My Disappointing Apple Investment Company Experience

I have had a disappointing experience.

No, not with the company that makes iPhone. Apple Investment Company runs a investment service in Australia. It’s not easy writing this since I’ve always believed that if you don’t have anything good to say about someone, then don’t say anything at all. Apple Investment Company did have some positives but unfortunately, the overwhelming negatives made the experience regrettable. This page is dedicated to sharing my experiences. Something I wish I had been able to read before I became a customer. Is Apple investment company a scam? I don’t know. I’m not a scam professional so I cannot say. I need to be very careful with what I say here since I am not a licensed financial service provider so I can only comment on the facts of my dealings with them. This means I cannot advise on whether you should or should not use Apple Investment Company. Additionally, I have never used their software without bugs. Therefore, I can’t comment on how effective the software is when it is working as it should, nor can I comment on whether or not it can make you solid returns.

January – March 2010
I became a customer in January. For 3 months, I experienced a comedy of errors and disappointments. Some disappointments include:

lied to about how much time it will consume. I was told “all you need to do is press a button”. Truth is, there were hours of time spent on signup forms, bank account details, Justice of the Peace signature for forms to sign up a FOREX account.
software had bugs so didn’t start. I helped them debug. After 3 months with no software, and broken promises, I lost all confidence

26th March 2010
Today I requested a refund. Although I’m not entitled to a refund, I have requested one for various reasons, mostly that I had lost all confidence in them as a company I do business with.

6th August 2010
Today I’m still waiting for a refund. The reason I’m holding back on publishing disappointments is because they said “you need to remove complaints about us, or a refund contract cannot be organised”. As an example, they said that publishing information on OZRipOff is what is actually delaying the refund.

20th August 2010
ARGH!!!! I’m in a vicious circle. It goes something like this…

I give Apple Investment Company the chance to refund a very disappointed customer
Refund doesn’t come
I feel even more disappointed and feel obliged to share my experience in a public message
Apple Investment Company finds the public complaint and kindly informs me a refund will come if I remove or retract it
I comply
Go to Step 1

This cycle has happened several times now. Today was Step 2 of the cycle.

26th August 2010
Step 3 of the cycle today, so I’ve made this post public again.
After 8 months of disappointments I’m thinking I no longer want a refund if it means I need to be silent and unable to share my experiences. At least it might break the cycle.

February 2011

They threatened legal action if I didn’t remove my blog about them. I know I have been honest with my words and have taken care not to offend with slander. I have also ensured that participants in the discussion are real. I have chosen not to give in to their empty threats.

Summary
I don’t know if Apple Investment Company is a Scam or not. I didn’t deal with them long enough. However, the time I did deal with them was horrible for me. Software bugs, lies about refunds to silence me, delay tactics, false claims during sales pitch about how much time I need to invest, it was all very very regrettable and enough to break my motto of not saying anything bad about others.

Please Comment
If you’ve had a positive or negative experience with them, please comment. WARNING: Please only use facts in your comments. Do not write slander or I will need to edit them.

Has Apple Investment company tried the sales pitch on you yet? Please let everyone know how they have tried.

UPDATE 4th July 2011

I believe Mark Power, the Financial Services Licence holder is a victim as well. Sure, he screwed up by giving a dodgy company use of his licence, but he is already paying for that mistake. Apple apparently didn’t pay him commissions for the trades and Mark Power successfully terminated the licence in early 2011. If I’m right, this means that lodging a complaint with Financial Ombudsman Services will not get a desired result as Mark doesn’t have your money. (BTW, each FOS complaint will cost Mark Power around $1800, which I think could be better spent on the real culprits) Mark’s website is here http://www.markpower.biz/ and I’m sure he will have contact details of those responsible if you want to take them to court.

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?
Two names have become apparent according to the ForexPeaceArmy website.

