As an Investor in this company, it has been a long exhausting effort for me to get this company to pay back my investment according to the contract they wrote to me. I invested $50,000 back in 2006 and it was to be paid back in full with the interest by July of 2008. Here it is February 2010 and they still have not paid all of this money back.
Not only that, they tell me they have no money, yet they continue to tell other potential investors that they are a strong healthy company with over 1.5 million in sales in 2009.
Because they did not or could not pay the money back as agreed I had to agree to monthly payments which stretched their debt to me far beyond the contract limits with no additional compensation to me. Now, they have stopped paying all together because they have other priorities. Yet, they send out newsletters boasting of the health and vibrancy of their company, yet when it comes to paying the money back that launched them, as a small investor who is not important to them anymore I am left sitting in limbo. Now I am just a liability to them and they have strong-armed me many times to relinquish the terms of my contract because they have other investors waiting who do not want to see my 5% stake in the profits of this company stand in their way.
Now, I am not a big investor, but a common person who is getting up in years and I did not really have this money to give them, but they talked a smooth game, so I trusted them. I had a little bit of money that I wanted to share with a worthwhile cause and they had me believe that they would honor the contract they wrote to me. Now as of Feb, 2010 I am loosing my place because I lived on the money they sent to me each month and they abruptly stopped paying in January 2010. Their greed has caused a 60 year old person to be in poverty and meanwhile they continue to support their vision.
I think it is shameful that company's like this can get away with these things. I desperately need the remaining $20,000 that they owe me, yet they decided a new computer program worth $50,000 was more important than me having a roof over my head. Meanwhile, at my age I have difficulty finding work in this economy yet these kids are living their dream. It is very sad.
I would urge any and all investors to be very careful if you are entertaining the idea of investing any money to Chad Ashley Vandenberg and his company Elements for Life in Novato, Ca. as you may never see it paid back. They do not go to banks for their funding, just small unsuspecting investors who trust them.