Be extremely careful if considering doing business with Steve Greene and Business center development based out of South Carolina. We are learning the hard way!!!
Our Situation: We found Bcd (Business center development) on-line at www.bcdyourway.com and inquired about their services. They highly tout their ability to provide a turn-key Neighborhood Business Center by purchasing and installing all fixtures, providing all inventory, in-store training, and providing ongoing support. Their web site is very informative and looks very professional. The testimonials they provide are encouraging as well. Buyer beware!!!
Soon after inquiring with Bcd, Steve was very good at returning phone calls and providing pertinent information regarding the business and his services (a business his father started with integrity years and years ago; have done over 200 stores). He was very knowledgeable, seemed trustworthy, and made it sound as though he was an advocate to his clients (help find the commercial space needed; help negotiate the lease; vender lists, etc.).
We signed an agreement with Steve ("Agreement for Consulting Services") and gave him an initial deposit, which was thousands of dollars. This was needed to pay for Steve's travel and lodging to come to our area for a site visit, which was also our opportunity to meet him in person. He had not signed a commercial lease for the space at this point. Steve came out and the meeting went well; we were excited to move forward.
Steve helped negotiate the lease for us and we entered into a multi-year lease term. Steve required the REMAINDER of our deposit due upon execution of the lease, which was over $50,000. We were reluctant to do so, but complied due to what we felt was a good business relationship. Per the Agreement Steve had so many business days after he retained the full deposit, and a key to our store, to provide a turn-key, fully stocked, neighborhood business center, packing and shipping store. An Inventory of all products and services he was to provide was incorporated into the Agreement.
We set a date for his Contractor to come out for the installation, who is an independent contractor and not associated with Steve and Bcd. The Contractor came out and shipments started arriving at the store, so everything seemed to be going fine. It was going to take the Contractor about three days to complete the installation. About a day and a half into the installation, a significant amount of the Inventory had not arrived, including 60 mail boxes, a $6,500 copy machine, signage; the list goes on. We were lucky enough to receive our Point of Sale computer and hardware needed to provide shipping services. The contractor could not seem to get any answers out of Steve or give us any answers as to when everything outstanding would arrive. Steve would not return our calls or provide tracking numbers for outstanding items. So, the contractor sat around for the next day and a half, pretending to be busy, then left.
Now it was up to us to stay in contact with Steve, figure out what items on the Inventory List were outstanding, and hope that they would show up. As soon as the contractor left, Steve seemed to fall of the face of the earth. He would not answer his cell phone, which was the only contact number we were given other than email. Up to this point he would call you back immediately after you left him a message. We never spoke to him in person after the contractor left and his response to emails was dismal at best. The number provided on the Bcd website is an answering service, again independent of Bcd, and all they can do is give Steve a message to call. There is no one else associated with Bcd to contact or any support staff to call to find out what is going on. We tried to call him hundreds of times and sent him emails almost every day, but rarely heard from him. When we did hear from him it was always a short one-liner email saying he was working on things. Well, his deadline for completion came and passed and we never received any additional inventory. This was mid December, an imperative time of year for a packing and shipping store. We opened for business with the bare minimum and no promotional material; not a good impression for our customers.
Per the Agreement we were to notify Bcd by certified mail of any missing inventory items, which we did, but the letter was returned because it was never picked up at the address provided (215 Pickens St., Columbia, SC 29205), which is still the address posted on the Bcd website. We faxed, emailed, and emailed again, Steve the Inventory List indicating those items that did not arrive.
So, here we are almost ten months after signing up with Steve and Bcd, and we have not received the bulk of the products and services that we PAID for. He stole a significant amount of money from us!!!
We are young entrepreneurs who are just trying to be successful, which in these trying economic times is not easy. We parted with a significant amount of cash to pursue a dream, only to find out we were being taken advantage of and stripped of our dignity and pride. We just hope we can survive!
Be extremely careful and perform strict due diligence before doing business with Bcd and Steve Greene. I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him, and he's a pretty big guy.
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