Shane Andrews and Stephen Keating (AKA Steo Keating)

Some people have suggested taking them to court. With or without a lawyer at small claims tribunal or wherever. Up to you. When you do, be sure to let everyone know as there are many parties at ForexPeaceArmy who are also looking for them. Their phone numbers can be found on this forum… http://www.forexpeacearmy.com/forex-forum/scam-alerts-folder/8895-apple-investment-company-fx-calibre-6.html#post66683 and as mentioned earlier, Mark Power should have their address.

http://Website Nick

We have been receiving several calls from Apple Investsments so thank you for the ‘heads-up’. We thought something sounded amiss when they wanted $100 fee just so we could view their presentation!! I have never heard of anything so silly as paying for the privelage of being presented with reasons of why you should buy their product……..

They call ALL day and ALL night and always call from private numbers. They call late at night and cannot seem to take no for an answer. They are pushy and persistant and I can see how vulnerable people would fall pray to their demanding tactics.

I hope ASIC and the criminal justice organisations nails their sociopathic heads to wall!
http://Website Di

Hi found your site bevcause I just had a phone call from these people in NZ claiming that I had requested info and that I had mone;y to invest. When I queried this I’m not that forgetful. They claimed that they had recorded myi phone call and I had agreed to talk further. Not sure if they mentioned a presentation but did say it was a follow up call…… Is this just the hard sell of the day?
http://Website Fred

I joined in January (not cheap) hoping to achieve a 6% return per month (lol). Some 7 months later my funds are 26% less than when I started using their fx calibre auto trader. Not a very pleasing result – I’m a goose for joining, but I’m sure there are plenty of others out there. Question is should I quit while I’m behind or keep persisting in case things turn around? Will keep you posted… Is there any one out there with positive experiences? Would love to hear from others – good, bad or indifferent..
http://Website Steve

I’ve also had an apple investment co. experience that I’d rather forget, and from what I’ve seen on forums refund seems unlikely.
http://Website Dee

Apple Investment Company asked for my credit card details BEFORE giving me full details information ie Terms and Conditions. I understood that the process would involve me receiving the paperwork and completing the forms etc. and once all was signed up they would take the credit card payment. Paperwork came after they immediately took my money. I was not happy when I received the paperwork as there were discrepancies with what had been explained to me and the written forms. I immediately requested that they do not process any payments as I need clarification of certain matters. My request was ignored and the payment was processed. They now do not return my emails or calls. This is a very suspicious organisation. I don’t trust what they say. Make sure they give you ALL of the paperwork BEFORE you give them any $ . I was certainly a fool for trusting them. I intend to go to the media and take all steps to endeavour to recover our hard earned $. As we are bringing up our disabled grandaughter and approaching retirement we were lead to believe that this would be an excellent way of building our income. What a joke.
kvdigger

Yes i was contacted early this year by Apple investment Company then sent a glossy brosure. After much prommises and reasurance and a reduction from $9,600 to $5,000 with the ballance to be paid if i make a profit of 6% or more . On the 31st of march i paid the $5,000 and $5,000 for investment = $10,000 After 5 and a half months i still had less than i started with.When i said i wanted to take my money out and use it elsewhere Shane the bloke suppose to be in charge of my account said fair enough.When i said i would also like my $5,000 back he said we are not even going to talk about that. I think if this were fair dinkum and not a scam and it didnt work you would get the money back you paid for the program plus the money you had left in your account. But this is about making money them making money that is.They contacted me i did what they said now i am out of pocket by more than $5,000. I have come to a conclusion as to weathere ore not this is a scam.If i dont get my $5,000 back I am going to give them via chain emails and chain SMS and whatever method i can find well more than $5,000 worth of publicity using only facts to try to save other people from loosing there money. I will also be telling of the problems i found with Comtrade groupe working out of the same address in Surfers Parradise
eastes

Read the update in this blog. Take Shane Andrews and Stephen Keating to court for misrepresentation. Phoenix Global has their address to issue court summons. If you need Phoenix Global’s contact info, let me know.

My Disappointing Apple Investment Company Experience

UPDATE 4th July 2011

Categories