I never imagined that this wouldhappen, nor that I'd be writing about it. But several have encouragedme to do so to ensure that it doesn't happen to someone else. Ifyou've come across this blog post you must have come across or knowthe Kokora's.
In January, I was contacted by Jay Kokora& Dona Sears Kokora to enroll their son Harry "Jadin"in the preschool that I own & operate in Oceanside, CA.
(Donais the mother of seven children & the owner of www.BabyPro.com -www.FamilyMuse.com & is billed as a family psychologist. JayKokora is a "marketing consultant" & owner ofIndigoVentures & www.sellmybiz.net.)
When I met Dona, myintuition told me that I should speak with their previous Waldorfpreschool teacher in Boulder, CO. I had the distinct impression thatshe was name dropping to gain my trust & using all the right"buzz words". She claimed to have served as the board chairperson at a Waldorf school in Colorado & had supported the typeof small early childhood care centers called LifeWays like the onethat I'm working to found here in San Diego.
(As a side note, I am a struggling single mother of two boys. There are four otherteachers that work with me on this little labor of love preschoolprogram for young children. Only one of the teachers (not me) is ableto draw a salary from this little start up school. Funds areextremely tight and we are all working other jobs if not a few. We inour second year of business & have only a handful of students soevery penny counts as we try to get this program started.)
Aftermeeting Jadin, who is a lovable, deep, tender child, we agreed toenroll the family. Dona filled out our very simple application &contract. Within a few weeks, Jadin settled into our program &became part of the group. The first sign of trouble came when tuitionwas due for January. Dona was late with it and claimed that given themove & changed that payment would be forth coming in a few weeks. Payment finally did arrive for January but late. February tuition waspaid at the end of March. Dona claimed to not understand the contractthat she signed indicating that tuition was due the 15th for thefollowing month not for the current. I expressed that I'd never heardof a school collecting tuition for a month that was already insession. After endless promises to get current & pay on time, after endless excuses about having to visit her sick mother or Jay'ssick father, Jay & Dona disappeared owing us over $6000.00.
Ourlast communication was the day before they apparently were leavingfor Colorado on the "intuition" that Jay's father had takena turn for the worst. Dona requested our mailing address so she couldmail a check for the back tuition from their long awaited tax return. We emailed our address to her, called every day for weeks but neitherreceived a communication or payment.
It's unfortunate thatDona & Jay Kokora also left owing a debt to their babysitter whois a colleague of ours. They also left the home owner of theirCarlsbad address with a large debt as well. Knowing that we are notthe only one's does not make it any easier. While waiting for theKokora's to honor their agreement, we depleted our tiny reserves andnow do not have the money to pay our expenses, rent & advertisingthough the summer. One of us had also forgone their salary expectingthe Kokora's to pay as they had agreed.
After coming to theconclusion that we'd been had, we finally did what we should havedone in the first place. We googled Jay Kokora. It turns out thatseveral folks have taken the time to record their experience dealingwith and being scammed by the Kokora's.
We weren't sure aboutposting this on the internet. It's not pleasant. It's disheartening. But since the Kokora's seem to move around & enroll theirchildren into private Catholic or home based child care schools, wefigured that at the very least, it might help someone else avoid thepredicament that we now find ourselves in.
We are happy forthe Sears-Kokora family to make amends & close out their accountwith us.
Here are the details of the Kokora family last knownto us.
JayKokora
760-688-2202
[email protected]
[email protected]
DonaSears Kokora
720-327-1957
[email protected]
Websites: http://www.babypro.com/and http://www.familymuse.com/
PreviousAddresses:
P.O. Box 131322
Carlsbad, CA 92013
20343 North HaydenRoad
Scottsdale, AZ 85255
Their children (should they be trying to enroll them at your school)
HarryJadin Kokora
Kieran Kokora
SavanaKokora
Ryan Kokora
Kelly Kokora
Taylor Kokora
The website we foundregarding people owed monies by JayKokora:
Http://usacomplaints.com/telemarketing-companies/indigo-ventures/indigo-ventures-scam-appointme-2d6a9.htm
http://usacomplaints.com/telemarketing-companies/indigo-ventures/indigo-ventures-indigo-ventur-fq7cb.htm
http://usacomplaints.com/brokerage-companies/indigo-ventures-jay/indigo-ventures-jay-kakora-l-5bfe2.htm
http://usacomplaints.com/telemarketing-companies/indigo-ventures/indigo-ventures-indigo-ventur-fq7cb.htm
DonaSearsKokora:
http://usacomplaints.com/business-consulting/corporate-solutionz/creative-corporate-solutionz-s-p65p7.htm
We talked to the Realtor at their firstaddress in San Diego and determined that the Kokora's scammed thehome owner as well owing her a significant sum.
Since smallclaims court is ruled out as an option for those scammed because theKokora's no longer reside in California they must be taken to courtin Colorado. Unfortunately, we do not have a current physical addressfor them in Colorado nor do we have the finances to track them downto get resolution. To prevent this from happening to you, we figuredthat we should be proactive in telling our story.
Please replyto our message should you be able to help in any way.
Sincerely,
AGroup of Disheartened Idealists in San Diego
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