Mr. Jernnigan approached me at a time that I was acquiring my business from a unethical partner and had to set up a new credit card company quickly to coincide with the closing date of the legal transfer of property to me. He sent in his nice, unassuming brother-in-law to make the initial contact. This guy was low-key and new at sales and inspired trust. However, once Mr. Jernnigan came on the scene to push me to sign up before I was ready, it was less comfortable and I should have trusted my instinct and walked away.
He promoted himself as a small business consultant and would be helping me out in other ways than just the CC sales. He told me my current credit card machine would be obsolete in less than one year. He told me that while the contract with MBF Leasing was for 4 years, HE would only require 3, and I stupidly believed him. He coached me to tell the MBF leasing agent that I understood it was for 4 years even though he was "only holding me to a 3-year commitment".
He looked at our previous CC statements and promised HIS rates would be much lower than our current company, but we ended up paying significantly MORE each month with him.
After he "pitched" a proposal to a new business neighbor, they looked him up found out about the questionable business practices. After finding out how I had been "taken", I tried to contact Mr. Jernigan, only to find his phone service had been disconnected. He had been coming around when he hoped to get other contracts in my shopping center, through me, but when that failed, he quit coming around anymore. I was ready to just pull the plug on their access to my account and simply default, but I spoke with a restaurant owner in my area that had done that, received a summons to go to New York and had to pay a LOT of money to get out of it all.
This guy seems to prey on small business owners, new to the "game". I tend to trust people and take them at their word and because I was trying to salvage my ownership of my business from a partner who proved to be fraudulent, and rushing to get things set up by our "Closing" date, I made a serious error in judgment and should have been more careful with whom I trusted.
I wish the North Carolina State Attorney General would go after this guy AND the companies he represents. It's hard enough for small businesses to survive without having to battle these kinds of people!
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