Weekly Bulletin Board Report 10/15/03

#1

I am the CFO for ********., a small plastic manufacturer located in ***** CA. We were looking for equipment financing and paid a $4,000.00 refundable deposit to *******, for the purpose of securing financing. The Managing Director is ***** Since we sent the check on June 18, 2003, little was done and no financing has been secured for us. Many request to return our refund had been ignored. We are quite sure this company is set up to deceive companies desperate for financing and we want companies out there to be aware of this dishonest company. I also welcome whatever help or advice you can offer.

(We have asked him for a copy of any commitment letter or anything he signed, plus

a copy of the cancelled check. The leasing company in questions appears not to belong

to any leasing association, no web site, nothing in the Better Business Bureau, and

depending on the documents, this may be another company burned in our industry.)

#2

A complaint about NorVergence , with accusations against the vendor

who belongs to the Equipment Leasing Association and the person in charge

of bank relations is the president of the Eastern Association of Equipment

Leasing. We are presently looking into the complaint and the accusations

made. It is not fair to repeat them as we do not know if they are true

or not true.

“NorVergence(NorV) is Drastically Reducing Telecommunications Costs for the Small to Medium Enterprise business.

“NorVergence is a $150,000,000 Business Equipment and Systems Engineering Company with 38 offices Nationwide, over 1,200 employees and Engineers from some of the top technology firms in the world including: Nortel, Lucent, Cisco and IBM. The company is Drastically Reducing Telecommunication's Costs for the Small to Medium sized Enterprise.

“The NorVergence MATRIX Phone System was engineered and designed based on the latest Next Generation Network Technologies from the Fortune 500 in early 2000. The company was then founded after a year of NDA Development in 2001 by Peter J. Salzano Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. NorVergence is headquartered in Newark, New Jersey. Strategic Technology Solutions Providers include: Nortel Networks, Lucent, Cisco and IBM. The Company is backed by Private Venture Capitalists.”

http://www.norvergence.com/Pages/h_aboutus.htm

A complaint was posted on the internet, and we do not print it, however

here is the address provided to us:

http://mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/telecom-archives/TELECOM_Digest_Online/1140.html

Here is the web address for NorVergence with full information about the company

and their “partners” :

http://www.norvergence.com/

#3

The rest of the story regarding the Major Recreational Vehicle dealer finds us through the Internet with a complaint about a “broker” representing himself as a “funder,”

and not returning a deposit to a customer.

In investigating this, the “broker” is a member of a leasing association,

has completed several leases with the dealer, has two pending, and

the one in question has been turned down several times, which he

states the RV dealer was aware.

We suggested they contact us if the “advance rental” is not returned

to their customer, and to utilize the National Association of Equipment

Leasing Broker web site to find a broker who would undertake these

assignments. We told this to the broker who said his accountant was

out, but he would send the check right away.

Almost thirty days later, the vendor called and said the applicant still

did not have the check. He said the broker told him he mailed the check

several weeks ago. Leasing News contacted the broker and asked him to

put a stop payment on the check and issue a new one by one day delivery.

The broker said he would mail a new check. We told him if he did not

send by one day delivery with a fax copy of the express form and check,

we would print the complaint.

Fifteen minutes by fax we received a copy of the express form and check,

with the fax addressed to “San Jose Police Department.”

The next day the vendor called to say the check was received. I told him

if it bounced, we would ask for a cashier check. The vendor said he still

had two deals pending with the broker, and hoped they would go through.

He said he had no where else to go with these deals, plus the broker

had the advance rentals.

#4

An attorney sent us an e-mail regarding the same person/company

mentioned in three, stating the party was to send a check, but did

not. We asked him to document the complaint, and we would follow-up

with it. We advised to do quickly as it appears the “super broker”

is having “cash flow” problems and reminds us of MSM---where

we were able to get $80,000 back in advance rentals, but when

they filed bankruptcy, owed $1.1 million in advance rentals,

according the disclosure to the courts.

#5

Super Broker in Florida

“ They refused to give back the commitment fee on all three deals I had with

them and all of them have sought attorneys to get their money back and the

owner ******* is refusing contact. He approved these deals 2 months

ago and always found reasons not to doc the deals. For the last 30 days, he

has been avoiding the lessees and me.”

We asked for specifics so we could contact the “super broker,” who we

have received complaints about before. None has been received since the

beginning of September. This will now go into abeyance.

#6

Same Super Broker

A broker on the West Coast sent us this e-mail: “You recently posted that you were working on some complaints regarding a "South Florida" Broker/Lessor and

until you had all the facts from both sides, but you weren't going to name any names on the web site. I'd like to ask you if by any chance is the company you are investigating ***** “

(The answer was “yes.”)

“I'm now ready to issue a complaint regarding *************** Before I

do this officially with you, I wondered what the protocol is. I never got anywhere, and my customer is now at the end of his rope. Excel won't return my calls or emails. Once I complain through YOU, what happens next? I'll await your reply. It's unfortunate. I was hoping to avoid this.”

(We received about 25 pages by fax from this incident going on since June with

a commitment letter that said the money would returned if there was no approval;

but there was a page of a signed lease contract. It seemed he had signed a lease

contract and one of the terms of the contract had not been fulfilled. We asked

for a full copy of the lease contract as it would supercede the commitment letter,

and if so, this would then be a “civil dispute” in our view. And perhaps that

is what happened to the first three complaints. The procedure is the commitment

letter and then a signed lease contract. Clever.)