Cellphones, Providers, and Plans → Re: Norvergence Scam

Wow, this is all about slamming Norvergence.

I am no great fan of the company. They are what they are in terms of their process and make no appolgies for it. In some respects I give them credit for that compared to some companies that talk nice and then stab you in the back.

People keep talking about the research and "all" the information about this company. Really, I find a lot of steam (for and against) on this site, a couple of posts on 1 other site, old FCC information and that is it.

I hope people do not decide for or against Norvergence based on the posts on this site.

Also, Gator Girl, based on the process Norvergence has in place, your Screening Manager will get fired becuase they are suppused to leave you with copies of all documents they will ask you to sign when the first meet with you so that you can review them. This is a huge point in the company.

While they may use questionable sales tactics (and I have not been through a sales program that is not about manipulation), Norvergence wants to make sure that customers have a chance to review all the documents before they sign.

And the better Screening Managers pointed out the areas that most customers would be concerned about.

Also, your point about the terms in the contract. No different than if you bought a copier, phone system, computers, etc. (I know, sounds like Norvergence talk, but I did work for them). When I worked for a larger telco, we required our customers to provide proof of insurance if we rented equipent that was over $500 per month.

Ex Nor Emp - just wondering - why are you an ex-employee? It almost sounds like you still work for them in Irving Texas?!?!?!

Ex-Employee Why would a company create relationships it doesn't have and expect "good Press" to be written about them.

When you worked there did it seem strange to open up your first meeting with a prospective client and say "Hello Mr: ___ I'm Mr: with Norvergence the strategic alliance of Nortel Networks. What Bulls@^&.

Gotta know why did you leave the company?

I have been a telcom consultant for 15 years. Have 8 Scamvergence victims - with Adtran boxes installed that do absolutely nothing. In exchange for leasing (paying them up front $20-30,000) Norvergence is supposed to pay or reimburse them for their phone bills. Only a few of the victims have had their bills paid or reimbursed.

Barry@telcomaven.com

Looks like people starting to catch on....

I hope that anyone who has signed up and feels they have been cheated or ex-employees who have been cheated will do something about it. A good 1st step would be to go to »ripoffreport.com and file a complaint. I know some people who have used this and have received great satisfaction and even got their money back. Unlike the BBB they disclose all complaints. The BBB will not give out info on people who have complained and a resolution has occured. BBB reports can be misleading to the consumer sometimes.

I also noticed that Norvergence has recently (Oct 28)written an article on themselves and posted it to every free site out there. The think the only good news about them, comes from them.

I also came across a complaint filed with »leasingnews.org
»www.leasingnews.org/arch ··· 5-03.htm
Mr. Fine wrote a somewhat response. Stated he won't respond to personal attacks.
»www.leasingnews.org/arch ··· htm#nove

I hope all the links work - let me know if they don't.

Soon - very soon.....

We backed out of the Norvergence deal last week. They were very close to installing the Matrix box but we did deeper checking on the cell phone aspect.

We had a Sprint rep come visit us...we explained our interest in the Norvergence angle before he came. The savings on the cell phones was the attraction for us. We are spending about $500 per month for 11 cell phones. With Norvergence it would come down to $120 per month.

He was a good researcher. He brought printouts of the broadbandreports.com website and checked into the Sprint side of the deal (Sprint is who Norvergence said we would have to use in this area.) (He also explained that the VINA router we now have is superior to the Matrix box that Norvergence sells for $27,000...the Sprint rep used to install them).

Long story short...if Norvergence goes down the tubes, Sprint will not honor the $120 per month rate...and per the Sprint rep, Norvergence is the customer, not you. If you have a cell problem and call Sprint, they will not have a record that you even exist. You are simply a customer of Norvergence.

Norvergence is not even a bona fide reseller of Sprint services...they are a customer like you or me that buys a lot of phones. Our Sprint rep said that the cell phone deals are coming out of the NJ area and the Sprint rep up there is very happy with it...he is doing LOTS of business. But the Sprint admin department is investigating because there is such a large volume and they are starting to wonder what is really happening.

If Norvergence goes out of business you still owe the bank their money...$450 per month in our case...whether or not Sprint and Verizon will honor their part of the deal or not. Joseph Belzaguy at Norvergence (our Phase 3 contact) assured us Norvergence would stay in business...they are not confident enough, however, to sign a lease with us directly.

