A house pink, then tried to put thousands on the owners property tax bill. Heres consumer investigator chris chmura. Chris chmura good evening, and welcome to our nbc bay area responds special. We launched early this summer with one promise to our viewers, to respond to every call and every email. We do just that. Our first story tonight started with a call to us, and poses a serious question. Is the post Office Putting people at risk for Identity Theft . One moraga woman says it is, and its not doing anything about it. Her story is a warning for everyone. Chris first, it was an email from a Credit Card Company confirming an application she hadnt submitted. Renee you applied for the credit card. Chris then a suspiciously empty mailbox. Renee well, i hadnt gotten mail for a while. Chris renee rosato suspected the two were connected, and someone was tampering with her identity. Renee this is not a small thing, its a big thing. Its fraud. Chris but how . A call to the local post office connected the dots. The trail pointed to her mail. Renee and they said, you put a hold on it, i said, no, i did not. Chris the post office produced this mail hold request. Someone, not renee, submitted the form on the Postal Service website. That persons intent was then clear to renee. The thief applied for a credit card using her name, held her mail until the card would arrive, then planned to pick up the mail at the post office, where the soon to be stolen credit card would be waiting. Luckily, renee intercepted the scam before it played out. Renee theyre allowing fraud to happen. Chris she was shocked by the post offices lack of security. Renee Us Post Office would give a total stranger my mail. Chris we were also surprised by how easy it is, and how easily a criminal could target you. Anyone can log on to the usps website, hold your mail, then go pick it up. You dont grant permission, you dont get noticed, you dont have a clue until youre a victim. Jeff fitch what has happened here is a federal crime. Chris jeff fitch is a postal inspector, a federal agent who investigates postal crime. He says renees case isnt isolated. People across the country are duped by the same scam. Fitch says hes warned the postmaster general that the mail hold feature needs tighter security. Jeff we work with the main post office, assessing security and looking at what could be upgraded or whats actually going on, what can be tightened up. Chris so, whats the postmaster general doing to prevent this particular flavor of fraud . Nothing yet. In a statement, the Postal Service acknowledged instances of fraud taking place using mail hold, and said it regrets the inconvenience. It went on to say the Postal Service is working on Viable Solutions to prevent and reduce fraud via online mail hold. Renee says that response isnt good enough. Increased security is needed now. One possible solution is simple. Renee that they verify that the person who put the mail on hold had the homeowners approval to do it. Chris now, when you move and submit an address change through the Postal Service website, there are security measures in place to confirm its really you requesting the address change. Well, that tells us tightening security is possible. Its just not a step the Postal Service has taken yet when you hold your mail. Jeff fitch, the postal inspector, pointed out the importance of keeping an eye on your mailbox. If its empty for a couple of days, call the post office. Inspector fitch also wants you to report any type of mail fraud. The number is on your screen right now, and will also be on our website. Well, next, youre going to meet two San Francisco homeowners who are on the hook for thousands of dollars in city fines, all because of the shortterm rental craze. In San Francisco, homeowners are required to register with the city when they offer their property for rent on sites like homeaway or airbnb. But not everyone registers. So, the citys gotten tough. Well, now unsuspecting landlords are caught up in the crackdown because their tenants are breaking the law. Sondra halperin the 3day notice to cure or quit. Chris this brightorange notice of violation was tacked to the front of sondra halperins alamo square condo building this past may. The tenant who rented her condo was illegally offering shortterm rentals on airbnb when the city busted him. Sondra it was very surprising to me, and it was scary. Chris scary because the city was fining sondra 484 a day until her tenant took down all rental listings from shortterm rental sites, and canceled all future bookings. Sondra says getting the tenant to cooperate wasnt easy. And in the end, her total fine . Sondra about 22,000. Chris sondra was upset that she had to pay for her tenant breaking the law. Sondra i was unemployed at the time. I couldnt even focus on a job search. I was too consumed with this. Kevin guy it can be frustrating. Chris kevin guy runs the San Francisco office of shortterm rentals. He says its city code that makes him fine the property owner, not the tenant. Kevin when we conduct enforcement, we conduct enforcement and issue violations against a specific property. So, not an individual person. Chris since june of last year, guys office has issued 874,000 in fines to homeowners for illegally renting to people through sites like airbnb and homeaway. Guy says only about 10 of violators are tenants. But when they are, it can be tough getting them to stop breaking the law. Male when i first got this place chris vo duong knows all about that. Vo duong he was refusing to leave. Chris vos tenant illegally had paying homeaway guests staying in his Forest Knolls home. When the city caught on, vo says he told his tenant to