In I took bids to finance my Broadcast video camera and other gear. I had great credit (tier 1) and had done my previous 3 deals with banks, so that was the way I was leaning, but a salesman from Genesis had been calling me for two years and I gave him a shot.
I told him that I had a bid from my bank and he had to beat it. I also told him I did not want to pay for the gear a second time at the end of the lease, and that I wanted a $1 dollar buyout at the end. He told me they couldn't do that, but they could write a letter that gave me the uncontested right to name the Fair Market Value at the end of the lease myself. They gave this letter.
I signed the lease agreement in April and paid first and last month ($3,641.12). The equipment was delivered in June and July and Genesis assessed an "interim rent" payment for August. I made my first scheduled payments in September.
In February of this year I contacted Erik to ask about lease end. I then sent a certified letter telling them I would end the lease after my scheduled payments and make my buyout per our contract and letter of agreement. They immediately told me I was too late and they were automatically renewing the lease for another year (about $22,000). I then laid out a full legal argument, point by point, as follows:
1. The contract does not state the buyout price, but your letter unequivocally gives me the power to determine that price. The FMV buyout price is $10.00.
2. Clause 14 of the contract states that if the buyout price is less than $101.00, I do not have to notify you of my intent to purchase the equipment at the end of the original lease.
3. There is room for reasonable confusion as to the starting and ending dates of the lease, since my original signing was on April 28, but Greg Lieke's responses are dated June 22 and July 10, and my notification letter from United Capitol is dated July 21. My reading is that the first month of the lease was August. That would be consistent with my first scheduled payment being September. That would mean my February 14 letter to you gave you five and a half months notice.
4. Nowhere in the contract or supporting documents does Genesis provide a clear delineation of the dates or provide a deadline for notification.
5. Genesis never contacted me to inform or remind me of these dates or to ask me if I intended to purchase the equipment at lease end.
6. The very existence of the letter giving me the power to name the buyout price is clear indication of my intent to buy the equipment at lease end, and clear indication of your knowledge of my intent.
I am going to continue to make my lease payments in a timely manner, as I have for nearly 5 years. I demand that you send me clear written notice of end of lease date, and on that date I will send $10.00 to purchase the equipment I have paid for. I expect Genesis to step up to the plate and play fair so that we may conclude our business arrangements as originally agreed.
Sincerely,
Jay
Genesis never responded to a single part of the letter.in fact, their only response has been a single sentence insistence that I owe them money. They did at one time say on the phone (they never put anything in writing) that they were backing off the automatic renewal charges because I had been so close, but that I still owed them the Fair Market Value on the equipment - about $8,000. I said no way (I'll be happy to provide you with copies of the letter they gave me in 2000 to get my business - plus the contract).
In May, despite the fact that I had not even completed my 58 scheduled payments to Manifest and GE Capitol (an ok company that inherited the United Capitol part of the lease), Genesis sent me an unexplained invoice for a JUNE 1 payment. This would have meant a DOUBLE payment in June, two full months before the end of the lease. On JUNE 2, I got a call from a guy named Hunter at Genesis, inquiring about my LATE PAYMENT. On JUNE 3, Genesis sent out a new invoice for a July payment plus LATE FEES FOR THE JUNE 1st payment.
Now these guys call me every day, sometimes 6 times a day, even though I have expressly told them several times to stop calling and put anything they have to say in writing.
I contend that I have paid these guys the nearly $110,000 plus dollars we agreed on 5 years ago. I paid every payment on time and sent them the FMV payment of $10 as allowed by the letter they gave me to get my business.
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