I was suckered also by a company based in Canton, GA called Merchant Lynx Services into entering into a 48 month contract with Lease Finance Group.
Sometime in June of this year I received a call from Merchant Lynx Service trying to solicit my business by stating they could provide me with credit card processing services at one-third less than what I was currently paying with my current processor. And that caught my attention, so I agreed to have someone come out and show me how they could offer me cheaper credit card processing.
The following day (Tuesday) Phil Beniamino vice president of the GA branch of Merchant Lynx Services showed up at my door. He looked at a statement from the processor I had at the time and explained how he could lessen the fees and they were cheaper. He offered me a lower rate and a lower statement fee, which was good.
I had never had a credit card machine before I had only dealt with touch tone processing that you do over the phone, so I was not familiar with how you go about obatining a machine nor the costs involved. Once he showed me the processing fees he then asked if I would be interested in switching to their services. So of course I said yes. So he proceeded to fill out an I-Payment Application and agreement. I payment is the ocmpany that handlee the actual processing. He went through the application with me and I answered all the question and again he went over what rate and fees I would incur with the processing. I was already familiar with the Ipayment app because I had filled it out with my previous processor. So I signed that application aware of everything on that agreement.
After finishing that application he just by the way mentioned he could get a refurbished machine for $19.99. And that was all he said. He never mentioned anything like 19.99/month or a 48 month non-cancellable lease with a separate leasing company.
I explained to him I was going out of town the following week so he said he would have a tech come out on Friday to install the machine and show me how it works. He himself however showed up the next day unannounced to install the machine and i was not there my husband was. He however installed it and called the next to let me know he was coming out to show me how to use the machine and sign some paper work.
He came the next day and seemed to be in a rush. He explained how to use the machine and had the paper work in his hand and put it down with his hand still on the paper work and proceed so show me exactly where to sign everything was marked with and X and he had already printed my name next to where I had signed. He never told me what I was singing or explained anything to me the only thing I signed that he somewhat explianed was a statement he wrote saying i had wished to switch my services to his company which wasn't hard to read because it was a few lines but other that that he still had not said anything about a leasing contract or company. Everything was so rushed and happened so fast. He then left and did not leave a copy of anything I signed. I didn't receive copies until they were sent a few days later in the mail.
I never really looked over it when I received it because I assumed he had gone over everything with me. Anyway LFG started charging my account for $24.19 per month which was the $19.99 plus taxes and fees which was never fully disclosed. Merchant Lynx charged my account for the processing fees which I was fully aware of and another $10.00 fee for insurance on the machine which was never disclosed to me so i was not aware it was going to be charged to my account. I had to call Merchant Lynx to have the fees explained to me. When I called I mentioned I would probably close my account and they still did not mention a non-cancellable contract to me as far as the machine was concerned.
Anyway, I was out of town for about 5 weeks and when I get back there is a letter from LFG stating they would be debiting my account every month for my lease payment plus taxes and fees and the condition of the lease was foir 48 months. I didn't pay any attention to the letter because it was never mentioned to me by Phil Beniamino.
A few days ago I decided to close my account with Merchant Lynx because It was not working out any cheaper for me and I was thinkging of going out of business. With all the additional fees it was actually more expensive. So I call and tell the person that answered that I want to close my account and she has me on hold forever and finally i get through someone and she tells me the dept that handles closings is out to lunch and she will have someone call. No one ever called me back. So I call back and they me on hold again for a long time and I finally get through to someone and tell him I want to close my account and he closes it and tells me it will be closed by the end of the month and then he asks if there is anything else and I say I have a terminal I need to return and he proceeds to give me a number to call that will handle that but he still doesn't say anything about the non-cancellable lease. So I call and I get thorough to LFG and tell them I have a terminal I need to return where should I send it and I also need to cancel my contract. The lady tells me I have a non-cancellable lease so even of I return I still have to make the monthly payment. I ignore her and tell her to give me the address.
After I get off the phone it hits me that I was tricked into signing a contract for something I was never made aware of. I would never have signed a contract for 48 months on a credit card machine if he had fully disclosed it to me. There is no way. He knew I was looking for a cheaper service and he knew it would not have been cheaper with all the fees so he never mentioned anything about the non-cancellable lease that would last for 4 years. Nobody in their right mind would knowingly sign a contract on equipment for 48 months that you can purchase and own for a fraction of that. So I will be reporting both companies to the appropriate authorities.
You would think with all the complaints that LFG is getting they would get these reps or rippoff companies that they associate with to fully disclose this information if they claim to do have done nothing wrong. They are just as much at fault.
In doing some research after calling LFG I found this site and there are a lot of complaints on LFG and I aslo found an artical on Merchant Lynx Servies that talked about about them facing investiogation on this exact issue it was titled "Mercahnt Lynx Services' Lease Finance Fraud" Georgia-based credit card processor, lease company facing investigation"
Sorry my story was so long but I had to get it all out. Thanks for listening.
(ror redacted for security purposes)
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