Who called from 3235459529

UPDATE: ok, now I have seen 4 trades in March .. . 2 winners and two losers, $500 winner, $362 loser, $75 winner then another $360 loser. So now Im down 5% for March .  . . . . and still up 23.5% for the calendar year. No one likes to see losses, . but they happen I suppose. Hopefully this thing will come back sooner than later. I'll keep you all informed.

These annoying idiots keep calling our office phone -- after hours, no less, because they're obviously too dense to understand simple concepts like business hours and time zones.  Naturally, the idiots hang up when no one except the recorder answers and they never leave a message.  Not only would we NEVER, EVER take up a cold caller on anything, there's no way I would give these bozos even a penny if they are so clueless that they keep calling our business after hours actually hoping to get an answer.  

Calling the number back is, naturally, ineffective. You only get an automated series of tones and then nothing.  Free reverse look-ups don't net any info either, which makes this company seem even sleazier because what valid company calls from unlisted phone #s?  Except people who indulge in annoying, unwanted and, possibly, illegal solicitation and scam artists, of course.  I hope I catch one of their calls one evening so I can blast someone's eardrum with my whistle.

I just heard from CTI today.  Some guy says, "Hi, this is so-and-so from California.", and he launches into a spiel about this wonderful trading system he calls "Victory".  I had to interrupt him to ask the name of his company.  What does it tell you when a sales rep is reluctant to volunteer the name of his company?  It tells me the word's out about that company - and it isn't flattering.

Anyhow, as I listen to his spiel, I realize I've heard it all before.  In February, 2009, I became involved with Luxman Trading Concepts.  I paid them $6,000 for a license to use their Freedom System (autotrading the E-Mini), with assurances that I could recover my fees if the system didn't generate a net positive in my brokerage account after 7 months.  

Well, having just lost about 29% NAV in the crash of '08, I was ready to sign onto any idea that would produce positive returns, and these guys sure were bragging about their returns (which I later learned were "hypothetical", not actual.)  

The night I signed on, I had the Luxman rep bring my Visa card bank in on a conference call.  I asked the Visa rep to make note of the fact that I was making a $6K purchase from Luxman and had the Luxman rep verify the terms of the guarantee for the record.  With that on file at Visa, I signed up for the Freedom System.

I made 18% return on investment over the first three weeks in the Freedom System, and was initially very favorably impressed.  But the deal went south in a hurry, and when it came time to exercise my right to a refund (because the system was losing), I got stonewalled and lied to by the weasles at Luxman.  I'll finish that story in a minute, but first back to the call from CTI today...

It turns out CTI (like Luxman), is located in Newport Beach, California.  Their system "Victory" is virtually the same as Luxman's "Freedom", autotrading the E-Mini.  Both cost $6,000 to get into.  The only difference I could discern after ten minutes talking to this giboni is that, while Freedom would support only 300 users, Victory will allow for 500 users (they may need to fleece more investors to offset their legal bills).  

CTI even uses the same two brokerages that Luxman used (Foremost in Chicago, which is the one I used, and another out in the Pacific Northwest, the name of which I cannot recall at the moment).  By the way, there are some nice, friendly folks working at Foremost Trading.  But make no mistake about it, they're complicit in these schemes.

Anyhow, when I mentioned the name of one of the Luxman gang to the CTI rep, he was a little taken aback.  Instead of saying "No, I don't know him.", he's says, "Why would you ask me if I know him?", which tells me he knows him.  I don't need a weatherman to tell me which way the wind's blowing.  I'm convinced that CTI and Luxman are one and the same collection of liars, thieves and sundry other dirtbags.

So, my first piece of advice is, don't do business with CTI or Luxman.  

But if you insist, my next piece of advice is, use a credit card to pay your fees, and get the sales rep on the phone along with the credit card rep to document the agreement in their files.  Then, make sure you read your contract before signing it - and hightlight with a yellow marker those things you're going to have to do to get a refund.  

Then, during the term of the contract, make sure you live up to every requirement you highlighted.  Send in your refund requests as required, when required.  You want to be sure that when you take your case to Visa you're standing on firm legal ground by virtue of the fact that you did exactly what the contract required while they did not.  

Then, as soon as you have proof they've received your second certified letter (requesting a refund), call Visa and request that they backcharge CIT and refund your $6,000 on the grounds of non-performance of your sales contract.

Make sure you keep copious notes along the way, detailing who said what and when.  If you do all this, you'll get your money back.

By the way, I'm happy to help you get your money back from these dirtbags.  If you'd like copies of my letters to Luxman and to Visa, to use as boilerplates for your own, shoot me an email at [email protected].  Good luck.

for those of you posting the addresses, such as the one on Rowena in Los Angeles, this is the age of no privacy. just click on google maps and enter the address. the satellite map will show you the exact location. It is in a very small commercial building located perhaps not inappropriately behind a store specializing in witchcraft, folk-magic, pagan and divination supplies. I kid you not, check it out yourself. As an aside, while some people with no sense of humor might hate it, it's juxtapositions like this that make me love LA. You just can't make this stuff up and be credible, but real life doesn't require believability to exist. To be fair CTI as identified on the map is not responsible or necessarily associated with adjacent businesses. I talked to one of their reps today and was treated nicely as would be appropriate of someone trying to separate me from my money. As I looked to find out more I stumbled across this site. I have no direct knowledge of anything beyond what I was told and am reading now. As an adjunct to my regular trading which is always based on things I follow closely, I like the idea of an analytical system that trades for single day sessions infrequently. It brings something different to the table. But whether this is the one to go with is another question entirely. At the moment I'm leaning towards this isn't the one as I want a 100% legit organization with no history of spotty exits & refunds. Like a previous poster, if someone has info on something similar but better I'm ready to listen.

By the way according to the rep I spoke to on the phone, they are located in Manhattan Beach which is not the same as Newport Beach or Rowena. Since CTI is a fairly common business name, I can't vouch as to whether these are all one in the same company or not, but google does identify the latter as CTI.

PS I do live not far from this address and know the area. This particular spot is on the edge of a relatively "hip/progressive" community (Silverlake) filled with lots of designers and movie support personnel. the area is 90% residential with a few rows of moderately priced restaurants and inexpensive small shops along the major streets. Rowena is more of a connector route between 2 larger, busier streets. LA has many highly active financial centers, and this ain't one of them.

afterthought follow up/clarification. The business mentioned to me was in Manhattan Beach, CA. The only place I heard of Rowena was here on this thread. That said, given what I know of the Rowena location, building type, age and size I would seriously doubt that this spot would house anything larger or more sophisticated than filing cabinets, consumer grade computers and a couple of phone banks. Even if you were running a scam this would not be the place to lure in customers. It would be 100% counter-productive. I would think at best this is a place for a small, make that, micro, outsourced telemarketer, not the company itself. Then again Google does label it as CTI. So my guess is this is either a cheap way to gain a Los Angeles address or this is a case of crossed wires... a small unrelated telemarketer with the same name.