Driving in my car, I heard a commercial on the radio saying that you can receive $50,000 in credit for your businessguaranteed. I had a hard time believing it, but it was a two hour drive and curiosity got the better of me. Upon talking to the sales rep who answered my call, I jumped right to asking what they mean by $50,000 business credit guaranteed. I explained that I had no interest in getting $50,000 credit spread out over a bunch of retailers like Office Max. She assured me that it was credit in the form of access to capital. She said it may be more than one facility, but that I would receive a total of at least $50,000 fully accessible at the end of their program (6 months). I explained that I had put a great deal of funds into my business and would really like to get some of these funds back, with no recourse to me if the business failed. She assured me that I would have just that and that many business owners end up with access much greater that $50,000 after going through their program. She cited one attorney who was able to get access to around $900,000. I signed up and started the program.
After signing a vague agreement and paying my funds, I received contact from my newly assigned credit coach.in the first five minutes of our conversation, I asked if I could go over the conversation I had with the sales rep initially. I explained that I knew I was being overly cautious, but this deal seemed too good to be true, so I just wanted to make sure. Her response was insulting and caused me great concern. She said that of course I would not receive $50,000 in credit which I could access as direct funds and that I was a fool if I thought that was possible. I went on to tell her that I did not think that it was possible, but that I had verified with the sales rep who assured me that it was true.
At this point, I knew I was in trouble. I asked to speak directly with a manager. This guy, was worse than the gal that was my credit coach. He was not interested in anything that I was told by the initial sales representative and said that I signed the agreement and that is what I should have held as true. I stated that I remembered their phone calls as being recorded (I am not totally sure if they were or not), but he exclaimed that the contract is what matters and that no sales rep saying anything supersedes that. I asked for a refund as the program had not yet begun, but he denied it. I even got ahold of the sales rep I initially spoke with and she was shocked that they (the account rep and the manager) were saying that I was not guaranteed a $50,000 non-recourse credit facility. I asked that she contact this manager and get me a refund. Needless to say that I did not hear back from her and was never able to get ahold of her again.
I went to an attorney who reviewed the agreement/contract. The attorney said that the contract was extremely short and vague, but that it did indeed did say that I would have access to $50,000 or more and that I would most likely prevail in court. He also noted that the cost to me in legal fees, if the court did not order NSCN to pay them, would be greater than the cost of the program. He advised me to go forward with the program and then proceed with legal action if I was not provided what he interpreted as part of the agreement.
I went forward with the program and was assigned a new credit coach. The program called for weekly purchases that were costly. The companies I was instructed to set up accounts with and make purchases from had products that I would never have any use for. I understood that it was part of the program and that the products were irrelevant to the credit they were helping to create. After several weeks and vendors with more expensive products, I gave up. I started to realize that even if I received my initial sign up fee back, I probably would not receive the amounts paid for all these unwanted products.
I cannot say what would have happened had I completed the program, but I was assured by the manager, the first credit coach and the second credit coach, that I would not receive non-recourse credit of $50,000. The second credit coach said that if I was able to gain credit from the likes of Visa or Master Card, they would be attached to my personal credit. Being that I already had access to $200,000 in personal credit and my intent was to withdraw capital contributions from the business, I called it a day.
I don't know what I could have done differently other than demand a more detailed agreement/contract. I also should have contested the charge with my credit card, but by the time I tried to do so, it was past the 60 day limit. The old adage "If it is too good to be true, it probably is." should have been more considered.
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