Norvergence
Ripoff company owes at least $30 million and possibly more to its creditors Newark
- 07-15-2004
- 10
Newsday.com July 15 NORVERGENCE FILED CHAPTER 7
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Customers of bankrupt NorVergence face phone shutoffs
July 15, 7:13 PM EDT
NEWARK, N.J. — Thousands of NorVergence customers were expected to lose service Thursday evening, one day after the telecommunications reseller filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
An estimated 7,000 small and medium-sized businesses nationwide receiving phone or Internet services through Qwest Communications were going to be shut off by 5 P.M.
T-Mobile planned to contact customers individually, who then will have until the end of the month to switch providers, according to a representative for some of NorVergence's customers. Sprint also was giving NorVergence customers time to switch before interrupting service.
NorVergence had appealed Wednesday to the bankruptcy judge for more time to restructure. However, Judge Rosemary Gambardella said she would not accept another delay without a plan in place.
NorVergence attorney Bruce Buechler then asked to move the Newark-based company from Chapter 11 bankruptcy to Chapter 7, which usually leads to liquidation of a company.
The company's 130 remaining employees were to work until the end of Thursday, but no one would return to the office, the company's lawyer, Buechler said.
There was no answer Thursday afternoon at the company's customer service line.
News of the shutoffs frustrated customers like William Bennett, who owns Bennett's Signs and Lighting in Middlesex.
"Now I've got serious situations with no one to answer my questions, " Bennett told The Star-Ledger of Newark. "It leaves me (with) serious questions about what happens to my cell phones, my office phones, everything."
The company owes at least $30 million and possibly more to its creditors, including former employees, phone companies, landlords, vendors and banks, The Record of Bergen County reported.
"I don't know whether to scream or cry, " customer Carol Marubio, who owns an Illinois roofing company, told The Record. "What do you do?"
On the Net:
NorVergence: http://www.norvergence.com
Copyright The Associated Press
Company: Norvergence
Country: USA
Address: Newark New Jersey
Phone: 6192790509