Hi,
Does anybody know anything about Pinnacle Development Partners, LLC? I saw their ad in Newsweek and the return they promise investors for buying Atlanta foreclosures sounds too good to be true.
Thanks!
No problem, but I need some support here in getting the message across, that it does no good to bombard Hay's office with daily E-Mails and Calls!
This costs all of you and produces little of anything! They deal with around 2000 Pinnacle folks!
Lets help him focus his energy and time on cutting checks, and getting the best price on the properties and not constantly having to respond to the investors!
I am willing to continue to keep the group informed, if I can get some support on this. I am interested in your monetary recovery and well being, thats my motivation here!
DO NOT BOMBARD HIS OFFICE WITH CALLS OR E-MAILS! I will keep you all updated!
Thank you James as well, you have my 100% support.
THE JUDGE SIGNED THE ORDER LATE THIS AFTERNOON!!!!!!!
I will be talking to Greg early tomorrow and will post what I can.
There will be no delay as I understand, in Hay's cutting checks as early as next week!
GIVE Mr HAY'S KUDDO'S- He is going way out of his way to maximize the returns in the long run! I can't go into detail now.
[size=18]DO NOT BOMBARD HIS OFFICE WITH CALLS OR E-MAILS! I will keep you all updated! [/size]
James,
I personally want to "Thank You" for stepping up to help us. You first started off a little skeptical until you realized the depth of this case. Now you are a favorable lead contact between us and Hay's Group to help dissminate pertinent info we all need to be in the know.
Life is a wonderful thing, we learn from our mistakes "hopefully" then we are faced with a decision/question what can I do to help, or make a difference. You James are making a difference, it might seem small right now but I know there is a blessing for you in time to come. :mrgreen:
Never lost faith in Hay's Group, this beacuse I never put my faith in men only in God who gives men the ability, allowance, and favor to succeed. So Hay's Group I'm praying for you all that you will never fail, not only for us "Pinnacle" here in this situation but others that will come who will need your help.
I read a lot of heartfelt words from other investors, like Nealhope, Sammy, Vince, California -- and I think, actually, many of us who invested with Pinnacle are decent, straightforward people.
We took a leap of faith -- we wanted the best for ourselves and our families. People called us "naive" or "greedy" but we were neither. We were being practical, trying to get the most returns from our investments. And who would have thought that a venture endorsed by the BBB and the Atlanta Chapmber of Commerce, that advertised in Newsweek and The Wall Street Journal, would be so crooked?
A lot of intelligent people were taken for a ride.
Personally, I may never invest money in anything beyond a CD. I've learned a big lesson.
One of the worst blows of this Pinnacle fiasco has been that I've come to mistrust my judgment.
Of course, it's hurt to not have the money. I won't even say 'to lose the money' yet -- let's see what Hays can do, in the months to come. Maybe we won't end up losing more than we might have lost in mutual funds anyway.
But I'm an optimist by nature.
This turn of events challenged my good faith, and fed every cynic the red meat they so love: "it was too good to be true, yadda, yadda, yadda..."
But why shouldn't the common citizen have a great return on investment? Why is it only the hedge fund people?
My spirit was not wrong, with Pinnacle. But my good faith was too high...
Thanks for the communication James! Also just heard that the Judge signed the order. I think everyone is in agreement to leave Hays to his job.
Pinnacle had it's share of every type of investor. Many did their fair share of research. I placed a lot of weight on the BBB rating and the fact that it WASN'T a brand new company... come to find out that carries NO weight. Who would have imagined that the CEO could have prior fraud conviction and still manage to get a good BBB rating.
Anonyc, I took a hit to my judgement also at first, but then came to realize that I can learn a lot from the Pinnacle fiasco and use it to IMPROVE my judgement. I will not go with a new company no matter what. BBB doesn't mean crap. I will do a background check on anyone I do business with in the future (this would have avoided the whole fiasco - IF ONE PERSON HAD DONE BACKGROUND ON O'NEIL and passed on the info, the scam would have been through!). I will ask for solid references and contact them. I will dig deep to verify everything they are claiming. If I have a question, I will make sure I answer it (no assumptions). How are they making money? Who are all of their customers? This would have kept me from investing because I doubt that they could have shown the large number of buyers necessary for these properties to sustain their business model. For example, they would undoubtedly need a website for SELLING the properties. Everything they had was aimed at investors BUYING properties! Knowing all of this will make me a smarter, better investor in the future. #1 lesson learned: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!
