CCDN (Credit Collections Defense Network- Robert Lock Jr Attorney , Phillip Manger, Managing Member Credit Collections Defense Network (CCDN) a Scam/many judgments and R & G better pay heed Chicago Illinois

I would like to respond to what R and G have written on this site. My husband and I have been clients of CCDN for over 18 months now. Hence, we have been in 'long enough' to have experienced some 'proof of performance or lack thereof' and results. We have dotted every 'I' and crossed every 't' that CCDN sent our way. Suffice it to say that our experience has been very negative and has caused us great harm. 3 judgments and one on the way with bank accounts being attacked and a garnishment on the horizon are not what we came into this program to experience. After 18 months only 2 accounts have been filed with 13 more still sitting there. At this rate we could be in this process for years which is unacceptable and untenable. CCDN has endeavored to make us think we ALONE are experiencing this calamity while in their program but the truth is that there are many many others who are in the same position REGARDLESS of which marketing company they entered in under. The marketing companies merely bring the people to Robert Lock and Phil Manger. The marketing companies represent what Robert Lock/Phil Manger of CCDN are 'selling'. Robert Lock is the legal entity behind this program and CCDN his umbrella organization and the marketing companies act as confederates for Robert Lock/CCDN. I am truly tired of CCDN trying to leverage blame for our issues on their marketing company(s).

While in this program we were promised customer service calls weekly which Phil Manger acknowledged. This never happened. Communication and customer service are truly horrible. We were told our case was with the paralegals when it never was. We were told they had our complaints and files and later we were told to send them in?! When we expressed our confusion over why we were told two different things we were told that they never said that and to just 'do it'. Fortunately I have kept all the communications so have a running log of our experience with this program.

I was sued in state court about 9 months into the program and when we expressed concern and asked about where our federal complaint was, we were told it would not be ready in time. We were then told to 'get an attorney to represent us in state court' and then were given Robert Locks contact information and an email telling us we would need to put up 2,500 dollars as a retainer fee!!! I contacted our marketer because I was not getting any information or help in regards to this ridiculous situation. The marketer contacted the attorneys and support and was told that I had REQUESTED an attorney!!!! An absolute lie. I had told them to perform on their promise to file a fed compliant when a client is being sued in state court. Read all the CCDN marketing sites under FAQ and it states that the minute you are sued in state court CCDN files a federal complaint for you. Both times I was sued (well into the program) CCDN did not have a federal suit ready and I had to represent myself in court. This caused me great stress, emotional duress and embarrassment as I could not adequately defend myself. I lost all three times now, even the last one with a federal complaint filed. This did not stay the court or the judgment.

The court and the Plaintiffs have seen through CCDN's poor paperwork and stated and ruled from the facts that "the documents filed by the Defendant .....replies on citations from a non-Wisconsin jurisdiction (e.g. Illinois) unrelated to the issues in this case and legal theories unsupported by any citations of law. Curiously, the Defendant also spells out what documentation is legally necessary to prove a credit card account balance due, which is precisely the documentation submitted by the Plaintiff in this case. It appears as though the Defendant is relying on canned pleadings, affidavits and briefs generated by others, without regard to whether or not their contents have anything to do with this case."

So CCDN is practicing law in states they have no licensing in with inadequate canned templates which are not specific to individual cases, nor to individual states with a " one size fits all" approach. This results in a defective case that has no relevance in the state of Wisconsin. They have left us defenseless with defenses that don't work and cause us to lose. Perhaps CCDN took a methodology and tried to apply it across the board without honing it to individual cases. This is how it appears as my paperwork is exactly the same in violations as a man in Minnesota! This is evidence that CCDN is not sure what they are doing and are experimenting with everybody lives. I could have decided to do a debt consolidation but chose CCDN instead. However their paperwork so far have compounded the injury and damages. I have spoken with another CCDN client who had sanctions leveled against him resulting from an angry judge who evidenced poor paperwork, legal arguments and an obvious canned/one size fits all approach. This client had to defend himself to and paid dearly for this. This is completely unacceptable for a program we paid 6,400 dollars for. We do not care how CCDN and their marketing arm split the monies. That is their agreement but the fact remains we paid their marketers who bring people to them and CCDN got their cut. What we do care about is that they have not performed and that they have caused great harm in these past 18 plus months to us. This has compromised us incredibly.

This was sold to us at a time CCDN itself stated it was a 9-12 month program. Then it was apparently switched to 12-17 months for COMPLETION! Again, no one notified us of this. We had to dig and question to get this 'new' info. At 18 months only two were filed, no attorneys gotten and we have 12 more accounts they have done nothing with. So how this fits into the 12-17 months is beyond us! CCDN has been unable to answer any questions that specifically try to nail down these and other issues. CCDN also state that they have the paralegals who immediately go into your accounts actively looking for violations. The paralegals did not even have our files until well after 14 months or more into the program. We were told our files were with the paralegals at LEAST 6 months prior to them having them in reality! So far in this 'program' we have had to represent ourselves in state court many times and CCDN was not there, was not prepared with federal complaints and caused us to get 3 judgments with 1 more on the way this month.

