Carolynn
Alpharetta,#2Author of original report
Tue, December 19, 2006
A few things have changed since I filed my initial report. Lease Finance Group terminated my lease which I am very grateful for, thanks to the office of the IL State Attorney General. I was also contacted by Mr. Phil Beniamino of Merchant Lynx Services in an effort to get the situation resolved. I spoke with him at length about the situation and he was very apologetic and eager to get the situation resolved. He has refunded the $350.00 fee deducted by Ipayment and the $10/mth fee which he said should have been waived plus more. He also offered to pay off the lease with Lease Finance Group. He was very professional in his effort to get everythig resolved and I appeciated his willingness to get it resolved at whatever cost. He stated he was sorry if I felt like i was misled in any way and that was not his intention. In fairness to him and his company I would like to apologize for my harsh statements in my previous reports, I was very angry at the time and it was not my intention to tarnish his reputation or his company's reputation. He stepped up to the plate and was very understanding of my point of view and i appreciate everything he has done to rectify the situation. Thanks to everyone for their wonderful suggestions and to Rip off report for allowing me to voice my situation as well as update it. I am thrilled that everything worked out amicably. Thank You!!!!
Carolynn
Alpharetta,#3Author of original report
Mon, November 06, 2006
I got my second response from the BBB and of course LFG stated they are sticking to their guns. They will not terminate the lease however they would offer me a 15% discount where i would have to pay them $800.00 for the equipment that i no longer have in my possession. I hope they are not holding their breath for the $800.00. I file with the Chicago Il Attornery General's office. I am awaiting a response from them. Just when i thought it couldn't get any worse I check my bank account a couple days ago and there is a cancellation fee of $350.00 deducted from my account by Ipayment the credit card processing company. I call them and they say I signed a two year contract with them and if i closed my acount with in those 2 years I would be charged this fee. Apparently this was disclosed in an 8 page agreement that Mr. Beniamino of Merchant Lynx Services of course failed too give me or tell me about. The only pages I saw were page 1 and 2, which was the application for I payment. Previously i said i signed that Ipayment contract aware of everything on it....I take that back. i am totally FED UP.....
Susan
Hayward,#4Consumer Suggestion
Fri, October 20, 2006
I received a letter from LFG today stating that they will release me from any future obligations under the lease agreement!!!! Success!!! Thanks to this website and those who have choosen to share their story and strategies. My story is posted on this website so read a little bit through the initial reports in order to find out details of my situation. Anyhow, here is how I was able to fight and succeed in winning... After I found out (about 10 days after receiving the cc machine in the mail) that I had been deceived by Diana Moya of NPMG - the credit card processing company and that I had been tricked into a 60-month non-cancellable lease with LFG, I decided to follow the advice of other victims who had posted on this website.... 1.) Called my bank which LFG was debiting from and stopped payment immediately from any LFG withdrawal attempts. Made sure to contact our current merchant services company and warned them of NPMG's pontential attempt to switch over our service. We then closed our bank account and reopened another one. 2.) Repackaged the credit card machine and sent back to LFG with UPS certification. 3.) Wrote and called both NPMG and LFG to request cancellation on accounts and also to give them a chance to respond. 4.) Wrote letters to BBB of AZ, CA, Chicago - IL; Attorney General of AZ, CA and IL and also the FTC The BBBs attempts were fruitless. However, the Attorney General of IL (Lisa Madigan) was able to get LFG to terminate our lease. Thank you Thank you to all those who made such effective suggestions and for those who are still going through this...keep on fighting. PERSISTENCE PAYS...Don't let these fradulant companies win.
Susan
Hayward,#5Consumer Suggestion
Fri, October 20, 2006
I received a letter from LFG today stating that they will release me from any future obligations under the lease agreement!!!! Success!!! Thanks to this website and those who have choosen to share their story and strategies. My story is posted on this website so read a little bit through the initial reports in order to find out details of my situation. Anyhow, here is how I was able to fight and succeed in winning... After I found out (about 10 days after receiving the cc machine in the mail) that I had been deceived by Diana Moya of NPMG - the credit card processing company and that I had been tricked into a 60-month non-cancellable lease with LFG, I decided to follow the advice of other victims who had posted on this website.... 1.) Called my bank which LFG was debiting from and stopped payment immediately from any LFG withdrawal attempts. Made sure to contact our current merchant services company and warned them of NPMG's pontential attempt to switch over our service. We then closed our bank account and reopened another one. 2.) Repackaged the credit card machine and sent back to LFG with UPS certification. 3.) Wrote and called both NPMG and LFG to request cancellation on accounts and also to give them a chance to respond. 4.) Wrote letters to BBB of AZ, CA, Chicago - IL; Attorney General of AZ, CA and IL and also the FTC The BBBs attempts were fruitless. However, the Attorney General of IL (Lisa Madigan) was able to get LFG to terminate our lease. Thank you Thank you to all those who made such effective suggestions and for those who are still going through this...keep on fighting. PERSISTENCE PAYS...Don't let these fradulant companies win.
