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Report: #377020

Complaint Review: Fathers Choice - Goleta California

  • Submitted:
  • Updated:
  • Reported By: Raleigh North Carolina
  • Author Confirmed What's this?
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  • Fathers Choice Fatherschoice.org Goleta, California U.S.A.

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I hope many of you are still reading this..

I am an IT professional that is in the middle of a legal battle for custody of my son. This company picked the wrong guy to screw with.

I stumbled across them by accident last Friday. I called them talked to them, etc. I spoke to Ron Stinson- sales guy I guess. He sounded so convincing.

I usually don't fall for crap like this. but I am in the middle of an emotional issue right now and I was susceptible I guess. In any case after about 45 minutes I was suckered like the rest of you. I paid them my $49.00 (i found out later that weekend they took $98.00 ($49.00 of which I did NOt authorize).

I watched their little video and called the case manager Tom Hutchison (if that is his real name) on Monday at 12Pm EST (they are in Cali and I am on the east coast time difference and all). I first alked to some chick named Vanessa (probably a crack w***e they hired to answer the phones). Within the first 15 minutes of the call my rat b*****d radar went up. They were rude and tried to make me believe I was being rude and "abrasive".

They hung up on me at least twice during the course of the conversation and later claimed that I was the one who hung up.

At any rate I called the sales guy back and told him of the problems. He said he would straighten it out right away and told me an atty would be on the phone with me within 5 minutes. I waited... and waited.. and waited. I finally called them back after almost TWO freakin hours!! And asked where the atty was that I was supposed to talk to. "What attorney" they said.

when I really began raising h*ll they got someone on the phone with me who claimed to be an attorney he said his name was Michael. when I asked him what LAW firm he was with he said Fathers Choice. no law firm by that name regostered with the Cali state bar assoc. When I asked him his last name he refused to give it. When I asked what state he was licensed to practice law in he said "California".

I continued to ask him how could he advise me on North Carolina Law if he is in Cali and not licensed to practice law in NC? He only said that his job was to advise me of the services that FC could offer me and that in order for them to represent me I would have to pay them a flat fee of 845 dollars or another option of them finding me an attorney where I live for 3-5K. The conversation I had initially with Ron Sinson said that it would be $700.00. and the video was conflicting too.

I continued to question Michael and asked him for his California Bar Association ID number and his license number to practice law in California. He refused to give it once again. But continued to state that he was an attorney. If he is not an attorney he is in REAL trouble. This is a VERY large felony to represent yourself as a licensed attorney when you are not.

I finally called them back and demanded that they give me a refund for the $98.00 they claim is a subscription to their service. What service? To mislead me into believing that they offer any kind of substantial and truthful advice? yeah right..

I called my bank right away and told them about this and they agreed to dispute the current charge and put a stop to any future payments being debited to these assholes. ANd they are being reported to the frauid dept of my bank for investigation (whom I am personal friends with and have direct phone numbers to them to make sure they follow through)

After further investigation I came to find out they are not EVEN in Goleta-
how about Santa Barabara california??? oops nope wrong...
the address they have registered with their domain provider for their online video at http://www.watchthisfirst.com is registered to Trevino, Rubel legaldeal@cox.net. Whoops! too late to cover that one up!! If you want the REAL physical address of this person just respond back to this post I will be happy to share it with you.

uh huh yep right....

what kind of a**hole preys upon people that are involved in high emotionally charged situations where CHILDREN are involved?

These people have pissed me off. They and anyone else that does this to people have become my private little projects now. and believe me I know how to find you and how to let others know how to find you. So go ahead run if you can. But while you are packing up to leave make sure you are looking over your shoulder for the black and whites coming to your house. After having read all about them and their little scam they will be sorry they messed with this man..

Mr Stinson, Mr. Hutchison, and Mr. whatever your name is that owns this organization, and the supposed lawyer I spoke to...May you rot in h*ll for taking advantage of people in this way.

EVERYONE that has had issues with this company do this PLEASE for everyone else that will come in the wake of our mishaps with these people, meanwhile I will be making sure that I find them:

Call your bank or credit card company and dispute ANY charge made to your account(s) by them statute of limitations on this is SEVEN years under Visa guidelines- go ahead you CAN get your money back.

