Complaint Review: WHY NOT LEASE IT - Manchester New Hampshire

This is my first experience leasing an electronic or anything else for that matter.  I decided to purchase a television from Sears with their leasing program called “WHY NOT LEASE IT” after I read about them over the internet.  I called a Sears associate for more information and she explained how the leasing processed worked.  After thinking about it I decided it seemed like the sensible thing to do this time around rather than fork out the whole dollar amount for the television I could do monthly payments and then buy out at the end of my lease period.

In the beginning everything was going fine with the lease agreement.  After the initial installment paid at the store, WHY NOT LEASE IT charged me the agreed amount of $80 at the end of each month.  For the first three months there was no problem, but at the end of the 4^th month is when it all changed.

On the 5^th of November, I was contacted by an employee from “WHY NOT LEASE IT” stating that the previous attempts to collect the monthly payment for October had failed.  I was surprised because there was absolutely no reason the payment would have been declined.  It should have processed successfully like the previous 4 payments.  I had looked at the online bank statement prior to going outside to work that same morning and saw that the payment seemed to be going through as scheduled. 

 I acknowledged the associates statement and replied to him that prior to making another payment for the monthly $80 dollars and the additional $25 return fee I wanted to verify his claim on my online bank statement, but he reassured me that there was no successful payment for the month of October.  So I accepted that there might have been an error on my banks part.  So I scheduled the payment moments later with the WHY NOT LEASE IT employee.

Afterwards I went online to double check what had happened, and I discovered that for the month of October WHY NOT LEASE IT had overcharged my account by $165 dollars not including the first successful payment made to them.   The overall charge for the month of October was $265, which included 3 monthly payments of $80 and return fee of $25.

Moments later I’m on the phone contacting “WHY NOT LEASE IT” to inform them about the overcharges made to my account.  In the beginning everything seemed ethical and professional like any other organization I have ever dealt with.  The WHY NOT LEASE IT employee took my claim into account or at least it appeared that way.  He told me I just needed to fax my bank statement to their customer service office.  He continued on telling me what information needed to be on the fax so that they could find fax and link it to my account. 

I did as instructed.  I put all the necessary information pertaining to my account on the fax cover page and faxed everything to their customer service fax.   I contacted WHY NOT LEASE IT the next Monday to get confirmation that they received the fax.  The associate told me that they had not received the fax pertaining to my bank statement. 

At this point I’m still not concerned about the ethics of this company.  It was Friday when I had my girlfriend fax them the information.  I was in the middle of working, so I couldn’t fax them the information personally.  I contacted my girlfriend and had her resend the fax to the WHY NOT LEASE IT customer service offices.   Then I called back as instructed about fifteen to twenty minutes later only to find out that they had not received my fax.  This happened three more times before I finally got verbal confirmation that they received my fax.  The associate continued to say that it would take a period of 7 to 10 days for them to review my information and that then they would refund the overcharged amount of $165.  He also pointed out that I would receive emails concerning this case, which I never received. Communication is not on their agenda.

After all the lost faxes and conflicting stories I received from each individual I spoke to while contacting WHY NOT LEASE IT, I  decided to check with the BBB (Better Business Bureau) web site regarding this business practices and discovered some serious red flags concerning unethical practices.

If I had only researched WHY NOT LEASE IT with Better Business Bureau prior to making this business transaction, I would have steered clear from engaging in any business transactions with this company.  But there is no turning back now I’m already invested nearly $700 dollars on this TV that cost less than $500. 

Once the allotted time passed I contacted WHY NOT LEASE IT looking to get an update on my refund and was once again was told that they had not received my fax.  I refuted his claim and assured him I had gotten verbal confirmation that they had received my fax.  He rechecked his information and had no choice but to yield to that fact after finding the fax information.  I also pointed out that I have yet to receive any email regarding my case, and he did nothing to explain that fact.  But he told me it would another week before the reviewed my information.

Now on the 1^st of December, I contacted WHY NOT LEASE IT to get another update on my refund and the employee tells me I’ll get my refund at the end of the week. By this time I’m no longer amused by this devious company’s unethical practices.   But I have no choice but to wait until the end of this week.

As expected by the end of the week there is no refund and now I have no choice but to wait until Monday before I can contact them again.  The coming Monday contact WHY NOT LEASE IT only to find out that the refund has been denied.  At this point I’m a bit upset and begin saying some things I rarely say to anyone.  I really try to deal with problems in respectful and professional manner but at this point they have wasted enormous amounts of my time in addition to the theft of $165.  I say theft because the money was paid to them from my bank account and WHY NOT LEASE IT does not acknowledge that the received the payments.

After talking to the supervisor, I find myself resending the fax information, which includes not only my bank statement but a payment history directly from the WHY NOT LEASE TI.COM web site.  The payment history from WHY NOT LEASE IT shows three decisive points against this organization shady behavior.

 The first point substantiates what WHY NOT LEASE IT stated to me the first time they contacted me.  The payment history from WHY NOT LEASE IT shows that the first payment got declined as they had previously stated. However, my bank statement plainly shows that that was not the case proving that there must be glitch in there system. My payment was processed successfully and paid in full from my account.

The second payment however shows a very different story.  On the WHY NOT LEASE IT payment history, it shows that it was processed successfully without any problems and that it was paid in full.  Yet WHY NOT LEASE IT contacted me claiming that they had not received my payment and scheduled a third payment, which included the monthly payment and a return fee totaling $105.

 Consumer beware a disturbing factor about this company is that there seems to be two entities collecting the payments.  After carefully looking at my bank statement, I discovered that there are two entities collecting the payments, which might explain the variation in stories I received each time I contacted WHY NOT LEASE IT. Some of the payment withdrawals are made by “WHY NOT LEASE IT” and others are withdrawn by “WHY NOT LEASEING LLC”.  This company seems to run a stray from good customer service. 

In hindsight, I come to learn the value of an educated business transaction.  Before doing business with any other company or organization, I’ll first use the power at my disposal such as the Better Business Bureau web site and other resources available online.

I have never filed a complaint before, but I felt compelled to inform consumers so that they could better protect themselves.  While researching the Better business bureau, I discovered many red flags concerning this business.  Good customer service is not at the top of their list. 

If you choose to use their leasing program, be sure to read the lease agreement thoroughly and get to know your rights.  The lease agreement clearly states that at the end of your lease agreement you have the 3 options.  The 1^st is to set up another lease term, which I believe happens automatically without consent from what I have read online.  The 2^nd option is to return the item to WHY NOT LEASE IT, which is bit more complicated because you have to mail the item to them rather than return it to the store of purchase.  The third is the buyout option.  This option will not occur unless the buyer requests it.   

 As the consumer you should also be informed that WHY NOT LEASE IT will not contact you when the end of your lease agreement comes to fruition.  They’ll be happy to continue collecting your hard earned money until you the consumer comes to his sense about his options regarding the merchandise.

 On the Better Business Bureau there is an alert for this company about its business practices! There are over 350 complaints against this company regarding billing and collection practices and more.

As consumer I understand that you shouldn’t always believe what you see or read, but you have the ability to research these claims.  You don’t have to take my word for it.  Simply go to the BBB and look for yourselves about WHY NOT LEASE IT business practices.  The credit score for WHY NOT LEASE IT is a D+, which demonstrates its devotion to its customers.

I have shared my story and informed you the consumers a little about the practices of this unethical business called WHY NOT LEASE IT or WHY NOT LEASEING LLC with the hopes that other will not have to suffer may fate as well.  Now you as the consumer have the choice whether get in bed with this organization (metaphorically speacking) or avoid it altogether to be one less victim.