Posts in this forum about Hess Kennedy Company

EDWARD, it will be appreciated if you can answer some of the questions on Hess Kennedy topics. I have no idea why people are facing problems with your company and putting a bad name. Please come to clarify the consumers' doubts because I see your company's reputation going down everyday.

To sum:

Original Creditors

1. The firm audits the previous 12 months of statements and identifies any billing errors.

2. The firm sends notification of the billing error under the Fair Credit Billing Act.

What types of disputes are covered?

The FCBA settlement procedures apply only to disputes about "billing errors." For example:

unauthorized charges. Federal law limits your responsibility for unauthorized charges to $50;

charges that list the wrong date or amount;

charges for goods and services you didn't accept or weren't delivered as agreed;

math errors;

failure to post payments and other credits, such as returns;

failure to send bills to your current address - provided the creditor receives your change of address, in writing, at least 20 days before the billing period ends; and

charges for which you ask for an explanation or written proof of purchase along with a claimed error or request for clarification.



3. Creditors are prohibited from certain things:

What happens while my bill is in dispute?

You may withhold payment on the disputed amount (and related charges), during the investigation. You must pay any part of the bill not in question, including finance charges on the undisputed amount.


The creditor may not take any legal or other action to collect the disputed amount and related charges (including finance charges) during the investigation. While your account cannot be closed or restricted, the disputed amount may be applied against your credit limit.


Will my credit rating be affected?

The creditor may not threaten your credit rating or report you as delinquent while your bill is in dispute. However, the creditor may report that you are challenging your bill. In addition, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act prohibits creditors from discriminating against credit applicants who exercise their rights, in good faith, under the FCBA. Simply put, you cannot be denied credit simply because you've disputed a bill.

4. If a creditor violates the law, our client must keep a log of the violations so we can enforce the private remedies allowed under the act, including, damages, stautory damages, attorneys fees, and costs.

Third Party debt collectors

1. A consumer has no contract nor financial obligation with a third party debt collector UNLESS, the consumer is tricked into making a contract with the debt collector.

2. This firm enforces the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

Every consumer that follows our instructions eliminates their debt, protects their credit rating, and begins to start saving money and build wealth.

The consumers that are tricked by debt collectors are the ones that cancel the law firm services.

Edward - you didn't answer any questions - you just posted the same thing over again. Can you go to the thread about Hess & Kennedy and adress those questions? That would show your interest in helping your clients.

People who sign up with you say that their files are forwarded to Richard Brennan, a debt settlement company. Is this true?

Hess kennedy does not forward files anywhere. Are you talking about consumer credit counseling of america? If any consumer is saying that they signed up with hess kennedy then got sent to david brennan, someone is committing fraud. Please contact me immediately if this is the case.

Isn't she your client? She is having a problem with your company. Can you please answer because she says the phone calls to your company are going nowhere when she calls?

See other dissatisfied posters.

http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/mystory/about14433.html

HK is CCCofA. Isn't it?

http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/settlement/about13976.html

If you read the post, it is not specific. Not one consumer who is complaining (if they really are clients will post a substantive statement indicating failure of services)

For example, they say "After speaking with my creditors, I found out that Hess Kennedy Company did not even contact them"

This is ludicrous. Immedately upon conclusion of our review of an account billing history, we send out certified mail a notice of billing error dispute. This triggers Federal Law against the creditor. The creditor must do certain things or run the risk of being sued in Federal Court.

Second, if a client does speak with a debt collector after retaining our firm, they dont realize that they are really speaking with a third party debt collector not the original creditor.

Third, instead of speaking with the third party debt collector, who they think is an original creditor, they should be collecting information from the debt collector, putting it into their log (see attachment).

Not one post on this website said the following:

After maintainig a log of collection activity and forwarding it to my attorney, nothing happened. The calls continued, no debts were eliminated, etc.None of the complaints say this.

All consumer disatisfaction is the direct result of Creditors and debt collectors Violating the Fair Credit Billing Act and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Any Hess Kennedy Client that trusts the firm and maintained a log succeeds.

As a test, have one person who is complaining send you a copy of their Log to show that they followed the directions of the attorney.

What is happening is that the credit counseling Agencies are apparently promising the world to the clients, rather than explain what is expected of them. When we explain what is expected and the client listens, results are achieved 100% of the time.

Think about this, if a third party debt collector calls a client twice per day for a week. If the client logs the calls, and contacts us each day letting us know they called and we spend two hours per day on the client file dealing with the debt collection abuse, that equates to 10 hours of billable attorneys fees. At $350 per hour, we can sue the debt collector for $5000 stautory damages, and $3500 in attorneys fees. Do the math, if the consumer only owed $3000, we can now collect $8000.

Why would we not want a client to succeed? I am telling you, the Creditors and Debt Collectors win when they convince a consumer to go it alone.

