The easiest was to describe what happened to me is to refer to the other complaint I saw here from usacomplaints.com:
Reported By: Carlos Hallandale Beach Florida United States of America
Submitted: Tuesday, January 25 Posted: Tuesday, January 25
I was shocked at this report, names above, as it is PRECISELY was happened to me, right down to the amounts, people I spoke to, everything!
It is difficult to say whether this started out as legitimate — whether this company actually helped anyone get grant funding for their business. I read a few posts online where people actually had received funding through efforts of this company. Later, I discovered how easy it can be to post false testimonials — so it's tough to say. I consulted an attorney about this as my experinece began and it was dificult to determine whether I was being scammed up front. The idea of getting grant funding seemed worth the $3500 risk. Read on:
1) I was called on my cell phone to start everything off, seemingly a telemarketing call. They offered to help my bsuiness obtain grant funding. This gal had all of the answers and seemed to know her stuff. She took what she referred to as an "over the phone application for approval". Shortly after our call I received an email stating "Congratulations, you're Approved with more than 30 foundations!". Then, Allyssa Alvarez got involved and said I needed to pay $7,000 to get the process going, because it was a lengthy, laborous process to get funding for us. They would accept $3500 up front and then take the remaining 3500 balance from the funding once received. Allyssa Alvarez was very clear that my money would be refunded if I did not get funding within 90 days. She said this over and over to me, to assure me that there was no risk of losing my 3500.
2) I was assigned a project manager, Steven Arcuri. I was given a huge questionnaire via email. I was told I had to complete this and then they would create a Business Analysis. This BA was a critical component and would be used by the grant writer to write the grant. After waiting a couple weeks, I recevied the BA. The analysis did not seem comprehensive, rather repetitive, and did not conclude anything positive about my business. They claimed this was all part of the plan to convince organizations to give grant funding to us.
3) At the end of around Christmas time, I was called by Steven and his "supervisor" Ronald Joseph. Ronald said they had a client who had "fallen out of their funding because they were not truthful on their application and questionnaire info" and that I could be put into position to receive the funding, a $500,000 renewable grant! Mr. Jospeh had me quite pumped up about this — and then the punchline came: The funding was conditioned upon receiving a comprehensive business plan which would cost about 15,000! I told him flat out that I did not have access to that kind of money. Then he said if we could come up with half ($7,500) than they would do it and take the remaining balance from the funding. My questions to him were: a) Why can't you just take the entire 15k once the funds are received? [he said the law prohibits them from doing so] and b) Can I submit a business plan of my own? [he said it would need to be their business plan]
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