Ladies and Gentlemen, I found this message board while searching the net for help about a supposed debt matter. I hope it is okay for me to post this question here. The state is TX. I have just received a bill from a pool service company. That's the first bill that I have seen since I fired them, although they claim it's not. On the envelope, below my address it says: "Payment Not Received, A Lien Will Be Filed On The Property". The invoice itself has a notation "Service is not free" under the billed amount and right under that it says: "This invoice will be sent to the District Attorney's office and a lien is being filed on the property". I am obviously going to pay this bill, but I would also like to know if the pool company violated any laws? Thanks, TexanCSI
I would assume that they are giving you 'notice and demand' thereby declaring to you that they are getting ready to do this so you will pay your bill to them. You have a block of time in order to pay them and if you don't, they can proceed from there. I don't know all the ins and outs of your situation, but providing a service is a different ballgame since they have no means of getting their money otherwise if you choose not to pay.
I had a similar situation happen to me in GA. I fired a construction company while they were doing work (well, supposed to be doing work) on my house. They were to keep the initial deposit as the fee for work done so far. Well, several months later- and two months after the house was sold- I recieved a similar letter as yours. I phoned a lawyer to see my rights- especially since the house was no longer mine. His advice was to pay the bill immediately and write "disputed" on the check. I do not know how it works in TX, but, at least according to the lawyer, in GA the contruction company could put a lien on the house with no problem. Kind if a shoot first ask questions later policy. I paid and then followed through with a dispute. Part of my money was refunded.
It is called a mechanics lien. It is to protect the suppliers and workers on home construction/repairs to insure they get paid. I also call it "the Crooked Contractors Relief Act".. In theory it is good. If someone supplies you with goods or services on your home, then they should get paid. The problem comes in when you are paying the contractor, who hires subcontractors and does not pay them. You become responsible for paying the subs even though you already paid the main contractor. It helps crooked contractors make lots of money. In some states, it is one of the few ways someone can get a lien on your belongings without a court order. In places like Florida, where there is almost no real regulation of the construction industry, it becomes a nightmare for the homeowner. (They have laws, they just do not enforce them). I am not an expert in this, but I do not see any violation.
Something appears to be excessive here: I believe normally a mechanics lien is for work that improved the value of your property. Is this the case for a service that is done repeatedly? I don't know. In addition, if I remember right, a mechanics lien must be converted to a judgement within 90 days, or it lapses if no legal action is taken. It is available to ensure that a contractor, workman, or supplier is not last in line to get paid for what they did to increase the value of property, not a substitute for legal action. (I don't know what the laws are in your state.) Normally, this would be a civil dispute. You terminated their service. Either you paid for what they did, or you didn't, and maybe there was a contract for services beyond when you terminated them, and you terminated them for some cause, resulting in a dispute. Yet they are in their first notice claiming they are forwarding it to the District Attorney, as if terminating them is somehow fraud. For a CA, if they were not actually forwarding this to the DA, it would be an FDCPA violation. If they were claiming this is a criminal case, when it is either a bill not paid, or a bill disputed, is also an FDCPA violation. The envelope is marked on the outside to make visible that they are trying to collect a debt. For a CA, this would be a FDCPA violation. They are going to a lot of trouble to threaten you, to do what? Do they want payment for services they actually performed? Is this a response to your termination of them due to damages to your property? Do they want payment for services that they did not perform? Do they want to be paid for the remaining period of a service contract, or be bought out of a service contract? Do they want to coerce you into renewing, or not terminating, a service contract? This has the mark of being their standard business procedure. What does their BBB file show about similar behavior? Are they required to be licensed?
Ontrack, those are all very good questions. This is for a pool service contract. No written contract, it was show up and clean\maintain the pool. It was not a contract for a set amount of time. I fired them because they were supposed to keep the chemical balance of the pool in line and they did not, which left me with a pool that was quite green and clouded. I did discuss this with the company owner, who said they have had no obligation as far as chemicals were concerned. Alas, those all were only conversations, thus no written stuff. I don't have a clue what it is that they want to achieve. Had they sent me a bill earlier, I would have paid it, just to avoid hassle. All I got was what I mentioned in my first post. I have the check ready to be sent, but first I will look up the licensing & BBB info that you mentioned. I simply do not appreciate being threatened with the District Attorney in such situations. Thank you very much for your insight, I do appreciate your responses. TexanCSI
Make sure their statement is in order, and accurately shows your account balance due, with your payments accounted for. Insist on a final statement showing 0 balance. If they are difficult to deal with, or have messed up records or accounting, you want to have clear documentation that this matter is paid and closed. You can't trust to their "good will" to correct problems later.
Thank You! I've had such a DUH week that I wouldn't have thought about requesting confirmation of payment in full. Thanks again, TexanCSI
Marginal businesses have marginal accounting and recordkeeping. They also tend to go bankrupt hand have their "accounts receivable" sold for penneys on the dollar. CYA. By comparison, in 20 years of being billed by legitimate companies with decent reputations, I have had only a couple cases where a statement did not arrive, and they always cleared the matter up. The average reliability of mail delivery, assuming a business sends at least 2 or 3 statements before assuming you are avoiding paying, is actually far higher than the billing reliability some businesses. If you didn't get a bill, most likely they screwed up.
