Since my blog posting about the dire service I've received from Passive Investments (i.e. CCJ!!) I've received various calls from more extremely unhappy Passive clients.
Some of these people have already been taking steps to investigate what's going on with Passive after being concerned over their own poor experiences so even more information has come to light.
Whilst some people contracted for a portfolio build with them, others invested money with a promise from Passive to pay a monthly fee for the use of that money for an agreed period of time. After the time was up, Passive were meant to repay the lump sum but guess what... they claim they can't repay the lump sums. Of course, they're citing market conditions as the reason, but I think it's purely bad management. After all, they've known when the funds were due back, they set the timescale in the first place, and they should have been prepared for any eventuality.
Even worse, they've now stopped paying the agreed monthly sums, even though they've still got people's money! So anyone who is relying on that money for income, pension, etc. now no longer has that monthly sum. No warning, no argument, just stopped. And yet Greg is so fond of pointing out to people that they have signed a contract with a non-refundable fee. It seems he's not quite so fussy when the contract works the other way!
So what have they done with all that money that went into Passive Investments? Money that was paid to them to build and manage portfolios for people over a 6 year period? And money that was invested with them as cash, which I would have expected them to invest for a great return, using all their "expert" knowledge, but if they did, where are the assets they've bought? And if they didn't, where is the cash? Coupled with the portfolio build funds, that's a lot of dosh.
One Passive Investments' client I spoke with yesterday said he suspected it might be in Cyprus and mentioned that a large sum of money had been taken out of the company quite recently. One of Passive's directors, Andy Shaw, moved his family out to Cyprus last year and I understand he's now selling properties out there and advising people not to pay the Cypriot stamp duty (equivalent) immediately, which is terrible advice regarding the exposure of people's investments.
I wonder whether Greg Ballard will eventually join Andy Shaw in Cyprus? Both directors remortgaged their homes at the end of last year and this, along with other snippets such as the company accounts being well overdue with Companies House, the phone frequently not being answered at Passive's offices, the lack of staff they now have, the failure to repay funds owing and at least one judgement already against them, smacks of preparation for some kind of get-out.
Meantime, I'm told they actually had the audacity to hold one of their "Open Days" in April to try and get more people involved. I wasn't aware of this and find it difficult to believe, so if you were there, let me know!
Finally, Wininvesting have got Greg Ballard speaking at one or more of their forthcoming weekend events. This brings Darren Winters and Wininvesting down several pegs in my eyes. The good news is that it only costs £7 to attend so perhaps it's a great opportunity for some disgruntled Passive Investments' clients to actually get to air their views to Greg since they seem to be ignored otherwise. Greg's being billed as an "expert" at the Wininvest events. Quite what he's an expert in remains to be seen. Could he turn out to be an "expert" escape artist?
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