After almost a year of trying to clear up a costly clerical error, a Queens commercial property owner turned to NY1 For You for help. NY1's Susan Jhun filed the following report.
Navieta Ramasami said she was "really shocked and really upset" after receiving a $1,000 violation from the city for a mistake that wasn't hers.
The commercial property owner hired the company CitySpec to inspect and submit a report for her boiler in 2012, only to find out two years later that she received a violation for failure to file that inspection.
"They never filed any paperwork for the inspection," Ramasami says.
Ramasami says she contacted CitySpec and was told the matter would be taken care of within 30 days. That was in June of 2014. To date, she says nothing's been done, and she can't even get CitySpec to return her calls.
Ramasami says after checking with local consumer agencies, she found she's not alone.
"I see that there's five other people file complaints also. Same exact thing. None of the agencies can do anything or penalize them," she says. "So I decided to contact NY1."
NY1 checked with the Better Business Bureau, which has a D rating for CitySpec since it hasn't responded to several complaints filed against it.
NY1 For You contacted CitySpec, and after looking into the matter, the vice president of operations released a statement.
"We acknowledge there have been rare circumstances where paperwork was not properly reflected due to clerical related issues but safety was never tarnished for these inspections. We were unaware of the unanswered Better Business Bureau claims and have begun to address them immediately," the statement reads.
In response to our inquiry, the company had the 2012 boiler inspection violation dismissed and paid the violation fee on Ramasami's behalf.
A Department of Buildings spokesperson told NY1 For You that the agency will monitor CitySpec's conduct going forward.