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Report: #428989

Complaint Review: Discover Card, Jefferies And Associates - Lancaster California

  • Submitted:
  • Updated:
  • Reported By: Kettering Ohio
  • Author Confirmed What's this?
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  • Discover Card, Jefferies And Associates www.disocovercard.com Lancaster, California U.S.A.

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On December 24, 2008, I found a fraudulent charge on my credit card from an attorney I fired a month previously. I have an open case against him with the California State Bar and he has a history of reprovals and suspensions. I've been advised that he will most likely be suspended or punished for the botched case. I was also advised not to pay them anything as the state would probably find him guilty and I'd get a refund of my fees.

I called Discover immediately to dispute it and they took
it off. I also called the merchant/attorney and they refused to answer my dozens and dozens of calls, letters and emails between December 24 and today. Finally, the merchant sent me a letter saying 'Dear Ms. xxx per your verbal agreement we have charged your card $xxx' along with a receipt. I was horrified because this was an outright lie and they never had my verbal agreement to make charges, but I thought Discover was on my side.

Now, Discover has reinstated the charge saying it was proven to be legit and the merchant had sent evidence including my signature. Their 'evidence' is the same letter and receipt the merchant sent me, which honestly is NOT any kind of proof that I authorized anything. It's just them charging me and saying I authorized it, which I never did. Anyone can send a receipt, but that is not proof that I ever authorized it! In fact, I have proof of the opposite because I specifically fired the attorney in writing via mail and email and told them I would not pay any further charges.

Discover card is refusing to help me. In fact, the 'manager' was very rude, misogynous and condescending and hung up on me. They refuse to let me talk to anyone in customer service or management. I would like to pursue legal action regarding the unauthorized use of my credit card as well as Discover's refusal to remove the fraudulent charge. I also question Discover's unethical reliance on a receipt and forged signature to 'prove' the charge. Obviously the receipt only proves that the company charged me, but it certainly does not prove it was authorized. This charge was NOT authorized in any way. In fact I specifically told them that I would NOT pay them.

My 'firing' letter to the attorney stated:
"This letter is to inform your office that I will no longer be using your services... As of this week, I will not accept any more 'services' on my behalf. Furthermore, since you are representing my abuser, you will need to bill him when he uses your services and I hope to be refunded for all the previous times I've paid you to represent him... I will not pay for this letter or any of the other numerous services you have performed on his behalf. This office has done absolutely nothing in my best interests and the ongoing representation of my abuser is a conflict of interests."

After months of incompetency, I finally fired them because they were working with the opposing party to harass me-- then bill ME for it. Things were bad enough before that, but that was the last straw. It had been a nightmare dealing with these people because they constantly lied, gave inconsistent information, refused to communicate in any way and NEVER did any work on my case. (My abuser/ex husband did more on his own for free (and on my dime) than the attorney ever did!)

This letter specifically states that they are fired and they aren't to do anything more in my name. I also called them that night to verify receipt of the email and verified with the case worker, the secretary and the billing department that they were not to do or bill any more on my behalf.

Furthermore, as you can see, I specifically told them that I would not pay for the letter they sent for the opposing party or any other services on his behalf. There is not doubt that I did not mean to pay for those double representations. They were quite aware of this, which is, I suspect, the reason they decided to do a fraudulent charge for an invoice I'd never even seen or heard of.

However, a few weeks later after Discover initially removed the unauthorized charge, the fraudulent charge again showed up on my account billing me for those very services. There is no doubt that I did NOT authorize them. As anyone can see, I was very much to the contrary. In fact, due to my open complaint against these people and the state bar had advised not to make any more payments while the double representation and other state bar violations were being investigated. I had specifically told the attorney's office this. They were upset that I was filing the complaints.

The state bar told me not to pay the disputed amounts. I am supposed to finish my complaint process then go through arbitration to remove the fees after the attorney is investigated. I told the attorney's office I would not pay these charges. I never authorized them, and yet there they are, on my Discover card and Discover is using a forged signature and a receipt for an unauthorized charge as 'proof' that I authorized payment. Clearly I did not.

I had been a customer of Discover for over ten years. I have a perfect credit history with never a payment late in my life. In fact, my credit score is over 800 and I can can get the best rates anywhere I go. In fact, I transferred the legitimate balance of my Discover card to a much better rate! You'd think the company would have the sense to remove the fraudulent charge, especially with the evidence of my letter and ongoing investigation with the state bar, yet they moronically decided to allow the fraudulent charge. Bad business move! Their "managers" should be fired for that poor decision.

Fraud victim
Kettering, Ohio
U.S.A.

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This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 02/27/2009 03:35 AM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/discover-card-jefferies-and-associates/lancaster-california-93534/discover-card-jefferies-and-associates-fraudulent-charges-from-scam-artist-discover-card-428989. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content

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REBUTTALS & REPLIES:
2Author
1Consumer
1Employee/Owner

#4 UPDATE EX-employee responds

DK. Jefferies history

AUTHOR: John - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Saturday, August 07, 2010

Because I feel everything should be presented fairly here, I did check David K Jefferies history.  He has been suspended three times...but two of them were for failure to pay bar member fees.  The other was MCLE noncompliance, which is failure to complete 25 hours of continued education.  He has had three instances of reproval, two public and one private. The public ones can be viewed as they are public record, but I did not bother continuing to see how bad it was as there was no actual suspension associated with them (or any disciplinary action other then a don't do that, from what I could tell).  The last one was 11/29/1997. 

