On or about August we contacted the Business Extension Bureau about doing a 10,000 piece mailer. We had used them in past a number of occasions and never had a problem. We spent over several thousands of dollars with them. Since my company does a lot of direct mail with this company and other companies, we are very knowledgeable about the return of mail pieces which is approximately 15 to 20 returns.
We paid the company for the postage of $2000 The remaining balance of $2600 was billed to us for printing. We were informed the mailer was dropped. We waited and waited but received no calls. We fully understand that direct mail is risky and they can not guarantee response but we did not receive any return mail.
We immediately contacted the company and stated that the mailer must not have been shipped out because we did not receive one return mail piece. After numerous calls, they would not provide us any proof that the mailer went out. They demanded full payment for the printing which we refused until proof that the mailer was shipped. We knew from previous and subsequent experience with direct mail to expect return mail.
We were going to file suit for the cost of the postage but decided that our money time could be spent more efficiently and chalked this up to being screwed. Suddenly, in January we got a letter stating that my company had a default judgment aganist us which was sent to current address at our office located at 888 West Sam Houston Pkwy. South Houston, Texas 77042.
We never were served but they hired a process server who served us at our old location at 2909 Hill croft which we have not at that location for over 3 years. They had their attorney file a claim for over $8800 which would put the suit in county court. How ironic that that Business Extension Bureau the mailing company did not know our physical address but knew to forward a default judgment to the address that we have been at for over 3 years.
We have had to retain an attorney and spend ridiclous legal fees defending ourselves. Keep in mind this is over printing costs of $2600 which we spent $1950 in postage for a mailer that never went out. They have even filed for extensive discovery rquest for our company books etc. We provided them limited information that was pert ant but not to the extent that were requesting. They then filed a motion to compel and if we do not respond to their demands their attorney will become our receivership.
We are confident that this was a complete set up by Business Extension Bureau and their attorney to exhort money from my company not only for the postage they pocketed but also to line their pockets even more. They did finally send something from their attorney to ours form the US postal service. It did have our name on it but the address they had listed for us was at a 66430 Richmoned Ave Ste 3 something Houston Texas 77057.
They couldn't even get that right or that might explain why none of the inserted reply letters nor the return letters ever made it back. If the US postage just kicked out because of an incorrect address. We are sure they have preyed on other companies but who just figured that their mailer did not work. We are requesting full disclosure of proof of mailing and refund for our postage in the amount of 1950 and 2200 in attorney fees.
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