AROCA SEIQUER & ASOCIADOS.
The company of choice for ATLAS INTERNATIONAL and many of their customers.
From this week's Coastrider Newspaper.
Disappearing computer records, no help, and no solution
Some weeks ago we told the story of Trevor Taylor whose experiences with Tecnologia, Atlas International and Aroca Seiquer have left this ex-policeman with a medical condition that affects his nerves. Trevor’s business partner Anne, concerned about the health of her friend, called me at the end of 2007 because Trevor had had a dispute with Aroca Seiquer. Unlike many owners of Tecnologia homes, Trevor had been informed that the builders’ mortgage of €66,000 had been cleared early in 2007, and that his deeds were ready for collection.
After a visit to the notary when Trevor was given a photocopy of deeds with his name on them, and following a payment of €3056.00 to the notary, Trevor approached Aroca Seiquer to secure the original copy. This is where the trouble started.
Trevor had previously seen a record on a computer at the Aroca Punta Prima offices detailing that he had a fund of €4,447.00. The amount had even been written on a folder, still in Trevor’s possession, by the person who showed him this computer record. Since that time, Aroca Seiquer has denied that the record existed, despite Trevor’s friend Anne also having seen the computer screen. The firm of solicitors told Trevor that they thought he had died. I agreed to visit Aroca with Trevor and Anne to try to get to the bottom of this situation, and to find out what has happened to Trevor’s fund of €4,447.00.
The meeting took place with two Aroca representatives, one of whom was the person who Trevor had dealt with previously, and the other was the man’s boss. I made it clear from the outset that I was a newspaper reporter.
I shall not go into the detail of the meeting, other than to say it was difficult to speak without interruption from the more senior of the two Aroca representatives. The other representative remained silent throughout the meeting, despite questions being asked directly of him about the computer record.
No attempt to help
It transpired that Aroca did not know Trevor was a customer until some three years after his house purchase, and they denied having ever received funds from him, saying a receipt would have been issued had that happened. I made a comment that in all the paperwork shown to me by customers of Tecnologia and Aroca, I had yet to come across an example of the form I was being shown in the meeting room. Trevor also remarked that an Atlas representative had personally brought him to the Aroca offices during the sales process, and he could therefore not believe that Aroca did not know he was a customer from the outset. No attempt was made by the Aroca representatives to examine Trevor’s various receipts of payments made, or to help him at all. In fact, on a scrap of paper which was produced previously by the junior Aroca representative were some figures detailing legal costs, which was taken from Trevor during the meeting by the same person, and altered to give a new figure, adding €200 to the costs! I asked the representatives to provide Trevor with a detailed invoice for their services which he could take away and examine, but they did not comply with this request. Instead, Trevor was told he could walk away with his deeds, and Aroca would pursue him through the courts for their payment.
“I will not pay this company another cent”
Following a brief moment in discussion with his friend Anne, Trevor returned to the building to be told that in fact his deeds were not at the Punta Prima office, and were instead in Torrevieja. He was also told, despite being given contrary information with two witnesses present, that he now could NOT take his deeds away. Trevor said at the time: “I would have happily let Aroca take me to court so that I could tell the judge that this company allowed me to buy a house with a €66,000 builders’ mortgage on it. This is typical of my dealings with this firm. You are told one thing, and then it turns out not to be true. I don’t know where I stand now. As far as I’m concerned, Aroca has €4447.00 of my money, and myself and Anne saw this on the man’s computer inside these offices. I will not pay this company another cent.”
No sensible solution provided
I asked another lawyer where Trevor now stood, and he told me that Trevor could apply to the notary for duplicate deeds, at a cost of no more than €100. He also said if the client is unhappy with the solicitor he has been using, he should write directly to the College of Solicitors to which Aroca belongs, because the firm has yet to provide a sensible solution to the dispute. I also wrote to the representative at Aroca who had made the statement asking why the aboutturn, and he failed to respond to my questions.
Trevor is now seeking legal advice with another firm of solicitors, and hopes to be able to be able to put the whole Tecnologia and Aroca affair behind him. He said: “I’ve never had to deal with such unprofessional behaviour in my life, and do not want to have to go through a meeting like that again.”
Rebecca Griffin