Zer01 Loses $43 Million Judgement For Vaporware Though nobody knows where the company is Wednesday May 26 2010 09:01 EDT Last summer we skeptically directed your attention to a carrier by the name of Zer01, which was promising users unlimited voice and data on smart phones for $69.95/month, without a contract. The service claimed to use a VoIP application to route all calls. According to the founders, the service tunneled over GSM networks, though Zer01 claimed to have their own IP network -- and claimed to be using interconnect (roaming) agreements to make calls. In short, Zer01 was supposed to be a mobile virtual network enabler (MVNE). The problem? People started to dig into the operator and notice that it had the light fishy smell of an MLM or pyramid scheme. The company's apparently "floating" headquarters, the lack of product beyond a shiny GUI, and the shady business practices of a few executive partners left most in the telecom press with a bad taste in their mouth. The more people dug into the specifics behind the company, the more people began to notice they quite often made no technical sense. It was entertaining to see some in the press develop their critical thinking skills and skepticism in hindsight. Laptop Magazine, which was originally so smitten with the unlaunched vaporware they gave them a CTIA award -- was ultimately forced to acknowledge the problems and take the award back. According to the magazine, the award was pulled "because of serious ethical questions that have arisen about the company." The award remained prominently featured on Zer01's website. Well, until last March -- when the Zer01 website simply disappeared. Now, the company's MLM partner Global Verge, has won a $43 million judgment against Zer01 for breach of contract, tortious interference with contractual relations and long-term profit losses. Except nobody knows where anyone from Zer01 is, so it's unlikely they'll have to pay up. Of course while Global Verge won this case, they're still part of a web of spammy, heavily-criticized service providers for whom providing actual service seems to be an afterthought to marketing them. |
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Shocking.Not really. I think I recall their executive team threatening to sue people for lible for saying they didn't have a product.
They never, ever had one! | |
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Re: Shocking.And now the executives who perpetrated this scam are sitting back in some tax shelter country laughing there butts off with the money they managed to steal. | |
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Of course they had a product. Hype and babble was their product, quickly upgraded with obfuscation and legal wriggling. | |
| | | jsb825 Premium Member join:2003-10-08 Exeter, NH |
jsb825
Premium Member
2010-May-26 10:15 am
Re: Shocking.Global Verge was all about so called law suits against their members AND PUBLICLY TALKING ABOUT IT as well as all their other organized internal messes they could not figure out. I recall a time when they did nothing but talk for 20 minutes about how they grew beyond their credit card merchant account and that the merchant account or visa would not allow any more transactions cause they were settling thousands per day.
So really after reading the mess about the law suit and how Global Verge may never get a dime from Zer01, Global Verge has opened up another can of worms with their past members that lost their share of the money... They may have only hurt themselves with this scammy law suit in the end! | |
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jsb825 3 edits |
jsb825
Premium Member
2010-May-26 9:57 am
lets say this....It was not ZER01 it was GLOBAL VERGE!!!
And now they have past members that are pissed that they are not getting their membership fees back, while Global Verge benefits from the law suit. Some paid over 200 bucks for this program and waited and waited, while the company would rant about delays and challenges with its own internal mess!! Most members left before the agreement fell through. I wounder really was it right to sue ZER01?
And now the way members made money was by the service provided by ZER01 of which Global Verge claimed they didn't make a penny. Global Verge claimed they made their money on membership and that the were there to cover admit cost and most of the company was in the matrix. I still have a recorded call from the CEO saying that!!! SO this law suit is bogus and Global Verge doesn't deserve the money!! THE MEMBERS DO!!!
MLM SCAM? I smell class action law suit now brewing against Global Verge!
(update)
Another member has brought to my attention that another past agent from Global Verge who again left before the Zer01 mess, has sent out over 150 fax messages including to Zer01 lawyers and past members. Including a fax to the judge at the court in Nevada. The details are limited at best however it seems valid that others are organizing a fight against Global Verge for their miss management of their MLM and public misrepresentation in their win against Zer01. AND there appears to be documentation that may contain information of a potential fraud by Global Verge. | |
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banner
Premium Member
2010-May-26 10:53 am
Re: lets say this....said by jsb825:MLM SCAM? I smell class action law suit now brewing against Global Verge! Good luck with that. The investors' money is probably gone by now. If there is no appeal, Hardy will begin looking into what assets Zer01 and Piilani have that might allow his client to collect on at least some of the judgment.
Nice writeup Karl, classic story with a familiar ring. deja vu? My favorite part is reading the comment sections where shills try to make FUD about the skeptics concerns. | |
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I feel A LITTLE bad for the investorsBut not too bad. I mean, this thing had scam written all over it. They had no working product, and they had no signed contracts with any carriers to provide network capacity. All they had was an interesting idea and lots of hype. Yet people actually invested money in this? Yeah, I know, these folks got scammed, but they have to accept at least some of the responsibility because they were so intent on making a buck that they checked their good judgment at the door.
I have a friend who has done something similar. Her boyfriend got suckered into the Narc that Car MLM scam, so she jumped in right after him. Then she tried to get me to listen to her sales spiel. I told her the thing was a scam, and there was no way I was getting anywhere near it. But oh no, this was legit, she said, and there was nothing I could do to convince her otherwise. I hate it that she's lost several hundred bucks so far and will likely lose even more, but she made the decision to throw that cash away, despite being warned, so she has to take responsibility for it. | |
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