Weekly Bulletin Board Complaint Report

by Kit Menkin

1) Union Capital, Irvine, California has two bulletin board complaints posted. Leasing News received a third, and now a fourth.


” Union Capital solicited for a lease for equipment. Talked to AJ with Union Capital. Company did credit check everything was great. Requested $1,462.44 on 11/02/04, then lease would be funded in 3 to 5 days.


” After check had cleared the bank, the delays began. After requesting every possible piece of paperwork there was one delay after another. It went on til now. I had to get funding elsewhere and when I requested a refund due they would not return phone calls or e-mails. I am still trying to get my money back. I have not signed any contract with them. I have filed a complaint with BBB. I sent them my money in good faith and what they gave me is a bunch of grief. If you need any more information you may contact me via -mail at jimrider1130@hotmail.com

--- Customer information ---
Name = Jim Rider
Address = 3523 Eldron Avenue
City = North Port
State = FL
Zipcode = 34286
Phone = 941-423-2298
Fax =
Email  =jimrider1130@hotmail.com

When you type in the name of the company with city and state, the Leasing News Bulletin Board comes up second and third in Google.

We have received e-mail from potential customers who have found this, and/or have visited bbb.org for the Better Business Bureau report.

Leasing News has asked for a comment from Union Capital, and received the following:

“It is extremely unfortunate that the James Rider transaction has resulted in complaints to Leasing News and BBB. We actually went out of our way to get Mr. Rider's deal done. I think Mr. Rider has not been forthcoming about all the details he provided to you regarding his transaction and complaint. Yes, we did take some time to get the final approval, but due to the fact that Mr. Rider is in business for himself,

( for privacy sake, some of the other issues are not included. editor )

“These were some of the obstacles that we had to overcome in order to get the final approval for his transaction. We did get a final approval for Mr. Rider and at his request provided lease documents that were sent to him at two different email addresses on November, 15. Please review the attached email response to an email received from Mr. Rider, which he sent probably because he was unaware that final documents had been sent to him via email, even though he was called and left numerous voicemail messages.

http://www.leasingnews.org/items/email.htm

“Mr. Rider later informed Union Capital that he was going to have his attorney review the documents before signing, and then never tried to reach us regarding the matter. We would not have spent so much time and effort on this transaction if we would have known that Mr. Rider didn't really want to go through with the deal. We never intended to do anything short of fund Mr. Rider's transaction, but he has proven to be a very difficult individual to deal with. He just seemed to complain at every step when we tried to obtain information to prove to our lenders that he was indeed in the construction business like he stated on his application.

“Our position is to fund transactions and use approvals we obtain. It would seem that he has no intention of using the approval so at this point we would have no problem with refunding him minus a small admin fee, but since he has complained to the BBB we need to resolve that in order to put this transaction to a close.”

AJ

Leasing News is trying to resolve the issue between both parties, but at this time, it does appear as a legitimate complaint to be posted on the bulletin board.

2)  The vendor called saying he had not been paid for a piece of

equipment, and should have followed the Better Business Bureau on this company located in Southern California. The company located in Tennessee signed the contract on November 22, and stated to the Leasing Company that they check in amount of $10,406.86 “...cleared my bank on December 2 nd. I do not understand why your company would ask for more information after accepting a deposit.

This is simply not good business...I do have another leasing company who is ready to finalize the lease with no further information. Therefore, I feel that I have provided a sufficient amount of information for your company to process the transaction. It is in the best interest of my company to respectfully request a full refund of my deposit, if your company cannot the lease finalized by 5pm eastern time today. I expect the refund to be sent Fed Ex next day air as this was the method used to have it sent to your company.”

The vendor wanted to ship the equipment on the new leasing company's word the lease was approved. After receiving a copy of the lease contract, Leasing News informed both the vendor and “applicant.” if they withdrew from the transaction, the lessee would lose his deposit. It was quite simple and spelled out. If the lease did not go through, the lessee was entitled to the money back ( it said.) There also was a provision regarding providing financial information, and as important, not a time period for the transaction to be completed. The vendor wanted to sell the equipment to someone else and then he thought the “applicant” would get the deposit back.

I told him that was not covered and most likely would result in a civil dispute with venue in California that would cost more than the deposit to just get started.

We asked for a minimum of three days and a maximum of ten to get to the bottom of the complaint, as our history shows when we contact the president it often takes time him to find out what is happening, and review with his staff, salesmen, credit person, and perhaps legal.

The vendor has called several times saying he should have read the Better Business Bureau report before sending an invoice to the leasing company in question.

3) “Nothing has been returned from the (Florida leasing firms) or the Broker from my former office...but the broker, as I said before, does not talk to me and the Parkers really don't know me except by way of the wire I sent to their bank (******* in Ft. Lauderdale for $47,500) and my partners wire (******).

“I have spoken to the FBI and an attorney representing someone who lost $240,000, who has talked to the United States Attorney's office in FL (I need to call the attorney for an update).

“I still have not mailed you any info yet, but quite frankly believe you won't be able do much based on our previous emails........”

I am afraid your are right. Now if you told the Florida AG this was a NorVergence transaction, maybe you might get some act-schion right away.


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kitmenkin@leasingnews.org