DRS, Debt Resolution Specialists, aka Briggs and Baker, is a ripoff "Debt Negotiation" company created by Todd Baker, owner and CEO of Innovative Systems Technology, Inc., dba Briggs and Baker from 1998. DRS was restructured as an "alter ego" company of Briggs and Baker by Mr. Baker solely to evade the debts, liabilities, lawsuits, judgments, and Govt.indictments sustained by Briggs and Baker and is being operated as the exact SAME business out of the SAME office with the SAME employees.
After seeing a newspaper article in the LA Times that promised to "Eliminate Your Credit Card Debt for 11%, " I paid this company over $3,500 to "eliminate my debt and render my credit reports spotless within 6 months" as promised by their "debt consultant" (salesman) by using the CA "accord and satisfaction" law. This law supposedly allowed me to write checks for a one-time payment of 11% of my total debt with a resticted endorsement printed on the back, stating that cashing the check would constitute "payment in full" of the debt. Briggs and Baker assured me this was all perfectly legal and offered a money-back guarantee on any credit card debt they couldn't "eliminate." I signed the contract and wrote the checks, paying B&B 20% as their "fee." Within 60 days my creditors began collection proceedings, as my debts had gone into default.
My so-called "settlement checks" had simply been deducted from the amounts owed. (I later discovered that this method, the CA "accord and satisfaction" Law, does not apply to credit cards based in other states, specifically Delaware and Maryland, which most credit cards are.) I tried to contact Briggs and Baker numerous times, only to be connected to Customer Service (an answering machine) or with a new representative that I had to rehash my whole story to.
Each time they would promise to "prioritize" my file and call me with updates in 30 days. I was told to NOT contact my creditors and not pay on their "threatening" collection notice. I was told, "This is the way the creditors try to get you to start paying again." I never received any further calls from B&B, after leaving at least one message every week. After a year, I send a demand letter for a refund to B&B. A letter was sent back to me a month later "congratulating" me on "completing" their program and they were no longer obligated to me for services or reimbursement!
In August I was contacted by CBS Evening News with Dan Rather regarding an investigative report on Briggs and Baker's deceitful and fraudulent business practices. The expose was televised nationwide on October 18. I later discovered that KCAL 9 News local in LA had also reported on Briggs and Baker's scam that year. Meanwhile, I was being sued by my creditors for the unpaid balances, plus late and overlimit fees that had been charged during the months that B&B was supposedly "cleaning my credit reports." I now owe more than my original debt. And my credit reports? RUINED. I later found out that the company that B&B had hired to do credit repair, ICR, had never been paid by B&B and had never, in fact, even heard of them.
After filing a claim against B&B's Bond and a Small Claims case against B&B, I discovered that there are over 75 lawsuits on file, including those that are for over $25,000, and the Bond company is suing Briggs and Baker for over $175,000 in unpaid claims! This is case #MC014276. Huron Law Group in LA has filed a class action suit against Briggs & Baker (#BC276822) and there is also another lawsuit (#PC031877) that has 9 plaintiffs and counting. These lawsuits can be viewed online at www.lasuperiorcourt.org.
A quick search on the Better Business Bureau website shows an "unsatisfactory" report for both B&B and DRS. As a way to transfer and protect his ASSets, Todd Baker filed the alias company, DRS: Debt Resolution Specialists, with the CA Secretary of State's Office in Dec. right after the Dept. Of Corporations filed a "Desist and Refrain" Order against Briggs & Baker for acting as a pro-rater without a license, and just before the Dept. Of Justice/Attorney General's Office filed a complaint against him for General Fraud (#GIC805762). This lawsuit can be viewed online at www.caag. State.ca.Us/newsalerts/03-018.htm)
Todd Baker is nothing more than a wolf in sheep's clothing. He owes hundreds of thousands in judgments, debts, and bills, and, ironically, is now ducking his creditors too. He continues to operate as DRS, hoping that Briggs and Baker will quietly go away without him having to "officially" go out of business or file bankruptcy. Mr Baker continues to pay for expensive lawyers and TV and radio commercials, all the while claiming that B&B has no money to pay any judgments (over $100,000). Meanwhile, DRS rakes in revenue from unsuspecting clients.
I now have terrible credit, and much of the "service" that Briggs and Baker failed to provide I could've done myself. Beware of any Debt Negotiation service, especially those found online and that are "FOR-profit" businesses.
0 comments