Complaint Review: US Marketing

At this time the company has moved out of the building and the phone is disconnected. I have filed a lawsuit but wanted folks to know about this scam so you don't get ripped off like I did! They run ads in newspapers trying to sell this as a home based business stocking merchandise, on a consignment basis with store owners, mainly watches, sunglasses, GINSU Knives, and stuffed animals in stores and how they will come in and set you up with locations. They want only cash or certified bank checks so nothing is fightable and I'm sure they are still doing this now just not from the same place. The peoples names are Robert Gibbs, Michael Price, and George Deckon of Atlanta, GA. The person that came in from Austin TX to find the stores is named Larry Vasquez. I have cell phone numbers and addresses for Decon and Vasquez at home. If you ever have occasion to deal with these people throw them out of your house or business.

When George Deckon of your organization gave me my big sales presentation about becoming a distributor for USM he had a chart of the money you can make with certain sales and number of locations. The figures he used were $180,000 plus a year, although I'm sure this chart will never show up so it's my word against theirs. He mesmerized me with how great this would be and how much cash money you can make. Since they were going to acquire the initial locations this sounded like a feasible business concept. They conned me into the 40 locations deal costing $26,895.00. Then after I received my distributor package touting the cameras, dog treats, and suntan wipes, I talked to George and he recommended that I buy them. This cost me another $1200.00 for those three items. When I received my merchandise from USM it included 9 sunglass racks containing 36 sunglasses, 10 watch displays and 250 watches, 8 cases of stuffed animals, and a lot of GINSU knives. This amount of merchandise was not sufficient to stock 40 locations your company is well aware of it. The 40 locations I was supposed to have turned into about 8 that I could put merchandise into. The rest either didn't want the merchandise shown on the location agreement or they told me they had told Mr. Vasquez no when he visited. There were several duplications of paperwork in the location agreements also. I have talked to the owners several times to see if they changed their mind. Following are the locations I could not put merchandise into:

14 ECON locations in Mobile, AL. were 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 hours away from my home and I was never able to get a list of the stores from Byron.

2 Hair Salons on Pass Road in Biloxi both said No they didn't want merchandise.

1 Swifty Mart on Pass Road has never allowed me to put any merchandise in the store.

3 Stores on Division Street all said No when I returned with the merchandise.

1 Mexican Store on Hwy 49 said No to all merchandise.

1 Convenience Store on Pass Road in Gulfport with Tami as manager also said No.

1 Dog Grooming place in Dlberville said she told the locator No.

1 Dog Grooming place on Pass Road was a sale of a dog product not an ongoing location.

That is 24 of my 40 locations that absolutely said No and the duplication of papers took care of a few more locations. I also spent $800.00 - $900.00 driving around Mobile (a hotbed according to Mr. Deckon), Biloxi, and Gulfport.

Mr. Price has been very unsupportive in my endeavor to build this business. I tried to get your company to come out and complete our contract by getting more locations and Mr. Price refused that offer. He exploded on the phone when he told me they would not send anyone down here to get more locations and that I was blaming everyone else for my failures. I told him that was fine I would file a complaint with the BBB. I received a letter from your company dated July 29, 2004 after my conversation with Mr. Price about your company coming back and replacing the locations telling me how much of a problem I have been for your company. My wife Tina was on the phone that day and can verify the conversation. Tina has also accompanied me on several occasions, to the supposedly secured locations, and has gone into the businesses with me to talk to the owners.

Listed below is the settlement I will be seeking in court and will be my last effort at settling this unacceptable situation:

32 locations at $50.00 income per week X 10 weeks = $16,000 of lost income.

Full Refund of the Initial $26,895.00 plus the $1280.00 for the dog treats, cameras, and suntan wipes due to severe breach of the contract terms. Refund of the $4500.00 that your locator (even as a contract employee your company is responsible for his actions) Larry Vasquez conned me out of to buy more merchandise. This comes out to a grand total of $48,675.00. If we go to court there will also be pain and suffering payments added into these figures.

Your assistance in this matter will be greatly appreciated. If you have any questions, please contact me at the number above.

Steve
Ocean Springs, Mississippi
U.S.A.