We offered Norvergence this deal...instead of $450 per month, we would pay them $475 per month for the five year term...IF they signed the deal with US. By signing directly with Norvergence, they would be showing us that they expect to be in business in 5 years.

THEY WOULD NOT DO THIS...maybe they plan to move to the Bahamas in a few years...with YOUR money?...while you are still paying off your lease to the bank?

If they do go out of business, we would still owe a bank $450 per month for a Matrix box that won't do anything unless we hire a land line company (e.g. AT&T, Verizon) to set it up and then also set up contracts on cell phones.

I repeat...Sprint (cell phone provider) will NOT honor the prices that Norvergence is quoting.
Norvergence did send us a letter stating that

"Sprint PCS will guarantee plan and pricing for all cell phones accepted to utilize the Matrix unlimited cellular service.
The application submitted by Layton X-ray contained 11 cell phones. If your business is accepted, you are guaranteed unlimited cellular service on those 11 phones, with a fixed monthly charge of $120.89. This price is not guaranteed for any additional phones you may wish to add in the future, as pricing will be determined at the time of inclusion."

The problem is that the above guarantee is on Norvergence letterhead with no contact at Sprint. They would not allow us to confirm the guarantee with Sprint. The Sprint business rep in Atlanta said such a contract does not exist with Norvergence.

When we tried to get Norvergence to sign the agreement with us and cut out the leasing company they cancelled our application.

They want their $27,000 up front from the bank (our deal was $450.69 for 60 months).

If they stay in business it can be a good deal...if they do not our 30 % savings becomes a 30% LOSS

Contact me if you need to:

pantheraba@aol.com

It is really starting to heat up/\. As many of you are reading the posts related to the business practices of Norvergence, I received a call from FOX news interested in exploring my situation and possible pursuing the story in their Problem Solvers segment which broadcasts at 5 and 10 over the course of several days, depending on the story.

I continue to ask for the facts and everyone's continuing to post and tell their story. Anyone who wants to jump in the media side, you don't have to be in MI to participate, place a message on the board with your email and I will contact you. Thanks

I just said yesterday that this was screaming for a journalistic investigation. What has all of a sudden happened to all those Norvergence proponents.....????

Good luck Kaygrey with getting your money back, or at least getting some vindication. And thanks to everyone for the heads up, without this site I may have made a very very bad decision!

Keep us posted on the Fox news angle.

WOW!! Thanks so much to all of you and this forum!!! I just had 2 of these "screeners" in here with their proposal and their forms requesting signatures. Talk about pushy!! They showed me my "savings" and went on and on about "pending engineering approval", yet I've never seen any engineers running around. I never signed the Equipment Rental Agreement but I did sign a credit application. I kept telling them I wasn't comfortable signing the papers (Rental Agreement and Proposal and another couple) and NEVER initialized their proposal, so I HOPE I'm not bound into anything. It was nearly impossible for them to take "NO" for an answer - I just hope they weren't forging my signature in their car on the side of the road .

Anyways, as they kept pestering me (and yes, they did have to sit on my side of the desk), I decided to do a Yahoo! search and this post came up, THANKFULLY! As it was 15 pages long, I only got to read a couple of pages and read the negative things. These two were squirming and saying "oh that is just old news", so I click on the last page and it wasn't any better.

Too bad I couldn't have gotten those pages I signed which this printed at the top "THIS IS A NON-BINDING HARDWARE APPLICATION TO RESERVE VOICE AND UNLIMITED DATAtm HIGH-SPEED T-1 ACCESS HARDWARE ON THE TERMS BELOW UNTIL FINAL CREDIT AND ENGINEERING APPROVAL". The paragraph below reads "This Reservation is effective, when accompanied by an Authorized Credit Application and an Equipment Rental Agreement. The Equipment Rental Agreement is non-binding until your application is approved for the MATRIXtm Hardware Solution, the system is mounted in your phone closet, and a "Delivery and Acceptance Receipt" is submitted."

I never signed the Equipment Rental Agreement and I will make sure no one installs any equipment here. I guess then I am ok?? This whole thing makes me a bit nervous, too bad I threw their business card in the trash a few days ago or I would call them and tell them to forget it - but I am sure they wouldn't listen anyways.