Hindsight is always 20/20, so it's easy to pick it apart after the fact. But they did a good enough job of covering their tracks to drag in 2,000 investors. Use that info for your benefit... So don't let O'Neil get one more up on you by keeping you down. Learn from the experience and move on!
WHATEVER DOESN'T KILL YOU MAKES YOU STRONGER!!! I think we're all still breathing!
YEAH! Their is a GOD!! I think all of our Praying and persistance has paid off!! For all you guys/gals that have second guessed yourselves, don't! You can not believe how many scams their are out there now! But now we won't fall for it anymore! We are stonger for it. Character is built in the strong times not the easy times.
Remember this saying it has helped me get through this year:
"I once cried when I had no shoes, until I met a man that had no Feet!"
- Authur Unknown. (maybe you know the author)
supporting wife of 16 years! TM
I will spead the news to the ones I know...
everyone I am sure will do the same!!
Actually, I did a background check on O'neil, using one of those internet background check services, I think it was Intellus.com.
I paid $75.00 to run a full background check on O'neil, and to this day I am still trying to figure out why it came back clean. I found out later through this blog that he a misdemeanor, and by then it was too late.
That's interesting to know. Did you do a National search or just Georgia? I'm not sure where his fraud conviction was but I do know that some sites only search for a single state. That's one more reason to make sure that reasearch is relentless and critical in ALL areas!! If something doesn't show up (i.e. BBB or background check), you can find another red flag somewhere!
Actually, I did a background check on O'neil, using one of those internet background check services, I think it was Intellus.com.
I paid $75.00 to run a full background check on O'neil, and to this day I am still trying to figure out why it came back clean. I found out later through this blog that he a misdemeanor, and by then it was too late.
I'd be asking that company some heavy duty questions, especially if they missed an obvious public record! They usually work in a disclaimer if you don't provide SSN and DOB, but it's worth looking into if you put up a lot of $$ based on their faulty research.
As far as mention of his conviction, the first I remeber seeing that was after the whole thing blew open.
I too doubt my judgement and stated that in my "witness" letter to the court. I did as much research as possible and still got taken for a ride.
It too has made me stronger and wiser, but every now and again, the self-doubt creeps in. I do the flip flop between blaming myself for being taken...yes the "cynical" me...yes the "never taken for a ride" me...yes the "'prove it to me" me and the putting the blame where it belongs.
I was always irritated by the people who came here and would say that we were greedy and were stupid. That's like blaming a rape victim because they wore the wrong clothes. As if we weren't blaming ourselves enough. Thankfully the moderators got rid of them quickly.
I don't trust anymore, even for the smallest transaction. I check and double check. Exhausting but necessary. As if I don't have enough to do. This has taught me a lesson to not trust publications like Newsweek or the Wall Street Journal. It has taught me to check every credit card statement, every bank statement, all of my credit reports regularly, save receipts, watch the scanners in stores, etc. like a hawk.
After watching the Dateline special on identity theft and scams, I realized, it is something that we are just going to have to do. Blind faith in our government, media and corporations is not a luxury that we can afford. We cannot assume that we are protected.
FYI - Not everyone reads this forum, so I am sure the ones that do read it are Backing off and not Calling the office. I know several people that never heard about Bigger Pockets. After all their are 2000 investors.
We did not prompt the call that we received. :wink:
Glad she did because they did not have the
Correct address!
My hopes are soon we won't have to check this forum for updates!
Check will be in hand.
Thank you that this forum is here as I know it has given some relief
to some people to some extent.
As far as confusion and frustration? Let's just
say I know people involved in Pinnacle have health issues because of this! Now that is sad. Money we can get back, Health or lives we can't. Marriages have ended, people have lost houses, people have
had to move, take second jobs, third jobs, the damage this has caused
is insurmountable. Hard for anybody to comprehend that has
not been on this side of the fence before. I am sure this is the reason Greg is bending over backwards, he obviously has compassion for people, and he will be blessed for that. I never thought you where pointing fingers at anybody. Thanks, God Bless, as this is my last post.