Meyer & Meyer Realty

Review: Meyer & Meyer Realty (M&M to save space) helped to manage a property that I owned and was renting. The tenants rented the property from April 2013 until April 2014. In 2014, however, the tenants only paid for the first two months, January and February, and did not pay rent for March and April. During the tenants lease agreement, the tenants would pay rent to M&M, and then M&M would distribute the pay to me after deducting some amount for management fees (10%). The problem M&M is causing is that they reported the amount they distributed in 2014 to me as $6,300 on the 2014 1099 Tax Form. This value is incorrect. The tenants didn't pay their full rent in December 2013, they only paid a small portion. So in 2014, the amount of rent paid to M&M from the tenants included the remaining rent due from December 2013, January 2014, and February 2014. The tenants made an additional $100 payment in April 2014 (which I received $90 after 10% management fees). For those payments the tenants made to M&M, I received direct deposits from M&M in the amount of $3,105 in February and $90 in April. $3,195 is the value that should be reported on the 2014 1099 Tax Form. I have had multiple customer service issues since trying to address their mistake.

The original staff member that managed my account with M&M is no longer there. I spoke with a different staff member on the phone and this is what she told me. In their records, on the day the $3,105 was directed deposited into my account, they see two separate distributions (both on the same day) in the amount of $3,105, totaling $6,210. Add in the $90 distribution in April, and the total is $6,300 for 2014, which is what they have reported. However, this is incorrect and their records are wrong. I have contacted Wells Fargo, and they confirmed that the $3,105 was only deposited once, not twice. I am currently in the process of obtaining a formal bank summary statement for that account. When the second staff member saw that the distribution was recorded twice, she told me she would forward the information to the owner and that they would provide a corrected 1099 Tax Form. The owner has been involved ever since and has not been helpful. The owner said that I should no longer contact his staff and to only speak to him. Please see an excerpt from an email the owner sent me provided below.

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"I would appreciate it at this point if you have any questions or concerns that they are directed to me rather than my staff. [Original account manager, name removed] is no longer with me and we have given you an accounting according to our bank records, not your emails or accounting system. The numbers we gave you are correct and we will not be altering our returns."

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Two comments about the above. First, I believe the owner no longer wants me to talk with his staff since the staff member I spoke with on the phone admitted an error and suggested me to the owner to get a corrected 1099 Tax Form. Secondly, the owner has stated here that they will not be altering the returns, although the staff member suggested fixing the Tax Form as the solution, which is how I ended up in contact with the owner. Provided below is the remainder of the email from the owner.

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"This is like the twelve time that we have went over this account. If you remember, I declined to manage the property any longer for you because of all these issues and suggested that you manage your own property since you were not happy with our services. You have been and continue to be a high maintain account and we are not even managing your property. I will not have any staff members continue to work on this account when we have sent you your 1099’s and declined to continue managing it.

This has NOTHING about being racial, and to be honest with you I am offended that you want to bring up a race card when we are talking accounting, it’s offensive and you should select your speech accordingly. This will be the last time I will discuss your Delaware property, I suggest you use our 1099 number as your gross income, your accountant will write off the necessary repairs, see them for advice. If you feel you have different numbers than that is at your discretion to use whatever income on your return. I can only tell you want we pay out to you on a 1099.

I wish you well in the future.

[Name Removed]"

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The owner is not in any way willing to help resolve the issue. He mentioned it is the twelfth time they have went over my account. I feel as though by reviewing, they mean checking their records, seeing the two distributions, and seeing that is confirms with the Tax Form they sent me. However, I feel like they are not acknowledging the possibility that their records are inaccurate. It seems as though the distribution of $3,105 was entered twice, although in reality they only made one distribution of that amount. Just because it is in their records doesn't mean it is true. Additionally, he says this will be the last time he discusses the Delaware property. I don't think it is fair for them to just leave my problem unresolved. Their error on my tax Form is causing me problems with filing my 2014 Tax Returns. Here is one final email from the owner.

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"Reread my email to you. You were given what is on your 1099, our records showed cashed checks. If I ignored you, you would not be getting these emails. We are not changing our records, they are correct. You said first we gave you too much, now too little this is not a guessing game, you received the amount on your 1099, we have been doing this for over two decades so I am sure I know a little more then you are commenting about, so use the 1099 the record is correct as I told you when you said I paid you not enough now too much.

Take care,

[Name Removed]"

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First off, operating a business for over 20 years does not mean that it is impossible to make a mistake. A company operating for over 20 years is not perfect, and most likely have tons of mistakes, most of which may go unnoticed. Secondly, the first sentence says that their records show cashed checks. The funds distributed by M&M into my Wells Fargo account was setup by direct deposit. This further leads me to believe that there is some error on their part, because there were no checks, and there was only one distribution on that day, not two like they claim. I am frustrated with the error that has been made by M&M, and even further upset with the handling of my request for a corrected Tax Document. The tenants only paid for roughly 2 and a half months in 2014, and the rent on the property was roughly $1,350 per month. I am 100% positive I did not receive $6,300 from M&M and I have the banking statements to prove it.Desired Settlement: Meyer & Meyer Realty should, in a very timely manner, provide a corrected 2014 1099 Tax Form with the amount of $3,195. This amount is accurate, removing the error made by M&M of including the $3,105 distribution twice ($6,300 - $3,105 = $3,195).