Equitable Acceptance Corporation Harassing and Threatening Phone Calls due to faulty Customer Service Representatives and Practices Golden Valley, Minnesota

 It all began with attending a bridal show early October in Memphis. Chris, my fiance, and I are planning our wedding, and we were there to see several local vendors and all the different possibilities available to fulfill a pleasurable experience for the guests of our wedding. I bet we were home for two days before we got a phone call from Simplicity Gourmet, they wanted us to attend their "90" minute seminar on their cookware and I was told it would be a taste testing event as well. Also we had won this elaborate all inclusive getaway to a vacation of our choice, Cozumel was one of them, and Chris and I decided that we would go to the seminar, taste some food, and get a vacation. When we got there it was nothing that I had been told except there was plenty of expensive cookware in the room. The taste test consisted of the chef pan frying two pieces of chicken and some mixed vegetables in a sauce pan. Nothing fancy.... something my three year old could have whipped up on her own. The presentation was over, and I know how these presentations work, I used to sell Cutco. They try to get you to buy everything, then when you agree to it, they spit the price tag out, and your jaw drops to the floor.

Chris and I thought this would be a good investment for us because they told us how the first year they would cut the price in half, on a severely low interest rate, plus we had the option to be placed on a gifts registry, and Chris and I thought this would be a great idea to establish some credit. So we signed up for their financing program, then we were told we wouldn't have to make the first payment until November 25, 2010. We went home, not even two weeks later we got our cookware in the mail. On the 24th or the 25th I went on the website to make the very first payment. a few days passed and I noticed it had not went through my account so I called the company and explained what my concerns were and she explained to me that I had signed up for the automatic payment plan, but it takes a few days to establish the payment plan and that it would start coming out of my account in December, but we they could take a check over the phone and since I was still in the grace period that I would not be charged any late fees or anything else. i told her she could use the information I provided to them in their records, I'm not sure of the exact reason why she did not do that but I do know I gave her my check information over the phone and repeated it several times. I was sent to a verification conversation which she repeated the numbers back to me and again I corrected her. From there she said that it would take 7 to ten business days and I should see the transaction on my bank statement. I asked for a confirmation number of some sort and was denied. "They don't do that".

 As time passed, I still didn't see where they took the payment out so I called back again, on a Friday, and talked to a young lady who said that all she could see on the computer was that the transaction said returned check, and I explained to her that there must have been some kind of misunderstanding. She explained to me that she did not have an explanation because all the staff and managing personnel had went on a company trip and that they would not be back until Monday. So I asked her what numbers she had and she said that she could not see anything. That next week on a Wednesday or a Thursday, I get a call from a rep named Cassie, from here is where all hell broke loose. She accused me of being a "liar" and that I provided them with false information and wrote them a bad check. I explained to her that i repeated the check back several times and that I wouldn't do that. I asked to speak to a manager, who was even more foul than the first rep. I have literally been called every name in book over the phone by these girls. From a thief to a liar. I wanted to send the cookware back so I wouldn't have to deal with a company like this, and the response that I got to that was "You cant send the cookware back. "we will make sure we report you to collections" and "your credit will be ruined" By this time is was almost time for that first automatic payment to go through on Dec. 25. So I asked to listen to the tapes where I supposedly gave them false information, and I was told that it may not even be legal for me to listen to the tapes but they would get back to me.

Nearly three weeks later on January 13, after 8pm at night, I get a hostile Phone call from Amber. She said she would let me listen to the tape, which was missing several pieces of conversation. My account number has more than four 0's in it, and the part where I was explaining this was missing. The part where she explained the grace period was missing, and there was also many other pieces of the conversation missing. When I asked about that the response was "Ashley, You LIED TO US", then it continued with the badgering. This is the same information I gave them in the automatic payment arrangement and they have since then taken two payments out of my account. I sent an email to the company, called an asked to speak to higher authority than just manager, and I was denied that. I never received an email back with any regards to settling this issue. They want me to pay over 40 dollars more for a mistake I feel is a result of their lack of good judgement as well as lack of good customer service skills. Then Today I get another threatening phone call from Crystal. She didn't have anything new to say. Same threats and so on and so forth. I still stand my ground. I will not pay for their mistakes, but I will pay what I truly owe them. If I could send every piece of Steel Simplicity Gourmet Sent me.... I would in a heartbeat, then to deal with a deadbeat scam company as this. I think that is how they make their money, and that is how they promise you low interest rates. They are screwing consumers