Cccoa is a credit counseling agency that used to refer client to hess kennedy company a chartered law firm.

First off...I am not a competitor of Hess Kennedy and would actually like to speak with a competitor to see if they can help me where Hess Kennedy has not. I have had the worst possible experience with this company and whomever you are Edward, you really have some nerve saying that your track record is unblemished.

Here are a couple of key points to this terrible experience with Hess Kennedy Company

1. When I signed up through CCCA - I was NEVER informed of the "so-called" trust account my money would be placed in. I was only informed that Hess Kennedy would send "cease and desist" letters to ALL of my creditors and work out individual deals to pay off my debt in 1 year - because I was in such dire need of help - I stupidly agreed to giving HK access to my bank account. Pretty much letting them "steal" $350 from my account on a monthly basis (I will go into more deatial later in this post.)And when I tried to discuss this with CCCA to tell them I was never informed of this trust aacount - they specifically told me that they can do nothing because the account has been turned to Hess Kennedy.

2. Hess Kennedy Company has NEVER answered any of my emails or voice messages when I tried to discuss my account. I always had to hound these guys to speak with someone there. Here's a tip for those of you who are still tyring to contact this company - press #4 when you call in...this is the line that the courts use and for some reason they answer this line 100% of the time. I believe the customer line is there because they need it to be there - for legal purposes. Honestly, everytime I eventually get through to the customer line I either get placed immediatly on hold or the secretary "accidentally" hangs up on me.

3. When I eventually figured out this company was stealing my money and making my credit worse...I finally terminated this agreement. I went through the motions of sending in a fax and calling to confirm that they recieved it. But of course no one returned my calls or confirmed via email - which I specifically requested on the termination letter. I pretty much had to call for about 3 or 4 days to get in contact with someone there. And guess who I finally got in touch with there? The person who handles the Court line - funny huh? Now this person finally tells me that once I terminate the agreement the accounting department takes 30-60 days to handle this account and that she will escalate this situation to get my account handled. Again, I was given a false sense that someone at Hess Kennedy was trying to help and I actually thanked her for helping out...and guess what I recieve in the mail that week - an INVOICE for around $1200 - these criminals actually had the nerve to CHARGE ME for their services????? What services??? I still recieved calls from each and every one of my creditors and actually had to work deals out on my own. And when I confronted the "paralegal" who is supposedly the highest person you can speak with at this company to discuss my account and get my hard earned money back - his response to me was..."I think all you are trying to do here is complain" - of course I want to complain, but also get my money back? Does this person really think I'm calling just to vent? I needed a resolve and HK is not in the business of helping out their customers.

Honestly...I'm sooo heated right now that I can go on and on about my horrific experience with this company.
So I will stop here and continue at a later time.

But one thing I have for any Hess Kennedy employee looking at this. There is a post here that says you offer a 100% money back guarantee if I'm not completely satisfied with your services - I am not satisfied...will you come through on your promise? I really don't think so...but I'm always here if you guys actually have a heart. You have destroyed my life and have stolen hard earned money from someone who believed you could help. I'm almost 100% positive that there are people on this site that have had the same experience as me and you know who they are. Again, if you have a heart or any morals at all you will come through on your promise.

BTW...please do not try and threaten me with Slander or any other legal actions - I am just speaking very truthfully about my experience with your company and because you have ruined my credit, savings and my life - there's really nothing left for you to sue me for - you already have it all in your "trust account"

Gee Edward....

Looks like you need to work on damage control.

I'm beginning to think "edward" is a robot. He rarely responds to questions directly, just keeps doing a fine job of "circle talking" and skirting the actual question.

It is amazing, each comment begins with "I signed up with CCCOA, and they never told me. . . "

As for not answering questions. Your not getting it. Your not following. One more time. I cannot make it any more clear.

1. We are a law firm: Hess Kennedy Company.
2. We are not a credit counseling agency.
3. We are not CCCOA, we do not control or monitor what they tell consumers.
4. When a client is referred to our firm, they sign a retainer agreement that explains exactly what services we are to perform, the cost of the services, and what is expected of the client.
5. When we collect a payment from a client and it clears, we immedately send out correspondence to each and every creditor.
6. We ask for the past 12 months of statements on each account.
7. When we receive these, which is within 5-10 business days (federal law requires that they provide us with this information in a timely manner) we audit the statements. This takes hours.
8. 99.9% of all credit card statements contain billing errors.
9. We challenge the errors and request clarification.
10. Once we challenge an error under the Fair Credit Billing Act, a creditor is prohibited from enaging in certain action. IT IS THE CONTRACTUAL RESPONSIBILITY OF THE CLIENT TO MAINTAIN A COLLECTION ACTIVITY LOG THAT IS SENT TO THE CLIENT IMMEDIATELY UPON OUR RECEIPT OF THEIR FILE.
11. If a creditor violates federal law, we enforce our clients rights under the Truth in Lending Act, Regulation Z, and The Fair Credit Billing Act.
12. When a client follows our simple instructions, our process effective.
13. When a client listens to a lying debt collector, and stops paying their attorney for no legal reason, the contract explains what the law firms remedy is upon a clients breach.
14. The firm spends hours pouring over billing statements spanning 12 months and expects to be paid for their work.

