Conflict Resolution and Conciliation Services CRCS Failure to produce as advertised. Fairfax, Virginia
I used CRCS in an attempt to arbitrate a contract dispute and a divorce including child custody.
A) They failed to uphold a signed contract despite all parties admitting to the intent of the contract. The contract was for the purchase of a property by 4 partners (my ex wife and I and two others). The contract stated that the property could not be liquidated without unanimous content. My ex wife and I were minority holders. She wanted to force the partners to buy us out so that the funds could be made available for the divorce.
Justification for their failure to uphold a signed contract was a 'mistake' in filing the deed on the property. All parties thought the deed was filed in the proper way and the real estate attorney ensured us it wasn't. Instead of 'correcting' the clear mistake (which they admit the deed was a mistake and not the intent of the parties involved), they used it as a loophole to invalidate the contract.
B) They failed to stand behind / defend their decision on child custody when it was challenged by my ex in court. They advertised the arbitration as binding, told us that the arbitration agreement which stated issues settled by this arbitration may not be later litigated in court. They crafted an faulty decision that was not 'enforceable' and ultimately allowed my ex to challenge the custody provisions independently of the asset provisions allowing a final outcome that even CRCS admits was 'unjust'.
Bottom line, their decisions are non-biblical, do not respect contract law, and are ultimately unenforceable in court making the thousands (10K) spent on their services a waist.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Conflict to Peace
Fairfax,Virginia,
Alternative Dispute Resolution
#2UPDATE Employee
Mon, December 09, 2013
Confidentiality is a hallmark of the full range of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) services that our non-profit firm offers. Therefore, we cannot speak with any specificity to the dissatisfaction posted on this site that would breach that duty of confidentiality.
Arbitration is a voluntary process wherein disputing parties agree to submit their positions to a neutral (person or panel) for a decision that is final and binding. Since arbitration awards are enforceable in the courts, the statutes governing it are stringent to guarantee that fairness prevails. Arbitrators may not exceed their authority without rendering an award unenforceable.
Regarding the asserted contract invalidation, the presented information represents an oversimplification of a very complex set of facts that significantly distorts the outcome and misrepresents the basis for the decision. There was no challenge brought to the exercise of our authority at that time, or subsequently. To change the terms of the parties’ contract is, on its face, exceeding authority, even when an original agreement is erroneous.
Regarding the child custody issues, such issues are infrequently submitted to binding arbitration as numerous public policy issues are at play and are only accepted by us when accompanied by a contractual commitment by the parents to honor the decision and an acknowledgment by the parents that no decision, whether by an arbitrator or a court, is ever final and is always subject to subsequent revision by a court when there is a change in circumstances that impacts the best interests of the children. When such a change in circumstance occurs, no prior decision will stand.
Conflict to Peace (formerly CRCS) much prefers mediation in which moms and dads collaboratively work to structure an agreement that meets everyone’s interests – especially their children’s. Approximately 85% of conflicts voluntarily submitted to mediation result in settlements.
Dispute resolution almost always involves strong emotions. In arbitration, which is a zero-sum / win or lose process, dissatisfaction is not infrequent. When compared with the costs, delays, notoriety and uncertainty of litigation ADR it is still a preferred means of resolving conflicts of all kinds.
Over the past eighteen years we have helped hundreds of men and women, moms and dads, churches, businesses and employers avoid, manage and resolve conflict. The fact that there has been one disgruntled client over this period and within this population should be considered when evaluating our reputation.