In the next several paragraphs, I will attempt to explain the progressively bad experience I had in dealing with a debit resolution company called Briggs & Baker (B&B) of Valencia, California. After hearing an ad on a local news radio station about a company who could supposedly eliminate a persons credit card debt for a fraction of the balance, I made a phone call to inquire. As a result of the call, I made an appointment and met with the B&B Sales Manager, Carlos M. Gordillo.
Mr. Gordillo explained the how the various programs worked to me. It turned out that I would best be suited to enroll in what was called the 24-Month Program where you end up paying 70% of the overall credit card balance over a 2-year period. They would keep my month payments in an account that, after two years, would build a balance that would allow them to make a percentage offer to the bank to clear my debt; B&B, of course, would collect their fees from this balance as well. The other program called the Immediate Payment Program sounded very good to me, however I didnt (at that time at least) have enough liquid cash to pay the debt satisfaction requirement of 36% of the balance. It was March 12 that I enrolled in the 24-Month Program.
As a Graduate Student at California State University, Northridge, I had incurred a large debt in student loans and credit cards. After graduation, the income from an entry level engineering position I attained during the later half of the graduate program helped to pay the credit card bills, however was not enough to cover the student loan payments that began once I graduated. It was in January and February that I realized I needed to do something immediately, or I would be heading for trouble. I decided to respond to a radio add on a local news radio channel (KFWB, 980 AM) from a company who supposedly had a proven track record eliminating credit card debt for people at a fraction of the original balance. The program they offered seemed like a great way to avoid bankruptcy, so I decided to enroll.
When I approached B&B on March 12, I had credit cards with three companies that I needed to deal with: MBNA, Direct Merchants Bank and Discover. Since I ended up not having the 36% needed to payoff all three cards, I decided to enroll in an alternative program called the 24-Month program. A few weeks later, after receiving a large tax return, I transferred two of the credit cards (MBNA and Direct Merchants Bank) to the Immediate Program and paid the 36% requirement and satisfied those debts. A year later, everything seemed to be fine as I was approximately halfway through the 24 payments (Discover card only) when I received an unexpected Notice of Cancellation on June 3, followed by another letter on June 5, returning my latest payment check. After numerous voice mail messages to different people at B&B (all of which went unreturned), I took time off from my job (unpaid) and made a trip to the B&B office in Valencia to speak in person with someone about the matter. I met with Kimberly Speer of Finance and Theresa Rios of the Immediate Program. It turned out that the MBNA and Direct Merchant debts were not removed from the 24-Month program spread sheet. My monthly payments of $175.86 therefore showed that my account was grossly delinquent, thus prompting the Notice of Cancellation. Conceding that this was in error by B&B, my account was reinstated. Since my total payments of approximately $1760.00 added up to be close to the 1.25% calculated service fee for the 24 Month program, I accepted Kimberlys offer to use the $1760.00 to pay off the 24 Month service fee of $1819.25.
Since I was now in a paid in full status with the 24-Month program, Kimberly informed me that B&B would contact Discover to negotiate a settlement amount. On June 20 in a voice mail message at my work phone number, Kimberly informed me that Discover would settle for no less than 75% of the 6064.19 debt. Obviously this was much higher than anticipated when I enrolled in the 24-Month program.in the next few days I spoke to Kimberly and Brad Hart (Debt Resolution) to discuss the offer and to negotiate a lower amount. The final words of discussion in regard to a settlement amount were with Anna Romero on June 27. I told her I would offer 75% of $800.00 plus 35% of $5264.19 (the $800 was for a balance transfer two months prior to enrolling with B&B and the cause for the high settlement amount requested by Discover according to Brad Hart of B&B). This was the last I heard from B&B in regard to this matter until I made contact again on July 25.
On July 24, I received a phone call from Allied Interstate, requesting me to return their call in regard to a very serious matter (only giving a reference number and no indication who they were representing). I called the next day and found out that they were a collection agency working on behalf of Discover and wanted to resolve the debt. I informed them that I was handling this matter through a credit card debt assistance program and gave them the B&B company name and phone number. Prior to their conversation with me, they were unaware of my dealings with B&B. I told them I would have B&B call them. After that phone call, I spoke with Renee Renoso of B&B and gave her the phone number and my reference number for Allied Interstate. She said she would contact them and get back to me. A few minutes later, Allied called me back and offered me a settlement amount of 55%. I took the deal and paid the balance with Discover (via Allied Interstate). I want to stress that this deal was made independent of Briggs and Baker and could be verified by contacting Donna Bartniki of Allied Interstate at (800) 670-9979 (REF #10017272).
Since I resolved this matter independent of Briggs and Baker, I requested a full refund for the $1760.00 I paid to B&B for service fees in regards to the 24-Month Program. I asked them to contact me within (7) business days of receiving my letter if they would not be unable to send me the full refund by Sept 15.
