Complaint Review: Dante's Pizza - Wellington, FL Internet

Dante's Pizza Vending Business...A MAJOR $$$ Million Dollar Internet Scam! 

We found the Dante's Pizza Vending business opportunity on a ?reputable? franchise website over a year ago. In checking out the Dante's business opportunity, my partner who is a good Christian woman, got a barrage of phone calls from Lynn Dunn who said he was the owner of Dante's Pizza which has been operating for over 35 years in Baltimore, MD. He told her that he also owns and runs the Dante's Pizza distribution center and business opportunity out of Palm Beach county Florida. After a call with Sandy Dunn at the Baltimore Dante's Pizza facility who reaffirmed this, (also a lie) my partner became very interested.

Lynn Dunn told my partner that prior to his ownership of Dante's he had over 50 years of setting up and owning dozens of very successful businesses that he sold for millions over the years. A real financial wizard! He was very believable and persuasive as he told her that her return on Investment on each Dante's Pizza Vending machine as part of this business opportunity would be over $30,000 on each unit she invested in like several of his Dante's Pizza vending business opportunity owners had already been earning in Florida Hotel locations. When he also guaranteed her a protected and exclusive territory for our state, (in writing) that looked like a dream come true for her.

So, believing these lies, she invested nearly $100,000 to buy several Dante's Pizza vending machines.  She should have been suspect when Lynn Dunn told her to wire the money for the Dante's Pizza Vending Machine business opportunity immediately into his bank account. But, she was promised by Mr. Dunn she would be earning hundreds of thousands of dollars in income from the use of the Dantes Brand name from so many units so she sent him the money. (The Dante's brand to sell so many off-brand products was the reason she bought this business opportunity)  This was the biggest financial mistake she ever made. She had just came into a settlement and this was all the money she had in the world.

During the process she received a series of phone calls from Lynn Dunn followed by massive Dante's emails with attachments including Dante's Pizza power point presentations, and Dante's financial projections on documents showing that a reasonable investment in Dante's provided unbelievable earnings of over $30,000 a year as the owner of just one Dante's Pizza Vending machine. When she was hesitating Lynn Dunn promised her a guaranteed exclusive and protected territory rights if she ordered a larger number of vending machines "right away" because he had a lot of people interested in our state. (I have attached just a few of the over 50 pages of documents she received.)

Although promised in all materials that the vending machines would be placed in great, high-traffic locations of 200-room or above hotels, etc, the Dante's Pizza vending machine locator that she was instructed to pay thousands of dollars to secure the locations at the recommendation of Lynn Dunn could only produce a few unacceptable locations in less than desirable areas. Many would not even fit in the door.

There are pages of documented lies, misrepresentations, and false earnings claims that we have subsequently collected regarding this illegal business opportunity. I am just turning them over to the Attorney Generals in the various states as well as the taxing authorities.  Also, If I were a prospective location, i would not count on those vending machines being there much longer.

We were on a recent call that clearly brought these lies and misrepresentations about the Dante's Pizza vending business opportunity to our attention. We are in touch with the other victims who have similar horror stories and have also lost their life savings to this scam artist. Here are the most significant fraud issues as we view it:

1. Despite all the amazing earnings claims about buying a Dante's Pizza business opportunity, no one in the company is doing even 10 vends a day on a sustained basis. In fact, I have documented that some are doing only 8-10 product sales a week! Earnings across the company are all at a loss and no one that we are aware of has even recouped the cost of a single vending machine let alone make a dime of profit. NO ONE!

2. Lynn Dunn paid my partner to serve as a reference by giving her a lot of free pizzas asking her to embellish her sales figures.

3. We were not provided with the State Required Disclosure documents and financial statements as required by our state and most other states within the U.S.

4. The locators hired who guaranteed great, high-traffic placements and purported to set up our vending machines 1. Did not find good locations (or any locations); and, 2. Never even assisted in the set-up of the units.

Unfortunately, my partner got into the business before i had the opportunity to get involved or i certainly would have advised her to run for her life.  We have now taken the Dante's Pizza fraud above to the regulatory agencies and can only hope and pray that they will be able to help us recover some of her money. If you are a victim as well, i encourage you to post your story here and to do the same. This company will be shut down soon so grab your money and RUN!