Washington Attorney General's Office Responds to Complaints About Mars Hill Church

An unknown number of people have filed complaints with the Washington Attorney General’s office regarding various aspects of Mars Hill Church’s financial dealings. Two of them forwarded the responses received from the office. The first one describes an informal and voluntary process to bring together the consumer and the church. The second response gives no hint about the existence of an investigation.

The first response describes a time frame for Mars Hill to reply to the AG’s office.

Bob Ferguson

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF WASHINGTON

Consumer Protection Division

800 Fifth Avenue, Suite 2000 Seattle, WA 98104 (206) 464-6686

November 18, 2014

RE:   Mars Hill Church

File #:

Dear

Thank you for contacting the Consumer Protection Division of the Washington State Attorney General’s Office. Consumer complaints provide valuable information that our office uses to identify patterns of unfair or deceptive practices that may warrant enforcement of the Consumer Protection Act.

The complaint you submitted to our office regarding Mars Hill Church was reviewed and determined to be appropriate for the informal complaint resolution services offered by our Consumer Resource Center and has been assigned to me for processing. This is an informal, voluntary process. Our office acts as a neutral party to facilitate communication between consumers and businesses to assist in resolving the complaint. We are prohibited by Washington State law from providing legal advice or representing either party.

Following is information about our informal complaint resolution process.

Informal Complaint Resolution Process

The process takes approximately 4-6 weeks to complete. A copy of your complaint is sent to the business(es) with a request to provide our office with a response within 21 calendar days. If a response is received, you will be notified and a copy of the response will be provided to you. If our office has not received a response from the business(es) within 14 calendar days, a courtesy reminder will be sent to the business(es) reminding them that their response is due within the next 7 calendar days. If the business(es) do not respond to our request, our office cannot compel the business(es) to respond.

If the business does not respond or does not resolve your complaint to your satisfaction

If the business(es) do not respond, or your complaint is not resolved through our informal complaint resolution service, your complaint will be closed. However, you will be notified of additional options and resources that may be available to assist you in the event you wish to pursue the matter further.

If you contact our office regarding your complaint, please reference the assigned complaint number referenced above.

Again, thank you for contacting our office.

 ELENA GARCIA HUIZAR

CP Public Outreach Specialist
Consumer Protection Division
(206) 442-4497
Fax: (206) 587-5636

[email protected]

Another individual received this response:

I am in receipt of your email to AG Ferguson (dated November 5, 2014).  Thank you for providing us the additional information regarding Mars Hill Church; it is clear that you care deeply about this issue.  Please be aware that we can neither confirm nor deny whether our office is investigating or the status of any investigation.
 
Regards,
Sarah
______________________________________________________
Sarah S. Shifley | Assistant Attorney General
Consumer Protection Division | 800 Fifth Ave, Ste. 2000 | Seattle, WA 98104
If other readers receive responses, please feel free to forward them to me.