I first became a client of First American Solutions LLC on September 27. From the beginning, this company seemed legitimate. They even go as far as producing a form with all their info so that you can do your due diligence. They checked out fine with the state, the Chamber of Commerce etc. At the time they didnt even have any bad reports on the internet.in the days that followed, they did have one report posted that they seemed to handle. When I originally went to this company, I was answering an ad stating that you can get grants and that this was the company to help you do it. After my first conversation with my sales representative, I was feeling very comfortable, so I decided to do the due diligence to make sure they were above board. Once we decided to go with this company, they convinced me that to really get the grants, I should become a non profit. Well, that is the only good that has come out of any of this. I have moved forward to start a non profit foundation that I always wanted to do. What has not worked out are any of the promises that they made. First, not knowing how grants worked, I believed the following story:
Based on my type of project, I was pre approved for 1.25 million dollars in grants and I would have these grants in 3-6 months, but closer to 3 because I was setting up a non profit and they get funded quicker. Also, that they had 20 private funding sources to get these grants from. They stated that 6 of these sources approved my project.
Along with these promises that were far from true, I was told that they would do everything to set up my non profit and write the grants. They promised that the corporation would be set up, that the big 25-30 page business plan would be done and that all the grant writing would be done because, wellI was already approved for 1.25 million dollars. The only part of this that happened is that another company that they work with eventually set up my corporation after many days of back and forth arguments over payment that First American Solutions was supposed to pay.
This company then stated that they had a grant of $5000 that they could get me by December that would help with some of these administrative costs. This also was a lie and never happened.By this time, after they rushed and pushed me to hurry up and pay the last of my monies, I had given them $6000. Now, if $6000 was readily accessible, I would not have been looking for grants and monies.
It was not until very late in the year that the grant writers even got my file for the first time.
As of today, I still only have my corporation set up. This does not cost $6000. I still have not received a business plan, which they are now saying was never promised. I also have not had one grant application written in my name. After gaining much knowledge on my own, I know that there is no way I was pre approved for anything. They didnt even have grants to go to themselves. I am the one that has done the research and found the only grant sources that they even said they would apply for. The problem is that they still have not applied for any of them.
I have tried to get my money back. I have tried to get any kind of satisfaction, but this company seems to be turning a deaf ear to my concerns.
I do not want more than is owed to me, though I should for the time and heartache that they have caused. I just want $3900 refunded to me. This would be the amount I gave, $6000, minus the $2100 that we were told after the fact that setting up the corporation was.
I am hoping that if enough of the disgruntled customers band together that maybe this company will do the right thing.
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