Action: Police reports are public record

Response: If a police report was filed, then it is public record. According to The Florida Public Records Law Handbook by Joe Adams, traffic crash reports are generally available from the investigating law enforcement agency within 48 hours.

Such reports are sent to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles in Tallahassee by the Florida Highway Patrol, sheriff's offices and other law enforcement agencies and can be obtained from the department within 90 days.

To obtain a copy of a crash report, you will need to know the date of the crash, the name of any person involved, where the crash happened and, ideally, the reporting agency. A traffic crash report number greatly simplifies the search. The cost for each report is $2.

Call the crash reports section at (850) 488-5017 or write to Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, Attn: Crash Records, 2900 Apalachee Parkway, Tallahassee, FL 32399.

Seasonal concerns

I am sending you an advertisement from Gardener's Choice in Hartford, Mich., along with a copy of my check dated May 19. Not having received any word from this company by August, I wrote inquiring about the status of this order.

The same day I mailed the letter, I received a postcard informing me that, due to the extreme heat in my location, it would hold off sending the tree until Sept. 12.

This date has long passed, with no further word from Gardener's Choice. I wrote to it again but have received no response.

Please take over and find out what the problem is. Warren Zographos

Response: Alexandra Rey, customer service representative with National TV Bargains, parent company of more subsidiaries than we can name, said that, according to Gardener's Choice's records, the order is going to be shipped next spring. The nursery is no longer shipping plants because it is too late in the season.

Rey said that if you are not happy with this decision, please let the company know so it can issue a refund. She apologized for the inconvenience.

The matter rests

I was a customer of Fiber-Net, an Internet service provider, in Spring Hill for more than a year until it was acquired by Atlantic.Net around March or April.

My last payment to Fiber-Net was made April 27 for the month of May. My next payment was to Atlantic.Net on May 21 for the month of June. After it claimed it did not receive payment, I sent it a copy of my canceled check. In the meantime, it stopped my service.

When I realized the direction this was headed in, I told Atlantic.Net over the phone and in writing to cancel my service. It sent me a notice that my cancellation request had been received.

On Aug. 9, I received a letter from a collection agency. I called the customer service department, and it was decided that the matter is closed.

The customer service representative suggested that I mail this information to the collection agency, which I did. On Sept. 6, I received another notice from the collection agency with a note that I owed for the month of May. This does not make sense.

I have since called and spoken to various customer service representatives but am not getting anywhere. I can only conclude that Atlantic.Net is not willing to settle the matter. I will appreciate your help in resolving this. Joseph Titus

Response: It took two attempts on our part, but we finally heard back from Atlantic.Net's billing department in Gainesville. Its unsigned letter states that it can find no record that you paid the amount in dispute and that you never provided documentation to the contrary.

However, "in the interest of preventing any further waste of our time on this particular account, we have notified our collection agency to stop their efforts to collect the money due to Atlantic.Net."

We hope this is the end of it for you.

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If you have a question for Action, or your attempts to resolve a consumer complaint have failed, write: Times Action, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731, or call your Action number, 893-8171, or, outside of Pinellas, (800) 333-7505, ext. 8171, to leave a recorded request for Action. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.

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