My husband engaged in a contract on February 11,1999 which was for 48 months with a New York based company called Northern Leasing. Although he signed this contract personally, a monthly fee of $69.37 was taken from our business checking account.
The lease agreement with Northern Leasing was presented to us to be an additional agreement combined with another company's agreement who was our initial contact for these services called Card Service International. Card Service International set up our ability to take credit cards over the internet. All of the paperwork was presented as a package so nothing was distinguishable at that time as to what contract was for what service.
Just like in the legal papers filed in the suit against Leasecomm, our situation was exactly the same. The Northern Leasing agreement was slipped into the paperwork via a poorly ledgible fax copy that was not readable because of the fine print and fax quality. We now see where Northern Leasing just recently added a PDF copy of the contract on-line... Isn't that interesting... It wasn't there when I first checked out complaints against Northern Leasing just days ago. Now all of a sudden it appears after the fact.
Now, to make matters worse, we just realized that the total of approximately $3,000 which was taken out of our account electronically was for a cheap, inexpensive credit card machine which we have never wanted nor have used because we never needed it to begin with.
Because all of this information was integrated quickly as a package to us via phone and fax machine, we were never made aware of the fact that these were two separate agreements. We, as consumers, were not able to make an informed decision because Card Service International did not make it clear that Northern Leasing was a separate agreement nor was it clear what we were paying Northern Leasing for on the 48 month term contract. We now know the $3,000 was for a small piece of equipment, the credit card swipe machine which does not match the value of the lease amount another like factor in the Leasecomm complaint.
Even after getting the paperwork out and trying to decipher what it was and what it was for, I still did not understand from the unclear fax copy that Northern Leasing had extended the lease because we had not told them to stop the lease at its expiration time of 48 months which they claim was our responsibility.
How would we know this when the copy that was sent to us via fax is virtually unreadable plus the fact that we still were connecting Card Service International with Northern Leasing.
I called Card Service International who quickly told me that they were not affliated with them anymore and they had no comment on anything we could do with Northern Leasing although Card Service International was the company who had originally brought Northern Leasing into our agreement. These facts made me very skeptical in regards to the fact that Card Service International wouldn't know anything about Northern Leasing now and had stopped doing any business with them. Why?
Is it Card Service International not wanting "guilt through association" now that the lid is being lifted off of the real truth behind Northern Leasing's ethics as a company and lawsuits won through the Federal Trade Commission against other similar companies perpetrating tactics against consumers.
It was at this time that I called long distance to New York to the Northern Leasing office and was informed that we had to pay them an additional $300 plus dollars to cancel the lease even though they continued to take out the monthly fee of $69.37 after the lease agreement's date had ended on 2/11 to the present time. This means that they have taken out an additional approximately $800.00 for something that we didn't even know we were obligated for to begin with.
In other words we didn't know we were just paying for a piece of equipment (the credit card swipe machine) to Northern Leasing but rather were led to believe that the monthly charge with Northern Leasing was tied to our initial agreement with Card Service International for the ability to take credit cards on our website. It was all given the illusion by both Northern Leasing and Card Service International that it was a package agreement needed to put us in business on the internet with the ability to take credit cards.
When I told the lady in New York with Northern Leasing this information she said we had no recourse and that we could either pay the $300 to end the lease or they would aggressively ruin our credit and ask for a judgment. When I came back at her with what I believe to be fradulent charges on Northern Leasings part from beginning to end across a state line, she hung up on me.
In my opinion, people who are not guilty and have nothing to hide do not hang up on a consumer. I intend to call the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to see if there can be an investigation in this state regarding the activities of Northern Leasing with consumers here in Colorado.
I plan on sending Northern Leasing a certified letter notifying them that they will no longer be able to take any electronic payment out of our companies checking account.
Further, I will send them a copy of the legal papers against Leasecomm Corporation as this is exactly what happened in our circumstances along with other complaints and pertinent information regarding what I have discovered about Northern Leasing.
I also would be willing to expose them in anyway through the media if they do not resolve this situation by giving us back the overage of approximately $800 that they have continued to take out of our account beyond the term of the lease. I would really like to see a class action lawsuit filed against them for all the people that they have "ripped off" with this scam front that they perpetrated on unsuspecting consumers.
I am sure there are many people out there just like us who in good faith signed their lease agreement. I am sure that they signed these contracts without full disclosure on the part of the above named companies who intentionally, like-mindedly, and one-sidededly, in my opinion, design these contracts deceitfully in order to defraud the average consumer because of their greed and unethical behavior.
Any information you can share with us or advice on how to proceed with this information, would be greatly appreciated.
Gabrielle
Aurora, Colorado
U.S.A.
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