IPA - IPA-IBA - Edward Mullen - Laura Jones - G.F. Childs - Russ Krus - International Profit Associates ripff Small California Business Gets scammed! Buffalo Grove Illinois
We hav ethe same story as so many others. On 11/15/2006 we Contracted with IPA to provide a Business Anylist, Russ Krus, to evaluate our business, Evco Commercial Construction. Evaluation was made on the 16th and 17th, but was really a sales pitch for IPA consulting services. We recieved no report from the analysis, but liked the services supposedly offered by IPA.
We were assured that the IPA service was guaranteed to pay for itself, and that IPA would not require payment before our other bills had been satisfied.
The Consultants(Edward Mullen,Laura Jones,G.F. Childs), arrived 11/20/07. During that week, they required post-dated checks to pay for their exorbitant fees. They assured us that they would not cash the checks until we told them that we were be able to cover them. We were then asked to sign some documents rating their preformance (on the second day).
On that second day, Edward and Laura left. The week was very frantic, as we had to continue running our business while trying to also satisfy the consultants. Joe left on Friday, 11/24/07, claiming that they had done what they could for us and we should call them back when we were ready for another session. Joe at that time also suggested that we take out a loan -ostensibly to fund new business that they suggested we could take on, but we believe that they wanted us to take a loan so that we could pay them their fees.
After everyone had left, we read over the few papers they had left behind we found nothing useful, none of the items we were promised, and no suggestion of how we were expected to continue. They then cut off contact with us when we asked them to produce the strategy items that we were promised.
On December 16th, they cashed the first of the post-dated checks ($7691.17) against our wishes and against their promises. We immediately canceled the second. They are now threatening to sue us for the amount of the second post-dated check ($7691.17) plus various fees and penalties.
Cherie
Lake Elsinore, California
U.S.A.