would bring us up to date and was told a certain amount. I would send that amount and then of course the calls started back up. Calls came weekly about us being behind along with the lovely two to four letters in the mail on the same day.

I began to see a pattern. I asked one of the collection people what was going on and she said "I can't answer that for you". Not a suprise; no one ever knows what they are talking about at LFG when you call to straighten things out. We simply wanted to get caught up and pay what we owed monthly but that was not good enough for them.

I began to think that maybe this would not go away even after the lease was up. They have even recently (May 6, 2009) gone back to the debit card cancelation and say something like "well back in August 2008 the draft was denied". My response: Okay, well it is May of 2009 and the payments are being made on time. Why do they go back to August 2008 when we have been paying since January the amount we are told we owe? Why does one person say we are caught up and another say you are two months behind?

As of May 6, 2009 we are now miraculously 2 months behind though they have received the payments and we have not stopped paying on time the amounts we are told we owe. They have shown me that we weren't meant to get caught up as far as they are concerned. Customer service is no help at all. I honestly think they play dumb on purpose and are very, very shady. Most don't even want to tell you their names.

How many companies hound you when you are showing a willingness to pay? In actuality we paid the amounts that they stated over the phone that would "catch us up." This is monthly that I ask, they tell me an amount which is usually less than the amounts on the invoices. They, time after time, say this amount will bring you up to date not the amount on the invoice.

For example you may owe $50 monthly but the invoice may say $100 with a past due payment of $50. Yet on the phone $50 will bring you up to date not the $100 mentioned on the invoice. After I confirm what we owe and send the payment the phone calls start all over again and more invoices stating we are past due.

Further more they confuse me with these numerous "confirmation notices" that say this is a confirmation notice stating that you promise to pay such and such amount.They send these when we have been paying at least that much,on time.Why even bother to send "confirmation letters" if they are going to hound you weekly for the "past due payment." The fact that I am paying any amount shows that I am doing what most companies would consider right. I am tired of the harassment.

I have a small problem paying a set amount monthly for two more years for something my husband doesn't use just because he didn't read the contract. I could handle that a little. He should have read it, however, I have a huge problem with them drafting money out of my account at will, dishonest with me about amounts that I owe, harassing me weekly with numerous phones calls and letters monthly, overcharging for something we don't use and have sent back, being rude to me when I ask for answers, being unable to answer me as to why problems are not being fixed, dealing deceitfully with us in the first place.

LFG's response to my complaint was that we pay $900 and return the equipment with a bunch of bull defending themselves as having a right to the kind of harassment they have dealt us and probably numerous others; hiding behind their crooked contracts, which, by the way, do not say anything about harassing the lessee until they have account numbers or wearying people into submission to their bogus buyout (which is my opinion as to what is really going on).

I have read and been told that the FTC doesn't even tolerate companies to deal this kind of harassment. Especially when the attempt to make things right has been made on the part of the consumer.

I have tried and now I'm done. Any advice from anyone who has successfully terminated their contract with LFG is welcome.

Upset

Northern, Louisiana

U.S.A.