I googled "free government grants" in August. This lead me to the Financial Procurement Center, or FPC for short. They sent me an email with a contract for me to print off and sign and return to them. I was also supposed to give them a certified check at the discounted rate of $289.50 using registered or express mail (which costed around $20) before recieving the program from them.
The next day I was called by Benjamin Davis who "supposedly" works for the Financial Procurement Center and he explained that I would be guaranteed at least $13,000 and that I would probably recieve more. He also explained that I needed to get the money into them soon because he said that the educational grants were given on a school year basis and if they didn't have my information before the beginning of august that I wouldn't be eligible for a grant during the 2008 school year.
I got the check and sent them the money. A few weeks later I received the 16 page questionnaire from them and then sent it back to them. I was in contact with Ben throughout all this and he kept assuring me that everything was going smoothly. He told me that after they recieved my completed questionnaire that it would be 2-3 weeks before I got my grant money. I called him after 2-3 weeks and he said that my grant would be arriving on October 16th; and it would be at least $13,000 but as much as $30,000. This phone call took place around the middle of september. We waited until October 16th and nothing came. I called Ben... No answer. I called him daily for the next 3 weeks and would never get anything but his voicemail that stated basically, "you have reached Ben Davis with the Financial Procurement Center, your call is important to us, please leave a message and we will get back to you shortly." Daily for 3 weeks I called and never got a response.
About 3 weeks later I decided to send an email back to the people who sent me the original grant "[email protected]" telling them of my complaint. Approximately 2 days later (this is around the end of November) Ben Davis called me and asked about whether or not I'd recieved my grant. I told him that I had not. He then "looked up my file" and said that I should have recieved it on Oct. 16 and at the latest by the middle of November. He then said that he would re submit the paperwork and that I'd be getting my grant of at least $13,000 and upto $30,000 by the end of that week and that if I didn't that I was to give him a phone call. A week came and went and there was no grant. So, I called Ben Davis... No answer. I called and called and called... No answer. I called for 3 more weeks daily with no answer. The last time I called, around the middle of December, there was no answering machine: the number just rings 5-6 times and then beeps. I have no idea if I have reached Ben Davis or not.
The reality is that I have been ripped off the $289.50, plus the mailing of approximately $20 plus the agonizing of trying to get a hold of this guy, and the disappointment of not getting a grant. The Financial Procurement Center is a scam, please learn from my story and don't get scammed by them!!!
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