I'm starting to think we should all chip in for a Nationwide public service announcement!

And hey, what has happened to Technerd....

If you have signed the Non-Binding Agreement - you need to send a letter NOW - stating that you are not interested. Once they approve your credit, it becomes BINDING. You have also signed a personal guarantee by signing the agreement. I hope you have copies of everything you signed - they are slick! (read all the fine print - they also refer you to their website for complete documentation on what you signed - they don't even give you all the documents in person)

I heard they sent a company wide email to stay off message boards, since Technerd is an employee, he must abide by the email. I'm sure the head script writer will come up with something to stop the TRUE negative words going around. STAY AWAY FROM NORVERGENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think Teddybear50 is a script writer...I think they intentionally misspell and use poor grammar to seem to be one of the hoi polloi.

His post reads like damage control to me.

You folks be careful out there.

what is this "script writer" Im sorry if my spelling is not perfect. how is this N-O-R-V-E-R-G-E-N-C-E.

that better?

i dont need to write here anymore, I already have enough solid info to make the choice i made.

you are very mean people here. can some people be brave and reveal their real identity as far as norvergence employees and ex eployees whom make mean claims about this place? Or will this remain a mystery forever?

Hey Shilkshock(JT) havent heard from you in a while, where you been?? Crawled outta the rock I see. Still making your claims! Im not one to pick arguments with you. You need to start being careful of the words you use, they might get you in trouble some day...:)

What do the initials(JT) stand for? Did your special software program spit out another name, because as you've stated, your definately not a NORV. employee(SARCASM). I thought you guys were told to stay off the message boards!

I dont know idiot, cause I dont work there.....get off that already....

Of course you don't work there (MORE SARCASM). No,seriously, what dept. at Norvergence do you work in? And if you call me anymore names, I might have to come looking for you down there at Norvergence H.Q., you got me chief?

oohhhhh did I hit a nerve.... I should call you "shilkshook" Im not dealing with you no more... you got nothing to say but to claim I work for that place, which again as you truly know I dont....

Wanna look for me, then you gotta hike down to Parsippany...heres a clue, Im in one of the buildings off of Sylvan Way in Parsippany....

Hey, I wouldnt call you names if you didnt fire at me first, you started it, and you expect me not to clap back?

How can you work in Parsippany, the Norv. website says their H.Q. is in Newark? Do they have a location in Parsipany also? Just asking.....

Both of you , GROW UP. You sound like a couple of 12 year olds. Like many others reading this board, I'm interested in relevant and accurate info about Norvergence. I came very close to accepting their offer as a Screening Manager, but got tipped off by another candidate about this board and then it all fell into place for me, the lies, deceptions, the hiring process scams, the sales tactic scams, etc. I'm amazed that there are so many people working there that know, or at least have a clue what's going on.

Ok, yes me and shilk are going at it like 12 yr olds...but he is convinced that I work at Norvergence and that is what his beef with me is.

Shilk, "norv" is in newark, I work in parsippany, different company, im not a norv emplyee...

I call a truce with you shilk, we will not bash each other anymore and we will both be adults from now on, this board doesnt need us to do this here.

Agree??

Hey Kit,

You are asking for any Norvergence Customers that feel that they have been burnt by this company to report it, huh... Well, I think you are putting that message on the wrong board - there aren't any posts here from upset customers. Just upset ex-employees and upset competition. Didn't you notice that? Nobody on this board actually has Norvergence. Funny.

Yah, Kit...
I went to that link for ripoffreport.com and just as I suspected, there are lots of companies listed there for bad service - none of which are Norvergence. The only posts regarding that company are by 2 disgruntled ex-empolyees. Hmmm...

Although I do expect that the competitors will now try to post some bogus stuff there too.

By the way, which one is you?

-J.M.

Seek out satisfied customers, not disgruntled former employees for info on how the Norvergence solution can save you money. Check out there site.

A question? Your due diligence focuses mainly on the cellular aspects of the solution, and what happens if Noevergence goes out of business.

What about the long distance portion? Also what about the internet access? Are these services being provided as Norvergence being the "true customer" as well??

What happens with those providers if Norvergence goes down??

»www.norvergence.com
We have been a customer for over a year we just read about Norvergence's new phone systems and are trying to add it to our contract. Does anyone have information on the phone system that we could use to help us compare solutions?