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About the Children is a Predatory Organization - BEWARE
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This review started more than two years ago, but there is an update at the end, so please bear with me... I signed up on 1/3/11 to help me gain visitation with my daughter. I believed at the time I couldn't apply for divorce. I spoke with Tim, and he assured
me that for $790, they could do Separate Maintenance now and Divorce later. He also said I had to pay $150 extra for the forms to have a quick temporary hearing. I paid $940 total. I got some drafts of the documents and prepared them. Then on Feb 17, I called
and spoke with Tom and asked him to just go straight to filing for Divorce. They wanted further payment. I said I was told no further payment was needed. Tom put me off from the divorce application and encouraged me to submit the Separate Maintenance forms
to the courts. A few weeks passed, and there was no temporary hearing. I found they had not sent me these forms. I let Tom know and he asked why I had not told them sooner. I didn’t know I didn’t have them, as I am no lawyer. I called around and spoke to some
lawyers and was told that because I made a Separate Maintenance application first, I may have to start over with a divorce application. It was all very distressing! I found I could call the judge to arrange a temporary hearing, and this is what I did. I didn't
actually need to file any forms! I eventually hired a lawyer, and she pointed out several things with my initial application which were wrong including that the forms I filled out were not even from the right county. She said I needed to make many corrections,
and I had to pay to fix them. On 4/27/11 I requested a full refund from ATC. They refunded the $940, but not $173. They refused to return membership fees. I complained to the BBB, but the company's argument was that the membership fee would not be refunded
because the staff did work on my documents (despite the fact that they were worse than useless). By that argument, if a person went to a restaurant and the food was terrible, the owners would refund only part of the money for the food and keep back some to
pay for the workers who prepared it?? I found About the Children to be eager to take my money, but very cavalier, indiscriminate and careless when it came time to deliver a product which needs to be BY DEFINITION very careful and deliberate. I trusted them,
paid my money in good faith and got delivered a useless product which in the end caused me to have to spend money to correct. Their refusal to return my money is a clear indication that they do not really care "about the children" at all, but more about covering
their costs. They are a very distressing company to to work with and I will not hesitate to share my negative experience with them to all and sundry. *******UPDATE June 2011******* I was contacted by About the Children after posting this review, and they decided
to come to the table with refunding the membership fees conditional upon removing this review. I found it disappointing that it had to come to this step in order to accomplish what should have been done willingly before now. They are eager to preserve their
reputation, but not eager enough to prevent a negative review from being posted. People take note. Also note that despite was was said below this review in response, a FULL refund was not granted until after this complaint was posted. The check did arrive
and I did remove the review *******UPDATE 08/20/13******* It has been more than 2.5 years since I first interacted with About the Children. I went through a very involved divorce and a follow up custody case (that ended just this month) which has now secured
me joint legal and physical custody of my daughter. I could not have done this at all without the help of a very competent lawyer. Yes, I have spent more than $15,000 on legal fees, but there's no way around that if you have to fight a crazy spouse for the
right to parent your child. The reason I decided to repost this review because I sincerely feel that About the Children is a predatory organization that panders to desperate parents, promising them unrealistic results without proper legal representation. Their
advice is shoddy at best, and at worst, it can set you back legally and emotionally, denying the very results they are promising. Please, DO NOT SIGN UP WITH THIS ORGANIZATION, they will take your money and lead you around the garden path. Talk to a lawyer
or three or four. Then check for recommendations and find one who is reasonably priced and also capable. They are out there. Yes it will be more expensive, but it will at least be more likely to give you the results you are looking for. There is hope for you,
but not with this company. AVOID THEM AT ALL COSTS.
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Business's response - by R.E.T.on 2/17/2014
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AS STATED, This member received a refund! ============================== ATTORNEY OR NOT = ANY FAIR JUDGE (always) makes their decisions, based on what’s in the best interest of the children ======
A Message from our Staff::::::: ATC has DOZENS OF GREAT REVIEWS listed here, like any business, from time to time, we run into challenging cases and individuals with unreasonable expectations or simply just want something for free. ======= In any event, we want to confirm that the heart of ATC is to help you: If you are reading this review, we're confident that you know what our fees are, and that you are just confirming that ATC is a real Parental Advocate Group that helps people! ATC wants you to feel comfortable moving forward with us in helping you. If there is ever a situation whereas you need personal assistance with, ask for the owner if needed. Sincerely, ATC staff
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