Complaint Review: Family Counseling Service - Reno Nevada

This will likely be my last update to this mess, because my mother has decided to cut her losses and move on after this debacle.  Just under 3 months after it first went missing, my mother's March and April social security payments have turned up.  However, this group of ignorant, disrespectful, deceitful people have continued to reinforce my view that no one should ever use (or be forced to use) their "service".

My mother still has money with Family Counseling Services from February.  She called asking for a statement showing the amounts they received and paid out, which shouldn't be an issue for any organization that is in the business of handling other people's money.  The moment she asked for this, she was told that they "didn't have to talk to [her] anymore" but eventually begrudgingly agreed to send it.  A week later when the statement hand't arrived, she called Elizabeth "Liz" Estes and was told that the statement they previously agreed to send within a few days would now cost $50 (which is likely more than the left over money she had with them).

When my mother balked at this, "Liz" proceeded to hurl insults against both myself and my mother, and told her "you can post anything you want online, we don't care".  They essentially said that they were stealing her money, that there was nothing she could do about it, that they answer to no one, and they don't care about their reputation because most of their "clients" are forced to go to them by various agencies.

We are letting this go at this point.  If they are so broke that they need whatever tiny amount they stole and willing to go to these lengths to do it, then they can have it.  It isn't worth the time or frustration.  However, if you read this and some of the other updates to this report, you should understand that you must steer clear of these people.  If you are reading this and you have some kind of authority over Family Counseling Services, audit them or take their business license away.  Where there's smoke, there's fire.  If you work for one of the agencies driving business to these animals, stop driving business to them.  There are other representative payee services in Reno to use that don't have contempt for their own paying customers.

So now Family Counseling Services claims that they do not have my mother's March social security payment, and have offered no help in finding out where they put it.  The money is officially "lost" and the Social Security Administration is now sending investigators to hunt down the money.  They say they did receive her April payment, but are refusing to give her any of it.  Is there a difference between stealing someone's money, and holding someone's money while refusing to give them any of it?  I don't see one.

So, because of Family Counseling Service's wreckless and/or willful behavior, $2700 of my mother's money is gone.  Fortunately, myself and the rest of our family have begun paying her rent.  If we had been unable to do so, my mother would be homeless right now due solely to their incompetence and absolute refusal to fix any of the problems they cause.  They also claim to have sent her a $200 check that never arrived.  We can only assume that they are lying, even about sending such a small amount.  At this point the working assumption is that they have embezzled the money.

If you or a loved one actually depend on your social security income to live on, stay away from Family Counseling Services.

I can prove everything I said.  I asked for absolutely no information...I simply asked that the situation be corrected.  I wasn't looking to discuss it; I was looking to inform FCS of the problem because my mother's attempts to plead with them to fix the problem were met with lies, and when those didn't work, unreturned phone calls.  They didn't care enough to arrange things correctly in the first place, and didn't want to hear about it when the problem was discovered.

Even worse, we were recently informed that in retaliation for my writing the letter to the Director, Liz from Family Counseling Services called my mother's social worker and told them that I was trying to "take over my mother's finances" beecause I called them on her behalf while she was in the hospital after she was unable to get any resolution to the situation on her own.  As of this moment, they have in excess of $1300 of her money in their possession, and refused my mother's most recent withdrawal request.  

Stay away from these people like the plague.  When they mess up and you call them on it, they will attempt to retaliate against you.

This complaint is absolutely fictitious and we believe generated by an individual who is neither a client nor has legal right to represent his mother in any action or legal matters. His frustrations stem from an unwillingness on our part to disclose privileged information.