move out, but he wouldnt. The tenant had thousands of reasons to stay. Vo because hes making more money staying here, knowing that the fine is not going to affect him. Chris check out the math. Vo says his tenant was paying him seven grand a month, but was making 18 to 20 grand on shortterm rentals. Vo later learned this was business as usual for this particular tenant. Vo and that this person is notorious for doing this. He has multiple rental locations. Chris the city calls him a serial tenant, someone who rents one or more properties, specifically to cash in on the shortterm rental craze. All over the city, we Found Properties that vos tenant had leased, and illegally rented out shortterm. We tried to track him down using his name and an apparent alias, but didnt find him. Even though the city knows what this serial tenant is up to, it fined vo for the illegal activity at his house, 12 grand. Moving forward, the city plans to turn over serial tenants to the city attorneys office. Kevin we want to pursue enforcement against that individual person. Chris we talked to some San Francisco supervisors to see if they think city code needs to be revised to protect homeowners in situations like these. No one has yet taken up that issue. Until it happens, if it happens, vo has a grim warning. Vo i want to make sure that all landowners know that whenever they rent to people, as soon as they receive this letter, what they have to do is immediately evict the tenant. Chris kevin guy said his office will give landlords a break on fines if they can prove theyre actively trying to get the tenant to stop the illegal renting. But vos fines were not reduced. He still owes the city 12,000. Now sondra, however, she got lucky. She asked the supervisor to help her out, and he did. The city reduced her fine from 22,000 down to just 1,000. Announcer coming up, a man invests in a Kickstarter Campaign, then asks us where his money went. And later, the pink paint on this house is only part of the problem. See how this bill could have haunted the homeowner for decades, and learn why you could face this scenario too. Chris welcome back. A Sonoma County man reached out to us after feeling frustrated and ripped off by a Kickstarter Campaign. Hes asking, where did my money go . [music] chris ron phelps is a music buff. And when hes not listening to music from these speakers, hes listening to it from his earbuds. So, ron was intrigued by this headset prototype that melds the two, called sound band. Ron the idea was that the sound band would sit over your ears, and itd have a controller in the back, and it would transmit the sound to you through the outside of your ear, so. Chris ron found sound band on the crowdfunding site kickstarter. Sound bands creator was raising money to bring the product to market, so ron pitched in 135. In return for his investment, he was promised one sound band headset to be delivered by the end of the year. The problem . Ron about 3 years ago. Chris the sound band Kickstarter Campaign secured nearly 4,000 backers, and has raised more than half a Million Dollars. But ron has never received his headset, and he wonders where all the money went. Ron the money for sound band, well, we have no way of accounting for it because nobody will tell us anything. Chris other backers are frustrated too. They posted comments on sound bands kickstarter page. Can i get a refund please . One backer asks. This is quite the long con, wrote another. While sound bands creator used to post regular updates on the kickstarter page, theyre now more sporadic. The most recent update was a few weeks ago, but the one before that was last december. Ron one would think that hed have to have a little more responsibility than, well take your money, and youre on your own. Chris so, ron looked to kickstarter to step in, but he was disappointed once again. Its terms say, kickstarter does not guarantee projects or investigate a creators ability to complete their project. Ron theres no oversight. Chris kickstarter takes its cut from the deal, 5 of what sound band raised, or 27 grand, and after that doesnt do much else. Kickstarter wont ask sound band where the money went. It wont ask about the product. And it also wont help dissatisfied backers secure refunds. Hank burgoyne kickstarters agreement is pretty clear that their obligation is to do nothing. Chris attorney Hank Burgoyne says ron has two options, file a complaint with the federal trade commission, or file an individual civil lawsuit against the creator of sound band. Either way, burgoyne says backers will likely have a tough time recovering their money. He understands the backers frustration, but suspects this was simply a big idea gone bad. Hank its not like always, like, this horrible person on the other end who started out saying, i want to bilk all these people. Its usually someone whose ambitions got ahead of their capacity. Chris we wanted to talk with the creator of sound band to find out what happened. It wasnt easy tracking him down, but we finally reached him at a michigan phone number. He confirmed hes the ceo of the Company Creating sound band, but said the people who were in charge of the project were, quote, inexperienced. He said theyre now long gone, no longer affiliated with sound band. As for the money raised, he said, quote, any claims i took the money personally are absolutely false. In fact, he says the half a Million Dollars raised on the Kickstarter Campaign is just a third of what it cost him trying to get sound band to market. He insists he will deliver the product, but, quote, i dont have a deadline. Ron says its already too late. Technology has changed, and hes ready for something