The son of an elderly Florida man says he was shocked to discover an $8,500 charge on his father's credit card from a marriage agency. Considering her father has dementia, he couldn't go on a date even if he wanted to.
To add insult to injury, an Oklahoma company called The Matchmaking Company only gave a partial refund after a Florida news station began pursuing them. According to Orlando News 6.
The 80-year-old man's son, Blake Mooney, said he initially tried to get the money back himself. But the company's Byzantine telephone system was getting in the way.
“I have no one to talk to,” the North Carolina man told the station. “There's no one else to help you but you.” [asking]“Would you like to register? Would you like to have an arranged marriage? ” ”
The family's story began in June, when Mooney's father took a rideshare ride from a Lake County assisted living facility to Matchmaking Company's Winter Park office, News 6 reported.
Thirty minutes later, the old man signed a contract for 12 dates for a whopping $8,495.
A father's mental state is not always immediately obvious, Mooney said. But that would surface fairly quickly in an in-depth conversation, the son said.
“one time [the conversation] Once the finances, numbers and dates start coming into play, he has no idea,” Mooney said. “If you called him right now and asked him the date, he wouldn't be able to remember it.”
For example, his father listed his year of birth as 1922 on his application, which would make him in his 80s about 102 years old, the agency said.
Mooney doesn't even know how her widowed father found the company, which claims to “build genuine, long-lasting, loving relationships” with its customers.
“He can't go on dates,” Mooney said, adding that his father barely remembers signing the contract. “He has dementia.”
It became a big problem for my son, who had to figure out how to clean up the mess.
“Families need to understand that absent some kind of court order, they are free to enter into an agreement,” said Raymond Trendley, an attorney with TK Law Firm in Altamonte Springs, Florida.
“You'll have the freedom to swipe your credit card and make purchases, and the burden will be on you to prove that your family member was incapacitated at the time.”
Mooney said he called the company dozens of times to try to resolve the situation, to no avail.
On the rare occasion he spoke to a live representative, he was unable to get anything. They weren't interested in hearing about his father's dilemma or getting him a refund, he said.
News 6 eventually started asking questions about the incident, and a reporter visited the office in Winter Park, the station said.
The company's general counsel then called Mooney and said he had spoken with his father, who denied having dementia.
But Mr Mooney, who has power of attorney for his elderly father, said his father had indeed been diagnosed and was “experiencing significant cognitive impairment that affected his memory, reasoning and judgment” by doctors. I sent a letter to the company.
“After a comprehensive evaluation and clinical evaluation, it is my professional medical opinion that he lacks the ability to make sound decisions regarding the use of drugs. [The Matchmaking Company’s] Service,” the letter said.
According to News 6, the company reluctantly canceled the contract and refunded $6,000.
Despite repeated inquiries from broadcasters, the company did not explain why it kept the price at $2,500 or comment on anything else.
Mooney, for his part, is just happy to get most of his cash back.
“This would have killed him financially,” Mooney said of his father and his situation. “It would have been bad if we hadn't gotten caught. That would have been very bad.”