On Friday, August 02, I returned a phone message from Luis Espino, the Debt Resolution Manager of Briggs and Baker (661-702-2157) in regard to the Service Fee Refund Request. The information conveyed in the conversation included the following:
/A/: Luis informed me that on July 25 his office spoke with Donna Bartniki of Allied Interstate (800-670-9979, REF #10017272) and negotiated a settlement amount of 50%.
/B/: Luis informed me that his office sent me a letter indicating the 50% settlement amount Briggs and Baker (B&B) was allegedly able to negotiate with Allied Interstate.
As I appreciated the effort on Luis behalf in protecting the interest of B&B, I was disappointed in his way of handling the situation. The reasons why I was disappointed are listed as follows:
/A1/: A few minutes after speaking with Luis on August 2, I called Donna Bartniki to verify the 50% settlement amount his office was alleged to have been able to attain with Allied Interstate. Donna informed me that NO settlement agreement was made between Briggs and Baker and Allied Interstate in regard to my account and could be verified by contacting her at (800) 670-9979 (REF #10017272). She informed that Allied Interstate would have perhaps agreed to a 50% settlement amount, but were not interested in working with B&B since I had already reached an agreement with them. (Please note, incidentally, that on July 25, I was the person who provided B&B contact information with Allied Interstate.) Donna also apparently informed the B&B representative that I would be seeking a refund from B&B (knowing that I would apply this to the new balance).
/B1/: Also in the August 2 conversation between Luis and myself, Luis said that B&B had sent a letter to me indicating the 50% settlement amount his office was alleged to have reached with Allied Interstate. As of that date, I had received NO such letter. Luis insisted a letter was sent, but could not provide verification of receipt, had it been sent Certified Mail. When asked why it was not sent by Certified mail, he said we doesnt use that (in contrast to what Item A. Entitled Notices says in the General Provisions section of the 24 Month Customer Agreement).
As stated in my July 29 24-Month Program Service Fee Refund Request, the latest official settlement amount Briggs and Baker was able to come up with was 75% of the $6064.19 debt, or $4548.14. When added to the $1760.00 in Briggs and Baker Service Fees (not counting the $199.00 Financial Analysis Fee), this adds up to $6308.14, or $243.95 more than the amount I originally owed Discover. Please note the last paragraph of the Briggs and Baker paper work entitled Terms & Conditions:
In the event that Briggs & Baker is unable to reach either a settlement which is a more beneficial resolution of the account for the customer than the original terms and conditions of the account with the creditor, then the customer will be refunded in full any fees paid to Briggs & Baker.
As can be seen, paying $243.95 more than what I originally owed was NOT a more beneficial resolution of the account. Once again, I requested a full refund for the $1760.00 I paid in Service Fees to Briggs and Baker in regard to my 24-Month Program account. And once again, I asked them to contact me within (7) business days of receiving the letter if they could not send me the full refund by Sept 15.
After not hearing from B&B any further in regard to the matter, I was decided to bring the matter to Small Claims Court. I filed a claim and court was set for January 3. I ended up winning $760 (plus court fees) of the $1760 I sued for.
After winning the case, collecting the judgment amount proved to be a whole new ball game. After obtaining the Judgment and Notice of Entry of Judgment letter written on 10/01/03 indicating Briggs & Baker was required to pay me $810.00, I followed the court recommended instructions on how to collect the debt. I wrote a letter to Briggs & Baker dated October 23 requesting payment of $810.00. More than one month after sending the request letter, I had still not received payment.
Since I was making very little progress during this time, I decided to go to the next step and file an Order to Produce Statement of Assets and to Appear for Examination form. The form was filed on 11/25/02 and the court date was set for 01/03/03 at 8:30 AM. Taking time off from work (unpaid), I showed up to the court house. Unfortunately, no one from Briggs & Baker showed up. Since they failed to appear, I paid the $50 fee to issue a warrant for Todd Baker, the President of Briggs & Baker. After the court session, I and another Briggs and Baker victim (who came to sit in the court session before his hearing the following week) went to their offices to find out what happened and why no one showed. The explanation from Luis Espino was that he thought someone was going over there. I went on to inform Mr. Espino that a warrant had been issued for Todd. I also mentioned that this whole problem could resolved if B&B went ahead and paid me. (I emphasized to Luis that my judgment amount was much lower than some of the other judgment awards and it would be easiest for both parties just to pay the debt and be done with it). Well, after many, many more phone calls on my part and 12 days later I was paid. I would like to let it be known that between 11/21 and the date of payment (1/15/03), I made 68 phone calls in attempt to get my money. I could not believe how ruthless these people were. And the dishonest tactics they used, collectively to continue to put off paying the debt were just absolutely amazing.
I understand that Todd Baker is now running a newer version of the same company called Debt Resolution Specialists, or DRS. I cringe at the idea that this guy is still in business and that more people my be victimized by his dishonest and deceitful tactics.
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