To the Director,
I am writing to request my money back; something I never thought I would do, as I know of several people who have had such good experiences with your organization in Chicago. My experience here in Washington DC, however, has been awful, to the point where I must request a refund. Here is what happened: I paid for 24 dates. In a year and one half, I have had four (4). Four!!! This in itself is enough of a breach of contract on your end to void the contract, but there is more.
When I signed up, your representative Amy Chase said that you had plenty of left leaning, spiritual, outdoorsy kind of guys. I said I absolutely did not want to go out with any Republicans, and she laughed, and said that she would never fix me up with a Republican ... it wouldnt be good for either of us. I also said that some sort of spirituality, at a minimum, was important to me. No problem, she said.
I also mentioned that I thought I wanted to only date Jewish guys. She suggested we start out with a broader base, but said you had plenty of Jewish men and that it would be no problem if I ultimately wanted to stick with those of my own faith. My first date walked into the restaurant, and as he was sitting down, before anything else was said, asked me, in all seriousness, Dont you think George Bush is going to make a fabulous president?
He then proceeded to tell me about a book he had written that would change the world once he got it published. I asked what it was about. Ms. Osgood, it was about his theory that not only is there no God, but that people have no souls, and that all that there is is that which can be verified by our own eyes or by scientific instruments. In other words, a sort of fanatical version of atheism.
The next day, I called Ms. Chase to tell her how the date went. I was told she no longer worked for your organization. I was given to a man named Sam. I told him about the date, laughing, and said there must have been some mistake. Sam rather severely told me that Ms. Chase had not told me the truth. He said that your organization does not ask the politics of your clients, as it is too personal a subject. He said the same of their religion or spiritual beliefs. He said that there was no way for your organization to know whether any given date of mine would be far right wing, left leaning, or believed in any sort of God or higher being.
That said, he then suggested that of course, any date in which politics was discussed at the outset was going to be a disaster, and suggested I leave politics alone as a subject. When I told him that the gentleman had brought it up, but that I was glad he did, as I thought it was pointless to date someone who did not share ones basic values, he still insisted that it was not a fit topic for a first date, even here in Washington DC, where all is politics.
I was shocked. I asked Sam to please set me up with only Jewish men, as I had wanted to do that from the outset, and additionally, I felt it was more likely that I would at least get a fairly liberal man who believed in God a bit if I only went out with Jewish men. Sam tried to discourage me from this course of action, saying that you hardly had any Jewish men at all, and that he didnt know if he could get me dates. When I told him that Ms. Chase had said it was no problem deciding to go out with only men of my faith, he said that was not the case, but he agreed to abide by my wishes.
The next man I went out with was named David. He was in the military. I assumed he was Jewish. He was not. I contacted Sam, who said he was sorry, he forgot (!) that I had asked only to go out with Jewish men, and he would not count the date toward my 24. The next dates name was Barry. He stood me up. Sam apologized, and said he would not count that one against my 24 either.
The next date spoke primarily of how proud he was of having sued his parents when they did not agree with his view in a business deal of some kind. We never got around to discussing faith or politics, which I assumed would please Sam. Apparently it did not, as I have not heard from IJL since last September, after my last date sometime in the summer of 2001.
After all this, truthfully, I dont want to hear from your organization, except for getting my refund. I do not in any way hold you responsible for chemistry...it is either there or it isnt, and that is no fault of yours. I never expected to be provided with a man who would for sure be the one for me. But I did expect 24 dates in the time allotted, and I did expect that you had at least 24 left leaning, spiritual, outdoorsy men with whom to fix me up. And I did expect that a goodly number of them were Jewish, as I had been assured that only going out with Jewish men would not limit me in terms of getting dates, and in fact would pose no problem at all.
None of these things were true. I was misled, dare I say lied to, in every way, about every issue. Every representation that was made to me in order to obtain my signature on the contract was false. Your organization has not lived up to your end of the contract, you made false representations to obtain my signature on the contract, and I want my money back. I hope to hear from you soon with a refund check.
Sincerely yours, Marla
Damages: $1,300 dollars lost, but regained through the courts.
IJL Consumer Complaints
