My story starts in August when we met with Mark Anthony, Senior Marketing Consultant with Advent Product Development. Mr. Anthony was a very likable fellow that had nothing but wonderful things to say about our new invention. He told us that we were going to be millionaires and that we needed to move forward quickly. Our initial investment was $1,190.00 for a patent search to make sure there was no other product patented that was like our cover. (We could have done this for free.) We gave him our check and that process took approximately four months. He called us for another meeting in December with good news - we had a one of a kind product. There were other products that were similar, but our product was unique and we needed to move more quickly. We gave him another check for $3,500.00 and financed the balance with Triad Resources, Inc.
This is when things started to go down hill. Advent sent us a CAD disk, Press Release and Brochure. All of which looked like they were produced by a Th grade student. Many changes need to be made to the Press Release and Brochure because they really didnt understand the concept of our cover. Fortunately, I saved all this correspondence. I could have done this work myself without the help of Advent, which I ended up doing anyway. My husband placed numerous calls to Advent to get an update on what was happening with our invention, but calls were not returned. The last contact we had with this company was 11/07. We started doing our own research and discovered that Advent Product Development was a rip off and that is why we were not getting what we paid for. We paid Triad through November and then decided we would need to bring our product to market without the help of Advent. Do you see a pattern, we stopped paying them in November and our last contact from them was November?
Since that time we have applied for our utility patent, made prototypes, formed a corporation, sent out press releases, researched trade shows to attend, made full color brochures, sent press releases to magazines; all was accomplished without the help of Advent Product Development. To date, Im still not sure what they gave me for my $6,721.86. To add insult to injury, Triad Research is now telling me they want the balance of more than $4,000.00. For what Im not quite sure. They said if we dont pay they will lien our invention.
When I called Advent Product Development in South Carolina today, Dorothy told me that Advent sent out press releases to 53 publications, 25 of which were newspapers (Im sure Ive seen inventions in the newspaper.) Dorothy also told me that they took our brochure to two trade shows. I have not heard from this company since 11/07 and they took my product brochure to a trade show (RIGHT!) I could put whatever I want in the notes in my computer and say I did something that I didnt.
My story is sad because we got nothing for our money except for a low budget brochure, disk and press release. We spent all of our money in hopes that we could sign a licensing agreement with someone and get this product on the market. We believed in Advent Product Development and they let us down. The end of my story is simple - if you have an invention, do your own research, get a patent attorney, etc. Save your money for the important things to get your product to market. If your waiting for Advent to do it, it will never happen. This company gives you nothing for the money you spend. I will tell this story to anyone and everyone until this company is OUT OF BUSINESS!
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