Houston city leaders warn residents not to pay after KHOU 11 reports on collection letters
Vložit
- čas přidán 1. 05. 2024
- Council Member Joaquin Martinez said he's been contacted by several constituents who received a letter from a construction company hired by the city.
If these companies are attempting to bill private property owners for work they were contracted to perform by the city they are committing criminal fraud and need to be in prison.
If i didn't hire the contractors, I'm not paying the contractors. Send all the letters you wish, I'm still not paying you.
Right, show me my signiture on a contract with you.
Then it'll go on you credit.. you still lose
@chechnya Ridiculous! If it gets to that point, absolutely fight it; and win; fees etc; keeping one whole.
To imply to just pay up, in order to save a few points on one's score or deal with a fabricated negative report on a credit report, is irresponsible.
Sue this company and city needs to be held accountable for not paying.
sue sly turner
Their doing to much...
Their beef is with the city and that is who they should be contacting to pay the bill not the residence. The city needs to get their "S" together and pay for the work that was done.
Sounds like some politician was handing out contracts illegally and someone found out and stopped payment on them.
dat b da sly turner meffod
I'm GLAD I live in TRUE BLUE New York!!!!!!! TexASS is a SEWER of corruption!!!!!!!!!
The Water Department of Houston has a bunch of crooked people who were running it under Mayor Turner's term. I hope everyone remembers that the people working in the water department were giving all the repair contracts to their brothers and brother in laws who owned plumbing companies. None of the work got done and water leaks remained everywhere!!! The City of Houston needs to straighten all this out for the residents and businesses in Houston!!! They need to go back and sue these people and all the family members who got paid that didn't do the work!!!
Turner is gone the new mayor has all responsibility now.
@@worldwidesports4k Yes, unfortunately that's what happens to the new politicians when they take office, they have to fix whatever was going on before.
Interesting, the contractors were hired to do a repair, which I assume they did and now the city hasn't payed them. No info as to why though.
sly turner gone sly
I get it’s probably annoying to not get paid, but if you pause the screen and look at the letter, it’s very threatening. Very scummy for them to do.
Step one, contact a lawyer. Step two, contact the state attorney general. Step three, demand an itemized receipt for work performed and a copy of the contract that you did not sign. Step four, file a fraud alert with credit bureaus.
Do not ask for a contract that you didn't sign. All those people need to do is to notify the company that they don't owe anything to the company and any further harassment by the company will result in a lawsuit. Possibly a class action lawsuit considering the number of people that received from the company.
This is a smart move by the company. The city doesn’t think they should pay their bills, so the company sends bills to home owners, which ends up on the news and applies pressure on the city to pay up. They are playing chess.
Oh, surely local officials weren’t getting kickbacks for those sketchy contracts. Just like those paid to play judges that are soft on crime. Voted for stupidity, then that’s what you shall receive. 🥴
18 U.S.C. 1341 , usage of the postal service to fraudulently obtain money , mail fraud ?
Put a contractor's lien on the city, whatever , but if a vulnerable individual were to receive one of these letters and suffer a heart attack as a result, the contractor may have a bigger problem.
They need to cease and desist , leave private individuals out of their dispute with the administration .
Serious Federal offense
Well no wonder the city is not paying these contractors. Look at what they are doing. No legit contractor would even dare to send collection letters to home owners if they were hired by the city. Yeah the city needs to look into this and punish all involved. Also, they need to blacklist these contractors for life after this! Who even thinks that trying to make a home owner pay $1,000,000+ is even possible!
The state attorney should issue a cease and desist from sending letters to homeowners, but they should be paid for their work
Are they going to try to put a lein on their house?
Good point. When my neighborhood was built, some of the suppliers didn't get paid for their materials, so they filed liens on several of the homes in the neighborhood.
Be cautious of any collections filed with the courts. Anyone can file a claim against anyone. In many cases the person/people filing are betting on the idea the person won't notice or show up for the hearing. After which a default judgement is placed. Legitimate or not this makes it a bonified debt the person now owes.
