I was approached by a representative of Lease Finance Group. He was very friendly and professional in his mannerisms. He convinced me that a credit card machine was affordable for my small computer repair business. He stated that instead of purchasing the rather expensive "state-of-the-art" equipment outright, that he could obtain financing for the equipment at reasonable rates that we could afford. The equipment we purchased was a Nurit 3060 credit card swipe machine.
We later added a debit card pin-pad to our account. Neither piece of equipment worked correcly.initially the Nurit machine worked ok. However, after changing credit card processors, it has never been able to be reprogrammed. I'm told it doesn't have enough memory to work correctly. We had several vendors try to program the machine to no avail.
But, my real problem with Northern Leasing aka Lease Finance Group is with the deceptive comments made by the salesman, and how all the terms of the lease are different on the lease agreement compared to what the salesman told us the terms would be. I agreed verbally to a 2 year lease agreement.
Now I'm told it is for 4 years. I was told the rate was non-adjustable but the payments increase without warning from the company. And honestly, I was never told the correct value of the equipment I was leasing. The equipment can be purchased directly for approximately $300.00 US. The lease and terms they have specified place the total cost of ownership to well over $5,000.00 for this piece of equipment that can be purchased outright for $300.00 new. Being that the equipment doesn't work correctly, we decided to default and cancel the lease and send the equipment back.
Now we are informed that the lease agreement is "non-cancellable" which I have never heard of, nor do I believe even legal in our state. But, this is only where the fun begins. After paying over $2000.00 on this $300.00 piece of equipment that has never worked, we started receiving harassing phone calls after changing bank accounts to stop payment to them. Calls that originate from this company with nobody even on the other end of the phone. Many calls starting after 7pm at night, and just seem to be harassment, and never even to discuss our lease or payments, just an open line with people talking in the background.
Later, I purchased a lighted sign from another company. I had it financed. Lo and behold, bottom-line, it's owned by Northern Leasing. Now when I call customer service to injuire about the amount left on my sign lease, I get directed to a "special" number that will only talk to me about the credit-card machine lease, and they know nothing about my other lease. I can't even find out what's owed on my other lease, to pay it off. I have to hear about my defaulted credit-card machine lease.
I have paid on the second lease now for over 2 3/4 years. I was looking forward to getting it paid off, and freeing up the income from atleast one lease to help with daily expenses at the store. But can I find anyone at that company that even knows about the other lease, "no-way" except the payments keep coming out every month.
This company is a stickler about details. God forbid for you to call and not have your lease number and have a question about anything normal people might ask. Even after telling them I would have to dig for hours to find my copy of the lease, they insist on me having the lease number. But, what gets me the most is how very different the leases are compared to what the salesmen promised us. I know legally it boils down to the documents you sign.
But when you are promised the moon, and the salesman appears to be an honest person, you would expect the lease to reflect what the gentleman tells you the lease says, and you would expect the terms to be the same as he states. They are not, and are so different, more lengthy, and so deceptive that you really do feel like your getting a decent deal, when really all you are getting is a $300.00 piece of junk, and paying over $4,500.00 dollars for it.
BEWARE of this company. The salemen present one-page leases that turn into monsterous affairs for equipment you would be better off purchasing outright. If the salesman would have just said the equipment can be purchased for $300.00 I would have bought it outright. Through leasing, I get to pay $4500.00 for the same equipment. The salesman said it was "state-of-the-art" and worth much more which made the lease an alternative to buying. But the price he quoted at the time was out of my rangeand way over-priced, and I believed him.
I have learned a lot about leasing since these agreements. But, Lease Finance Group / Northern Leasing seems to be so deceptive in their leases. You would think after I've explained all the problems I've had with the machine, and that it only worked correctly for a short time they would attempt to replace the equipment, all they want is your money, customer service is entirely a joke.
I have witnesses to what the salesman promised our terms would be before signing any documentation. They are entirely different to what the lease is legally. Any attorney out there that would like to take my case I would greatfully love to hear from...
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