Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/31/2024

  Type:Sales and Advertising Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

   
  Complaint: 22068165
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  It's an insult for the owner to indicate the legitimacy of the certificate. She indicates that she didn't purchase the liabilities with the purchase. I would think the current owner is liable in that she could have forced the original owner to put funds into an escrow account until he released the list. It is not my responsibility to deal with the old owner, he has not responded to my emails. I attached the certificate as well as can provide a credit card receipt. I would think that is sufficient evidence. At the time of the $500 certificate purchase from an accounting standpoint, the funds received from gift certificate sales are considered a liability for the company until the gift certificate is redeemed. This is because the issuing company has an obligation to honor the value of the gift certificate and provide the corresponding goods or services to the recipient. The liability is recorded on the companys balance sheet as Deferred Revenue. This is a standard accounting practice and should have reflected in the original owners books at the time of sale. If not reflected, there lawyer or accountant should have guided them at the time of the final closing. I would think by not making sure of the validity of the balance sheet, liabilities are inherited by the new owner if they were never declared.

  I stand by my request for a total refund of the unused certificate and have proof of the legitimacy. She already stated others have indicated the same issue. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************************

  Business Response

  Date: 08/01/2024

  Hello, My name is *************************** and I am the new owner of The Hibiscus House as of 8/5/2023. I bought the business not the liabilities. The previous owner did not disclose any outstanding Voucher, Gift Certificates or Credits outstanding nor did he transfer any funds given for any to be honored. I have no idea how many there could be or if in fact if they are legitimate. I have nothing to verify if these are in-fact authentic. I am not doubting the person who made the complaint, there have been other's and I don't have any way to verify these credits.  I have reached out to the previous owner and his response was " too bad". The previous owner's responsibility was to disclose this and credit us funds to make good on anything outstanding but he did not.  I have spoken to our lawyer who assisted in our closing and he has confirmed that we did not buy the previous owner's liability. 

  My sincere apologies for this, if we had gotten a list to confirm or funds to support these GC or credits we would be more than happy to accept them. 

  The previous owners name is *************************,

  his email  ****************************************

  his cell number ************

  Business Response

  Date: 08/21/2024

  I have no intention on insulting Mr. ******* by no means. We bought the assets not liabilities in August of 2023 when we purchased this property . We have no way of verifying any gift cards or vouchers. The previous owner did not give us any funds towards any outstanding credits. Not a list to even be able to verify. We have no way of knowing if the gift certificate or voucher is legitimate. We dont doubt ******************,  but we can not  solely go based on his word or what he was given without being able to confirm it against something and not have received the funds for it by the previous owner. We can not be  responsible for the irresponsible business ethics the previous owner had. He should have sent anyone with a gift certificate or voucher an email that he was selling the business and return funds to those who had a gift certificate or vouchers. Or at least disclosed it to our attorney as he was asked to disclose anything of this nature. He choose not to. ****************** needs to take this up with the previous owner. ************************;****************************************.  

  Business Response

  Date: 09/02/2024

  I have explained that we did not sell this Gift Certificate to this person. We, Hibiscus GC LLC closed on this purchase of the property 8, 2024 for the assets not the liabilities. The Gift Certificate/Voucher was sold previous to us buying the property. We have no way of verifying this gift certificate since the previous owner stated at the time of us purchasing this property that there were no outstanding debits. We have contacted our real estate lawyer who helped us with the purchase of this property regarding this matter and he assured us we have no liability,  this falls solely on the previous owner.
  The previous owner had a responsibility to contact any guest with outstanding vouchers, gift cards, or credits and let people know he was selling the property and give them a credit back. Apparently he did not do this. 

  
  We apologies this person is having to deal with this and we understand his position. But at the same time we cannot take responsibility for something that was not disclosed to us or given funds for accepting any outstanding credits/vouchers or GC. 
  
  Regards, 

  Business Response

  Date: 09/03/2024

  Mr ******* is suggesting that, us buying the property not the business we should have been aware. The transaction for the sell of this business is that we bought the assets not the liability. The previous owner had the responsibility to reach out to anyone ho had an outstanding credit, GC or voucher. If I accept this for Me ******* I would need to do so for many who have also claimed the previous owner owes them a credit. We have no way of verifying these, we received no money to accept these, and this was never disclosed by the previous owner. 

   

  The previous owner had the business listed under ***********************. A *******************. That's who Mr. ******* should be filing this complaint after. He is wrongfully accusing us under false accusations. Unfairly and we have always honored our responsibility, we have never had any unethical business issues and this is unacceptable. 

   

  ******* Puebla