I was recently hired to help a very small business get their finances and books in order. Imagine my surprise to discover not one, not two, but THREE merchant agreements. Oddly enough, they were not all with the same entity, but the plot thickens.
After researching and talking to the owner, here is what happened:
Originally, this company was with TMG (those in the know can already anticipate) but "changed" both processing companies and lease agreements when the sales rep convinced the owner he was being charged too much. (He was). The sales rep got signatures in November. He came back in March, and lied to the company, saying the equipment received was not PCI compliant and that new documents were necessary.
You guessed it. A new contract (merchant and equipt) was signed in March, of the "non-cancellable" type. The equipment itself was never changed out, only the amounts debited increased. Actually, the original debits continued, but TWO more were added, those of LFG and a processing co.
I cut them all off by closing the account last month. I made an attempt to reconcile which was firmly rebuffed, to say the least. Since then, the phone calls have started, to the owner's private number at 8 in the morning, harassing and insulting, along with the hangups and annoyance calls to the business, and the occasional threat of credit reporting.
I was told last week that LFG "doesn't want the equipment back", does not care about the equipment and I needed to pay on the agreement, as they were a finance company. I asked what they financed. He said it didn't matter, that we had to pay, was "non-cancellable". I laughed, he swore at me, and hung up.
So. I'm guessing that it won't be long now, but, what's their next move? What's mine? We are not located in Illinois, does anyone know where jurisdiction resides?
What's the next best step?
Thanks all...
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