In early January, I became very motivated to pay off all my debt, a la Dave Ramsey. So I wrote down all my debts and leases in order from smallest to largest. And there was Northern Leasing.
Even though it doesn’t make cash flow sense to pay off the lease early and return the equipment, it would be one less debt I owe, and one less payment, and it would be part of my debt demolition plan. But I REALLY don’t want to pay the full amount of the next 3+ years that I will not being using the CREDIT CARD TERMINAL I WILL NEVER USE.
I thought maybe I could negotiate a reduced cost for returning the equipment early, despite the fact that I called and asked that, and they said no.
So I went to the Better Business Bureau site and saw there were 461 complaints, AND that Northern Leasing was actually responding to them. They were probably not responding very well, since they have an F rating. But at least they were listening.
So I filed my own complaint.
It says:
Problem:
The leasing contract for the credit card processing equipment was attached to the end of another agreement with a credit card processor. The processor promised that their processing system would interface with my online accounting for my company. When I tried to use it, it did not. I called to cancel the service and was told I could cancel the processing, but not the equipment lease. So now I am paying $58 per month to lease equipment I have never used and will never use.
Desired Outcome:
I would like to return the equipment, which is unused, and discontinue paying the lease amount. Alternately, I would like a reduced payoff amount to terminate the lease and return the equipment. Currently my lease payoff amount is approximately $1923.40, which is fairly ridiculous considering the value of the equipment on the open market, and its value to me, which is zero since it doesn’t work with my system. I should have been suspicious when the salesman was so eager to get my bank account information and rushed to hook up the equipment in my office. The lease is certainly airtight, legally, but the methods used to get me to sign it were unethical at best. Further, if I can’t use the equipment as promised (doesn’t sync with Freshbooks) I should not be required to continue paying for it, since I signed the contract with the promise that it WOULD work with my system.