JK Harris & Company, N Charleston, SC - have subsequently taken JK Harris & Company to small claims court twice

JK Harris & Company, N Charleston, SC - have subsequently taken JK Harris & Company to small claims court twice

JK Harris & Company / Profess Tax Resolution Company

JK Harris & Company

4975 Lacrosse Rd Suite 300

N Charleston, SC 29406

On August 25th,2002 I contacted the local office of JK Harris & Company based on their advertisement in the Salem News for a "Free Tax Settlement Analysis," an appointment was made for August 2nd at 11:am.

Upon meeting with their representative, Miss Karen Berry I initially agreed to use their services. At that time I was given a Form 2848 and asked to sign and return.

The initial fee was to be $3,000 based on the number of years to settle with the IRS, and negotiation fee. On the original agreement there was an error that they made that they didn't notice. The fee should have been $2,900. ($2,300 + 600 = $2,900). Upon discussion with my wife and further consideration I decided to cancel the contract based on their contract terms.

The corporate office was called on August 13th to cancel the contract, and to initiate refund of my funds. I was told to send a letter requesting a refund.

J.K. Harris subsequently replied, stating that "Due to Financial Hardship" they would close my case. I did not cancel the contract due to financial hardship, and have not stated in any correspondence that there was any financial hardship. J.K. Harris insists on continuing to misrepresent and construe the facts. Once again referring to my letter of August 19th.

After stating that they would close my case due to financial hardship, dated Aug 23, 2002. They subsequently sent me another letter, "Account Closure due to Non Payment" , and threatened me that they would report me to three credit bureaus. I subsequently sent them an e-mail on August 30th referencing their letters, and restating that I did not cancel due to financial hardship and pointing out that no where in their contract does it state that I have to give a reason to cancel. I also initiated a call to the arbitration board to try and arbitrate this dispute. I was unable to contact anyone, and left a message to contact me. Subsequently no contact was initiated by the arbitration company.

They subsequently set me another letter stating that they would "Terminate" my case due to "me ignoring their attempts to assist me". There is an answering machine at my home, and at no time did J.K. Harris try and contact me by leaving a message. This letter is almost three weeks after their initial letter stating my case was terminated.

On September 4th I contacted the Attorney Generals office to solicit help from their Consumer Affairs Division, to recover my funds. After sending out four letters to J.K. Harris Co., J.K. Harris responded by sending back copies of the same letter three times.

The facts stated in that a letter have been misconstrued and dates manipulated; "Was sent a power of attorney" This was sent with the "altered" letter. "Document needed to communicate with the IRS". "ACCOUNT CLOSURE LETTER, States " our, (J.K. Harris), Power of Attorney submitted to the relevant tax authorities will be revoked‘. I did not submit this document, so I question how they submitted this without my signature.

"Mr. xxxxx told our Customer Service Representative that the services were to expensive".

another Misstatement of fact. "Was sent a letter detailing why his refund was denied" This letter is missing, or it is the: "Account Closure Due to Nonpayment" , "Case Closure For Unpaid Retainer, 'Case Termination.

"J.K. Harris and Company understands financial hardship".This seems to be in total

contradiction to the letter referring to delinquency charges, and the "Account Closure" letter and "Case Closure" letter, "termination of contractual relationship".

"Processing and research. The portion of the fees that Mr. Marck has paid will be kept to

cover these expenses. No "processing or research" was done on my behalf, for the case was closed, also no power of attorney was given.

Once again, J.K. Harris persists on misstating the facts, i.e. "that they sent me a power of attorney on August 6th". Upon my initial meeting with Karen Barry at the Beverly MA office of J.K. Harris, I was told that the whole process may take a year, for J.K. Harris to resolve my problem with the IRS, as advertised in their literature.

For J.K. Harris to have sent me a power of attorney as referenced in their letter dated Aug 13th, where J.K. Harris "altered the date," August 13th, which is coincidentally the date I first contacted J.K. Harris to cancel the contract. The following would have had to occur: August 2, 2002, Friday 11:00 am Initial appointment, after the appointment to send out my paper work in an overnight envelope to arrive by Monday, August 5th. Receive and process my paper work, then send out again. All this was said to have occurred in 24 hours. Unless I was their only account they had to process in that time period, I find this hard to believe, and question why the letter is "altered to August 13th," if it was sent out on the 6th.

If they did send me a power of attorney as previously stated, why did Karen Berry continue to call both our home and my wife's’ office to have us return the Form 2848, dated Aug 30, 2002. Also that they "Understand that clients may experience financial hardship", . Also the fact that the portion of the retainer was returned due to "Non-sufficient funds".

After much correspondence with J.K. Harris Co. through the Attorney Generals office, the Attorney Generals Office informed me that they are only an arbitrator and have no authority to seek legal action against J.K. Harris.

J.K. Harris had left me with no recourse that than to seek a legal remedy through the court.

A representative from J.K. Harris, Monica Linder, Director of legal Affairs, recently contacted me (February 2004), to inform me that they have filed a motion for dismissal, based on the fact that they do not recognize the courts jurisdiction, and that it must go to arbitration.

In answer to J.K. Harris MOTION TO DISMISS, I must reintegrate that J.K. Harris gave up their right to binding arbitration, and does recognize the jurisdiction of the Massachusetts Courts, in its correspondence to the Massachusetts Attorney Generals Office of Consumer Affairs on three separate occasion where J.K. Harris responded with the same letter on three separate dates: Received by the Attorney Generals Office October 7, 2002, Received by the Attorney Generals Office November 4, 2002, Received by the Attorney Generals Office November 18, 2002.

So that there can be no misunderstanding, J.K. Harris clearly states in the first paragraph, second line: "Please understand that while we are willing to comply in what ever way you, (Revere Office of Consumer Affairs), deem necessary, the Confidentiality Clause in our contract prohibits us from disclosing certain information involved in this case."

The first I have seen of this document was on March 9, 2004, at the hearing. Although J. H. Harris signed a certificate of service, they sent it to 520 Broad Street. The highest the numbers go on Broad Street is 58. I have subsequently taken JK Harris & Company to small claims court twice, and through their arrogance, have failed to appear.

At this time I have a Capias for their sales person, and look forward to getting a Writ of Execution.

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