As we have already said in the past, we can do wonders but not miracles. Unfortunately some people expect miracles from us. We won’t make it happen. Please remember: The “miracle maker” has not yet arrived.
We have limitations, including legal ones. In order to provide you with some good and solid guidance if you find yourself in a bad situation, we will post a series of short stories about the best way to handle your problems in Israel.
They are all true cases we have handled in the past and they all have one common factor: The inability of the person to absorb our advice, therefore decreasing the chances to help this person.
Cell phone companies:
Jenny came to Israel with a strong determination to stay and become part of the society. Already in the airport she signed an agreement with one of the cell phone companies.
After a month, when the first bill did not arrive, she called the company asking why she had never received her bill. This was her first aggravating task in Israel and she failed in it. After an hour on the phone she gave up. A few days later, she noticed that her bank account had been debited (by the cell phone company) for a large amount but could not understand why. Again she tried and failed only to learn the hard way that she had completely misunderstood the concept of the contract or as she claimed – was mislead.
After a few months Jenny had already paid a small fortune to the cell phone company. She could no longer afford it and all of her efforts to be reimbursed had failed.
Jenny contacted us asking for help. She wanted to: Cancel the contract, return the phone and receive compensation. When I tried to explain to her the legal situation, offering to go to the small claim courts, she claimed she had to think about it.
She called two days later after speaking “to many friends and even another lawyer”. She told us she wanted to sue and she is now confident she will get what she wants because other people “have sued before under the same circumstances and won compensation”.
We contacted the cell phone company and after a month reached some kind of “virtual agreement” in which the company would pay her 80% of her losses within 30 days. She refused!
We tried to explain that each case is different and she may not get she wants. Now Jenny was really mad at us. “You don’t want to do it? You don’t want to help?” And so on.
We offered a free interview to help her lower her expectations but with no success. We tried to convince her by showing her other lawsuits we had won (without compromising the privacy of our customers) but she would not listen. She was convinced she had the right to receive what she was asking for.
Jenny was bitter and very unhappy with our free services. She decided to hire a lawyer to represent her in the regular court and sued the cell phone company. Jenny won! After 18 months she got what she wanted – compensation and the cancellation of the contract.
The problem is that Jenny ended up winning by losing. We had offered her a compromise with the cell phone company for 80% of her losses. She would not pay any court fees (over 400 shekels in her case) or lawyer’s fees (over 1,500 shekels in her case).
She received 500 shekels less from the first offer after paying court fees and lawyer’s fees but she was still happily telling us she had no regrets because at least she had “taught them a lesson”.
A word of wisdom:
Our mission is: To ease the immigration and absorption process for new olim to Israel and not teach anyone “lessons”. We cannot do miracles but we can do wonders by slowly changing the improper behavior of service providers in Israel. We are committed to making life easier for you as a new immigrant and to minimize your damages and for these goals we work hard.
Be wise and don’t listen to “friend’s advice”. You must trust the people you have asked to help you. Be wise and pick your battles.
