Guidepost Solutions, the investigative arm of Ken Feinberg and the GCCF = British Petroleum, have apparently been stirring up the Gulf’s waters these past couple of weeks.
From their website’s masthead:
“Guidepost Solutions LLC is a global investigations and security company with expertise in designing and managing the installation of physical security and life safety systems for both new and existing sophisticated facilities and operations. The company also provides monitoring and compliance, and expert investigative and security consulting services and advice to companies, government agencies, individuals, and their counsel, to solve problems, advance business opportunities, mitigate risks, and resolve disputes.”
Stories differ on whether their investigators are identifying themselves as working for the GCCF…
What’s been your experience?
A certian disenfranchised citizen would like to hear about it…
Have a nice day.
– Drake
Drake Toulouse: Photography and Words 
This company is causing me a headache. They want to verify my tax documents and bank statements. I think their only doing that cause its taking gccf longer than 14 days to settle a quick payment..its been 42 days and now they say guidepost is investigating my documents yeah ok if you want to go ahead but when u finished I don’t even want the 25000 offer now my paperwork is so legit that now I’m going for the full review. Guidepost and gccf both fraudulent not us.
If I were you, I would get an attorney and have them review your claim and documentation, then have your attorney contact these people. The GCCF is not wanting to help people but to try a way out of paying people, so they try to find any gliche they can in your paperwork. And rather than ask you to clarify the information or answer questions, they have you investigated to prolong your payment and hope you just completely back down. Get an attorney.
I agree! We are going through the same thing. Someone reported us as a fradeulent case and We got investigated by Homeland Security. They did not find any fraud. We decided to go ahead and take the quick pay and be done with this crazyness and now they sent a letter saying our claim is null. Our claim is legit i just called and emailed them. I stated that if we donot get paid i was going to the media and get an attorney so we will see what happens next.
hmmm, my experience has been and this was before they hired these people…. they hired someone who presented himself as a CPA and upon researching the states license data base found this to be untrue. This person asked for three years tax returns not including 2010 for me and my employer, all the contracts for three years between me and my employer, and the contracts between my employer and others, my employers tax returns and so forth. I filed an individual claim, not my employer; and after having a attorney review my paperwork and claim, found that I was in compliance with the Oil Pollution Act’s requirements for the documents needed, and also found that this person they hired was way out of his scope of requesting documentation. So needless to say, there is a lawsuit in the proceedings. Of course, since we found this hired person to be a deceptive liar, we did not turn anything over to him. Come to find out the reason the claim was being investigated was because the adjuster could not understand why if I had lost a few jobs through a few of my contractors, then why did I show jobs still from those contractors for the remainder of the year. How stupid can you get? Never in my claim did I say I lost all my employment, I lost ALL my jobs with ALL my contractors. I said my work was reduced and I had lost jobs. These people are ignorant and rather than ask a question to resolve a very small issue at the end of their 90 day review period, they waste the claimants money and time on hiring someone to ask the questions for them.
I wanted to let someone in the Press know that GCCF (Gulf Coast Claims Facility) has hired a firm called Guidepost Solutions, LLC. I know this because I had two men dressed in black arrived at my home unannounced on Tuesday, February 8th, 2010. They identified themselves as working for the GCCF and when I asked them to give me ID and business card all they provided was a generic looking business card. I was very reluctant to talk to them…but I was hopeful that maybe FINALLY someone was going to address my claim. I felt uneasy about it when they left…but got verification of those ill feelings when a tenant of mine (whom was not involved in the BP claim at all) called today to let me know men from the GCCF had visited her and was asking personal questions about me…and about her. She was very afraid. I had requested an attorney from the GCCF about a week ago. I made a point to get ahold of one finally today. They told me these men from Guidepost Solutions were hired to find ways to deny claims. (that is not how they represent themselves) These men are not your friends and claimants should not speak with them. They have the ability to send letters via snail mail and ask for additional documentation in a request…and they also have claimants email addresses…and they should be using those forms of communication. They should not be showing up at your residence and asking questions. It could very easily be taken as a form of intimidation etc. I also read on the Internet (not sure of the validity) but these investigators are taping the conversation without your knowledge. I am extremely upset about this deception and their manipulation of the truth. Is it not enough that BP has dumped all this oil in our gulf…that they want to victimize those already injured? This is immoral, unjust, unreasonable, and thug behavior! PLEASE LET THE COMMUNITY KNOW SO THEY ARE NOT TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF! They need to start consulting attorneys. It seems things will only get uglier and dirtier from here on out.
