Give U.S. Our Money Back: Sun Valley Group

$19.50 for directions

$62 to discuss a grease fire caused by one of their employees

$88 for hearing aid batteries

Those are the prices that Sun Valley Group charges for their caregiving services. Maybe they won't charge you these prices, not yet anyway.

They'll wait until your loved one can't defend themselves...

According to court records, the Sun Valley Group has collected nearly $178,000 in guardian fees and another $235,000 in companion care fees, stemming from a 20-month period when Marie was still in her own home.

Attorneys for the company say Marie's sisters and her attorney drove up costs by making baseless complaints and seeking “vengeance” on Sun Valley. They call the company's charges “reasonable, appropriate and for the benefit of Marie.”

Sure they were. Like the time when Marie wanted to eat out and her caregiver had to call a fellow Sun Valley employee for directions to a restaurant. Cost to Marie: $19.50. Like the day Sun Valley personnel charged her $62 for time they spent discussing a grease fire in Marie's kitchen, caused by one of their own employees. Like the time they charged her $88 – plus $18.69 for mileage – to pick up hearing aid batteries.

These stories are from the AZ Republic...

Since at least October, Ravenscroft has been locked out of his own Scottsdale home. Ravenscroft says Sun Valley employees changed the locks and alarm code, telling him they needed to make repairs then proceeded to ransack the place. A neighbor tells me that Sun Valley employees advised him to call police if he spotted Ravenscroft on his own property.

These days, he's is living on the couch of a woman from his church. Jeane Jaime says Sun Valley pays her $200 a week in room and board. Ravenscroft also gets a $300-a-week allowance, though it was raised to $400 this week, after he filed a federal racketeering lawsuit claiming his protectors have stripped him of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Both Ravenscroft and Jaime say none of the people charged with his protection have ever dropped by to check out his living arrangements.

Sun Valley President Peter Frenette says the public fiduciary, as guardian, made the call on where he should live and that Ravenscroft's allowance is based on input from everyone involved in his care. “I cannot say more,” he wrote.

So please avoid doing business with Sun Valley Group at all costs...

Phoenix doesn't need Sun Valley Group in our city!