Is it common for expediters to be making false complaints to gain business?

The bill Espinal is working on is in relation to DOB surprise/spontaneously enforcing a rule regarding signs that has nearly crippled merchants in our neighborhood., starting last year. https://patch.com/new-york/brownsville/sign-fines-are-big-danger-small-business-owners-say

The City gave the fines without prompting from anyone, on their own volition.

I’m sure shady businesses are now trying to capitalize on this City action but the Bills currently going thru Council are related to the City’s sudden decision to start implementing signage rules on its own with no notice, the store owners claim.

Whatever this bill does it won’t be related to shady expediters but the imposition of the City fines to the small businesses.

greenworks

in General Discussion 6 years and 9 months ago

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Inigo | 6 years and 9 months ago

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Has anybody heard of shady expeditors making false complaints on properties to in turn solicit their services to the victimized landlords? Our member has received more than 200 false complaints on his site in the last six months and has got six letters from a company called Jack Jaffa & Associates. It seems that there is a weird correlation between the constant calls made to 311 and the number of messages their receive from that same company. Our community is trying to help them.

yudashasom | 6 years and 9 months ago

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Never heard of this, and it’s crazy for you to think the scenario you mentioned.

What do you mean your “member”? These letters you mention are sent because of the complaint – it’s public record – they send these letters to everyone. They are not the ones making complaints – guaranteed.

Inigo | 6 years and 9 months ago

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Not making any accusation here. Just wondering if this is common to receive letters from private companies about the record of your building. Why would they send several letters for the same property every 2/3 weeks? One would be enough? Now that most architects can file online, maybe they feel the pressure. Just asking. Our members are trying to fight this. These attacks could either come from shady developers or expediters looking for work.

Inigo | 6 years and 9 months ago

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It’s crazy to think that stories like that would happen in Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. Now I feel safer hearing you.

mozeeatupu | 6 years and 9 months ago

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>Just wondering if this is common to receive letters from private companies about the record of your building

It’s very common.

yudashasom | 6 years and 9 months ago

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Are the complaints warranted?

What do you mean member?

No, Jack Jaffa has nothing whatsoever to do with architects and self certification capabilities, or feeling some kind of squeeze.

The reason why you receive them every few weeks is it’s triggered by the complaints, not the other way around. You must be getting letters from other companies too.

Guest User | 6 years and 9 months ago

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Jack Jaffa and some others cruise the DOB and ECB websites looking for open violations to cruise for business. They send letters designed to freak out surprised homeowners. I have no knowledge of whether they can actually do the work but I would NEVER use them because of the constant solicitations.

Guest User | 6 years and 9 months ago

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Jack Jaffa and some others cruise the DOB and ECB websites looking for open violations to cruise for business. They send letters designed to freak out surprised homeowners. I have no knowledge of whether they can actually do the work but I would NEVER use them because of the constant solicitations.

Inigo | 6 years and 9 months ago

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We are wondering if they could be the ones making the 311 anonymous complaints to put our landlords on edge and force them to use them as expediters. Another one of our members sold his house after falling into complete depression. He ended up with 49 violations and 357 complaints in Crown Heights. Only one was justified after his contractor made a mistake, but it was swiftly corrected. He tried to use the service of a lawyer, but he ended up with a massive legal bill and no help.

Guest User | 6 years and 9 months ago

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if there were 49 violations issued it sounds like at least some of the complaints were likely warranted. a homeowner is under no obligation to use a specific expediter or any expediter at all for that matter. i think it’s VERY unlikely that an expediter is making complaints in order to generate business since the city does a pretty good job of drumming up business for them on its own. sounds more like disgruntled/disturbed neighbors or some shady developer scheming to harass until the homeowner couldn’t take it anymore and sold. Complaints resulting in that many violations tells me there were some significant problems with the property though.

Guest User | 6 years and 9 months ago

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if there were 49 violations issued it sounds like at least some of the complaints were likely warranted. a homeowner is under no obligation to use a specific expediter or any expediter at all for that matter. i think it’s VERY unlikely that an expediter is making complaints in order to generate business since the city does a pretty good job of drumming up business for them on its own. sounds more like disgruntled/disturbed neighbors or some shady developer scheming to harass until the homeowner couldn’t take it anymore and sold. Complaints resulting in that many violations tells me there were some significant problems with the property though.

Inigo | 6 years and 9 months ago

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no-permits No it was not. The owner lived in his house and received 100+ no heat/no hot water complaints, but he had no tenants and 30 + DOB illegal work without permit complaints. The NYPD would refuse to file because the harassment was done through 311 and not directly to him. DOB and HPD declined to cooperate because they said they had no jurisdiction over 311 and they were forced to investigate any complaint routed through the portal (even bogus repeated charges dismissed the first time). We felt horrible. The man lost his wife that same year, and his kids all live in California. We are now trying to find a new lawyer for our community who can help us with other similar situations.

Inigo | 6 years and 9 months ago

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Maggie O Are you saying DOB and HPD are the ones making the complaints so they can send their crews out to justify overheads? You don’t have to give your name when you file a complaint online ( if it’s a general complaint about a whole house/building no name needed. Only if it’s a complaint about a unit) then you can give a fake name or just use the name of the tenant living there.

Guest User | 6 years and 9 months ago

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no, i mean that DOB and HPD issue plenty of violations based on totally legitimate complaints that folks then go to expediters to help them deal with correcting. if the city’s correction process were more straightforward then maybe we wouldn’t need expediters, that’s all.

Guest User | 6 years and 9 months ago

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no, i mean that DOB and HPD issue plenty of violations based on totally legitimate complaints that folks then go to expediters to help them deal with correcting. if the city’s correction process were more straightforward then maybe we wouldn’t need expediters, that’s all.

Inigo | 6 years and 9 months ago

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I agree. I heard they wanted to create an inside unit at the DOB that could help homeowners go through the cracks.

yudashasom | 6 years and 9 months ago

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This is crazy. I’m not wasting anymore time with this.

Inigo | 6 years and 9 months ago

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no-permitz Yes, it is, and you must be aware of the craziness unless you don’t live here or you have a dog in this fight. https://therealdeal.com/issues_articles/2379456/

yudashasom | 6 years and 9 months ago

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Again, crazy. This article is unrelated to what you are alleging.