Genesis Commercial Capitol
Serial Ripoff Artists

The following is a report I filed a couple of years ago. Since then I have been locked in a legal battle with these crooks.in the meantime I have been contacted by a number of other small businesses that were victimized by these guys in the exact same way. It is their M.O. For doing business. Most of these people have settled rather than fight Genesis in California. Genesis counts on this and makes each victim sign a non-disclosure as part of the settlement so they can't let other businesses know about the danger of working with these charlatans.

My lawyer in California is representing several other people who have been victimized by the predatory tactics of Genesis Commercial Capitol. We are working towards a class action lawsuit. If these guys have tried to steamroller you, don't let them get away with it. Make your report here.

Here is a recap of my battle with Genesis Commercial Capitol.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. His bid was similar to the bank, and because the lease meant that the loan wouldn't show up on my credit reports, I went with Genesis.

I signed the lease agreement in April and paid first and last month ($3,641.12). The equipment was delivered in July and Genesis assessed an "interim rent" payment, which I now realize means I paid 61 payments - another rip-off outside the terms of the contract. I made my first scheduled payments in September to the two leasing companies that Genesis farmed me out to - Manifest Leasing (another customer unfriendly company) and United Capitol (a good company).

In February of this year I contacted Eric 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:

Dear Eric,

As it appears Genesis is going to try dirty tricks against a good and loyal customer, and as you have ignored my 2-14-05 written and previous oral requests for clarification on the starting and ending dates of Lease #s 01004-01 and 01004-02, this letter will outline my arguments and present written demand for timely response.

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 reponses 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.

For you to claim that the lease automatically renews is disingenuous. A person or persons at Genesis makes the decision to act in good faith or to join the likes of Enron as dirty corporate players. The lawyer you had call me last week tried to intimidate me into making an offer to get you off my back. He sleazily inferred that if I were to buy more equipment and use Genesis for financing again, this issue would go away.

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 xxxx

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.

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. It's like used car salesmen who want to get you in the back room and negotiate with the sales manager.

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.

Company: Genesis Commercial Capitol
Country: USA
State: California
City: Irvine
Address: 17910 Skypark Circle, Ste 105

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