Here is a cautionary tale. My parents had been purchasing meat and seafood from an independent sales person representing Anchors Away, a business that is out of Mt. Holly, NJ. The salesman was James Sarkis. Now being that we figured our parents knew what they were doing we didnt pay much attention, until recently. My mother called me at work and said she thought she did something wrong. Mr. Sarkis had come to the house and she let him in thinking he was someone else. Mr. Sarkis went down to the freezer and took out food that he said was spoiled or old. Then he told them he would bring them a new order, asked for a credit card, and charged $969.00. He said he would be back later in the week. That was Tuesday. On Friday I called Discover, told them the charge was fraudulent, and had a new card issued. They said they would investigate and if the charge was found to be valid we would get debited on the new card. That did not happen. Then my mother received a notice to appear in small claims court. She was being sued by Mr. Carl Leonard of Anchors Away for non-payment. I tried to contact Mr. Leonard but could not. I actually think I did find him but the person I talked to said they were not affiliated with Anchors Away. I called Discover to inquire why they thought the charge was fraudulent and was told that only a credit slip was presented as evidence, no receipt or list of goods delivered. Then I received a call from a Pennsylvania cell phone. The man said he worked for the court and they were trying to clear cases that could be resolved prior to the court date. He listed details of the parties involved and said a check for $2,000.00 was being mailed to my mother and could we pay the $969.00. I said Thats great, when I get the $2,000.00 I will send you back half. He said thats not how it works, and I said then it doesnt work at all. Then we received a notice that the court date was moved back. I called to make sure it was valid. It was. Then I asked if they new of a service where people representing the court would try to clear cases before they went to trial. They said there was no such service. I asked what I should do and they gave me the Attorney Generals phone number. I called and left a message. They did call back, but of course, the process is involved. The day before the court date I received another call, this time from Mr. Leonard. Funny, his phone number was the same as the first call I received. He said, Is there anyway we can resolve this, I will have to travel to NY and get a hotel and on and on. and I said I have no product so you dont get paid. He said that was impossible. I said well it most certainly is possible, and I will see you in court. We went to court and Mr. Leonard was there wearing his Anchors Away hoodie. The bailiff did a role call and they separate the Plaintiffs from the Defendants. We waited, my mother in her wheel chair and me and my brother. I noticed Mr. Leonard get up after about a half an hour and leave. After another half hour of waiting I had not seen him return. I asked the bailiff, Where did the gentleman in the hoodie go? He told me that he said he needed to get some paperwork from his car. He never returned, but they mad us wait until we were the last defendants, probably giving the benefit of the doubt to the plaintiff thinking we were in the wrong. We went in and the Judge found in our favor as there was no one to represent the other party. So it was a bittersweet victory. I dont know if he thought we wouldnt show up, or if he felt bad for my mom in her wheel chair or if he knew he had no case. It doesnt matter now, but do yourself one favor. Take care of your parents. It is hard going from the notion that these were the people always telling you what to do to realizing that has changed. Who knows how much money these people took from them? My mother showed me receipts from just the last calender year. The guy would show up every 4 months and sell them $700.00 worth of something, what, I am not sure. Some steaks and seafood, but nowhere near the amount they were paying. At least that is over. Now if I could figure out how to restrict their incoming phone calls and keep the Energy, and Alarm people from calling them I would rest a little easier.
Posted on: Thu, 21 Nov 2013 00:50:29 +0000