I was happily married and living in Houston TX in 2007. I owned a home that I lived in with my husband. I responded to an advertisement from Novotny & Company on February 22 to represent me in the tax assessors office to lower my property tax. Approximately one week later my husband told me he wanted a divorce. I seriously did not believe him since we had been happily married for 4 years, and had not fought or even thought of breaking up in all of that time.
On February 27 I received a letter in the mail form Novotny & Company with an attached Property Information form and Appointment of Agent form to complete. I did not return the forms, and instead, I called Lucie Novotny on 3/6/07 in response to the letter and left a message for her in her voice mail that the property was up for sale due to divorce, and to stop representing me. The letter said to "FAX OR SEND IT TO US IMMEDIATELY" (their emphasis)."The hearings run through the summer and fall and we cannot influence when your hearing will be scheduled by the Appraisal District."
I thought that since I did not return the Appointment of Agent form that they would not be able to represent me. I do not know if they forged my name to the form to satisfy the Harris County Assessors office requirements. I still have the blank form in my possession.
But after I had moved to CA they sent me a bill for $451.80 for half of the saved property tax. I can not verify that they saved any property tax, because I do not own the property. So I can only assume that they are billing me for work they did.
After they billed me I wrote a letter explaining that I had not returned the form, I had called and cancelled, and my income was currently below poverty level and not expected to increase due to physical impairment. They are generously allowing me to pay off the bill at the rate of $10.00 per month until my social security kicks in when they will allow me to pay more.
I want to give them the award for Heartless Corporate Greed in the Houston area for the year 2008.
0 comments