In February I was looking for grants for my start up company. I found National Benefit Agency online... At that point they did not have a bad rating with Better Business Bureau and they were not on the complaint. I paid them $365.00 by bank draft as well, received a large package which I completed and also sent in with a full 4 year business plan as I was instructed to do.
I was told it would take 8-12 weeks for me to receive my list of grants I was qualified for. If I did not receive any grants from the list I was provided with then if I sent in 3 denial letters I would receive a refund for all except $39.95 which was the cost of the original packet. I did not have time to do all of this research on my own so I thought it was a good deal and completed their packet, sent it in with delivery confirmation on May 15.
I called my representative, Kate Morgan to see if indeed they had received the packet (she was at extension 101) A man by the name of Michael Reed called me back and stated my "packet has been received, the business plan looks fabulous and it is all with our legal department who is verifying the information you submitted." I would receive a list of grants I qualified for within 8-12 weeks.
I began calling and left messages on their voicemail on 7/1 at 11:30am EST; 7/6 at 12:39pm and again on 7/24 at 2:52 pm. My 8 weeks was up 7/10. Sometimes it said the voicemail was full, these othertimes I was able to leave a message. I was merely asking for updates.
On 9/2 at 11:16am I called from my husband's cell phone and again left a message on voicemail. I left my name, case number, phone number, delivery confirmation number... Told them my 8 weeks was up 7/10 and my 12 weeks was up 8/12 so I wanted to know where my info was. 2 hours later "Angela" called back and said they had been inundated and she was terribly sorry but she was expecting my list to come Friday 9/4 as she usually gets the reports from their legal department on Fridays. She said she would go ahead and email me the list and contact information as well as send it in the regular mail. She read my email address to me and asked if correct which it was. She again apologized and said she would email it since I had already waited so long.
Well, here it is 9/10 and I called the 866-663-2969 and got a voicemail but it did not say National Benefit Agency... I checked the number and it was correct so I left a message anyway stating that I had not received the list via email or regular mail... And that my friends is when 20 minutes later a nice gentleman from a REAL attorney firm called to tell me that National Benefit Agency appears to be out of business and they picked a random 800 number to forward their calls to which just happens to be the legal firm he works for. He stated the calls he has received this morning is so overwhelming that it is about to crash their phone system! As of today, BBB has a rating for them of "F". I have filed a complaint with the Attorney General of Florida (which is where I live) and I am getting ready to do the same for the state of Michigan which is where this appears to have originated out of.in checking this complaint today, NOW there are some more reports... I am going to go out on a limb here and say not to trust ANY companies that state they will help you get grants!!!
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