Have your bank issue you a new card right away. This won't deactivate your card until the new one arrives and you activate it. This will stop them from being able to make any further charges against your account.

Call the better business bureau

call the office of the Attorney General for California - (800) 952-5225
call the atty general for your state
Contact the FBI Internet Fraud Task force http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx

Send a letter to your Congressman and Senators in your respective states.

I know this seems troublesome to do and all but remember- weren't you angry when you found out that you had been scammed? want this to happen to other hardworking honest people too? Take some time- do the right thing.

If you are interested in filing a class action lawsuit against these frauds let me know. It is time that these jerks are taken off the streets and put in prison with a fulltime cell mate named Tiny.

FC: I know you will, but don't even try to repair your reputation on this site.. you are what you are and you know what you are doing.. karma will sneak up behind you at some point soon and smack you on the head with a brick!! You messed with someone that knows how to HUNT people and has the resources to do it.

I attest that the information in this posting is publicly available and true to the utmost ability that this information is legally and publicly obtainable

Eddie
Raleigh, North Carolina
U.S.A.

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 09/29/2008 01:20 PM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/fathers-choice/goleta-california/fathers-choice-fatherschoice-choice-of-con-artists-pleas-read-the-whole-thing-goleta-377020. 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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Updates & Rebuttals

REBUTTALS & REPLIES:
0Author
9Consumer
0Employee/Owner

#9 Consumer Comment

Count Me In

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

POSTED: Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Just wanting to know if anyone has gotten anywhere with this Fatherchoice case if so would you please send me some information that will help me.....Maybe we all need to get a Attorney together and get these thiefs stopped....

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#8 UPDATE EX-employee responds

MEDIA INVESTIGATES FATHERS CHOICE, BRIAN AZOUZ PACKS UP & MORPHS INTO FILLMORE FATHERS.org

AUTHOR: Stop Brian Azouz Now - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Tuesday, December 16, 2008

KEY Investigation: Father's Choice
Goleta, CA

Parents all over the country say a Goleta business took their hard earned money when they were desperate for help.

Hundreds of people have filed complaints and some even called our KEY News Tipline trying to get their money back.

The company operates under several names one of them is 'Father's Choice'. It claims to help parents, mostly fathers win their child custody cases.

But we discovered the business and its owner have a checkered past.

http://www.keyt.com/news/local/35107694.html?video=YHI&t=a (link to video)


NEW NAME, NEW CITY, SAME DIRTY TRICKS!!! FILLMORE FATHERS.org

Now that Brian Azouz has packed up Fathers Choice and left the Goleta/Santa Barbara area he has now decided to produce a sequel to this sad story of deception, false hope and scandal with a new company name and location in the sleepy
Ventura County town of Fillmore, California.

Moving the disgraced company known as Fathers Choice, 63 miles southeast of his former headquarters into the old Santa Clara Valley Bank building is clearly an attempt to clean up his act. The old bank building is beautiful and will help create the perception of a successful and legitimate operation. We know from Brian Azouz track record that no matter how righteous the intentions are or how good a customer service department, you always seem to fall into corruption and crime. Companies often fail because of bad management and when the leadership team allow manipulation and illegal activities to exist. That will be your legacy.

Fillmore is located off the 126 freeway headed towards LA County and the major 5 freeway that runs north and south thru the state. Fillmore is a small town, and I bet Brian Azouz is living somewhere in the area, he always had a desire to have a presence in Ventura County, unfortunately for him, Ventura County is tough on crime and has a strong law enforcement community. They like to 'Hang Em High' out here.

When you visit www.fillmorefathers.org you will see the familiar template and information from the old FathersChoice.org website. The only thing that is different on this beast is the color, name, phone number and address. In fact, when you read the testimonials, parents all over the country are praising 'Fillmore Fathers' for helping them win their court cases. That is an amazing feat since they just set up shop and how could parents report back with good news when court cases often take weeks if not months to work out?