else. Ron even if i got my sound band now, theres already other stuff out there doing the same thing in a better form for a cheaper price. Chris kickstarter declined our request for an oncamera interview. Now, it did tell us that more than 110,000 projects have been funded on its site, and says a vast majority of creators complete their projects as promised. The company pointed to a survey conducted by the university of pennsylvania last year that found about 9 of kickstarter projects fail to deliver. Before you donate money to a Kickstarter Campaign, it suggests learning as much as you can about the creator of the project, including if they have a history of completing projects. Also, scrutinize if they have a clear path for how theyll implement the idea youre interested in supporting. Announcer coming up, customers out hundreds of dollars because a business wont honor prepaid purchases. We explain their rights and how you can protect yourself. And later, we track down a contractor who stuck a homeowner with a fivefigure bill for an unusual paintjob. Strummed guitar you cant experience the Canadian Rockies through a screen. You have to be here, with us. Theres only one way to travel through this natural wonder and get a glimpse of amazing. And thats with a glass of wine in one hand, and a camera in the other, aboard rocky mountaineer. Canadas Rocky Mountains await. Call your travel agent or rocky mountaineer for special offers now. Chris for our next story, five different people called us with the same complaint about the same business. They say they bought prepaid packages, then, without warning, the company had closed or announced an ownership change. Joshua zerkel i have a pretty highs tress job, and its just a nice thing to be able to do, to go in and get a foot massage once in a while. Chris a small indulgence for the feet thats now a big headache. Joshua zerkel says he spent 168 about a year ago prepaying for massages at relax feet on valencia street. Paying up front made sense because he got a discount. Joshua and it was a pretty good deal. I thought, id probably use this. Chris but back in april, joshua discovered that these gift cards were suddenly worthless. Joshua when i called them up to use them, they told me they were no longer valid, that theyd changed ownership, and that they werent going to honor these. Chris relax feet had become 620 massage, and said it was under new management. Greg meyers essentially the same store. Chris greg meyers and his wife lonnie also bought prepaid massages from relax feet on noriega street. That location became sweet smile massage. It also refused to honor prepaid packages. Lonnie were out 140. Chris relax feet had several locations in San Francisco. All closed or changed names, leaving customers like greg, lonnie, and josh in a lurch. So, we began asking questions. Santa Clara University law professor anna han told us businesses are supposed to take into account liabilities like prepaid purchases when companies change hands. So, someones on the hook, either the new management or the old. So, we called, wrote, and even visited the parlors to ask for an explanation. But we never received a response. Next, we requested state records. The articles of organization, basically a businesss birth certificate, tell us that the location lonnie and greg used has new management. But the shop josh used, now called 620 massage, was registered by the same manager who filed the paperwork for the old business, relax feet, 8 years ago. And even that doesnt tell us the whole story. Although state records show when ownership changes occur, the actual names of Business Owners arent required in public records. Anna han you cant really get to the true owners. Chris professor han says getting to those who are financially responsible will probably require a lawsuit. Anna the consumers can try to get a court to look through the sale, if you will, to look past the actual technical transaction, and hold the previous owners liable. Chris coincidentally, professor han says she recently faced a similar situation with a different company. Anna i purchased the package myself in an oakland massage place. Chris personally and professionally, she recommends avoiding prepaid purchases. Anna particularly having sort of experienced this myself, i would say dont buy any longterm packages, dont spend a lot of money on packages. Chris after josh called us and we started asking questions, 620 massage updated its website with this announcement. It says a prepaid package holder will be able to use it at 620 massage locations. It goes on to say, even though we are not related to relax feet, we also consider you as our important customer. Joshua im really surprised because ive called and emailed them multiple times, as have a lot of other people, and there was no recourse for us. Chris the announcement that 620 massage will honor relax feet gift cards is good news for josh, but not greg and lonnie. Their former relax feet location isnt budging. Professor han says greg and lonnie will probably have to sue. Lonnie offers the owner an easier solution. Lonnie just honor it. This is San Francisco. We honor things here. Chris if youre still tempted to buy a prepaid service, use a credit card. That way, if theres a problem, you can easily dispute the charge, which will usually get someones attention. Cheri its just unfair that she would have to pay 14,000 for a job that looks like i went to the school and got kindergarteners to paint it. Announcer coming up, we confront the contractor whos responsible for this odd and expensive paintjob. Chris a richmond homeowner says she was misled by a contractor who left her home with an unusual