Folks, you are not going to believe this. I posted about my experience with Sonlight (The Sonlight Isn’t Shining) -  my honest opinion -  here on my personal blog. As most of you know, this is my avenue to vent frustrations and discuss family issues. As a result, I am now being insulted by one of the owners of Sonlight Curriculum.

Yesterday, I posted, Part II: Son of Sonlight, a reply to Luke Holzmann, whose comment was spin control, yet still professional. Luke is entitled to his opinion, and he wished me well with whatever materials I chose.  Today, I received another comment this time from his father, John Holzmann, which practically brought me to tears. He was malicious and shamelessly cruel. At this point, I am so glad we will not be purchasing from them. I cannot imagine learning Christian principals from persons that behave this way.

While I will not post all of his comment because it contains personal credit information, I will quote portions:

Are you saying you would think your son or daughter is doing well in school if he or she came home with a report card showing a low D grade? And you’d be pleased if he or she ranked second from the bottom in a class of 28 students?

Our report was full of items that are incorrect because Transunion has not updated our report in almost four years. As a result, our Transunion score is lower than the scores listed with Experian and Equifax. We are currently working to correct these inaccuracies.  That being said, I never claimed to have perfect credit or the highest score, but we do have revolving credit with great payment history, several loans with good interest rates and have had no trouble receiving financing from anyone else. That is the honest to God truth.

Tell that part of the story, please! And while you are at it, perhaps you could speak, too, about the ‘Factors that most affect your score’

Gladly: We have worked for years to build up a decent credit score. When we went to purchase a home several years ago, we had no credit score at all. With advice from our bank and other credit professionals, we paid off any debts we had and took steps to build new credit. So far this has worked well, and after years of effort, we have corrected any “factors” on our credit report. My husband is the hardest working man I know. He is Godly, respectful, and loving. I could not ask for a better provider, husband, father, or friend, and John Holzmann is treating him, and in turn me, like trash – insinuating that we are not worthy of them; that we are obviously lazy, pathetic shirkers that are not mindful of our responsibilities.

Now that I’ve seen your report, I want to thank you for providing the data that confirms to me the Sonlight staff did the right thing in refusing you credit.

Sincerely,
John Holzmann, Co-Owner and Co-Founder
Sonlight Curriculum, Ltd.

That is the vindictive part that really gets me. I have been a finance and credit employee, and I have seen some of the worst scores and reports out there. I know where we stand. We know it isn’t perfect, but we have rather recent credit history. I know many people these days that have had their good credit damaged through the loss of a job, a foreclosure or repossession. We have none of those things and work every month to make sure our bills are paid on time. Yes, we often live paycheck to paycheck, but sadly, most young families do. We saved plenty of money for Sonlight’s down payment and were willing to do whatever it took to buy a curriculum from Sonlight because I heard it was one of the best. That’s exactly what I want for my children. Their books and materials may be wonderful, but I will not teach my children Christian principals with materials from a company whose co-founder is so vicious and spiteful. This was a personal attack because he did not like the way I responded to his son’s comments.

I’m not expecting you to publish this comment, either. Though I would appeal to you to walk with integrity.

Mr.Holzmann’s message began with those two sentences. I should walk with integrity? Honesty, honor, ethics, morals, righteousness, virtue, decency, sincerity, truthfulness – that is what integrity means. This blog is my personal journal of my life with my family and children: I do state my opinions and others may disagree with them. In fact, I was told by Eldina at Sonlight Curriculum that not only was this my right, but she encouraged me to blog about my experience. That is exactly what I did. There are thousands of people out there that love Sonlight and probably have never had a minute’s trouble out of them. I am not one of them. Over the last few days, according to web metrics, I have been bombarded with over 150 page views from Sonlight Curriculum Ltd. They have attempted to humiliate me and make me feel like scum, all because I stated my opinion on a small, personal blog. This is absolutely the most unprofessional and upsetting thing I have seen from a company — a supposedly Christian company. I was upbeat and optimistic today, looking forward to the holidays with my children, and this comes as a slap in the face.

Was that your intention, Mr. Holzmann? Was one mother’s opinion and blog worth being callous and cold-hearted? I should walk with integrity? Perhaps you should take your own advice, sir. I am one person with an opinion. Even after this ordeal, I still believed that your materials were some of the best. Now, I’m glad we won’t be purchasing from Sonlight. I would have saved every dime we had to buy your products for my children if that’s what it took, but now, I’m glad I didn’t waste my time or money. Anyone that would behave the way you have is no example for my children or me.

That being said: I am moving on and trying to shake off this upsetting experience. I am going to have a pleasant holiday with my family and if Mr.Holzmann and his company want to continue bothering me, they can do it next year. I do walk with integrity, and I will continue doing it without Sonlight’s help.

I want first to acknowledge: I understand you have no intention of ever buying from Sonlight. Moreover, based on your description of yourself as someone who “can hold a grudge for a really long time,” I realize I may be acting the fool to attempt to say anything to you.

On the other hand, you also say you “love to talk and to listen” and you are “fiercely loyal, care deeply, [and] . . . try everyday to be a better person.” With these latter descriptors in mind, I would like at least to appeal to you on three points.

I hope you might be a bit more kindly disposed–and show some of that Southern Loving!–toward Ann

I edited out a lengthy paragraph with personal and private information about the finance representative, Ann, that I mentioned in my first post. I will not divulge Ann’s business and do wish her well with her children. God Bless, Ann!

I want to say what I have said many times in the past to others who have brought Sonlight shortcomings to our attention–either publicly or privately: I am grateful–and Sonlight is grateful that you did not just “shut up and go away” when you felt we/they had wronged you. By “hanging in there,” you pushed the Sonlight staff to discover things they had never known before… including, as you reported, that there are four different credit scoring systems–one of which (the one Sonlight has been using), they discovered, is really inappropriate for what they have been using it for. (Ouch!)

My comment: So I was right?

So you pushed them to gain some very valuable information. But/and now they (the people who deal with these things at Sonlight) are having to figure out what to do with the information they have gathered: What credit scoring mechanism should they use? How should they go about switching systems? And how can they make the new system work properly?I am–and, I’m sure, the staff at Sonlight is–deeply regretful that you have been caught in the riptide of our/their errors.

My comment: Yes, I was right, but they still don’t want to work with me

We would like to be made right with you. At the same time, I/we recognize you have “moved on.” We are sorry to see you go. Thanks.

Sincerely,

John Holzmann, Co-Owner and Co-Founder
Sonlight Curriculum, Ltd.
. . . but now working on other projects besides Sonlight!

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