@@ygrittesnow1701 Eeeww! That ought to be illegal in and of itself!
Crooked politicians who don't pay the bills! Say it ain't so !!
So why is the city giving out people's names and addresses to a contractor? There is no reason they need that info to do their jobs.
They'll probably turn around and sell that data to marketing companies.
Sure they do. Look up DMV sells driver's personal information.
Well... interesting fact... if you ever get a bill in the mail from a company called "St Harlem Construction" it's probably a scam.
Why didn't they get paid though 😢
Now that is how government officials should handle these kind of situations! Good job!!
cause sly turner
Inspector General opened an investigation. That usually puts everything on hold.
Does anyone see the elephant in the room?
What a poorly done report. Whoever wrote this segment, shot this segment, edited this segment and approved airing this report needs to be sent to a real journalism school and learn how to do things correctly.
Sorry, I don't believe "Real Journalism Schools" exist anymore. I do agree with your assessment of the report though.
Sounds like an act of desperation on the part of the contractor.
Corruption in the water department.
So were contracts " handed out" like candy or were they awarded?
city not paying????????????????????
I live in West Michigan. . Ottawa county. I Always go pay my Water bills in person. Grand Haven. To the county. It allows me time to day Hello to my Local civil service employees. Say thanks. AND Go get a PRONTO PUP,,which my Mrs says Im not supposed to eat,lol.
Collection letters should be used as kindling.
Ah, the intrepid "ponzi scheme."
So the city hired the contractors and is now not paying them? Sounds like a perfect Republican city
And it is Texas. Show of hands. Who is surprised?
Lol, two idiots show themselves. Houston is and has been run by democrats for the last 100 years except for two republican mayors, one from 1964-1974 and one from 1978-1982. Explain, in detail, how houston is a “Republican city” and how this has anything to do with either republicans or the rest of the state?
Tax payer is on the hook. Applaud those trying to get paid for work they did in good faith.
LOLOLOLOL@YOU!!!!!
Tax payers already paid this. Why would they have to pay for it again?
Horrible news reporting(As I have come to expect). Ask the correct questions, how did this come about, how is the city going to correct the situation.
The bills are unpaid because there’s a problem with how the contracts were rewarded. They said that.
As I see it a legitimate mechanics elien xists. The contractor performed the work and should be paid. They can and should execute a lien against the property owner evidenced by the bill / notices. The legality of the letting of the contracts is a separate issue. The city should have continued payment. Narragansett Bay.
The property owner is only responsible for the line from their home to the water meter itself. My understanding is the contractors repaired city water lines, so the homeowner isn't on the hook for payment.
Find the black people responsible
sly turner
Simple legal principal: If you did not hire the contractor for the work - and some government official did not order you to do that work and then hired a contractor after you refuesed to do the work... You don't have to pay.
I went through a somewhat similar situation last year when a hospital decided to move me to another hospital and hired an ambulance company to move me (the hospital refused to let my wife move me). I did not sign anything accepting any responsibility. The Ambulance company refused the about $2000 my insurance provider would pay them and billed me personally for something like $8000. I told them I didn't hire them - contact the hospital who did. They said no. I contacted the hospital and brought the matter to their attention. They admitted that they hired the Ambulance Company and that he Ambulance Company had to bill them, which they would cover through my insurance. The hospital contacted the Ambulance company and told them to bill them and to take me off the list... or that they would never hire them again.
My understanding is that they were forced to accept what the insurance company offered as their agreement with the hospital is that they would accept whatever payment the insurance company provided.
I had told both parties that I'd see both of them in court if they thought I was responsible for that bill. I didn't hire them - the hospital refused to let my wife transport me (and there was no medical reason she could not have), and I never signed anything accepting any responsibility - and I know that I would have won in court. However, a lot of people don't know that.