Assuming I got the correct attorney (there was only one David K Jefferies and he is listed as Family Law w/ CA) I do not really see anything that suports your claim of his prior actions.   Regarding the current, I do not know if you are he is telling the truth and will not take a side regarding that matter.  Be aware however, that Discover Card is not able to rule if he is intitaled to the money. They can only verify if there is evidence to support he does.  Once he provides evidence, YOU have to take it to an entity that can deem if it is valid or not...Discover Card has no legal authority to simply refuse payment to him because you state he should not be entitled to the payment.  Proof you canceled can only be used if they don't have evidence that a charge was authorized after the cancellation. It is not uncommon to discontinue services with an organization and then begin again later. 

Also, as a side note, court information such as case, parties involved and findings are a matter of public record I believe.  Therefore he technically didn't violate any ethical guidelines established by the state bar. And I don't mean to be a prude here...but if you are entitled to share who it was that did you wrong, why are they not entitled to share who it is that is claiming it?  I feel they have every right to pull you into the spotlight so your side can be as scrutinized as you are trying to make theirs.   Just my two cents. 


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#3 Author of original report

Ongoing unethical and unprofessional behavior

AUTHOR: Discover card allows fraudulent charges - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Thursday, August 05, 2010

Mr. Jefferies's behavior is highly inappropriate. He has no business posting anyone's full name or court details; however, given his history of public reprovals from the California State Bar, this unethical behavior is no surprise.

His libelous claims that anyone found me "mentally disturbed" are ridiculous. The State Bar and the Better Business Bureau do not diagnose people, nor do they care; they simply accept complaints. I have never been diagnosed with anything other than Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, but I was accepted into a domestic violence center during my abusive marriage. Mr. Jefferies quotes around the term "abuser" are incredibly offensive. I endured significant verbal, emotional and physical abuse during my marriage and his continued belittling of that experience is degrading to all women who have suffered in abusive marriages. However, considering Mr. Jefferies told me about his history of failed relationships and his mentally ill mother upon our first meeting, again, I am not surprised. At that time, I felt his comments very strange, but figured it would be to my advantage to have such a conceited man working on my case.

His stories about when I fired the firm are constantly changing. I fired them just before Thanksgiving in 2008. As of January 2009, they were still doing work on my "behalf" and claiming that I'd never officially fired them because they supposedly didn't get the certified letter I mailed. However, my dated emails and my phone records can verify that I did fire them in every possible medium and even if they "lost" the certified letter, there could be no doubt that I did not wish to retain their services any longer.

It was incredibly difficult to work with these people. I originally retained them because Mr. Jefferies offered excellent results telling me I'd get a good amount of alimony, have all my legal fees covered and all my doctor's bills covered. He vigorously advised me to turn down my ex husband's original meager settlement offer. Most of the time, my main contact was an intern who seemed confused and consistently sent me incorrect paperwork to sign. I had to keep calling and emailing to get the right details on the papers. I constantly received conflicting information and at one point, the attorney disappeared for a month long vacation while I waited and waited. It was just a nightmare. Finally, Mr. Jefferies insisted that I accept a settlement from my ex husband. It was slightly more than the original offer that he'd laughingly said was too small, but did not include the physical items that were part of the original offer. So really, after roping me into spending thousands of dollars, Mr. Jefferies later advised me to take less than he'd originally told me to turn down. It really felt like a bait and switch once he'd made his money off me.

This office has never had my permission to tape any call; however, it is reasonable that someone would rant on the phone after putting up with their incompetent and dishonest behavior for months and months with a case that should have ended easily.




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#2 Author of original report

Jefferies's behavior speaks for itself

AUTHOR: Discover card allows fraudulent charges - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Thursday, August 05, 2010

Mr. Jefferies has a history of complaints with the California state bar. In fact, he has been suspended multiple times. I have been advised that this is not the least bit normal for any attorney, and I wish I hadn't been so naive when choosing him.

Anyway, as we all know, the Better Business Bureau and the California State Bar are not in the business of diagnosing anyone. In fact, the BBB doesn't do much of anything other than recording complaints.

Mr. Jefferies' inappropriate posting of personal information as well as his obviously inaccurate accusations only serve to further exemplify his strange and tacky behavior.

If anyone needs to know the truth about Mr. Jefferies, they need only read his extensive history of censures from the California state bar.

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#1 REBUTTAL Owner of company

31 YEARS OF PRACTICE AND ALONG COMES MARY

AUTHOR: David K. Jefferies - (United States of America)

POSTED: Friday, March 12, 2010

This report was filed by MARY J. WYSONG.  She fired my firm one month AFTER her case was over.  Her divorce case proceeded by "default".  Her husband did not fight the case at all. He gave her everything she was entitled to immediately in order to speed the process of being divorced from her.  Her complaint to the California Bar Association was promptly dismissed when they concluded accurately that she was mentally disturbed.  Her complaint to the Better Business Bureau was promptly closed when they accurately concluded she was mentally disturbed.  She complained to other institutions with the same results.  Her allegations are absurd. A review of her completed public divorce file, California case MD 034 989 demonstrates that her case was completed.  Her ramblings regarding "botched case" and "months of incompetency" are clearly fabrications.  This report was motivated by her disappointment with the case being over before she had the opportunity to sufficiently "inflict pain on her 'abuser' . .". MARY is and always will be the "victim" regardless of the damage she does to others.  With her consent we taped her last ranting phonecall.  It proves her authorization of the charge.

Personally, I have always found DISCOVER CARD to be a reputable and service-oriented business.

JEFFERIES & ASSOCIATES includes Mr. H. CHARLES FISHBEIN, a Certified Family Law Specialist, Ms. SOLVEIG CHRISTIANSEN, who specializes in issues of custody and is fluent in Spanish and myself, DAVID K. JEFFERIES, 31 years experience, a Certified Family Law Specialist. You are invited to see the real JEFFERIES & ASSOCIATES on our YouTube site or on yellowpages.com. 

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