By NANCY PARADIS
© St. Petersburg Times, published July 14, 2000
When we signed the contract for a mobile home in Sundance Lakes RV Resort in Port Richey in December 1992, we paid $25 for a water meter deposit and $50 for electric service. We later sold our unit because of health problems and were told we would get our deposits back upon leaving the park. We called the head office of Wilder Corp. in Clearwater and were told to call the park office manager, who told us any balance would be sent after the final power bill was deducted. I have phoned the park twice since then and each time was told the check would be sent. It has been three months now and we are still waiting for the balance of $54.12 which is due us. Brian and Lois Thrupp
Response: Patricia Crayton, office manager of Sundance Lakes RV Resort in Port Richey, said the office knows you are due a refund and is in the process of getting it back to you. She apologized for the inconvenience.
A while back I borrowed $300 from a title loan company. I received a letter stating it was going out of business as of Sept. 1. I have not paid back the loan yet. I want to know if the company has the legal right to repossess my car when it goes out of business even though my payments have been kept up? Tom Hartley
Response: We cannot give you specific legal advice, but as long as you are not in default of the loan, the company should not be able to repossess your car. However, your loan may be callable -- in other words, you have to pay it in full -- upon a certain amount of notice. In that case, the company could repossess your car if you do not pay off the loan by the specified date. Take a close look at your contract and the notice you received from the company advising that it is going out of business to see if such a provision is buried somewhere in the fine print.
It is also possible that your company is selling its assets to another company to which you will have to make payments. Again, even though we are not legal experts, we see no reason why a new owner of your loan would repossess your car if it received your payments in a timely manner.
You can, of course, avoid any potential trouble by paying your loan off by the Sept. 1 going-out-of business date.
Factory Direct Interiors in Holiday installed Euroflooring in my home on April 14. Within two weeks a bubble developed by the front door. In addition, the molding across the threshold was too high, which caused the door to stick and start chipping. I called Factory Direct Interiors every week, but it was not until I contacted Action that the installer finally came out and solved the problems within about an hour's time. I'm sure whatever you did got the results, and I thank you most sincerely. Margaret Pekarek
Action solves problems and gets answers for you. If you have a question, or your own attempts to resolve a consumer complaint have failed, write Times Action, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731, or call your Action number, (727) 893-8171, or, outside of Pinellas, (800) 333-7505, ext. 8171, to leave a recorded request.
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