Complaint Review: WINSTON PRIDE AND ASSOCIATES PTY LTD - SOUTHPORT Select State/Province

I received a phone call from a female person some time before the 10^th September 2009 ,probably about a week. I can not recall her name but now believe it was Carole Smith. She asked me if I would like to have some literature posted to me regarding a company that was selling a business opportunity. I said that would be ok and the call ended. The literature from  Winston Pride and Associates Pty Ltd. (`The Company`), duly arrived and seeing that it was to do with gambling I wasnt   interested.

On the 10^th Sept 2009 I received another call from a female who said her name was Carole.  She enquired as to wether I had received the mail out and if I had any questions. I asked her the price for the product, she replied  $6600.00, blah .blah. I asked why if this was so good they would be selling the product. Her answer was that the TAB has a limit on the amount you can wager, blah. She asked if I was interested, I said I would think about it a hung up. About 5 minutes later a male person rang me, and announced himself as belonging to `the company`. He said the had a special program for $3300.00 and you pay the remainder ,$3.300.00 from  the profits after six months using the system. I asked what happened if you never made a profit, he said that couldnt happen but they had another program for $3,300.000 and you were supplied with 5 boxed Quinellas for specified race meetings and  no more payments apart from placing a minimum $500.00 into an online TAB account in my name . If the $10000.00 target was not reached in a 6 month period after signing the documents the $3300.00 would be refunded. I enquired as to how long the company had been operating and was told eight years. I then supplied my credit card details reluctantly as I advised him I would prefer to use bank transfer. He said Credit card was better because no interest was charged, etc. etc, blah. I would receive a receipt by fax and their application details and contract details would be sent by email for my authorisation and to sign and return same by email.

When the papers arrived the same day the contract had no mention of the guaranteed refund, so I did not return the documents.

The next day 11^th Sept 2009 another male person called (not person the same as the first one) and I explained why I had not signed the documents. He said the document I had received was a basic contract and when I had returned the original documents I would ,in about ten days, receive another contract document which would have the guarantee included. I then asked him to send me a copy of the new document, he asked why. I told him I did not authorise documents I had not seen. Later that day he called again and asked had I  received the documents , I said no because I hadnt checked my email. He then said time was running out because for me to receive  the information to place bets on the coming weekend. I told him I wasnt worried concerned if I did not  place any bets , next weekend would be fine with me. He hug up abruptly.

The documents had arrived and the new contract was identical to the old one but for an extra line  tacked on to include the guarantee clause. I then became suspicious because that could have been on the original contract.

I checked The ASIC web sight and found no real problems there except that the company had only been operating just over twelve months. I then contacted Dun & Bradstreet. The document they sent me contained the names of four other companies that Ms Carole Smith had been a director of, namely INVESTGROWTH PTY LTD,LORAC INVESTMENTS PTY LTD,PLATTINUM PROFESSIONAL PROGRAMS PTY LTD and SUPATAB(AUST) PTY LTD.  and also stated that `the company `had operated only since 06 March 2008. I looked up these Companies names and could only find one that still existed, namely Platinum Professional Programs Pty Ltd. This name  led  me to  blogs from  two people who encountered problems with  Platinum Professional Programs Pty Ltd

The alarm bells went so I contacted the credit card company and asked for the debit of $3300.00 to be reversed. They said this could not be done and to inform the people involved of why I had decided not to go ahead with the scheme, which I did on Saturday 12 Sept 2009 by email. The email which I have sent thrice has not been acknowledged and the telephone  number  supplied goes only to the receptionist who tells you that a 1902 prefix number is required to contact the proprietors and she will advise them that I have called. This 1902 number is only available if you sign and return the documents they provided.

I have signed no documents.

To sum up basically they  have  $3300.00 belonging to myself.

They have no signed no authorisation for the $3300.00  dedbit to my credit card.

They have provided no service.  

Also below is part of the information supplied by Dun & Bradstreet. I have looked for Simmons Partnership on the net and they are no longer listed.