After having been ripped off and hooked into a non-cancellable lease by a similar credit card processing scam, I was understandably very careful about any and all credit card processing vendors who approached me.
In October of a representative from NPMG called to say that we qualified to be a national "wholesale" account with them because of our sales volume. She scheduled a time for Jon Cannon (funny, his name is in at least 2 other usacomplaints.com) to come out and meet with me.
Jon did a very similar song and dance as he did with Edward of Soquel, California, plugging my 3 most recent bills into his handy laptop and popping out a huge savings. He committed to a flat rate of 1.75% across all three tiers, and I thought that sounded good. But, I told him that I already leased equipment from MBF, my previous credit card processing scam (that is a whole OTHER story) and that I did not need any new equipment.in order for me to switch to NPMG, he would have to guarantee that I would not need any new equipment, or that if I had to switch over to his equipment, they would need to buy out my pre-existing lease.
He said that he could get CIT to buy out my pre-existing lease with no problems, and that I just needed to sign some documents. He had me tell him what I was currently paying (which was $159.95 per month), and he wrote that into the new lease, and he had me sign it. When I looked down, it said non-cancellable lease again, and I asked him about it. He said, "No, that's just going to replace your existing lease."
He seemed like a trustworthy guy - he gave me my savings in writing, and I was going to save $85 a month. Not much, but I was still happy. Well, when I looked in my bank account in November, I saw that both CIT and MBF had withdrawn leasing fees from my account.
So, I got worried. I called Jon Cannon and left a message - he actually called back and told me, "No, don't worry, that is just because the buyout has not gone through yet.By next month, you won't see any more double bills."
Well, December comes along, and lo and behold! Double leasing payments to MBF and to CIT AGAIN. So I call up MBF and say, "Why are you billing me when CIT has bought out my lease?" They tell me that CIT has never even called up to ask for a buyoff quote. So I call up NPMG Customer Service, that abysmal den of iniquity, delay, and abject customer disservice, and Destiny tells me that there is no record anywhere on my account of them agreeing to buy out my lease.
I tell her to talk to Jon Cannon, and to have him confirm that that is what he promised me in person on 10/24/05 and on the phone in November. She says that I should get buyoff quotes from MBF and fax them to her, which I do.
I don't hear from them again until I call and leave 6 increasingly irate messages, the last one being yesterday, 12/20/05, threatening legal action. I then get called back by Amber, who says, "What can I do for you today?" I almost choked, it was so laughable. She then says that the company will not be buying out my lease.
I asked her, "Why would I need two sets of equipment? I made it very clear to Jon that I would not do business with NPMG if I had to get another set of equipment." She said, "Why did you sign this non-cancellable lease?"
I said, "Can you please just talk to Jon and ask him what was said?" She said, "I am in the office, he is in the field. I cannot talk to him. But I talked to his supervisor." I asked, "What did he say?" She said, "They determined that the company could not afford to buy out your existing equipment lease, which is very expensive." (Now THAT in itself is even more laughable, because we pegged the equipment price to the exact same amount that I was already paying, because we were going to consolidate the leases).
I told her that they should ask Jon what guarantees he made to me verbally, because verbal contracts are enforceable, especially if one side has upheld his/her end of the bargain. Either the company has to honor the commitment he made to me, or release me from the new non-cancellable lease that I signed. That is the ONLY ethical thing to do.
It amazes me how fraudulent companies can be out there - what business do they think they are in? If they're not in the business of pleasing their customers, then what are they in business for? They will be hearing from my attorney, that's for sure.
MarylingSaratoga, California
U.S.A.
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