Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/02/2022

  Type:Delivery 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.

  I needed to translate and apostille my son's birth certificate and my divorce decree, in order to use these American oficial documents in Portugal. My attorney referred me this business, and her owner Rosa M**** V******. I contacted her the end of July, we communicated via email and whatsapp, she accepted the job. I had the governmental offices ship the two certified documents to her office address in Cocoa, Florida. I paid extra to rush the documents to her in 2 days. About two weeks ago, when I started questioning about the progress of the work, she started saying contradictory things, then she would say she sent me emails, which she never did. And finally she stopped replying to me. I am now in contact with the consulate of Portugal in Honolulu and they are helping me with this, so I had to request again the birth certificate and the divorce decree and start everything over again. However, I want my original documents returned to me. I dont feel comfortable having such personal information, my son's birth certificate and my divorce decree in the hands of this person who is not acting professionally or ethically. My request is that this lady returns my original documents to me. They do not belong to her, they are mine.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 10/17/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2022/09/02) */ client contacted me via email requesting translation, documents were issued by the Illinois department of state on August 9/2022, and mailed regular mail, about 3-5 days to arrive at my office. The same day I translated the apostilles. The Divorce Decree arrived apostilled from Virginia Department of State on August 13,2022, translations made were sent to Florida Department of State on Monday 15th, 2022. I called yesterday FL Dept of State and was told that Tallahassee was processing what they had received on July 25, 2022. I have what looks like being bombed in my personal cellphone, not the office email, or office phones, with bad comments and threats by the client, to call the Cocoa Police Department, which by the way all my work and payments to the government and notary on behalf of the client has not yet been paid, not one single cent, sent the estimate from quickboos via Intuit, but she said had not received it, a total of $416.83 USD which includes postage , apostilles, translations and notarizations, *** overnight to Hawaii. I have been waiting for it to arrive from FL Dept of State to send all *** Tracking ******************* I have been out of the office for the last 5 weeks due to a bacterial pneumonia followed by a Bronquitis, so obviously I could not answer to any of the client threats and rudness. Client sent yesterday morning an email with a threat to call the Cocoa Police Department, but obviously decided to ruin my reputation here. Client was advised that Tallahassee would take up to 6-7 weeks to return the apostilles and I was on their mercy before I even started the project. the problem is the client being out of state and country has no idea of the lenght of time the government is taking, and scheduled their trips according to what they need and then try doing the documents request, unfortunately it does not work like that. I have no guilty conscious of wrong doing, all was processed according to our agreement: 1- I did all I was asked to do immediately after receiving originals. 2- I am supposed to be contacted via the office phones and emails, not the personal ones. 3- Informing the clients of the time lenght before starting . 4- I do believe it does not make me reliable for their lateness in requesting services needed urgently. 5- Priority Mail, which is the one I use unless client states they will pay for overnighting documents takes up to 7 business day to deliver mail.All these days have to be taken into consideration 6- we had to mail after receiving the docs, to Dept of State Illinois, and Dept. of State Virginia, than Florida. 6 trips, a lot of days lost waiting. The client sated her son has a flight on October 2nd to Portugal. The document can always be sent to the Attorney in Portugal instead of Hawaii should Dept od State take longer and those only arrive before her son flies. Thank you for your attention to this matter Consumer Response /* (3000, 7, 2022/09/06) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) Before anything, it was the translator who asked me to call her. The only phone number I ever used is the one she gave me and its on her ******** account that she used to contact me. Please see attachment. I was never rude, in fact I was always professional. All my communications, and her non-responses are available for review, ******** chats and emails. I asked multiple times for her to tell me how much I owe her and she NEVER not once told me how much was the total of her services. I will attach screenshots. She kept saying she sent an email and I asked her to just tell me in writing there on the ******** chat. She never did that. I showed her screenshots of my inbox search for her emails and there was nothing on the date she said. After that, she never replied to me again. I asked my attorney to contact her, and she didnt reply to her either. What she calls she was "bombed" were my follow up messages asking her to please say something, and she read them, but she would never reply. This was extremely concerning to me. And I started worrying. She even admits here that she didnt reply to me, she says due to illness. I would argue that if your services cannot be provided due to illness, you don't take the job. This amount she now mentions that I owe her, over $400 , is completely off the charts and it's retaliation. I will attach an email where she writes the translation of my divorce decree will be $75. In a different message she says the apostilles are $10. These are the regular prices everyone i consulted charge. The birth certificate is much less because it has very few fields to