Saunders' Surveys Inc

Review: [redacted] of Saunders' Surveys Inc made a verbal agreement with me to perform a survey of my families land in [redacted] County VA for $500.00. I met with him on the land on Friday October 3, 2014 and at that time he provided me with an overlay, a old survey of the land that I faxed him and a list of my family members. He explained,have them sign their names agreeing to let my brothers and I have our part of the land. He explained to me and my husband that the services he had performed was about three hundred dollars. He gave me instrument #[redacted] recorded In [redacted] County on October 14, 2010. He told me there were sign documents to this instrument and called the clerk's office to confirm this fact. He wanted to carry us down to get copies. My husband said mail them to us. He had me to sign an agreement and didn't provide a copy. I asked him to mail me a copy. I gave him a $500.00 check in (Good Faith)and asked for directions back to[redacted], VA. He went in one direction and sent us 20 miles out of the way. I didn't feel he had my best interest at heart. So, I faxed and mailed him a certified return receipt letter on October 6, 2014 cancelling our agreement and requested my check be returned and to provide me with an itemized bill for services rendered. He sent me two invoices for his services. One invoice was for $297.69 and the other invoice was for $487.50. I feel he is very unprofessional and it is no way he provided the service he is billing me for.Desired Settlement: I would like for him to accept the $297.69 as payment in full and to rescind the $487.50 invoice. Plus send me my cancelled agreement and my $500.00 check.

Business

Response:

[redacted] fax

October **, 2014

The Revdex.com

Attn.: Chelsea Lavery

Re.: Complaint b[redacted], Revdex.com Case #[redacted]

Dear [redacted],

I am in receipt of your letter of October 28, 2014 concerning a complaint you have from a [redacted] about work she requested we do related to her families land in [redacted] County. I trust you will review my information and let me know if you need anything additional. My family has been practicing surveying/engineering in this area since[redacted] and we take a lot of pride in the way we treat our clients with the utmost respect and make every attempt to provide a professional job in everything we do.

Initially on September 23, 2014, Saunders’ Surveys was engaged to put together a research package for [redacted] for the potential division of the A[redacted] (Tax Map [redacted], see attached exhibit A). The property is currently in the name of a long list of heirs of [redacted] as noted in the attached [redacted] (we found in the [redacted] County Records), Instrument #[redacted] (see attached exhibit B). Prior to any division of a parcel, we have to know the acreage and configuration of the property and how the client wishes to cut off their parcel.

According to the documents of record, [redacted] and her 2 brothers own a one third interest in the property. [redacted] was not able to furnish us much initial information about the property, with exception of where the property was located, that the property was a part of the [redacted] Estate, and that the property was on [redacted], when she made the initial request. We had done some survey work in the area and were able to go back into our files and pull together some information to get started. We proceeded to the [redacted] County Clerk’s Office for further research.

Our research uncovered the affidavit noted above, and other documents of record but no good plat of the property (see attached research package, exhibit C). A plat of the property was needed to determine what one third of the property would be, acreage wise, as well as the configuration of the existing boundaries. On several of the adjoining surveys, it was noted that [redacted] had done a boundary survey of the [redacted] Property. This plat was not recorded in the Clerk’s Office so we consulted [redacted] about that survey and at that time she was not able to provide any insight into the plat. With that, we consulted [redacted] who has the majority of [redacted]’s records. [redacted] told us that he would look for the survey and get back with us. On September 30, 2014 at 9:12 am (see attached exhibit D), [redacted] faxed us a copy of [redacted]’s plat so that we would be able to put the metes and bounds description of the property into our computer for computation of areas and development of a topo/boundary overlay for my meeting with [redacted] on Friday, October 3, 2014. That same day, [redacted] called and said she had consulted other family members and found a survey and would fax it to us. We received it around 1:27 pm (see attached exhibit E). By the time we received the plat from [redacted], we had already been working with the plat from [redacted].

[redacted] wanted us to develop a potential division of the property to show what her parcel would look like and how it might be configured. One of her requirements was that she have water on the property. The topo/boundary overlay (see attached exhibit F) was the document that would be required to develop a strategy for the division of the property. With this overlay, we could determine the topographic lay of the land and how a parcel might be configured to meet her requirements. We made some preliminary calculations and developed a solution to her one third interest. We were scheduled to meet on October 3, 2014 to go over the documentation and discuss where to go from there.

[redacted] called me on Friday October 3, 2014 to set up a time and place to meet because she was not familiar with the area. [redacted] had come to [redacted] for a family reunion that was going to be held on the property we were working with and she thought it would be a good time to speak with the other family members about her intent and get them all to sign off on the division. I told her we would meet at the[redacted] Gas Station on Rt. [redacted] in [redacted]. Our meeting time was set for just after lunch (I do not remember the exact time) and I would lead them to the property. As a part of that meeting, she requested that I put together a rough document (see attached exhibit G) for the various heirs to the property to sign agreeing to the division of the property.

