Providian ripoff Pleasanton California

I signed an order form agreeing to buy advertising from The Jewish Israeli Yellow Pages (Dag Media). I gave their representative my credit card number (Providian VISA) and signed an order form. I canceled three days later, which was within my rescission period under the law. They refused to accept my cancellation because they wanted to steal $467.00 from me. Their paperwork says, "no cancellations, no refunds." In spite of their "policy," the law says that I do have a rescission period, in spite of anything to the contrary on their order form. And the State of New York Department of Consumer Affairs also says that a sales contract for services cannot have a statement like "no cancellations or refunds" unless it's qualifed by a statement like, "without a penalty of $5.00." In any event, I had to end up taking these people to court, and I won a judgment for $467.00, and the judge had to SCREAM at their representative, "He does have the right to cancel the contract! It's the law!!!." The judgment was in this amount because this was the amount they had charged to my credit card. After I won the judgment they not only haven't paid me yet (and I won the judgment in June of 2003) but they actually had the nerve to call me after that and DEMAND that I pay them $934.00!!! The original court date had been set for May, but Assaf Ran (the owner of Dag Media/Jewish Israeli Yellow Pages), as a stalling tactic, sent a representative to court to say that they had no representative who could come to court.

The nature of my complaint is that these people do not abide by, nor do they respect, the law. I won a judgment, and they have ignored it and refused to pay it. They stole $467.00 from me, and I got nothing for it, except my rights violated. The law says I can rescind. The law says that their order form has language on it that is unenforceable. And this company, whose owner stole my money, is refusing to give back the money that the judge has ordered them to pay me. Once he got a hold of my credit card number he charged the credit card in spite of the fact that I had legally canceled the order, that I had given him 7 months notice of cancellation, and that he had provided me with no services or goods. He was able to get $467.00 for doing absolutely nothing.

Providian VISA, also in clear violation of the law, said that they "don't care" about what my rights under the law are, that they are only bound by "VISA regulations." So Providian kept sending me bills, that were ever-increasing, from month to month, demanding that I pay them because they had paid The Jewish-Israeli Yellow Pages (Dag Media). Of course, I had called Providian many times and put them on notice that this merchant was violating my rights and trying to rip me off, and for them NOT to pay The Jewish Israeli Yellow Pages because I didn't want their services. At first, Providian reversed the charge, but after The Jewish Israeli Yellow Pages sent Providian a copy of the order form Providian decided to force me back into a transaction of which I wanted no part, and had every right to cancel. It is my belief that if I have a legal right to cancel an order for goods or services within a legally prescribed period, that NO ONE has the right to FORCE me back into that same transaction. It was Providian's choice to violate my rights under the law by forcing me to pay Assaf Ran's Jewish Israeli Yellow Pages for services and goods not only never rendered, but legally canceled, and that's not their right.

About one week ago I received a letter from a collection agency stating that I owe them nearly $900.00. This is appalling. I don't owe them a penny. I don't owe Providian a penny. The Jewish Israeli Yellow Pages owes me $467.00. Why am I paying the penalty of having 2 derogatory accounts on my credit report (Providian and now this "collection bureau") when I acted within my legal rights and canceled the order, and then even won against the Jewish Israeli Yellow Pages in court?

In this situation I have complained to the Better Business Bureau in New York, The Department of Consumer Affairs, The Attorney General, The Comptroller of the Currency, etc., all to no avail. No one cares, and no one is willing to do anything to stop these companies from raping the public. Even the marshall in charge of enforcing the court judgment didn't return my money to me.

The Jewish Israeli Yellow Pages had no right to do what they did. They are OBLIGATED to cancel an order when a customer requests such, and they also have a fiduciary responsibility to the public to pay consumers who have won lawful legal judgments against them. Their contempt for the law is astonishing, and they should be punished for this. And Providian had no right to pay a company on my behalf when I had received NOTHING from that company. Finally, Providian certainly had no right sending this so called "account" to collection. Providian should never have paid the Jewish Israeli Yellow Pages when I had notified them of what was going on. By the way, when I won in court against the Jewish Israeli Yellow Pages Providian's spokesperson said, "That's your problem. You owe us this money."

I owe nothing to any of these people.

Mike
Downey, California
U.S.A.

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