CCDN instructed us initially to send out Cease and Desist letters to our creditors. We did. We then found out from Phil Manger that indeed they do not 'do this anymore' as it eliminates the calls in which the violations can occur. They admitted they had 'changed strategies'. However this 'change' was only noted after I pursued them with questions about our violations and the non performance issues. So in essence they admitted they don't do Cease and Desist anymore as it was not a good idea but it was 'water under the bridge'. Again, we were at the experimenting hands of CCDN to our detriment.

This program is supposed to keep you out of state court as that is where judgments occur and most people lose. This program states it will file federal complaints the minute you are sued. They don't. This program states they have a network of attorneys nationwide. They don't. Funny, I've spoken with others and they have been given the same story. They are told there 'was' an attorney but there's always a 'story' about something happening to that attorney so they are no longer available. Just recently CCDN did finally connect me with an attorney once our two federal suits had been filed for over a month and I was hammering on them for an attorney (that is another mess of inadequate paperwork and performance) So our federal complaints were filed pro-se which made us nervous as we did not feel competent to file on our own with no experience and represent ourselves. CCDN makes it sound like you don't need to be an attorney and that they are there for you. The truth is that they have canned templates that are not working and you have to read between the lines, understand all the stuff and end up representing yourself for the most part. Also the information is sketchy, the communication non existent and the support a joke. As to the federal filings my husband and I were getting nervous as they had promised attorney representation but had not come up with representation.

We could see the handwriting on the wall from the past non performance of CCDN, meaning we would most likely be left hanging to represent ourselves in federal court despite what they say under their FAQ's which states that 'you will not have to appear in federal court'.

Recently I contacted Colleen Lock (Robert Locks wife) who provided us with our supposed CCDN attorneys contact information. I contacted the attorney who was completely confused and told me that he did not know who CCDN was, who Colleen Lock was and did not know who we were. I explained and he told me he was uncomfortable with these internet canned template debt elimination programs. So much for the professional attorney referral provided by CCDN. Through my own tenacious research I managed to get a hold of an attorney who has done some work with some CCDN filings but DOES NOT WORK for CCDN. He made that clear. Colleen Lock had apparently asked him to locate an attorney for us. He contacted me and provided an attorneys name (someone he literally ran into in the hall in court who did do federal filings in our part of the state) who was not with CCDN, familiar with their process and I would have to contact him and see what I could work out with him. The attorney who found this attorney in the hall instructed me NOT to mention anything negative about our experience with CCDN as I might 'scare him away'. I placed a call to this attorney and we spoke briefly. I mentioned nothing of CCDN in any light other than to state we'd been in a program and had filed two federal complaints and asked if he would look them over and let me know what he thought in terms of representation. He confirmed they were federal filings and read as such. He stated that it was his concern whether we were in too deep with this case for him to get in and take over. This was what CCDN has 'provided' with their so called network of attorneys nationwide who know the CCDN process, are familiar and ready to roll with it and defend you! Our experience; you file pro se, you wade through all the paperwork and you have to bang on them to get an attorney and STILL we are without one. Interestingly enough I have not 'dropped' CCDN but apparently they dropped us because they have not done anything since my complaints and have just ignore us, blaming us. We have paid and gotten nothing but damaged. Bankruptcy would have been kinder and more clean. Again, this is completely unacceptable.

I have called, written, emailed and tenaciously pursued resolution with this company to perform. We have been directly lied to, mislead, stonewalled and come out with nothing to show 18 months into the program but 3 personal judgments and one coming at months end for my husband. I have personally spoken with 2 other CCDN clients (NOT from the Kayden group and one that came through R & G so CCDN can't blame Kayden for this) and they too have the same experience and have judgments and are having to file bankruptcy. There are many others also in the same boat.

As a side note. I was very concerned about the judgments being awarded against me. I spoke with Tracy Webster CCDN support regarding the injury from having these judgments against me which COULD have been prevented potentially had CCDN done what they state on their websites, which is to keep us out of state court and file the fed complaints immediately upon being sued. He told me not to worry. Any judgments that happened while IN the program would be overturned at the end and I quote. He said if someone comes into the program WITH EXISTING judgments THOSE could not be overturned. So we understood that even though CCDN did not perform as they stated, the judgments coming from their 'lack' of performance would be overturned at the end. Upon an inquiry just recently in which I reiterated this fact, I was told that this was NOT true. He stated that ONLY judgments that happen AFTER a FEDERAL FILING is filed could be overturned at the end!!! Two completely different statements/misrepresentations or lies. And when I expressed my dismay at the fact the information had been changed on me, I was told that he would 'not discuss it and had not said that'.

