I signed a contract with Linda's Consignments in June 2008 to sell some very expensive clothes several times over this past year. The contract stated that there was a $5 annual fee to be paid upon opening the account and then would automatically be debited from any balance the seller had on their account going forward. The last time I checked my balance was in June 2009 and it was around $42 at that time.

I just went to the store today to request a check for my balance and I found out that there was a new owner now. She was very kind and tried to look up my balance for me. We found out that the old owner had taken the documentation that showed what my balance was and instead left a 3 x 5 card in my file that said "Became inactive June 09."

The new owner was very pleasant and made copies of everything for me. She said that I am the 3rd person with this problem and gave me Linda's personal phone number. The new owner also said that Linda changed the terms of the contract before selling the business to her. The new terms would forfeit all monies if the annual $5 fee was not paid in person. The new owner recommended that Linda not change the terms because the other party was not notified but she did anyways.

So, here I am now out of $40, and probably more from the last load of clothes I dropped off in early June that I hadn't sold yet.

Linda stole my money and is a thief who should be taken to court. I will be calling her tomorrow and pursuing this dishonesty further. Wish me luck.