Two days ago Will F. Corbin investigator with Guidepost Solutions called up and wanted to meet at McDonalds . I told him to meet at my house ,We set up a time. He canceled and made new appointment because there was a second investagater that was unable to make it. So they show up ,two local guys to go throught all me and my wifes taxes for the last three years. Making copies of unnessary papper work. I have a business claim there was no reason to inquier non business info. They over stepped there rights demanding info on beach clean-up work ,that was not related to my business. I felt like a dog from the start, they were on a mission to throught me under the bus. I could not show where I lost work for the oiled beach, Because I could not find it. I could show that I was affected by the scared economy
holding on to all they had for fear of the outcome.
I did not ask for much, they sent me $1000.00 when I asked for $20,000 It was a slap in the face. Today is 420 one year after the spill. Now Washington has built an army trained to shut claims down. What is in it for them to shut down the working class.MORE MONEY FOR THEM!!!
This is not Will Corbin fault he’s just doing his highly paid job. I hope you got everything you needed to do what is right.Thank you.
Me and my wife have just found out that our claim was under investigations by guide post. We meet with the investigator who said that we had the most paper work he has ever seen. He also said that they must be smoking crack over at Bp to be investigating us for fraud. We have been through hell over this. Has anyone actually been investigated and found no fraud then gotten paid? We have everything in the world to show our loss. They have had eight months to review this stuff. Any advice would be helpful.
Yes, it has happened that people have been investigated and then paid, but it has been the exception, at least to what I have heard…course I would have to acknowledge what I have heard should be taken with a grain of salt as people don’t usually write me e-mails when they have been paid, only when they have not.
Don’t lose hope, but at the same time explore your options…go check out some of the comments on the oil spill sections at Propublica and as I usually recommend, a lawyer never hurts anything, except your wallet.
Good luck.
-Drake
Hey Chris I can give you insight into this problem.I’m a Paralegal that has dealt with them directly on several occassions contact me at
paralegal4credit@yahoo.com we’ll talk.
Ok …I’m done with the GCCF…. I have tried without hiring a lawyer…. but I feel humiliated…. I just got visited by the GCCF gestapo team of Guidepost Solutions…. NOT one but two of the bigger burly men that were EX-FBI agents….I felt like they were ready to arrest me…. all because I black outed a lot of my tax returns so BP couldn’t see how I spent my money….
I just felt it was none of their BUSINESS .
OK they did find ONE discrepancies on my old income tax return after checking 3 years returns….so arrest me I’m not an accountant.. I apparently had given BP/GCCF two copies of a Schedule C that showed a different number a small difference …. and I didn’t have an answer. today..I couldn’t remember or didn’t know what to answer because I didn’t know why that happened…I’m under the gun with these two officers staring at me and I didn’t have an answer… I need to looked over that year again and figure that one out….
They tried to force me to sign an document letting them talk to the IRS…NO WAY would I do that…using the tactic if I didn’t sign it by tonight they would write it up in their report and my claim wouldn’t get paid….they said….
SO WHATS NEW…..
But after they left I called the IRS myself and got copies of my tax returns and there was one year where I had to redo my return with a form1040X and thats why I have two different Schedule C….
Thank God the IRS could explain what happened and had all the records right at hand…..so I began digging into my files so more and did find the copy of a amended return.
OK so apparently I did redo my tax return a few months after the original was sent in to the IRS(3 yrs ago) and all this happened a year before the oil spill…but having these large burly oversized intimidating men harassing me today has been about all I can stand….
BP must have really pissed I blackouted a lot of my figures..
Guess they forgot what they did….“gross negligence” and “willful misconduct.” comes to mind…
Now I’m being Investigated…
Thank you for sharing an all too typical story. It’s been a little while since I heard about the Guidepost guys and I can;t express how disappointing it is that these asholes are still out there trying to push people around…maybe you might have better luck with the new claims people? I know, perfect, another process, but hell, after Feinberg made such a mockery of helping people, how much worse could the new guys be…
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss?
Hopefully not.
-Drake