Once upon a time, I was just a happy publisher, producing a promising monthly, Auction Trade News publication that I
distributed mainly to the ebay community. I was coming up on our 1 year anniversary, and was fortunate enough to come
into a little bit of money. Well, it was like a dream come true, my ship had finally come in. I would be able to move
Auction Trade News to the next level and really penetrate ebay's huge seller base and possibly secure myself a successful
and rewarding future. The American Dream!
So, I set out to find a commercial print shop to purchase. I wanted to publish "In House" and utilize the income from the
print shop operation to help support the publication until it became profitable. When I looked a business listings in my
area, there were only seven commercial shops available. Some were not suitable, some were priced way too high, but one
in particular seemed doable. It was a bit out of my range, but with creative financing, it was definitely a possibility.
I started negotiating with the owner, and we began going back and forth with offers & counter offers. Time was passing by,
I was short of capital, and I didn't expect to close the deal in the near future. I needed a bit more working capital.
A $100,000 more would have been very helpful.
Well, while my ship was sitting at the bank at only a few percent per year, I decided to look for other investment
opportunities to raise additional cash while negotiating the print shop. I looked at hundreds of ads in the local papers,
eBay and on Craigslist. Until one day -the 30th of July 2006 - I answered an ad on Craigslist for someone seeking an
investor to help purchase inventory. The ad didn't go into details, So I inquired. The advertiser —Heather Hargett AKA
Heather Williams— got back to me right away, telling me how she needed funds to buy Show Horses for awaiting
buyers, but she lacked the funds to secure. She was turning buyers away everyday, she claimed, because she had no
inventory to show them.
I decided to check it out even though I didn't know really anything about horses and unbeknownst to me, Heather Hargett AKA
Heather Williams was nothing but a conniving con artist, a pathological liar as many claim. She told me everything I wanted to
hear. She had immediate buyers for a couple of horses that she was unable to buy, the deal sounded lucrative, relatively safe
and most importantly, it was to be done in 30 days. I checked her references, which seemed very good. So, I bough into it. Twice!
I bought one horse for $75,000 and another one two weeks later on a 50/50 basis with her for $37,500. Of course there were
expenses to the tune of about $5,000 per month for stall rental, daycare, shoeing, vet care etc...
Well, 30 days went by, and then 45 days and soon we were six months down the road, and the horses were still not sold. All
I heard was a bunch of lies. How one horse knocked his shoe off and stepped on the toe clip hurting his foot, and how she took
him to a clinic where she ran up some $12,000 in vet bills for diagnostics that were inconclusive, without my knowledge or consent.
The other horse supposedly had an issue (a check ligament) that was discovered only six months later when a prospective buyer,
decided to ultrasound the horse's leg. That buyer backed out of the deal, and supposedley I had an unsaleable horse. In fact,
I now had two unsaleable horses; one with a check ligament and the other with either a bad foot or bad back, no one really
knows for sure.
In short, I had been Royally Screwed. Luckily, I was able to find and retain an attorney who knows horses very well.
(I can only say that she was God Sent and she really KNOWS HER STUFF!) She helped me make connection with legitimate
horse trainers/brokers. I quickly secured my horses from Heather's barn and boarded them (for a very reasonable price) at
a highly recommended barn. I then began with legal proceedings against Heather Hargett which are still going at this
very moment. Unfortunately, I cannot elaborate on the case at this time, BUT I'm dying to fill everyone in on all the
details. It's ugly and I'm finding out that many innocent victims were bilked out of 10's of thousands
—including myself, out of 100s of thousands— of dollars.
The good part if any, is that Heather inspired this web site. I feel like John Walsh who was robbed of his son, his own
flesh & blood by some psycho, child molester and took the misfortune and turned it positive by alerting the world of his misfortune and
is now hosting America's Most Wanted show on FOX TV. That is what this site is meant to do; alert the world of the likes of
Heather Hargett and other cons preying on innocent people. We're like the Better Busines Bureau, with a major exception;
compalaints will NOT be removed, even if they were satisfied, or the offender advertises with us or even donates large sums
of money to support the site. We CANNOT be bought. We are consumer advocates, alerting the public about scams as well
as bad business practices by small and large companies alike, in America.
To that extent, should you be victim of a scam, or experience unfair, deceptive or just bad trade practices by any company
or individual, government & law inforcement agencies included, Please, Please, come forward and post your story. America
wants to know who is doing them wrong. Visit the site often as it is constantly being updated. If you are an advertiser,
consider advertising with us to support the site. We anticipate Huge traffic. If you are a consumer, do check out our
sponsors as their advertising dollars are keeping the site free for America to network & help prevent crime and abuse.
Finally, should you feel generous and agree that Bad Business Report is working towards a good cause in a humanitarian spirit
we would be ever so grateful for any donation you care to send us. Every little bit helps :-)
In conclusion; well my dreams as a publisher for the Auction Trade News magazine and another magazine have been pretty well
shattered by this 29 year old con artist. My publisher heart has been broken beyond repairs. I've been totally drained of my working
capital :-( I don't have what it takes to start all over again from scratch, I give up. So, Bad Business Report is my future. It's my Mission.
I sincerely hope that I can help people —if nothing more than offering a Wake Up Call in a business endeaveor— with
awareness of all the cons & scams that go on everyday, and prevent someone else from experiencing what I went through.
I soooooo appreciate your support in this cause.
You can read the full story here. The Heather Hargett Story
|
|
|
|
|
Copyright 2007 badbusinessreport.com - All Rights Reserved.
Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of the User Agreement and
Privacy Policy.
|
|
