Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  06/03/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I was divorced from my former husband after he raped my 11 year old daughter and was sent to prison. My former husband had a sewer bill that he had not payed and I was unaware of. I was awarded the house in the divorce. I also aparently took on the sewer bill with the divorce. I explained that my Ex had money that was accessable and could have been used to pay the bill. The firm handling the unpaid bill, Kramer and Frank P.C. was unwilling to work with me. I spoke with them for on several occassions over the years before I left the community and relocated to help my child heal. Now I'm trying to sell the home that i inherited and I can't because there is lein on the property, I would like to pay the bill, and if the lein is lifted so I can sell the home, I will pay the sewer what they say is owed to them. Otherwise, I can't sell the house and they won't get paid.

  Business response

  06/10/2024

  Kramer & Frank, P.C. (K&F) received ***************-Smiths complaint on June 3, 2024. K&F put a temporary hold on her account and assigned an attorney to investigate it.  K&F takes all complaints seriously and welcomes the opportunity to respond to ****************-Smiths concerns.
  
  In certain situations, federal law classifies K&F as a debt collector.  Under federal law,specifically the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, K&F cannot communicate about debt collection activity with any third party without the consumers consent.  The purpose of the requirement is to avoid shaming anyone over nonpayment of a debt.  Therefore, in this situation, K&F cannot reply to the Better Business Bureau regarding this complaint even to confirm whether K&F has been attempting to collect a debt.
  
  K&F should also mention that the BBB complaint system classifies the complaining party as our customer.  Even if K&F were attempting to collect a debt from the person who made the complaint, that person would be the customer of our client, not of K&F. Our client is our customer.  K&F nevertheless tries to provide the best service that it can to consumers.
  
  While K&F cannot respond to the particulars of this complaint, K&F would state generally that K&F attempts to respond to communications from all consumers as soon as it can and to work with consumers to resolve their debts.  K&F takes all complaints seriously, and it will investigate this one.
  
  K&F will communicate the results of the investigation directly to the person who made this complaint and provide that person with information to enable them to contact us about it.  If the BBB has any further questions or concerns, please contact K&F.
  
  Thank you for the opportunity to respond to the concerns stated in the complaint.

• Initial Complaint

  09/14/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  This company bought out the last law firm I was paying unbeknownst to me. I had been paying on this debt for over 2 years when the firm was bought out. I never received any notification. I only found out when I looked up the address to the original firm to send my payment and the Kramer and Frank address came up instead. I called multiple times and tried to contact them for months. The first time I heard from them was stating that I was delinquent on my payments because I couldnt reach anyone and didnt know where to send payments. I had no idea who they were until I saw that one of the lawyers from my other firm was at the new firm on the letter I received.I began paying them again on the same schedule monthly once I was able to reach her. I called earlier this year to request my updated balance because after 2 and a half years of paying, I wanted to see how much it had decreased. I called the lawyer that was my contact all those years with no response. I emailed twice with no response. I finally spoke with a receptionist and was told that my balance was the same it was 2 and a half years ago before I started paying and that no payments came over from the original law firm, *****************************. I understand interest but for my balance to be the exact same as it was originally makes no sense. Unfortunately, I got into a groove and trusted the lawyer I was working with. I paid by money order and sent payments faithfully monthly. I never received any letters or calls saying I was behind on payments because I paid on time, but I cant prove each and every payment. So Im out at least $1,200 at this point and have had to start paying my balance all over again. Its a hard pill to swallow that a company can steal from people who just dont have it and are truly doing their best to pay their debts. Its crushing really.

  Business response

  10/05/2022

  ************************* left our firm.  I just got access to her email & found this complaint waiting.  I will respond as soon as possible.  In the meantime, please return our contact information to:

  **************************

  Chief Compliance Officer

  Kramer & Frank, P.C.

  **********************************

  ************** (direct)

  Thank you!

  Business response

  10/20/2022

  Kramer & Frank received your email dated 10/12/2022 "reminding" us of *************************************** complaint.  We had already received, however, the attached letter informing us that BBB had closed the complaint.  We will nevertheless respond at this time.

   

  Because *************************************** complaint relates to matters considered private under federal law, and because we understand that BBB will make our full response public, we cannot provide our full response to the BBB.  We will provide, however, a full response to ************************************  We will send it contemporaneously with this response and provide her with a copy of this response showing that we protected her privacy.

   

  One other matter: *********************************** is not technically our customer.  To the extent that we have a customer involved in this dispute, our customer is our client.  We are willing, nevertheless, to address the concerns raised in ***********************************' complaint by responding directly to her.

   

  If you or *********************************** have any further questions or concerns, please contact me.  Thank you.

  Customer response

  10/24/2022

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  **********************************************

• Initial Complaint

  06/29/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I have been trying to contact kramer and frank since 2020 with no response. The last time I spoke with a "******* ****". And she threatened me illegally with "arrests". I have been paying off all my other debt over the past couple of years with no problem and this debt is one of the last two on my list. If this firm would answer calls or emails they would actually receive payment. During covid I lost my job and was unable to make my payments in 2020 to this firm. Now I've been trying to contact them with no luck. It's almost as if this firm is more worried about ruining someone financial stability than actually getting their money. How can I pay something if I'm threatened when called? I'm willing to do a payment plan that I can afford monthly and will not tolerate being told I'm going to be arrested. I've been communicating with all my debt collectors and this one is by far the most unprofessional I've ever encountered. I have even attempted to log in a pay and the kfpay.com portal allows me in but won't allow me to pay.

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