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  • Report:  #89155

Complaint Review: Norvergence - Newark New Jersey

Reported By:
- WASHINGTON, District of Columbia,
Submitted:
Updated:

Norvergence
550 Broad Street Newark, 07102 New Jersey, U.S.A.
Phone:
866-848-6678
Web:
N/A
Categories:
Tell us has your experience with this business or person been good? What's this?
the following is an accurate report of what is happening to me the report was issued by a Telecom Newsletter:

Norvergence a $150,000,000 Million scam:

Their Strategy:

Suggest that rates are rising and guarantee you a 20% savings on all your telcom bills valid for five years..

Their Plan:

Review all your bills and see if you qualify and propose a solution.

Their solution:

A magic Matrix box that does the savings for you.

THE CLOSE:

You lease the Matrix for 80% of your phone bill for five years So, if you spend $1,000 /month then you pay 800/month for five years = $48,000

Supposedly saving 200/month or 2400 a year.

GOTCHA:

You lease the Matrix from a bank with a personal guarantee

You pay for it regardless of what happens to Norvergence.

But the market value is only 2% of what you are paying for it.

WHAT REALLY HAPPENS:

Norvergence gets the $48,000 up front from the bank when you sign.

And then they either pay directly or reimburse you for your phone bills

The Magic box is made by Adtran NYSE:ADTN www.adtran.com

SOHO costs $300 and regular Matrix costs about $1,400.

In all but one installation that I have seen, the magic Matrix box doesn't do anything.

I have a SOHO MATRIX here It's an Adtran 2050, not even programmed.

CATCH1:

YOU MUST KEEP YOUR REGULAR LINES and PAY FOR THEM because Norvergence is NOT a registered CLEC, they cannot handle inbound calls.

CATCH22:

Generally with their unlimited calls they only pay the bill on one line.

Unless you read carefully and negotiate in advance.

CATCH33:

Bills for reimbursement have to be mailed, and constantly checked up on. Various clients have different success with their reimbursements. One has brought the bills in person after several months of delay and still wasn't reimbursed.

REALITY CHECK:

WHEN they discontinue business, you're still paying $20,000-60,000 for a $300-$1,200 box that does nothing or next to nothing. With your personal guarantee.

IF they stay in business AND rates remain the same or go up You are AHEAD.

However Rates have gone done 4-8% a year for the past 20 years, a major flaw in their scare tactic strategy.

They cannot stay in business unless they continue to sell more clients: A classic Ponzi scheme.

EVEN IF they stay in business AND fail to pay your telephone providers, you are liable for the payment to the bank for the box, as well as to your various telephone and internet providers.

OWNERSHIP HISTORY:

"The Chairman and CEO of NorVergence is Peter Salzano. However, he is just a front man for his brother Thomas N. Salzano (Tom Salzano) who is the true decision maker at NorVergence. Tom Salzano was the former CEO of Minimum Rate Pricing, Inc. which was fined the highest penalty

ever by the FCC for Slamming - changing your long distance

provider without your authorization. The FCC also barred him from ever running a telecommunications company again. So at NorVergence, he is only a "consultant" and is not in any literature. He is, however, in the same building that NorVergence resides at in Newark, New Jersey.

Go to www.fcc.gov and look up "Salzano" or "Minimum Rate

Pricing". You may also find information on USENET.

LAWSUITS:

Over a dozen I know about, only one is listed on their D&B report Linked on their website.

Personal Interest:

I am an independent agent: A company like this makes all competing phone companies look bad. Also a bit of an activist; It feels wrong that businesses are being scammed. Companies with IT departments that know what these boxes do, see right through their scam and show them the door. They prey on smaller businesses who can swallow their hype And yes I have lost one account to them, but only on line of traffic!

Their Proprietary Technology

Sure the boxes are patented, but not by them, by Adtran. The MATRIX is an Adtran 850 RCU which is a standard T1 integrated internet access device with channel bank and router, retailing for $2,222. I have sold programmed and installed dozens of these. It does not support voip. Voice is handled by standard channel option cards.

The SOHO is an Adtran 2050, retailing for $599 which is a firewall, gateway, router, and VPN appliance it does not access the internet or handle any voice or voip. I have programmed and installed two of them, one in my home office. In all the Norvergence installations I've seen the box is doing nothing at all.

I have one here that I removed from a client - only one end was plugged in!

COMPLAINTS:

There are several complaints, not resolved yet at the NJ division of consumer affairs.

Steve

WASHINGTON, District of Columbia
U.S.A.


1 Updates & Rebuttals

Ex-Employee

Newark,
New Jersey,
U.S.A.
AGREE AND HERE IS THE TRUTH ..Tom Salzano also owns 3rd party benefits consolidator (Comprehensive Benefits).

#2UPDATE EX-employee responds

Sun, May 09, 2004

On April 22 and 23 as well as to follow next week Norvergence went through a major lay off another 280+ people. They will tell you that its because they over estimated the growth and can not install enough clients in time, so they have to slow down the growth for few months. Now here is the truth. Norvergence was about to roll out NorvCapital (leasing side of Norvergence). In order to open that company they brought on 2 major investors one investing $50 Million and the other $150 Million. Well guess what the $150 Mill investor pulled out. Leaving Norvergence where it belongs in the shitter. Good luck to all of you top executives including Tom Salzano who are frantically trying to install all the customers before the 30 day deadline where they will have to give back close to another $100 million. ****** ALSO ****** Tom Salzano also owns 3rd party benefits consolidator (Comprehensive Benefits). There is actually no problem with it unless you figure out how not too loose money with sick people. Tom Salzano has asked numerous people in management and HR not hire people that are sick. Tom tries to find out who is sick and for some reason those people are let go. There are few people that are currently working for the company with serious sicknesses and are afraid to let anyone but there immediate friends know. People that are on disability leave are let go for most outrageous reason. Even though the state mandates for a corporation to keep someone's job while they are on short term disability, Tom figures out a way to fire them.

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