From: Homebiz@Nstar.net
Date: Sat Jan 17 1998 - 11:58:20 MST
Dear Boston Finney Distributor,
Below is the web site address and a copy of the VERY CRITICAL
article written about Boston Finney.
Boston Finney is probably going to be shut down by the Pennsylvania
Attorney General within the next 60 days.
If you agree with the article below and would like information on how
to get a refund from Boston Finney... simply email me.
*** An investagation by the Pennsylvania Consumer Affairs Division is
currently probing into Boston Finney's business practices. If you have
a complaint or concern, you can contact the agent is charge, his name
is Mark Stewart, phone 1-717-787-7109.
NOW THE GOOD NEWS...
Electricity IS STILL the opportunity! Even if Boston Finney is NOT
the company to deliver.
NSI (1.5 BILLION $ Company) is the company THAT CAN DELIVER you a
business opportunity for electricity... and much more.
With NSI you can also recieve an ongoing commission for monthly
usage of:
Cellular, Internet Access, Cable TV, Digital Satelite TV, Internet
Commerce, Home Security, Telephone, Paging and MORE!
NSI is 14 years old and has a 5A-1 Dun & Bradstreet Credit Rating.
(The 5A-1 D&B Credit Rating is the HIGHEST they assign to companys)
If interested in the NSI Offering, EMAIL ME YOUR FAX NUMBER
and I will sent you all the relevant materials.
Best of Luck,
BRAD ELDER
*** Now the web address and CRITICAL article about Boston Finney...
http://www.uniontrib.com/news/business/9801166boston.html
*** Firm's President Fails To Clarify Key Issues:
By Craig D. Rose
SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
January 16, 1998
Wayne Dunlap of Del Mar wants to talk with you about a great opportunity in
the soon-to-be-deregulated $20 billion California electricity market.
The Del Mar resident and thousands of others across the state are touting
Boston-Finney, a company that is aggressively recruiting distributors and
electricity customers. They promise discounts of 20 percent on electricity bills.
The Harrisburg, Pa., company says it has enlisted 8,000 distributors like Dunlap
and 30,000 customers in California, who expect to receive electricity from
Boston-Finney when deregulation begins at the end of March.
There's a problem: Boston-Finney doesn't have the authority to provide
electricity to anyone in California.
State regulators also are investigating the company's multilevel marketing practices,
which were also questioned by the Public Utilities Commission late last year.
What's more, one of the country's biggest energy providers said a key claim made
by Boston-Finney's representatives -- that the company can deliver discounts of
20 percent -- would require selling electricity below cost.
If deregulation of California's electricity market was crafted to cut power costs as
well as avoid the massive scams of telephone deregulation, it may need some
tinkering. The hundreds of new companies that have registered to provide electric
service run the gamut from reputable to questionable, experts said.
Consumer advocates urge ratepayers to exercise caution before switching to
suppliers, examine terms in writing -- and ask lots of question.
That isn't easy with Boston-Finney.
The company's president declined to provide specifics about key operations in
an interview yesterday. Christopher Mee, president of Boston-Finney, said the
company's rapid growth had caused conflicting and confusing materials to be
distributed by the company's account executives. He promised all representatives
would soon be mailed uniform sales materials.
But Mee refused to clarify many issues and declined to answer many questions
about his company.
Mee was unable, for example, to disclose where Boston-Finney would purchase
electricity, and he declined to offer a single business reference, despite claims that
Boston-Finney is aligned with "many of the largest commercial and industrial
companies in the nation."
Mee said his company has entered into service contracts with the state's major
utilities. These agreements are essential if Boston-Finney is to assume
responsibility for providing electricity to those customers. In fact, a spokesman
for SDG&E emphasized that the local utility will not accept a request to shift a
customer unless the new provider has a service contract.
But the SDG&E spokesman as well as representatives for the other two major
California utilities contradicted Mee's claim that Boston-Finney has service
contracts with their companies. All said Boston-Finney didn't have an agreement
with them, although dozens of others do. Mee also declined to confirm or deny
newspaper reports in Pennsylvania indicating that he is 19 years old and has
limited experience. He refused to discuss any aspect of his educational or
professional background.
State regulators say many customers are raising questions about aggressive
marketers.
"We have gotten lots of calls from people who are concerned, so naturally that
makes us concerned," said Wilson Lewis, supervisor of PUC's enforcement unit,
which is a law enforcement agency. "We are looking into those allegations."
$295 fee
Some in the county already have seen enough.
One Carlsbad resident said he pulled back from involvement with Boston-Finney,
soon after writing a $295 check to cover the fee for becoming an account executive.
"From what they presented it sounded good and fine," said Gordon Boslaviski of
Carlsbad. "They say account executives receive corporate brochures, marketing
material and letters of agency."
Boslaviski said he got little but offers to buy these materials and nothing he
considered substantial enough to offer prospective customers.
"I couldn't sell people because I couldn't tell them this is what you're getting,"
said Boslaviski.
Dunlap, on the other hand, accepts the company's explanation that materials had
to be reprinted because of last-minute changes in its service offerings and
compensation plans. He says he is buying materials from other account executives
because that's cheaper than buying them from Boston-Finney itself. He has seen
one small, glossy brochure from the company.
"The quality of their brochures has little to do with with quality of the company,"
said Dunlap. 'Not comforting'
Boston-Finney is set to purchase electricity cheaply as part of large national
buying cooperative, allowing it to sell power cheaply in California and cut monthly
electric bills by 20 percent, said Dunlap. But he confessed ignorance regarding
details of the co-op and said his inability to get past voice mail and reach a human
being at Boston-Finney corporate headquarters -- a problem noted by others --
was "not comforting."
One of the largest new electric providers in the state said promises of 20 percent
savings on electricity would be difficult to fulfill.
Stuart Rexrode, director of consumer services of Enron Energy Services, which
yesterday announced an agreement valued at $280 million over four years to
provide power to Pacific Telesis, noted that all companies selling electricity in
California incur much the same overhead costs, which are imposed by the state to
pay off unprofitable assets of the major utilities.
Noting that Enron is the largest electricity wholesaler in the country, Rexrode
added: "So companies that make claims of 20 percent are pricing their product at
about 10 percent below what their cost structure would be."
Copyright 1997 Union-Tribune Publishing Co. 1-619-299-3131
*** Another "Bad Press" article on Boston Finney was recently published in the
Pennsylvania "Patriot-News" written by David Dekok. Mr. Dekok wants you to
call him if you have had problems with Boston Finney. Mr. Dekok can be reached
at: 1-717-975-9775
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Nov 01 2002 - 14:48:28 MST