(WSVN) – Two South Florida charter bus companies claim they are owed money by local schools after they racked up large bills that were never paid. 7’s Heather Walker investigates.
School buses will be back on the road in just a few weeks, and charter buses will be back on the road as well.
Barrington Samuels, owner of Atlantic Charters: “I would say probably about 70 percent of our business is schools.”
Barrington Samuels is the owner of Atlantic Charters Inc. in Broward.
Barrington Samuels: “You know, we’ve been in business for 21 years.”
His buses are usually rented out by private schools.
The school will fill out an order form and you will receive an invoice from the company a few days after your trip.
Until now, that has never been a problem.
Barrington Samuels: “This hurts so much, because what are you teaching these kids?”
One of his clients is the Youth Under Construction Youth Center in Pompano Beach, he said.
The school has billed a large amount of money, but has not paid it.
Barrington Samuels: “It’s over $16,000, so I just send in an invoice with the expectation that it gets paid within 30 days.”
Those 30 days passed a few 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 made several trips for them, nine trips total.”
Atlantic Charters drove students to cities such as Tampa and Jacksonville. Total price was $16,100.
Barrington says she’s never seen a penny, but she’s not alone.
Donna Mullins, owner of Gold Star Transportation: “I’m disappointed, very disappointed.”
Donna Mullins says the same school owes her more than $2,000.
The school hired her company for one trip in February.
She said a school representative was supposed to pay for the day of the trip.
Donna Mullins: “He said he forgot the check.”
Donna finally received the check about a week later, but it was returned.
Donna Mullings: “When I went to the bank, the teller smiled and shook her head. She said the account had been closed for a long time.”
He said he has emailed and called the school, but has continued to get stuck.
Donna Mullings: “If it were me, I’d leave a message and say, ‘Can you pay me?'” We work hard, which costs fuel and costs money to pay drivers. ”
7 Investigators met with Delvin King.
The school reportedly hired a management company to handle tasks such as payments to the charter bus company. He added that he only recently realized that wasn’t happening.
Delvin King, Principal of Youth Under Construction: “I didn’t realize it from the beginning, but as we neared the end and started getting emails and phone calls, I realized that these guys weren’t getting paid. I realized that.”
King said the management company actually scheduled the rides, but it was the management company that gave them the money to pay for them.
Delvin King: “Once the purchase order is signed, the management company has to pay the shipping company. But they never paid the company, so this was a huge mismanagement.”
The school fired its management company several weeks ago.
King says she is now trying to get the money back to the school.
Delvin King: “But it’s true. They robbed students, they robbed my company, and now I have a lot of mess to clean up.”
Last week, King sent a letter of apology to the charter bus company, guaranteeing payment “through August 23, 2024.”
Barrington and Donna hope they get the money as promised. They also hope the next school year will bring new jobs that pay on time to keep the buses running.
Heather Walker, 7News.
Contact 7 investigates:
305-627-CLUE
954-921-CLUE
[email protected]
Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