translate and it's already automatized because all birth certificates are the same. I have *** tracking number showing that she received my son's birthcwrtificate on July 29, I paid Vital records for the documents to be sent overnight to her. What she refers to as her translations being apostilled by the Secretary of State is not accurate. Translations are notorized, not apostilled. This is the information given to me my the Consul of Portugal in Honolulu. The two documents (divorce and birth certificate) are apostilled by the secretary of State, her translation is simply notorized. In any case, Please look at the attachments where you can see her messages to me about her price for translation and apostille. Also, I requested that she sent me my originals already apostilled and how much I owed her, this was on August 16. She told me her husband was mailing everything to me that day, but she never did. After that she quit responding to me and to my attorney. I never heard from her again. I told her that if I didnt hear back from her I would be requesting the documents all over again and start everything from scratch. She still never replied to this. It was her silence and her inconsistency, and the unprofessional methods and disorganization that scared me. I did call the local police to ask what they could do to help me recover my documents and they were the ones that suggested a couple places where i could enter a complaint, one of them being BBB. At this time I already requested birth certificate and divorce decree again, spent over $100 requesting these documents again, had to cancel my sons travel to Portugal for his citizenship, because the documents were not ready. This has caused me tremendous stress and anxiety, consumed my time, and expenses. Technically, I don't need and would not trust the services of this woman ever again, but I need my originals to be returned to me, because I have reasons to believe this lady could use the documents in retaliation. She needs to return them to me. They belong to me. Attached, 1- her contact card, and the only number I called, with her permission, the number she used also to call me. 2. Her email where she says how much she charges for the translation. This is the ONLY time she mentioned her services. She never gave me any estimate other than these messages. 3. The cost of apostilles 4. Date when she received my documents to translate 5. Strange messages, unprofessionally written,with personal details. But no mention to her deadlines or her bill that she now presented, which my attorney said its completely absurd. Thats more than the attorney is charging me. I also was concerned with this lady tried to have me change attorneys, and use a different one that she works with. I thought this was unethical too, because it was my attorney who referes her services to me, and I felt like she was not acting professionally. I will also attach a screenshot of the first email I sent her where I explained this was urgent. And she told me she would do it anyway. Only after the fact, she mentioned something about her translation needing an apostille too. But the secretary of state only apostilles official documents, not private translations. The consul of portugal told me that the translations themselves are certified, notarized, not apostilled. Also, the first time she mentioned that all that is holding back is her translation apostille, she said about 5 weeks (butt now in her answer she says 6-7 weeks. She just cant have her story straight. The fact that she had all these different stories and inconsistencies, telling me she sent email with the bill and to this day I was never billed, and saying her husband had sent me the originals with apostille, and still never got anything, plus and mainly the fact that she completely stopped responding to me, made me request all the documents again from the official institutions. And the honorary consul of Portugal in Honolulu is doing the translations himself. There is no need for apostille on the translation, only notarized ("juramentada" in Portuguese), what she says about her translations needing an apostille that takes 6-7 weeks to come back is not true. And if it was true, she should have told me before I ordered the service from her. She never said that, because that is not how it is done. Regardless i always told her I did not need those apostilles on her translations. It would be completely impossible for me yo wait almost two months (according to her) just for that unnecessary step. Even the attorney told me this is not the process at all. And I repeat, the Secretary of State does not put an apostille of Hague in a private doxument. Only in documents issued by the government that they can certify as originals and legitimate. All in all, everything she has done and said, and the unreliability of her behaviour and her silences, everything is shady and I would never do any business with her. I did not sign any contract with her with these conditions. ALL i want now is my original documents. Nothing else. I am genuinely concerned that my son's birth certificate ends in the wrong hands and is used for shady businesses. I am very scared about this. Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2022/09/09) */ To Whom It May Concern, Attached please find my responses and the documents pertaining to it, thank you for the help in this matter Consumer Response /* (4200, 11, 2022/09/14) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) I have requested a new divorce decree and a new birth certificate from the States. I have already sent for apostille myself, and received them back in 5 days. I had the translation done by a professional translator provided by the consulate of Portugal. This translation was done for both documents for $125 and returned to be certified only (in portuguese they use the legal word juramentada), there is no need for more apostilles. Only the ones in the documents. So, I have everything done and already entered in the court. All I want are my originals, that belong to me, not to this business. I need my original official documents returned to me. I never received any estimate, other than those $75 she mentioned in a message. I told her I didnt receive it, she said she sent through an app, cant remember which. But I showed her my inbox. I asked her "just tell me here how much it is and how should I pay you." She never replied. I sent her several messages asking for a reply. She kept not replying. I gave her a warning that I was going to order everytging again if she didn't answer me with how much I owed her and I wanted also to see a photo of the work done, as I suspected so many excuses meant she had not done it yet. She continued not answering. Only at this point I ordered the documents again, requested my apostilles myself. Got the translation done in 5 days, and entered everything in court already. I will also say that i have no clue what she means by a cell phone i should not have? She was the one who placed the first phone call by ******** to me. I gave her my number and she called me. Whatsapp was the way she communicated with me, she nevever asked me to not ise ********, quite the contrary, like I said , she asked me "can we talk on the phone?" I said we could if she used ******** because I was in Portugal and she was in the US. And she called me. This has caused me a nightmare of stress and anxiety. I am not used to doing business this way. I like things to stay more professional, and I was a bit turned off by the detailed descriptions of the mucus she would caught out and its colors etc. it was a red flag and I should have listened to my gut feeling. Bottom line is: I have all my documents done, apostilled, translated, done. Got it all done in less than 4 weeks. All I want is for this lady to return my originals. Nothing else. Why is she insisting on keeping them? I do not understand this. Send my originals. That's all. They are mine and its dangerous to leave those documents out there in the hands of strangers. Business Response /* (4000, 16, 2022/09/15) */ I will simply state that it is my belief that the review presents neither a fair nor an accurate picture of what occurred and I believe that the review is inaccurate. I was solicited to perform translation services by this individual. I advised her that I was unable to give her an estimate until I received the documents. Upon receipt, I advised her of the estimated charges. She agreed to the charges. I performed the work and requested payment. This individual refused to pay. Documents will be returned when received from the Dep. of State after payment for work will be made. Consumer Response /* (4200, 18, 2022/09/16) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) I dont know what to say. This is a pure nightmare. Horrible human being its all I have to say. She now changed her story. She says that she told me the estimate of her charges and that I accepted. Where is that?? If that had happened, this complaint would not exist. All I wanted was for this to be done back in August, nit to be here dealing with this. She just lies shamelessly now. I can attach the screenshots of the messages I sent her asking how much do I owe gou?? And she never once replying. The first time I heard about over $400 was here in some part of her answers. Never before she had mentioned that amount (which by the way is completely ABSURD and nobody would ever accept. Like i said I had everything done by a professional, that completed the job in 5 days and charged me $125. It was more than the $75 that this Rosa V****** had told me, but it was sooo worth it. Such clean and professional communication, and completion of the project according to a contract, and yes, this other company put in writing everything, which I signed and accepted, including their 7 days deadline, which they anticipated to 5 days. This woman never once replied to my messages. I wrote on ********, wrote email, and left a voice mail. She never called back, never answered. Nothing. Complete silence. I can prove this with screenshots. Can she prove her claims though? Where does she have the conversation where she tells me how much she will charge me? Where does she have the conversation where I say I accept her conditions? I want to see that. This is very simple: I don't need AND don't want her work. I have everything entered in court already. Could no longer wait for her to decide when she would aknowledge me and respond. I read other negative reviews that mention exactly the same behavior, same pattern: she does not reply to them, not even the phone calls from the fiance of the reviewer. She ignores every contact and doesnt reply. Exact same behavior. This seems to be a problem with this woman. The only way to resolve this for me is for her to teturn to me my original documents which are. MY CERTIFIED DIVORCE DECREE and my son's CERTIFIED BIRTH CERTIFICATE. She cannot legally be entitled to these documents. And since using the mediation of BBB did not work for her to return to me what belings to me, i will contact the Attorney General of the State of Florida and file a formal complaint to recover my property. Thank you for trying. She is using my documents to commit extortion, as you can see in her response, that she will only return them to me if I give her money. Business Response /* (4000, 23, 2022/09/22) */ The documents, originals and certified translations to be apostilled are at the Department of State in Tallahassee. I just confirmed on SunBiz.Org and today they are processing: August 15th. https://dos.myflorida.com/sunbiz/document-processing-dates/ Our envelope was sent on August 17th, 2022, Documents will be sent overnight to Mrs. ****** at her home in Maui as requested on August 23rd via ******** text message, as soon as received with a COD in the amount of the Estimate originally sent on August 17. the estimate reflects what I was asked to do via text messages. The client was aware of the time needed. the tracking for *** to return to Maui is ******************* I am still awaiting/ working as requested and processing as requested and pending to receive them to finalize the work.