Any client that comes to this forum and says that Hess Kennedy Company was paid money and performed no services is a LIAR, point and simple you are a liar.

What is frustrating is doing this nonsens in an anonymous forum. Every debtor in this country should be focussing their attention on the creditors not the debtors.

I am so sure of our work product, whoever you are, contact me by email. I will personally approve handling your file for free. However, it will be on contingency, in that if we sue a third party debt collector or creditor, we get to keep the attorneys fees we recover in court. If this is acceptable, email me at info(at)hesskennedylaw(dot)com. Copy any administrator in this forum and i will copy the administrator on any email i send to you.

If you are telling the truth and not "venting" because of your financial problems, you will take me up on this offer.

Quote:

Put your money where your sophist mouth is. Take out your last 12 months of statements and calulate your apr, Daily Rate, and Finance charges. Verify that when your payment cleared your bank, it was posted on the same date to your credit card account.

I bet you 1,000,000 there are errors.

Suggestion to anyone who has dealt with Hess Kennedy and is unsatisfied with the results: Contact Edward. If you are successful in contacting him and resolving your issues (or not), let us know.

Edward, I still don't see you addressing the issues raised in the post by your client above. I don't see a response to the customer service/phone issue, in particular. All I keep seeing is your list of what you say your company does, and your rants against this being an "anonymous forum"...and you calling your clients liars if they post complaints here, then issuing a challenge to them.

But, since I "don't get it", and I'm "not following", and you "can't make it any more clear", I guess I'll have to let someone else ask the same questions and see if they "get it".

If this client cancelled and contacted our firm using terms like fraud, stealing, etc. absolutely they are not a high priority. We are professionals, and we do not have to take any abuse. The particualr client admitted she retained us for two months. Was it her expectation that all of her debt would be eliminated in 2 months:?

I've read numerous posts on the forums about your law firm/settlement services. I've never been a client of yours but don't you think customer service is a key factor in your business? There have been many posters on here stating the same things, such as unreturned phone calls, e-mails, etc. Something smells fishy to me.

Thank you, Mishele!

I agree 100% making a consumer feel at ease during a rough financial time is important.

We are lawyers thoug, if anyone has ever hired an attorney, access is tough. It is not an excuse, it is a fact.

Every attorney in our growing firm is overworked and dedicated. This is why i am so direct and to the point.

If people only complained about customer service i would say your right, lets fix it. These people are alleging criminal activity and it is not acceptable.

We just now implemented a toll free number so that consumer do not have to wast cell phone minutes or pay long distance bills.

We hired 12 more attorneys to handle the increase in business. We are making progress, and most of our referrals coming in now are client referrals.

We were burned by the credit counseling agencies that the amendendments to the Bankrutpcy Code made us use.

Seems like you guys respond more to people that use this forum than to your own email and phone calls. If you guys were this responsive when customers call you - then I think all of these posts would not be available for everyone to read.

FYI - I have wrote to your so-called "info" email numerous times and have never recieved a response...and if you really want to help - you will contact me [color=red]E-mail address removed per forum rules, but I have PM'd the info to Edward-Ed, check your PM -Jessi/color]I am sick and tired of getting the run around from you guys and all I want is my money back so I can go ahead and pay my creditors myself.

As far as the LIAR comment? I thought lawyers had more tact than that...I'm assuming you're one of the paralegals that I always get on the phone when I call your company. And for the record - I am a dissatisfied customer who is not a lawyer - and I am furious on how I have been treated by your company so I feel I have the right to call you guys whatever I want.

Again...if you really want to help - you will contact me. Not the other way around.

I will do everything in my power to escalate the customer service issue that we have fleshed out.

The email address info(at)hesskennedylaw.com is monitored 24/7. A response will come within 24 hours.

And yes, you have the power to call this firm anything you want.

Do you inderstand that its not just the customer service part of it. It's also the fact that you have not helped me or a majority of the people on here that have trusted Hess Kennedy. And I guess you do not want to help - since I did not recieve a response about getting in contact with me. What happened to the 100% money back guarantee - I guess that's only in special cases huh?

and I meant..."understand" in my last post.

Either Edward has no rebuttal...or he's off the clock. I'm sure he'll be back tomorrow.

Till then Eddy boy!