Call Kurtis: Another Complaint Alleging Thousands in Ridiculous Machine Rental Fees
Another customer of Utah company Credit Card Machine Rentals is complaining over what it considers ridiculous fees. It comes after the Sacramento Valley Susan G. Komen for the Cure called Kurtis saying they were hit with a $16,000 bill.
People and organizations rent these machines for their events but then are getting bills they never expected. As more complaints come in, the CEO sat down to defend the charges.
"I just remember looking at it and thinking, 'This is the most absurd invoice I've ever seen in my life,'" recalls Silvia Ramirez.
The events manager for Susan G. Komen for the Cure told CBS13 in January she was in shock over their $16,000 bill from Credit Card Machine Rentals.
The charity rented eight machines in May 2012 to take payments and donations at their annual Race for the Cure. But after returning the machines the company took thousands more right out of the non-profit's bank account.
An invoice sent later lays out the charges: $480 to clean the machines, $305 in repair costs, $93 for shipping, and a whopping $15,750 for days in repair, for a grand total of $16,628.
"These costs are ridiculous. You know, you're charging us $2,600 to repair one machine when on the contract it clearly states that one machine is valued at $1,100. That doesn't make sense," said Ramirez.
It didn't make sense to Amber Fitzsimmons either. Her company event marketing company, Showmax was hit with more than 14,000 in cleaning and repair fees. Both Susan G. Komen and Showmax say they had no warning the extra charges were coming.
"In the contract it says if there are repairs, that they would let us know in a prompt manner. No one called us," said Fitzsimmons.
"It's a no win situation here," said Credit Card Machine Rentals CEO, Jeremy Roberts.
Roberts says he did notify each customer, and claims the potential for charges is outlined in the contract. He says repair invoices and pictures prove the damage. But why charge so much for repairs when the machines are valued at 1,200 dollars apiece?
"I'm losing money for every day it's in the repair shop," said Roberts.
And taking money from a charity?
"To be frank, I have never seen somebody return our equipment in worse shape than Komen did," said Roberts.
Both customers insist the machines they returned were not broken and have complained to Utah investigators.
"I just feel very passionate about this and I don't feel like I'm going to stop here," said Ramirez.
"The goal at this point is not about getting the money back, the goal is to shut this company down," said Fitzsimmons.
In our first story CBS13 also told you about David Long, who was hit with high fees after renting machines for a class reunion.
His fees were for returning the equipment late. He says he didn't see the stipulation in the contract to get the machine back to the company in just two days after the event.
