In February of I was upset by the amount of credit card processing fees were costing my business - a small ticket coffee shop - and so I voiced my displeasure with my family and it turned out my brother had a fraternity brother who's Father was in the credit card business. This fraternity brother suggested his father (Tarly Dall) would be able to help.
I called this man and he came to my store gave me a fantastic speech about how all these companies are trying to rip you off, told me that he worked directly for VISA and no one could beat his rates because he was with the VISA and other sources must resell, blah blah blah, right. So I was happy he would help me with the processing. Then he asked me what type of terminal I was using. He said that the machine I had would most likely die on me if he were to reprogram it because the memory chip in the machine was so much smaller than what they make now and that the programs are much larger. After the fact it is clear to see it was a sales pitch.
He told me I could he could get me an equipment lease or I could buy a new machine. The price of the POS was in the 1000s which I was surprised to find out, but never having bought a POS myself I trusted the "father" to be looking out for me.
I signed a lease for the equipment and was told that I could purchase the equipment at any time and just to call him and he would negotiate the price with Northern Leasing Systems and so in the end I would pay little more than what I could buy it for outright in the beginning. Because I was also in a contract with another company, he told me to sign a piece of paper terminating my contract with them because NO ONE can make you stay with a company.
So after the first month my fees jumped from $57.80 to $77.75 - I called the credit card processor to ask why and they told me I do not lease equipment from them. I asked them if they could tell me who I did lease it from because they were the ones listed on the contract I had from Tarly. They told me it was Northern Leasing - whom I had never heard of until this point. They did not have a phone number so I searched the internet and found it.
I called them and told them that I thought they might be my equipment lessor - but I had no account information - so they looked me up, and sure enough I was with them. So I asked why the fee jump and they told me it was for insurance that I had opted for on my lease. At the time I didnt think that sounded right, but I also couldnt find my original lease, but it sounded bizarre so I asked them how long my lease was because I could buy the machine for just a few months payment. It was then that they told me it was four years! (a convienient fact that Tarly Dall left out)
Now I have sold my business and would like to terminate my lease. Good ol' Tarly is no where to be found. He will not answer my phone calls or return messages. And from reading the rest of these complaints, you all probably know that Northern Leasing had no sympathy for this situation and will not allow me to return the machine and cancel the remainder of the lease.
I have closed my bank account and the calls have begun. For anyone out there who has had some success - should I return the machine? If so - who does it go to Northern Leasing or this Tarly Dall. Any help would be terrific, I have paid Northern Leasing well over the worth of the actual machine, and from other peoples' leasing rates, it appears I paid them well over the going rate. So much for this friend's FATHER.
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