I have fortunately kept track of all communications of all the issues and details which I do not have room for in this report. Suffice it to say that I wrote and called Robert Lock with these concerns and issues. I am pasting his reply below. He had the right tone to his response and 'owned' and apologized and then promised to 'make us whole'. I responded thanking him and telling him that I appreciated the tone of his letter. However we needed specifics and an outline as to how he would accomplish what he promised in his letter as timing was critical for us. With 2 fed suits filed and 3 judgments (a 4th upcoming) and looking at garnishment we needed to have answers NOW and an outline of very specific follow through and legal assistance. Sad thing is that proof is in the pudding and we never heard back from Robert Lock again. Nada. He wrote with a promise and failed to answer with a plan and the information we responded with. We found that pretty sadly indicative of our experience overall with CCDN. And to this day we have simply just been 'dropped' into a black hole of no further communication or follow through. We are labeled 'difficult'. The truth is we are consumers who expect performance at the price we paid for a service that was marketed and sold to us. We have been scammed by this internet program and suffer from the consequences of it. So R and G, I would advise you to take the high road and call up all your clients and ask if they are having results, good customer service and if what is being sold is being done. That is the only thing to do that has integrity. Watch for the fallout that is coming from this program in terms of harmed people with variations of the same story. Even if only one person experiences harm from this program it would behoove a reputable company to listen to the complaints, address them and to offer to refund their monies. I have requested this and have not gotten any response.

I have emailed Colleen Lock, Roberts wife who is an Administrator but her MO is continually to 'blames the victim' and makes statements as bizarre as, 'you scared away ALL the attorneys they sent your way', 'your the ONLY ONE with these problems in the program' and 'the Kayden marketing group lied to you'........'not our fault'. The FACTS are that CCDN sent only ONE attorney who did not work with or for them and had no interest to do so, did not know us and did not like the type of program CCDN represented. Collen actually 'apologized' and stated that she had spoken 'too soon'. Very 'seat of your pants and unprofessional for a program like this at the price point charged and with the expertise espoused. The other attorney you read about above. Point 2, I am not the ONLY ONE with these issues as they glibly like to report and the fact remains that the Kayden group said the exact same things on their site that R & G state. I believe it was a 'money thing' that separated Kayden and CCDN. Kayden provided phone conference calls from Robert Lock so I heard the marketing directly from the horses mouth. So no lies to me from Kayden.which caused our problems. The issues we have had have nothing to do with Kaydens marketing although CCDN routinely likes to use that as a smokescreen.

CCDN's lack of quality work which is state and case specific, their lack of performance on things they state they do but don't and the lack of follow through from Robert Lock himself and his CCDN organization leaves us with no choice but to file with the Attorney General and the Bar Association and to seek help in the damages caused. There are many many others out there who have experienced the same harm while in their program. CCDN uses intimidation, shame and relies on the fact that most folks in this program are vulnerable and seemingly without much recourse and burned out. Their SOP is to blame the client making them think they are at 'fault' and that they are a 'problem child'. I am gathering the names of all those who feel they have been harmed in this program and plan to have an attorney go after them for a return of the funds and punitive damages. Here is the letter from Robert Lock responding to my letter of concern and complaint to him.

Robert K Lock Jr wrote:
> Dear Mrs. ...........,
>
> I was able to discuss your case with Kevin Benjamin, and I am confident that
> we will be able to have a licensed attorney intervene on your behalf and
> bring these matters to a resolution that you will be satisfied with.
> Irrespective of whatever happens as far as the federal cases go, I am
> offering you my assurance that the CCDN will make sure that you are made
> whole from this process.
>
> The lack of communication that you have had to deal with is unacceptable on
> every level. Even more troubling is the fact that you were not properly
> supported during the process. For this I am deeply sorry, and will do
> whatever I can to make sure you walk away from this relationship satisfied.
> I have developed a spotless reputation as a consumer rights attorney over a
> 19 year career. I would never risk sullying that reputation by creating
> anything that did not serve the best interests of anyone who came into
> contact with me or any organization that I am affiliated with.
>
> Please understand that despite your experience and perceptions, we are a
> reputable network that has referred hundreds of consumer cases to consumer
> attorneys throughout the nation. Through our efforts, and the efforts of
> the independent attorneys who take on cases that we refer to them, we have
> helped countless numbers of consumers to resolve difficult credit collection
> situations. At the time that you were referred to the CCDN, we had an
> attorney in Wisconsin who indicated that he wanted to receive referrals from
> us. He then disappeared from the face of the earth. We ultimately
> determined that his father had become ill and ultimately passed away. This
> is not to excuse the way that you have been treated, but merely to ensure
> that you understand that the CCDN has not proceeded with any ulterior
> motives in your case.
>
> I know that you have been through an extremely difficult time in your
> dealings with our organization. While I rely upon those in the support
> structure of the CCDN to make sure that no one ever ends up in the situation
> you are in, ultimately everything that occurs is my responsibility.
>
> I thank you for the incredible level of patience that you have exhibited in
> your dealings with our organization, and look forward to resolving the
> difficult situations that you have been subjected to as quickly as possible.

> Respectfully,

> Bob Lock

Britta
Madison, Wisconsin
U.S.A.