Northern Leasing, MBF Leasing unscrupulous lease, harrassing phone calls, no supervisors, unprofessional employees Ripoff New York City New York

In June, I complained as to how Northern harassed me and attempted to extort undeserving money from my business by providing faulty equipment and not providing the means to fix it--but holding me to the lease. With multiple phone calls daily and idle threats as their scare tactics to get me to pay off my lease, I took some time and researched my rights. After contacting and complaining to the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) for their lack of phone manners (hanging up on me and "abandoned calls"), the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) for the illegal way they tried to collect on the debt (as per the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act), the BBB NY (Better Business Bureau of New York) for their unprofessional ways of running their business, the NY Attorney General's office for their fraudulent lease and providing faulty equipment, the AL Attorney General's office for the same and Northern Leasing for all of the above; I finally got what I wanted.

I started by buying a recorder. Before you do this, make sure your state is in compliance with recording laws. Alabama and New York are; they are both 1-party acceptance. Which means as long as one of the two people on the phone say it's okay to record, it's legal--you just have to let the other party know they're being recorded. Apparently, Northern does not "accept recorded calls". After the first time I mentioned the recorder, the woman hung up and I was not called again for almost a month.

In this month, I sent Northern Leasing, in regards to their harassing phone calls, a letter of cease and desist. In the letter I mentioned that all of the above offices would be receiving a copy of said letter along with my complaints of their company. I put in there that if they did decide to call me back, I would be recording them and that this letter would be their only warning.

When they did call back a month later, I'd already received a response from the BBB and Northern which stated I had two options: Pay the lease and return the equipment or turn the equipment over to a third party so the third party could pick up payments. In the letter they blatantly lied about who they were. They said "We are not a leasing company. It is not our equipment. We are a financing company. We merely finance businesses to be able to buy equipment so they can lease it out." However, on their own website, on their FAQ page, the number one statement is Q: Who is Northern Leasing Systems? A:[NLS] is a leasing company that provides equipment to be leased as per lease agreement. I responded that neither option was good enough for me. I wanted OUT of the agreement free and clear, and that was the only answer I wanted.

I took this information and ran. When Northern did call back, I recorded it of course, but I couldn't get the woman to give me a straight answer. I told her what the letter said, she said it was right, so I corrected her by saying what the website said; and again she agreed. Then she told me if I wanted to get the machines running, I could send it to their troubleshoot dept. I told her it was in the lease agreement that Northern is not responsible for the functioning of the machines and was she willing to go against what the agreement stated? She informed me that "she was trying to help me out".

I turned the offer down and asked for the number of the business that supposedly bought the equipment and leased it to me. She had no problem with that. I then called the local rep that had initially provided the equipment and lease. The owner of that business told me that she'd always had issues with Northern and no longer dealt with them. And that No, Northern is definitely NOT a financing company by any means.

My only response from the NY attorney general was that it wasn't their concern. I sent them a letter in return pleading with them to change their minds. Nothing happened.

I got a response from the AL attorney general telling me that they would get with me soon about my complaint. And a few weeks later they did. Just recently I got a letter from the attorney general's office which said they think a reasonable conclusion has been made. Enclosed was a letter from Northern to the Att. Gen's office which said, "Northern has agreed to relieve Lessee of any future liability under the lease agreement..." Now they still aren't admitting to any wrongdoings or that they have a fraudulent lease, but for those of you who are reading this (and if you're still reading this then I'm impressed!) for those of you who want Northern to go down for what they've done to you, just remember the old saying, "the squeaky wheel gets the oil". It is possible for the underdogs to triumph.

I wish those of you out there good luck.

Rob Daphne, AL