Patrick Wilson of Vodela, aka VME Consulting, aka VME Advisory, took $35320 to deliver electronic equipment. Invoice was issued in US dollars for $35,000 plus $320 dollars for shipping. He asked invoice to be paid using cryptocurrency, which was purchased at the market price and sent to him. Receipt of fully paid invoice was sent back.
This transpired in end of December. Goods were to be delivered approximately mid-January. His refund policy was clear, all refunds are done by check for the USD amount of the invoice. Which were we ok with, since it's impossible to do business using a medium that is as volatile as cryptocurrency.
By end of march he said he will refund by sending back the cryptocurrency, that goes against his own policy. So on $35,320 invoice he wished to pay back approximately 30% of what was paid. This is due to that very same volatile price fluctuation. Bitcoin price in December was around $18000 while today it's hanging around $7000. Nobody would've paid him a single cent, unless terms of agreement specifically guaranteed the return of invoice in full USD amount.
This person is a fraudster of highest order. Because besides changing his company name from VME consulting to VME Advisory, he also changed his policy on the website to try to go around this, as soon as i told him i'm involving my laywer.
Here is the link to the screenshot with the Refund section highlighted:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/vme-dispute/vme_refund_policy.png
Here is the link to the their full terms and conditions (As of March 16th), which is saved knowing he will try to pull some shady moves:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/vme-dispute/vme_tc.pdf
And here are his "NEW" public terms and conditions under different company name:
http://vmeadvisory.com/terms-and-conditions/
Isn't that funny that person changes a company name and their policy as soon as a scammed customer threatens to to sue for the money stolen?
Patrick Wilson and this array of companies are fraudulent entities centralizing in fraud, lies and audacious ripoffs. His alternative address for VME Consulting to which we paid this invoice, was: 55 Ponemah Rd. Ste 4, Amherst, NH 03031 United States
VME Advisory
Amherst,#2UPDATE Employee
Fri, May 18, 2018
Anton and Indictum Data Mining are and have been good clients of VME Advisory, and we are grateful for their business and friendship. Mr. Wilson is the President of VME Advisory, and while he does communicate directly with clients, he is not the only party to service client accounts from an administrative capacity. Mr. Wilson's duties surround the overall operations of the company, client engagement, and while he does participate in client transactions he may not be the only person involved in the logistics of an international order or vendor communications.
This situation was a misunderstanding in contract/invoice authority between VME and Indictum Data Mining It's important to note that VME Advisory is not a retailer of equipment, but a consultancy and advisory group that offers industrial equipment acquisition services for clients.
In the case mentioned here, the vendor of the products that Anton and indictum Data Mining were trying to purchase from, did not follow through on the order fulfillment and vanished. (we assume that they went out of business). Our policies with clients prevent us from applying their funds to a different vendor without their express permission. In this case, VME was blocked from locating a new supplier for the equipment ordered by Anton and Indictum Data Mining until authorization was recieved.
We attempted to locate and track down the original vendor for 90 days after the promissed delivery date with no luck. After a discussion with Anton and Indictum Data Mining, Anton authorized VME to find a replacement vendor. As instructed, VME sourced a new vendor, and promptly fulfilled the order once Indictum Data Mining's authorization was in place.
VME understands that on high-ticket-invoices, emotions can run high when something goes wrong. We also understand that in the heat of a negtaive situation, a client might feel out of options and post a report like this. That's understandable and we don't hold that against Anton or Indictum Data Mining. VME may have taken a similar action if the situation had been reversed. We did our best to resolve the matter within the scope of what we were allowed, with the original equipment vendor, related to the invoice and client relationship. VME is happy to report that after a new vendor was located, all of the ordered equipment was acquired and delivered to Anton and Indictum Data Mining.
In business, things happen and VME will always stand by their clients, but sometimes policy and legalities can prevent us from taking certain actions without express client permission. This situation worked out, and we look forward to years of friendship with Anton and his team at Indictum Data Mining.
In this case, VME's client protection services worked perfectly. Anton and Indictum Data Mining did not lose their initial payment to a vendor who vanished, VME was able to apply Anton/Indictum Data Mining's funds to a new vendor after authorization was recieved.
Referencing the unfortunate timing of our terms-of-service, like many businesses, VME Advisory updates terms-and-conditions every quarter to ensure that we are addressing any new scenarios that emerge in our industry. So in this case, it happened to be a timing issue. Our terms-and-conditions page does include links to prior versions of our terms-and-conditions.
In reference to the name change from VME Consulting to VME Advisory, VME, LLC is the legal name of our company (which has not changed), but we did make a branding shift this year to better identify our services and registered new DBAs (Trade Names) that were similar to our original business name and that we felt were more descriptive of our company and services. VME Consulting, and VME Advisory are both registered trade names of VME, LLC in the state of New Hampshire.
In addition our rebranding coninsided with with a move to a larger location for our offices. Our prior office (down the road) at 55 Ponemah Rd, ste. 4, Amherst, NH 03031 became much to small for our staff and VME relocated to 292 Route 101, ste. 8, Amherst NH 03031 in February of 2018.
While this transaction ended as intended, with the client receiving their order, albeit from a new vendor. It's important to note that cryptocurrency markets are new and volitile; and USD market values change rapidly and without notice. VME has no control over cryptocurrency market conditions, but tries to work out the best possible solution when problems arise to protect both ourselves, and clients. In this case, the order was delivered, after the vendor had to be resourced, and in most cases when Bitcoin or Cryptocurrency is involved, refunds can become a tricky business for everyone involved. Thankfully, due to the matter being resolved, this order did not have to navigate a complicated refund process in multiple currencies with different market values.
Anton
North Bergen,#3Author of original report
Thu, May 03, 2018
Patrick Wilson made good on this delivery, so this issue has been resolved to a satisfactory result.