Expert: Chris Ebert - 8/10/2009

Question
I will try to keep this short, I am leasing items from a well known lease to own company, I have been a customer of this company for some time, when I moved I picked up my agreement where I left off at one of their stores in new town. My husband works out of town, so he called them to arrange to come in a week late and make a double payment, something we had frequently done at the other store (and they were fine with that as we always paid) they said they would notate our account. A day before we were scheduled to come in and pay, they started calling my husbands place of employment, and then told me that the account was never noted. The next day my husband was on the way to pay them, and they called me..I told them he was on the way, and they were very rude. I then told my husband to come home, and they could come get their stuff on Monday. Monday came and I was in the shower when they got here (apparently this store does not believe in scheduling anything) so I had my 11 year old tell them to come back when my husband was home at 5, they then told him they were not leaving and they were going to wait. I had my son go back and tell them to leave now because they were making me uncomfortable (they were standing in front of my bathroom window), they then proceeded to make fun of my son. Finally they left. I called the store and informed the store manager that these guys were not to come by again unless my husband was home, and set up a time for the following day at 5. Well they came back about 2 instead of 5, and when I refused to let them in, they completely trashed my yard with their door fliers, I mean they strung them out everywhere. After trashing my yard they went over and spoke with a neighbor whom I had not met yet, and gave him personal info about my account. I have two witnesses to the littering of my yard, and my new neighbor friend informed me of what they had told him. I am furious and want to know what I can do about this. I feel like they have violated my rights, and they messed up my yard..I had to clean it up (but not before I took pictures) So what can I do to stand up for my rights.  Thank you

Answer
Denise,

To me the main real violation is the third party disclosure to the neighbor. I would approach the neighbor and let him know that you feel terrible about how they met. See if you can get him to put in writing what he was told about you and your account and sign it.

With that, you can file a small claims suit by yourself or seek professional assistance with an attorney. If you need assistance filing the case we can help (214) 552-6647 or you can go to www.naca.net to find a local consumer attorney. I am not sure what state you are in so I can not say which court to file in or exactly which statutes were broken.