Some of my report didn't make it in my last rip off report filed 30 min ago. Heres the missing info as follows:
Over 9 months ago I signed up for their payment plan thinking their computers were cheap priced. Since I didn't want to save up money to buy one (I have decent credit; about 710 for my FICO and 745 for my Beacon, my other one I am not sure of). I didn't want to over extend my debt to income ratio by financing a computer through Dell or Toshiba. Creditors will look at current loans, lines of credit, and open revolving accounts. If your over extended in credit, they may think your ability to repay the loan, whether it be: a personal loan, auto loan, mortage (this is a biggie mainly because of the high debt involved), credit cards (another moderate factor in open ended debt), store cards, gas cards; will be too much to handle if they extend their credit to you (possible credit risk and default on the loan).
Ok, so I figure that if I go through a company that does not report directly to the credit bureaus, then I could own a computer. All I would have to do is make payments and it wouldn't count against me as additional credit. Boy, are their commericals misleading!
First of all, the commercial strictly states this: "all you need is a checking account, a home phone, and afford a payment of ABOUT 35 dollars a month." All the while, the woman doing the cheesy commercial (you can tell it was filmed in one of their basements with cheap equipment and props) has a check book in her hand with a check written out to Financing Alternatives for 35 dollars (it looks sloppily written leading me to believe she frantically wrote it 5 min before the commercial was to be filmed).in the background you can notice her pointing to the laptop computer and the Desktop PC. She doesn't specify WHICH computer is 35 dollars a week, and which is almost 60 dollars a week!
I call them up and the phone rep by the name of Latisha tells me the information about what I am seeking. A laptop with a 2.4 GHZ Celeron processor, 256 MB of ram (I ask her a few SIMPLE questions like: if the RAM is Parity or Non-Parity, what's the manufacturer of the RAM, SDRAM or DDR memory, what was the clock speed on the RAM 266 MHZ, 333 MHZ, 400 MHZ?) a 16 MB video card, she didn't know whether the network card was 10/100, how fast was the CD/DVD Rom, was it a CD burner? SHe didn't have any answers for me. If they are a reputable company, then they should properly train all their employees, who otherwise, are paid minimum wage to read from a scripted card.
I tell "Latisha" that I don't have a checking account. I do have a savings account, and I have a Money Market Account. She even went as far as to say, "We can draft from your Money Market Account." This violated the terms of the "helpful commercial where the lady talking shows big emphasis and a 'we care' look on her face as she explains the big points in the commercial."
So, even though I had a savings account to offer, they took it. I give them my account number. I ask Latisha as she starts to record the conversation for quality control purposes, that I will not be drafted untill I sign my contract and mail it back. She replies "yes" and closes the conversation with a big thank you and my contract should be in the mail in 2 weeks. SO I wait. While I am doing this waiting, money came out of my account! I called for an explanation and the sales rep transferred me to a 'floor manager.' The floor manager Jeff told me this was to expedite the delivery of my computer. Oh one point they failed to tell me, was that I had to make 3 months of consecutive payments with the company for their 'auditors' to consider me credit worthy. Now at this point I felt insulted. I can walk into a bank, or apply for a credit card, and usually pull off a respectable loan. I earned this by paying bills on time! I earned it! I am credit worthy and I am not used to this. I at this time figured out I was dealing with a company on the dark side (bad credit people who don't pay their bills) vs. The light side (good credit people who pay their bills).
So I told 'Jeff' that I would like them to stop payments because I never agreed to the contract which I didn't receive yet. It took one month for it to arrive. I looked over the invoice and the contract terms! I literally fell out of my chair. I really did fall out of my chair. After getting up I put my reading glasses and made sure I wasn't seeing double vision. I saw the terms and thought they were dirty and atrocious. It states something to this effect, "At no time will your money be refunded, even if you default on a payment (returned non-sufficient funds) from your bank, " "You agree not to participate in a class action lawsuit against this company, and also agree to pay for any legal feels incurred as a result of your participation in this class action lawsuit." Underhanded crooks at work here I thought.
SO I called them up, and flat out told them I do not agree to these absurd terms. I am used to better treatment from "real" companies that care about their customers, and who don't lock them in a loose-loose situation. For those who already put money in couldn't cancel the contract because they need the computer and why loose the money they already put into Financing Alternatives. Also it says if you break the contract you agree to pay a 175 dollar processing fee to cancel your account. That is crap!
