Complaint Review: Essential Grocer - Toronto Ontario

I got a call from Detective Makris today and was told that the crooks at Essential Grocers are now under full investigation by the Toronto Fraud squad. They have assigned a new detective, Detective Ted Gaskin to lead the investigation. He can be reached at 416-808-7335. The case number is #1538965. Approximately 25+ people have been defrauded by Essential Grocer. I have spoken to some of the other victims and have learned that a few people received "good faith compensation checks" of $1600CN from EG and were told to go find their own accounts. I did not personally get any such check - afterall, they know that I already know they are a scam so why try to con me some more? Only those who still were being strung along got checks, and at least in one case, I was told by a victim in California that his check had bounced when he tried to cash it. All that most people ever got from EG were some very overpriced coolers and nothing else. However, one victim I spoke with in Arizona told me that a person from J. Pratt & Associates actually showed up! The original contract stipulated that J. Pratt would bring all of the merchandise needed to stock 15 quality, pre-approved account locations. Instead, the victim was told that they first needed to go to Sam's Club to purchase the product. The victim spent over $600 at Sam's and was told he would be reimbursed by Essential Grocer. Several months later, he had not received any reimbursement. Also, the majority of the accounts turned out to be nowhere near the quality promised. He has since had to pull his coolers from several locations due to rampant pilferage. If you are a victim of this scam. Make sure to contact Detective Gaskin. We many never see a dime back from these crooks, but we need to do all we can to make sure that law enforcement can at least mete out some justice to these crooks.

I got a call from Detective Makris today and was told that the crooks at Essential Grocers are now under full investigation by the Toronto Fraud squad. They have assigned a new detective, Detective Ted Gaskin to lead the investigation. He can be reached at 416-808-7335. The case number is #1538965. Approximately 25+ people have been defrauded by Essential Grocer. I have spoken to some of the other victims and have learned that a few people received "good faith compensation checks" of $1600CN from EG and were told to go find their own accounts. I did not personally get any such check - afterall, they know that I already know they are a scam so why try to con me some more? Only those who still were being strung along got checks, and at least in one case, I was told by a victim in California that his check had bounced when he tried to cash it. All that most people ever got from EG were some very overpriced coolers and nothing else. However, one victim I spoke with in Arizona told me that a person from J. Pratt & Associates actually showed up! The original contract stipulated that J. Pratt would bring all of the merchandise needed to stock 15 quality, pre-approved account locations. Instead, the victim was told that they first needed to go to Sam's Club to purchase the product. The victim spent over $600 at Sam's and was told he would be reimbursed by Essential Grocer. Several months later, he had not received any reimbursement. Also, the majority of the accounts turned out to be nowhere near the quality promised. He has since had to pull his coolers from several locations due to rampant pilferage. If you are a victim of this scam. Make sure to contact Detective Gaskin. We many never see a dime back from these crooks, but we need to do all we can to make sure that law enforcement can at least mete out some justice to these crooks.

I got a call from Detective Makris today and was told that the crooks at Essential Grocers are now under full investigation by the Toronto Fraud squad. They have assigned a new detective, Detective Ted Gaskin to lead the investigation. He can be reached at 416-808-7335. The case number is #1538965. Approximately 25+ people have been defrauded by Essential Grocer. I have spoken to some of the other victims and have learned that a few people received "good faith compensation checks" of $1600CN from EG and were told to go find their own accounts. I did not personally get any such check - afterall, they know that I already know they are a scam so why try to con me some more? Only those who still were being strung along got checks, and at least in one case, I was told by a victim in California that his check had bounced when he tried to cash it. All that most people ever got from EG were some very overpriced coolers and nothing else. However, one victim I spoke with in Arizona told me that a person from J. Pratt & Associates actually showed up! The original contract stipulated that J. Pratt would bring all of the merchandise needed to stock 15 quality, pre-approved account locations. Instead, the victim was told that they first needed to go to Sam's Club to purchase the product. The victim spent over $600 at Sam's and was told he would be reimbursed by Essential Grocer. Several months later, he had not received any reimbursement. Also, the majority of the accounts turned out to be nowhere near the quality promised. He has since had to pull his coolers from several locations due to rampant pilferage. If you are a victim of this scam. Make sure to contact Detective Gaskin. We many never see a dime back from these crooks, but we need to do all we can to make sure that law enforcement can at least mete out some justice to these crooks.

One of EG's victims from New York state recently went to physically check out Essential Grocer's Don Mills office location. As it turns out, there is no actual business operation there at all. What's left of Essential Grocer, LTD. is just an address and an answering service to stall angry investors who have been ripped off. I also noticed that a total of 10 reports have now been filed with the Toronto BBB. None of them have been resolved, and probably never will be. However, we can deduce that there are at least 10 victims of Essential Grocer out there and presumeably, more. If you are a victim of Essential Grocer's scam, please contact me at: [email protected] . I would sure like to get a networking database for a potential class action lawsuit.

Several developments to add since the last update. Essential Grocer is now on the radar of a considerable number of business, governmental and law enforcement agencies. For starters, I've filed a report with BBB of Toronto and not suprisingly, Essential Grocer handily maintains that they still "intend" to fulfull their contract. One slight problem: They never did and never will. Gee, wouldn't be nice for the rest of us if we could just tell the bank that we "intend" to pay our mortgage back and never actually do it? Any way, in characteristic style, Essential Grocer refuses to settle the matter by returning my money. I've notice there has been several more such "unresolved" reports filed with BBB so the momentum is building. I've also had a the Toronto Fraud squad run an investigation of them so they are keeping a close eye on these crooks. The officer has also passed the information onto the FBI as many of their victims are in the U.S. In addition, I've filed a detailed report with RECOL.COM an economic crimes reporting site in Canada. This information is forwarded to local jurisdictions in Canada and should be a "first step". For good measure, I filed a report with the Federal Trade Commission as well. Finally, The RIPOFFREPORT.COM which I believe is the most effective deterrent to scams like Essential Grocer. On 1/27/05 I received a letter from Essential Grocer - this is presumably a mass mailing that went out to all of their victims. The gist of the letter is that they have been having business difficulties. They handily blame their marketing company (J.Pratt & Associates) for their problems (no kidding). They announced they are closing their fancy offices at 20 Bay St. and moving to their Don Mills office (416)424-6602. Hmm, do we smell another rat here? I sure the heck do.

On 11/19/05 my lawyer received a "screw you" response from Mr. Harrington sarcastically telling me that I shouldn't expect my money back because I did not "purchase a sofa". Of course they handily ignored the fact they violated their contract and failed to ever deliver on their promises. What's more, they offered to "sell" my distributorship to a new "buyer" and only then they would return a portion of my investment less unspecified expenses! Basically they are asking me to consent to helping them find a new victim for them in my area! So after they've successfully bilked the next guy out of his $39,800 what are my chances of ever seeing a dime of what's owed me? You got it, Zilch. I was fooled the first time, but shame on me if I let these liars fool me again.