I could not believe there are so many complaints already filed against Leaders in usacomplaints.com. I am one of the many victims of Leaders.
I am a merchant with leaders and am very unsatisfied with the management team and the company's excess fees charge on my account.
I called Leaders yesterday (3/17/09) at around 3:45pm to discuss the excess fee charges such as the annual fee, customer service fee, minimum discount, batch header fee, dues & assessments fee & the overwhelming credit card charges that they put under the non-qualified rate. When I first using Leaders, I had already experienced some untruthful charges on my account. For instance, the rates that the agent promised me on the phone was different than the rates were applied to my account, I had to call for couple of months to resolve the situation with different people. Since I had an unpleasant experience in the past, I decided to talk to a manager directly instead of a customer service associate, I thought I would receive a better attitude and respond and the issue would resolve sooner.
The customer service associate transferred me to the customer cares, and a person named Keith B. (Steve B?) picked up the phone and told me that he was the manager. First, I told him that I would like to get a refund of the $99 annual fee because it was a mis-charge to my account since I never initial on my agreement to accept American Express card for the purchase of goods and/or services. Second, I told him that I would like to request a refund for all the overcharging customer service fees from October to the present billing cycle cause I never agree to enroll into any customer care program. There was never a customer service fee charged to my account till October and was not sure why suddenly I would get extra charge? Third, I also questioned him about the minimum discount and he told me that there was no minimum discount in my account, therefore, I also requested a refund of all the overcharged minimum discount fees. Since he was very impatience with my request, I could not even go further to disucss some other disputes that I had with my account.
As I stated before, the reason why I wanted to talk to a manager was because I thought that a manager in such a sizeable company like Leaders, would have a very high level of professionalism and proficiency in dealing with customers. Out of my astonishment, I was completely dissatisfied with the customer service I received today from Leaders.
The respond from manager Keith was that he would not give me the refund of $99 but he would reduce the non-qualified discount rate to 3.30% from 3.79% and to reduce the visa/master card charge from 0.35 to 0.28 and 0.21 to 0.18. He would cancel the annual fee charge from now on and only refund one month of customer service charge to my account. I told him that I did not authorize the annual fee nor the customer service charge, and I should not be the one responsible for the overcharge on my account. Manager Keith never apologize for the company's mistake nor his terrible attitude; on the other hand, he told me that everyone called and wanted a refund and I was too demanding and may be I just wanted their service for free! I was completely in disbelief when I heard how he responded to me. Not one company I have ever encounter such an insincere, incompetent, ill-mannered and arrogant manager! I continuously told him that I need the refund of the annual fee, all the customer service fee and the minimum discount refund to my account.
He asked me why I want so much refund? I was shocked again by his question. First of all, if Leaders never overcharge any excess fees to my account, I would not have to spend my precious time and energy talking to such an unkind and inconsiderable person to begin with. Those were my hard-earned money and there was no reason why it should be discarded in all the unnecessary excess fees. Manager Keith made me felt like I was the one who made the mistake and trouble him for solution. I deserved a refund because those were not the money supposed to been taken away from my account. Finally, he told me grudgingly that he would give me all the customer service fee refund but I need to call him in two weeks to do the refund.
In regarding to the annual fee and the minimum discount fees, he said that he had already given me too much refund today and could not give me more. I was really puzzled by his insulting approach, how can a company give out too much refund when the company overcharges and the money was belonged to the customer? I am not sure if the conversation was recorded (most professional companies do), I wish the company CEO could listen to it.
I told manager Keith that I was not satisfied with the result and his customer service attitude, I asked him who was the owner of the company, he told me that he could not disclose who he was. He told me to get the owner information from the internet. I requested to speak to another manager or the supervisor. He transferred me to another manager (I forgot his name) but I was put on the voice machine. I left a message for this manager. I called again and he transferred me to supervisor Stephanie M. Manager Keith put me on hold for a few minutes before connecting me, when I got connected, it was a voice machine again! I left a message for Stephanie.
After a few minutes, I called again hoping that supervisor Stephanie would answer the phone. The customer service associate picked up the phone and asked me immediately if I was from the same company that calling earlier for the manager, she told me that Stephanie has already spoken to me and she had already offered me a deal regarding my situation. I was again astounded by what I heard. I told the associate that I never spoke with Stephanie, I only left her a voice message. The associate told me that supervisor Stephanie had already put a notation on the account mentioned that she would give me a one month customer service fee back and a quarter of annual fee back. The associate insisted that I had to tell her at that moment whether I accept the offer or not. She said that if I don't accept the offer, she would type on the account that I was declining the offer. Unbelievable! I told her that I was not going to accept nor decline at that moment because I wanted to speak with the supervisor Stephanie first before I make any decision. She transferred me again to her voice machine and I left her a second message. I called again at around 4:40pm, Phoebe, the associate, left another message for supervisor Stephanie. I left her total of 3 messages while she was in her office.
I am a customer and have the right to speak with the supervisor, I do not want to settle any offer with a customer service associate. At the same time, what stuck me was that Stephanie was the floor supervisor at the time when I called, she did not pick up my phone instead she typed an offer on my account and had someone else talk to me. Clearly, she understood the reason for my call and she did not want to be bordered. Why was she fear of talking to her customer? Is that how Leaders communicate with its customer? I questioned about the management team of Leaders, not only the quality of the managers but also the supervisors. I highly suggest Leaders to have a complete makeover of its management team!
The phone number that I first called was 800-876-9843 which listed on my statement, one of the associates told me that the name of the owner was Joe Jorling, however I could not speak with him directly without going through a supervisor. I also tried to call the phone number that was listed on the website, 877-538-3377, the associate told me that Joe Jorling was not the owner and she did not know who he was. She told me that the owner was Shawn and could not disclose his last name to me but she transferred me to his voice machine. I left him a message. I was surprised not everyone know who their boss is in this company! I started to wonder if this is a reliable and professional company as it advertises itself on its website?
Finally I looked through all my paperworks and find the number for Wells Fargo Bank which registed Leaders as an ISO. The lady named Liza was very very helpful and understanding, she told me to forward her my info and a complaint letter and she might be able to help me in this situation. So that's what I did today.
Now is about 2:15pm on 3/18/09 and still did not receive any return phone calls from supervisor Stephanie nor the owner Shawn.
I will write a follow up report on what happens next...
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