My god, the cost of the computer? 2,386.43! A friggen bargain basement computer which is advertised to Dell for less than 600 dollars! That is how they make their money, by preying on people who have bad credit, they mark up the price over 500%. Thats why they require 3 months of payments so they can get the money to order the computer! If they don't look at your credit, then why are they asking you to build credit with them? It's a cover up scam and excuse to get the money they need to order the computer and then buy some time. Also the free printer and software bull crap all amounts to less than 400 dollars on the market now. So they sure are making money, and as many consumer complaintss as I am reading on here, ripping off people in the process.
They kept taking money out of my account even after I told them to cancel my request. I told them I didn't agree to the contract. They have no signature on me, they've got nothing as far as me agreeing to anything.
Now I will add my original post to coincide with this report to be a full consumer complaints.
I filed a fradulent complaint to my bank (Wells Fargo) about Financing Alternatives and in return caused several people to have a collection agency notify them of such collective action from Wells Fargo. Because of almost 4 months of payments stolen, I got all the money credited into my account. Wells Fargo, which was very helpful told me they would be demanding this money back from Financing Alternatives. I know I screwed Mr Christian over on his credit. (They sent Financing Alternatives to a collection agency rotflmao!) Notice how on the website it says Mr Christian is a christian and has good ideals? His last name is Christian, so I am sure he is just using a different personality to make his last name stand out more. Financing Alternatives then attempted to withdraw a different amount from my account.in the amount of 210.67 every 2 weeks. SO now they have completely crossed the line into outright criminal fraud, and breach of company terms (some companies will change their debit amount to get around the stop payment).
I am furious at this point. I got the charges reversed. Now they have sent me to a collection agency, stating that I owe them numerous legal fees (fighting the original wells fargo demand for payment, returned payment fees, fee for the collection agency, and the original balance). I am sure this is retaliation for me sicking my bank on them. I sent a certified letter to this collection agency Allied Interstate (look em up on the net) and explained to them what has been going on. I told them that either they provide proof of a signature on this contract, or else cease and desist with collection activites. And I informed them that if this goes on my credit record I will be filing a civil suit for damages as a result of this bad inaccurate mark on my credit, as well as a criminal one for placing a misleading mark on my credit. The lady at the collection agency was rude and said she thought it was a legitimate debt, and I in turn, told her that she needs to get her facts straight and learn how to do her job. I told her that I have decent to good credit and I wasn't going to let her or the lousy collection agency sh*t on my report, called her a lousy credit bureaucrat and I slammed down the phone really hard.
I also fired off a letter to Mr. Christian (wonder if he got it or if his cheap paid secretary read it and tossed it) I made it it look official with the urgent priority envelope "legal document enclosed" to make sure he takes notice. I told him that if he f*ks me over, I will f*k him over real bad. I told him that I am ready to fire off lawsuits to keep MY money. He will have to fight me himself to get MY money back. It was MY money to begin with, and it is MY money now. His company must be writhing in debt to be so desperate for some 800 dollars they say I owe Financing Alternatives. Personally I think, if they had laid off and quit trying to get MY money, they wouldn't be at a loss of almost 800 dollars. Boo-hoo for Mr Christian. I could care less if he can't feed his family because of this. He and his company scam many every day, and get away with it most of the time.
Not me though, I am very credit educated, so not much, if anything will get by me. If Mr Christian has a bone to pick with me I will take him in a parking lot. I will even pay for the expense. I told him to take his fradulent practices, company, and racketeering idea of a over priced cheap product and shove it up his wife, kids, parents, grandparents, and other dead relativess as*es. And he would burn in hell like his entire deceased and still living loved ones. Since then I have not heard anything from him or the collection agency. Nor is there a bad mark in my credit. Not so much as a peep. Oh btw, I am still filing a lawsuit against the collection agency for attempting to collect a false debt. I have the letter to prove it. I have nothing on financing alternatives except what the bank and I know. It's not worth my time with them. But since I already filed the paper work for the small claims lawsuit against Allied Interstate Collections, maybe this will teach those Sons of bit*es to try and swindle my money. It is a 1,000 dollar fine for violating the fair credit reporting act. I won't get money out of this, but I want them to pay the fine and have the feds breathing down their necks to teach them a lesson. Stay away from Financing Alternatives, they will lie, cheat, scam their way to your money no matter what it takes. And if you ever deal with Allied Interstate in terms of collections, don't let them win without a fight. Thank you and good luck to those of you who have suffered the misfortune of getting ripped off by this company.
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