GWingett if you'd like some information on SAI's situation I would be bhappy to provide it. You can contact me through this site. I can only comment on what I know as fact and can't make any assumptions or give you any direct advice on what decisions to make for your organization.
I would like some information regarding what is happening now as well. I keep checking the website but there is nothing going on now. Is it too late to do anything about this and should we just write this off as a bad debt?
So where do we go from here? Does anyone know if the attorney general is making any progress on this? Given the Coyles' history, I would think the attorney general would be aggressively going after them.
Are the Coyle's hoping that everyone will just forget about this with time and accept the fact that we've lost SO MUCH money?
Let's get this straight. The company Scrip Advantage is owned by the Coyle family. This is their third or fourth scrip company. Who remembers Scrip Plus and how much non profits lost back then?
A reorganization does not sound like a prudent or logical solution for this situation. You need to understand the business model and how it works. Scrip companies make only 2% of the gross sales for their company.
What this means is that if a scrip company sells 100 million dollars worth of scrip, they will earn about 2% or 2 million dollars gross.
Out of this you need to pay the company expenses which usually run about 75%. This leaves about $250,000 potential profit.
It takes a long time to sell $100 million worth of scrip!
So what Scrip Advantage is saying, they're going to attract investors, pay off debtors with "stock" and reorganize the company. No investor in their right mind would get into a situation like this and feel comfortable. Let's just say that Scrip Advantage is $5 million in debt. It would take over 2 BILLION dollars in scrip sales just to pay that money back. This does not include paying any investors to keep the company going.
Even if this plan were viable, everyone needs to think about what they've been told so far through this mess. Has the company been completely honest about their financial condition? Were you able to get your questions answered easily and quickly? Do you have a refund today? Were you strung along about refunds and told it was the merchants' fault?
All of this points to one solution. Take control of the company through an involuntary bankruptcy. The attorney who keeps steering away from this solution must need an education on this company's officers' history and may need additional education in the area of scrip fundraising. A reorganization will hurt everyone involved except for those responsible for this travesty.
Everyone needs to work together and take control of the company now. Scrip Advantage most likely has not filed bankruptcy because the more time they have between the insolvency and the filing, it becomes better for the officers of the corporation. Think about this: You can still file a bankruptcy reorganization and attract investors. It's done everyday. So why haven't they filed?
Everyone needs to keep their eyes open on this one.
A message to Scrip Advantage:
Gene Autry once said:
"When you've dug yourself into a hole.......stop digging"
This is not the first time this individual has done this. I worked for John Coyle as a contractor in 1997. The same thing happened... the company filed for BK protection, and none of the subcontractors, nor customers of his company were compnesated. Furthermore, I was offered and accepted, "stock" in the new company. However, even w/ a fully exectued contract, I had no recourse and never saw a dime. This continued abuse of our legal system is truly fraudulent and the Coyle's should be in Jail.