Carolynn
Alpharetta,#6Author of original report
Wed, October 18, 2006
I filed a report with the BBB if IL and my Local BBB. I got a response from BBB of IL from Lease Finance Group and basically they said I signed the contract and I am obligated to pay them for the duration of the contract. They also stated I have provided them no proof that I obtained insurance on the CC machine, which obviously was never disclosed to me by the sales rep. Merchant Lynx Services is debiting my account for this insurance on the machine which I have retured to LFG ad they acknowledged that I have returned it. They also said I made a verbal verification over the phone with one of their reps on 06/27/2006 to say I received the machine and that it was installed. Which is a lie I never spoke to anyone from LFG on that date. The only time I ever spoke to anyone from LFG was on 09/20/2006 when I was given their number by Merchant Lynx Services to call to find out where to send the CC machine. Apparently whom ever I supposedly spoke to on 06/27/2006 signed the contract saying theyy spoke to me and I verbal verified everything on the contract....I have no record of this call. I have sent the BBB a copy of my phone records for that day...there was no call from LFG ever. So who ever signed the contract did not sign it truthfully...but I don't expect any better from them. With all this said and done I rejected their response and am still waiting for a response back from them. I haven't gotten a respose from my local BBB in regards to the report I filed on Merchant Lynx Services....I probably will not receive one but I will file a report with my local attorney General about them as well as the attorney general of chicago about LFG and the FTC...they all need to be put out of business for their shady business pratices.
Carolynn
Alpharetta,#7Author of original report
Wed, October 18, 2006
I filed a report with the BBB if IL and my Local BBB. I got a response from BBB of IL from Lease Finance Group and basically they said I signed the contract and I am obligated to pay them for the duration of the contract. They also stated I have provided them no proof that I obtained insurance on the CC machine, which obviously was never disclosed to me by the sales rep. Merchant Lynx Services is debiting my account for this insurance on the machine which I have retured to LFG ad they acknowledged that I have returned it. They also said I made a verbal verification over the phone with one of their reps on 06/27/2006 to say I received the machine and that it was installed. Which is a lie I never spoke to anyone from LFG on that date. The only time I ever spoke to anyone from LFG was on 09/20/2006 when I was given their number by Merchant Lynx Services to call to find out where to send the CC machine. Apparently whom ever I supposedly spoke to on 06/27/2006 signed the contract saying theyy spoke to me and I verbal verified everything on the contract....I have no record of this call. I have sent the BBB a copy of my phone records for that day...there was no call from LFG ever. So who ever signed the contract did not sign it truthfully...but I don't expect any better from them. With all this said and done I rejected their response and am still waiting for a response back from them. I haven't gotten a respose from my local BBB in regards to the report I filed on Merchant Lynx Services....I probably will not receive one but I will file a report with my local attorney General about them as well as the attorney general of chicago about LFG and the FTC...they all need to be put out of business for their shady business pratices.
Susan
Hayward,#8Consumer Comment
Mon, October 16, 2006
I received a response from my initial complaint against LFG from Chicago, IL's BBB. LFG stated that they did not sell us the machine, that the credit card processing company did not represent them...that they had our signature on the contract so they will not terminate our lease even though the machine is in their posession. I sent a rebuttal to that response and according to the BBB, LFG is sticking by their response. I am not awaiting the response from the Attorney General of IL.
Susan
Hayward,#9Consumer Suggestion
Tue, October 03, 2006
Except that I specifically asked the rep from the credit card processing company that solicited us (NPMG - Diana Moya) whether the "$99.00 upgrade fee" was a flat one-time fee and also whether we could cancel at anytime and with no penalties. She assured me that the fee was a one-time flat fee and I could cancel at ANYTIME with NO PENALTIES. Just as in your case, I found out LATER after I received a letter from Lease Finance Group as well as reviewing the COPY of the "lease" that I LATER received with my machine...that I was locked into a 60 months, $99.00 per month "lease." I called NPMG and they stated that they could terminate my lease with Lease Finance Group as long as I kept my service with them. I rejected that reponse and called LFG. Of course their response was scripted stating that they had our signature on the lease and that our lease could not be cancelled. I have written to the Better Business Bureau of Arizona, Illinois. The Attorney Generals of AZ and IL....and also the FTC. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THAT YOU DO THE SAME. I closed my bank account that they are debiting from and have sent back the machine with UPS certification. The more we write...the stronger our case will be against these deceptive companies. I have received a blanket response from LFG through the BBB of IL. I have rejected their response and am still waiting on the Attorney General or IL. LFP expects me to remain paying the lease despite the fradulant way the lease was obtained and the fact that we returned the machine less than a month of after receiving it. WRITE ALL OF THE ORGANIZATIONS that can possibly help cosumers like us. And DON'T STOP until you get a satisfactory response. Good luck. I will keep you all updated.