(WSVN) – Two South Florida charter bus companies say a local school owes them money after it rang up big bills and never paid. 7’s Heather Walker investigates.
In just a few weeks, school buses will be back on the streets, and so will charter buses.
Barrington Samuels, owner of Atlantic Charters Inc.: “I think maybe about 70% of our business are schools.”
Barrington Samuels is the owner of Atlantic Charters Inc. in Broward.
Barrington Samuels: “You know, we’ve been operating for 21 years.”
His buses are usually hired out by private schools.
The schools fill out a purchase order, and the company bills them a few days after the trip.
It has never been a problem, until now.
Barrington Samuels: “This is what kind of hurts, you know, because what are you teaching these kids?”
He says one of his clients is Youth Under Construction Youth Center in Pompano Beach.
The school racked up a big bill and hasn’t paid.
Barrington Samuels: “It’s over $16,000, so we would just send the invoices over, hoping that within 30 days we would be paid.”
Those 30 days passed months ago.
In March and April, Atlantic Charters was hired multiple times by Delvin King. He is listed as the school’s principal.
Barrington Samuels: “We did some trips for them, nine trips in total.”
Atlantic Charters Inc. drove students to cities like Tampa and Jacksonville. The total price was $16,100.
Barrington says he never saw a penny, and he’s not alone.
Dawna Mullings, owner of Gold Star Transportation Inc.: “I was disappointed, extremely disappointed.”
Dawna Mullings says the same school owes her more than $2,000.
The school hired her company in February for one trip.
She says a representative with the school was supposed to pay the day of the trip.
Dawna Mullings: “He said he forgot the check.”
Dawna finally got a check about a week later, but it bounced.
Dawna Mullings: “When I went to the bank, the teller smiled and shake her head. She said that account has been closed for the longest time.”
She says she has emailed and called the school but keeps hitting dead ends.
Dawna Mullings: “I would leave a message, ‘Could you please pay me my money?’ Because we work hard, and it costs us fuel, it costs us to pay drivers.”
7 Investigates met with Delvin King.
He says the school had hired a management company to handle its business, including paying the charter bus companies. He adds that he just recently discovered that that was not happening.
Delvin King, principal of Youth Under Construction: “From the beginning, I was not aware, but towards the end, once I started receiving emails and phone calls, I realized that these people haven’t been paid.”
King says the management company was actually the one that would schedule the rides, while he gave them the money to pay for it.
Delvin King: “Once I sign the purchase order, the management company has to pay out the transportation company. But they never paid out to the company, so it was big business mismanagement.”
The school fired the management company a few weeks ago.
King says he is now trying to get the school’s money back.
Delvin King: “But really. they took from the students, they took from my company, and it’s a lot of mess that I have to clean up now.”
Last week, King sent out a letter apologizing to the charter bus companies and guaranteed payment “on or before August 23rd, 2024.”
Barrington and Dawna hope they’ll get their money as promised. They also hope the upcoming school year will bring new jobs that pay on time to help keep their buses rolling.
Heather Walker, 7News.
CONTACT 7 INVESTIGATES:
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7Investigates@wsvn.com
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