paintjob. On top of that, the homeowner says the contractor wasnt upfront about how shed be paying to paint her house. We found out it was through a lien on her home, and she had no idea. When we finally tracked down the contractor, they were not happy to see us. Cheri i came here, and when i saw the paintjob, im like, are you serious . Chris last summer, cheri wells 76yearold mother mary jones was approached by a contractor to paint her richmond home. And this is what she got. Cheri its a joke. Chris bright white paint with bright pink trim. The shed in the backyard, 100 pink. The contract says mrs. Jones could choose the color, but cheri says her mom was strongarmed. Cheri this is the color they told her she had to have as the trim, this peptobismol. Chris cheri calls the work shoddy too. By this window, they painted around the landscaping. Cheri thats the original paint. Chris cheri was shocked, and even more astounded by the price tag. Cheri its just unfair that she would have to pay 14,000 for a job that looks like i went to the school and got kindergarteners to paint it. Chris cheri wasnt there when the contractor, e unlimited, pitched the job to her mom. And she says her mom doesnt recall many of the details of that conversation, including how shed pay that 14,000 bill. Cheri unbelievable, 14,000 . Chris so, cheri called e unlimited to complain. Cheri and i told him that this job was not worth 14,000, and he told me he didnt care. Im going to get paid. I will put a lien on the home. Chris and thats what e unlimited apparently intended to do. It scribbled hero on the contract. Hero finances energyefficient renovations for homeowners, but its not a bank. Its a company that works with local governments. They put the full cost of renovations, plus interest, onto peoples property tax bills. The money is then collected over 5 to 25 years, depending on the job. For cheris mom, that means as much as an extra 3,840 on her property tax bill for 5 years. Cheri says e unlimited didnt explain hero to her mom. Cheri they didnt expect nobody to come and raise hell, but i just cant do it. Its unfair. Chris contractors like e unlimited often serve as heros salesmen. That arrangement has led to complaints that have landed on the desk of assemblyman Matt Dababneh in southern california. Matt dababneh where they felt they had been either misled, or had been given Bad Information on a really major expenditure on their home. Chris so, dababneh drafted legislation that was just signed into law. It strengthens protections for homeowners who finance through hero and other programs like it. The law requires full disclosure that payment for the work will be collected through tax bills. All costs and Interest Rates must be clearly laid out. And homeowners get 3 days to cancel the contract. Matt and providing the information consumers need to make an educated decision is vital to make sure people dont get in trouble when it comes to paying off these liens. Chris the hero program ultimately rejected mrs. Joness contract with e unlimited, saying this job didnt qualify as energyefficient. Now, that means shes off the hook for paying hero 14,000, but it also means shes stuck with a house that looks like this. Cheri shes ashamed to come in. Chris on top of that, we learned e unlimited was working under a revoked contractors license when it painted the house. We wanted to talk with e unlimited, but when we called them, they hung up. So, we took our questions to the suburban la address listed for e unlimited, and were immediately thrown out. Female leave the area, im calling the police. Chris im leaving now, okay. Can you talk to us about the case of mary jones while were leaving . Can you tell us about mary jones . Chris to give them one more chance to give us answers, we immediately called e unlimited from the sidewalk. Chris so, this is your opportunity to send somebody out to speak to us. They put us on hold. Thank you. A minute and a half later, they cut us off again. They hung up on me. Back in richmond, cheris mom is still living in her pink and white home, hopeful she can eventually put this behind her. Cheri i want my mother to be proud when she comes home like we were before. Chris while e unlimited wouldnt talk to us, it did talk to hero, and agreed to pay cheris mom 2,300. In a statement, hero said, when we learned from your Investigative Team about the lousy paint job, we got a check from the contractor for the homeowner to repaint. Hero said e unlimited has financed 80 projects with them, 12 of those in the bay area. It said it suspended e unlimited from its program for operating under a suspended state license, and said, quote, we wont do business with this firm or its people again. And every story you saw tonight started with a call to 888996tips, or an email to nbcbayarea. Com responds. Im chris chmora. Thanks for watching. Good night. [music] hush my darling. Dont fear my darling. The lion sleeps tonight. [snoring. ] hush my darling. [snoring. ] dont fear my darling. The lion sleeps tonight. [snoring. ] take the roar out of snore. Yet another innovation only at a sleep number store. Right now at five not backing down from their message. Another day of protests at airports ay are and across the nation. As the right now at 5 00. Ges another day of protests at airports in the bay area and across the nation as the white house makes changes to the president S Immigration ban. The news at 5 00 starts right now. Good evening, everyone. Thank you for joining us. Im terry mcsweeney. And im peggy. People from seven predominantly muslim countries who hold green cards are vowing now to return to the u. S. Theyre looking to as soon as tomorrow reverse the