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MARBP
May 5, 2011
Unauthorized credit card charges
The lumber company that I bought lumber from needed to deliver wood for my basement while I was in Florida, so I gave them a credit card over the phone. I then received deliveries in March and April. By the time I realized that I was being charged on my credit card for deliveries (which it was supposed to be COD, however nobody ever sent invoices), my limit on two cards had been maxed out and I now have a poor credit rating. My credit rating was a 704, which was checked by the bank who is supplying my mortgage and since the unauthorized charges on my credit card were charged, my credit score has now declined to 652. I'm closing on my mortgage this week and this will have a drastic negative impact. When I called the owner of the company to get my invoices for the charges and asked why they would make these unauthorized charges to me, the owner, Clea Blair, told me that he knew if was fraudulent and apologized. He wanted to meet with me to get a check for the amount owed. I told him that I would meet him if he took the material off my property that was defective and also give me invoices for the charges because I needed my accountant to review them. He then began to yell at me and said that he is now out of a lot of money since I disputed this charge on one of the two credit cards that he had been charging. I gave him notice that the roof trusses needed to be removed or I would have them removed myself, he then sent two truckers to my lot to take the trailer that the trusses were on but was trying to move them onto my property. The cops came and told him he was trespassing, but then he went to the courthouse and got a court order to remove them. After my lawyer reviewed the court order, we were able to determine that Clea Blair had given false information to the courts. Later that day he put a mechanics lien on my property. Mr Blair has the trusses in his possession at Wachusett Lumber because when the truck drivers tried to remove the trusses, they were not able to get them off the trailer, so they were forced to take them back to Wachusett Lumber. At this point in time, Clea Blair had received full payment of the lumber which he delivered (we later found this out by getting the invoices from a worker in his company who didn't have knowledge of the dispute). From what I can sort out at this point, it appears that Clea Blair charged my credit card without any authorization for a total of $38, 000 ($7200 was from the initial authorization). My subcontractors were able to go through the house and look at the material and determined that the total bill for material is no greater than $21, 000. In the mean time, Mr Blair has caused a lot of grief and ruined my credit score while placing two false complaints with the court. He still refuses to send me the invoices and the accounting person from Wachusett Lumber has admitted that the entire billing of my account was "completely screwed up." I have filed a charge with the Worcester police department but was told that this report has to be filed and dealt with in Rutland, which is where the company is located.
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