My advice to you Brian Azouz, is to pack up your things and leave town. Find another line of work and accept responsibility for your actions. Don't blame the employees, most of them don't even have the training or skill set to be filling out court documents.

Fillmore Fathers

Address:
316 Central Ave Fillmore, CA 93015

Phone:
1-800-685-2153

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#7 Consumer Comment

I am with you 110% Eddie of North Carolina.

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

POSTED: Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Dear Eddie,
Thank you for your responce and the info on how to get back at these inconsiderate excuses for human beings. My hearing is tomorrow and I will get my sons back, with my own means. Can't afford an attorney, but have all the right and the rights to get the custody of my two sons back. The fact that I have been scamed will not detur me one bit. My sons mean the world to me and always will.
I would like to chat with you more indepth about your mission that I am on with you.What goes around, comes around, and then some. I am a strong believer of that.
Not sure how to be able to contact you, but would like to be apart of your army.

Sincerly
David
Portland, OR

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#6 Consumer Comment

I too would like to take part in a class action

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

POSTED: Friday, October 03, 2008

Or something ANYTHING to get these guys shut down, they took over 1300 dollars from me and never gave me any services, the papers they filled were all expired and USELESS in court. No call from an Attny like they promised, then they took money out of my account AFTER I told them to stop, then they promised a full refund, both on my BBB report and on my RipOff report, oh its coming oh it will be processed next week, then oh it went out last week let us know if you do not recieve it by friday, then today I sent an email, letting them know it had not arrived, the response I got was, sorry for the MIS INFORMATION your check is sitting in accounting waiting for approval, we will let you know when it goes out. I AM FURIOUS!!!! Please someone contact me regarding what we can do next.

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#5 UPDATE Employee

Resolution for Eddie of Raleigh, NC

AUTHOR: Customer Service - Father's Choice - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Friday, October 03, 2008

Hi Eddie,

We sincerely apologize for the miscommunication between our staff and yourself. We have spoken with the staff members who worked with you about your experience of them. Thank you for your criticism and feedback. It is consumers like yourself who help us become a better organization. This, of course, does not address the very real experience you had with us and the poor customer service you received. We acknowledge your pain and frustration. You are absolutely right that a father who is in the midst of a custody battle should be treated with the utmost respect. We honestly strive to treat our members in this way and concur with your disappointment with members of our staff.

All this being said, the next best step we can take is to refund your money to you. On Rip Off Report, you will notice that there are a number of people who we have encouraged to contact us to resolve their complaint. In some cases, the discussions have resulted in our finishing the case for the member free of charge (we send over 130 members to court every week). In other cases, we refund the member's money.

Send your full name and membership number to customerservice@fatherschoice.org so that we can initiate the refund process. Please note that this process can take over a month to resolve in our system.

Again, thank you for the honesty of your feedback and we sincerely apologize for the poor customer service you recieved.

Sincerely,

Customer Service Department
Fathers Choice
customerservice@fatherschoice.org

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#4 Consumer Comment

Eddie Please contact me I am interested in a class action suit

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

POSTED: Friday, October 03, 2008

Also,
I tried to get my money back from my credit card company but they said I need a second opinion letter to verify they did not provide what they were promising. Were you able to get you credit cad company to charge them back?

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#3 Consumer Comment

Eddie Please contact me I am interested in a class action suit

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

POSTED: Friday, October 03, 2008

Also,
I tried to get my money back from my credit card company but they said I need a second opinion letter to verify they did not provide what they were promising. Were you able to get you credit cad company to charge them back?

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#2 Consumer Comment

Eddie Please contact me I am interested in a class action suit

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

POSTED: Friday, October 03, 2008

Also,
I tried to get my money back from my credit card company but they said I need a second opinion letter to verify they did not provide what they were promising. Were you able to get you credit cad company to charge them back?

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#1 Consumer Comment

Eddie Please contact me I am interested in a class action suit

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

POSTED: Friday, October 03, 2008

Also,
I tried to get my money back from my credit card company but they said I need a second opinion letter to verify they did not provide what they were promising. Were you able to get you credit cad company to charge them back?

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