[redacted] was very late for our meeting, approximately 45 minutes to an hour, because she had stopped for some lunch. I was not informed of the lunch break nor the late arrival until I called her when she did not show up. I waited for their arrival and led them to the site on [redacted] Mountain near [redacted].

I showed her the information we had put together and the topo/boundary overlay. She asked me what section of the property was the best and most valuable. I told her that it totally depended on whether you wanted views of the mountains or water. Also, road frontage, availability of electricity and telephone should be considered as a part of her decision in what section of property she wanted. One big consideration should also be the availability of a conventional sewer system. This area is known for being shallow to bed rock and I told her that she needed to get a private soil consultant to come in and review the area she wanted prior to the division to be sure that it would meet the county and state requirements. I told her about several consultants in the area that were very capable of developing a layout for a septic system. She asked about the timber on the property but I told her I could not assess the timber without a thorough field inspection of the property. We talked for about an hour or so and I discussed with her the document that I had put together for all to sign to consent to the division she wished to make. We reviewed the document I gave her for the remaining heirs to sign off on agreeing to the division and I told her that I would be very surprised if the family members would sign off agreeing to the division because it had been my experience with large families that it was very difficult to get the consent of all parties.

Another part of our discussion was relative to how she felt a portion of the family property had been conveyed to a third party without the consent of the remaining owners. I reviewed our research and told [redacted] where to find the deed in question because she indicated that several of the heirs had not signed the deed. I called the Clerk’s Office from the site and they confirmed that everyone had properly signed the land over to the third party and I gave her a reference where she could pick up a copy of the deed at the Clerk’s Office for further review, if she wished. She felt that some of the signatures on the deed had been forged and would go by the Clerk’s Office and pick up a copy.

[redacted] and I also discussed the various costs related to the family division of the property and the review process that it would have to go through with the County. This research and on site meeting was the beginning step in the development of the subdivision she was requesting. I explained to her that this research provides the basis for all the future work on the property.

After a lengthy discussion about the property and what she wished to do, [redacted] wrote Saunders’ Surveys a check for $500 as a deposit for the work in progress and officially signed the work order (see attached exhibits H & I). [redacted] appeared to be in agreement with our proposal and was going to meet and talk with the remaining heirs at their homecoming the next day. She said she would get back with me and discuss where to go from here. I asked her if she wanted to follow me back out to Rt. ** to the[redacted] Gas Station on Rt. ** where we originally met. She acknowledged that she did wish to follow and that when we reached Rt. **, I explained that I would take a left there to go back to my office. I also explained that she should turn right on Rt. ** to go back to [redacted] at the light. Instead, she followed me out to the stop sign on Rt. ** and saw me waving to a friend at the intersection and thought I was indicating for her to turn left there. That was not Rt. ** nor the stop light we had talked about. I pulled out onto Rt. ** headed toward Rt. ** when I noticed behind me that she had turned left, the wrong way to Rt. **. I immediately pulled off and attempted numerous times to call them and tell them where I was located and to turn around. I was able to get through briefly one time for a few seconds and I attempted to tell them what had happened but the signal was dropped. My cell phone records should reflect the calls I received and made that day for verification of this if it becomes necessary. I was not able to reach them again and thought when they got to an area where they had a signal, they would call and confirm what had happened. I did not hear anything else from them that day.

On Monday, October 6, a message was given to me that [redacted] had called. I was out of the office and unable to call back. On Tuesday, October 7, I received a fax that she wanted to terminate our contract and to return her $500 check (see attached exhibit J). I billed her on October 20, 2014 in two bills, one for the initial work ($487.50, see attach exhibit K) and the second ($**7.69, see attached exhibit L) for our onsite meeting. I informed her that I would return her $500 check upon receipt of the payment on the two outstanding bills.

I do not plan to accept any payment for the work less than the bills noted above because I feel that we have done a very professional job for the work she requested. I think that the problem is related to the heirs not agreeing to the division she proposed for herself and her 2 brothers to receive their one third interest in the property in question and the related expenses in dividing the property.

One last thing, I am releasing this research (attached documents) to you with the understanding that it is the property of Saunders’ Surveys and until it is paid for by [redacted], it remains our property. Please do not release copies of the research to anyone until you have our permission. This package of data/information is for your understanding of what was requested and the various efforts we made to complete the requested task.

Please call or write with any questions you might have. I can be reached by phone at [redacted] or on my cell at [redacted]. I can also be reached by E-mail at [redacted].

Thank you and I will be awaiting any further response you might have.

Sincerely,

Land Surveyor, Professional Engineer

Enclosures

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID[redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

[[redacted] acoount of events occuring pertaining to the land is incorrect. I will fax you a letter of my account along with exhibits to support what I am saying.

Best Regards,