Clarifi

Review: I had credit counseling with them December 2012 for the purposes of enrolling in a Debt Management Plan but the counselor, [redacted], told me I didn't make enough money to afford one, but to call back if my situation changed. I did have an increase in income and so called back in March to schedule another appointment to potentially do a Debt Management Plan. I got the same counselor, [redacted], but when he called to confirm the appointment the day before and I told him I had some pressing expenses and would be unable to start the DMP until May, he basically suggested postponing the whole thing. I was upset about this and oomplained to the company using the information they gave me previously as to how to file a complaint, and sent an e-mail to [redacted]. At first it seemed like they were eager to correct the situation and I talked to [redacted]' supervisor, Hope Katz, and set up an appointment with [redacted] that same morning to go over my new information pertaining to DMP enrollment. [redacted] figured in something called Call To Action, a program for further concessions on the part of creditors, and said based on that, my monthly payment would be $694 a month. I told him specifically I could not start until May and he said that was okay, but if I did not pay anything to my creditors in the interim, then maybe the rate would be higher. In fact, I received paperwork from them detailing the whole process of initiating the DMP plan and it said if the finalized monthly payment turned out to be higher than $20 a month, the enrollee would be notified. In any case, I got all the paperwork, filled it out immediately and faxed it back to them including a voided check so they could debit my account. I signed a contract stating they would withdraw $694 a month from my account on the 5th of each month starting May 2013 (actually May 6 because the 5th was a Sunday) for a period of 59 months. Then May 6 came, May 7 and May 8 and nothing came of my account. I e-mailed [redacted] who said she was tied up in meetings but would get back to me later to resolve the situation. A couple hours later I heard from another counselor, I think her name was [redacted], who said my monthly figure had been calculated wrong because one of my creditors, [redacted], did not accept the Call to Action concessions and actually my monthly DMP amount would be $755. This seemed to me to be a classic bait and switch tactic. Meanwhile, there was no apology or even explanation of why no one notified me of this fact between March 26, 2013 when I signed the contract and May 9 when I called to find out why the DMP withdrawal hadn't taken place. Now I was mad and, I admit, somewhat abusive in some e-mails I sent, castigating the intelligence of the counselor who did not apparently know about [redacted] not accepting Call to Action. However, I think I was naive in believing this. What I think happened was, of course he know about this circumstance, but they were deliberately setting me up to pull this bait-and-switch routine so I would pay a higher amount and they could pocket the increase. Why do I think this? Because I subsequently called another credit counseling agency, who gave me a figure of $718 a month DMP payment on the same credit card debt including the [redacted] non-acceptance of Call to Action. Now of course the variable is the monthly fee is what the counseling agency charges to administer the DMP, and Clarifi's fee at $50 is on the high side, but that was already supposedly included in the initial $694 figure. So why are they jacking up the cost from $694 to $755, a $61 increase, solely on the basis of the Call to Action situation, when another agency told me the $718 figure which also took into account the Call to Action circumstance? I feel that they were holding against me the fact that I initially complained and so deliberately ignored the contract I signed with them, failed to tell me of the different terms until I called them and then basically gave me terms of $61 more a month which is $3600 more over the terms of a 5-year contract for the express purpose of ripping me off.Desired Settlement: I want an apology from [redacted], who never offered one. Also, I filed a survey the day after this happened that supposedly went to the president, [redacted] Hasson, demanding an apology. What I got instead was an e-mail starting out "Dear Friend of Clarifi" and had some sarcastic wording that said something like "do you find your money disappearing and don't know where it went every month" or some such thing, and went on to try to sell some product they were offering. I took the whole thing as a sarcastic dig. I want an apology from [redacted] , the president personally and not some sarcastic product advertisement implying that I don't know how to handle my money.

Business

Response:

Please see attached response

Consumer

Response:

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]

Review: [redacted]

I am rejecting this response because: the apology itself neither confirms nor denies my account of the of events as they occurred, but seems to attribute my dissatisfaction to a subjective negative feeling on my part. This makes the apology itself seem half-hearted. Also, I find the second sentence that starts out, "We pride ourselves as an agency dedicated to the best quality service," to be a slap in the face to me because, again; if the events as I have outlined them are true, and Clarifi is not denying them here,, those events constitute a gross negligence on their part and confirm my original Revdex.com complaint assertion that they failed to honor a contract or an agreement. Patting yourself on the back for being dedicated to quality service seems out of place in this apology, and under the circumstances, insulting. In short, they put forth a minimal "apology" that totally skirts the issue.

Regards,