Tardus guaranteed that if you use their system they will save you $12,000 the first year or refund your 'membership' dues of $4000. The system is a cash flow that involves using a home equity line of credit to pay down your mortgage.
In principle it is a good system. My problem was that they used my estimated figures of income, debts, etc. To make the promise with an additional promise to follow up and get the actual figures.
The follow up was never available. I went to two of their seminars but when I tried to make an appointment with my 'counselor' he was no longer with the company. I tried to make appointments with the leader of the seminar who was also a counselor. He set up appointments several times but then canceled at the last minute.
After struggling to make the system work I realized that it would not, for reasons that were apparent at the time I signed the contract, but which I was unaware of.
I discussed this on the phone with another counselor and explained the problem to her. She referred me to a third-party web site (for which I had to pay to use) that was a budget calculator. A budget calculator was not what I needed. I needed to find a way to be able to use their system with my cash flow.
Later I tried to contact this latest counselor by phone and got no answer. I tried email and got no reply.
Yet later I received an email from someone at Tardus whose name I did not recognize. It was a mass mailing advertising a seminar of some kind. I replied to the 'reply to' address from that email and got no answer.
Finally I went to the office (a 45-minute drive from home) to demand my refund after the year had passed. The office was empty except for a receptionist, who told me there was no one there. She gave me the email address of a man in Las Vegas.
I phoned him. He told me that all of the Honolulu operations had been moved to Las Vegas and told me to send him an email detailing the reasons for my refund request.
I did.
After a month I had not heard from him so I called again. He said he was backlogged with requests (what does that tell you...) and would get back to me.
I called him one more time two weeks later to remind him and he put me off again.
Finally I received a call from him, this three months after my initial request.
He informed me that since I had not 'used' the Tardus system that the guarantee was not applicable. I argued that I had used the system, but he claimed that 'using' the system meant actually moving money through the HELOC to the mortgage.
As noted above the situation into which I was put made it impossible for me to 'use' the system according to their definition.
In summary the Catch-22 is that you must use the system, but we (Tardus) have arranged our customer service in such a way that it is impossible to 'use' the system.
I think this is a major ripoff and I have been scammed for $4000.
I have not contacted an attorney since the CEO of Tardus is an attorney and I am afraid that after months of rigamarole and paperwork the cost of the attorney would exceed the refund.
I hope there are other Tardus suckers out there who have found them to be as slimy as my experience.
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