Armando Montelongo
Complaint 110873 Details

I'm terribly embarrassed to report what I am about to report, but due to the certainty I feel this is going on with so many people, people that may be down to their last penny, I nevertheless feel more obligated to report how I almost got taken for more than the almost $2400 I spent (which I can afford) plus the $41000 +.
It began one day sitting in my office on the 24th floor of my building overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Not bad digs, I have a great job managing other people's money. Somehow though, I feel jaded and see an infomercial for Armando Montelongo’s information seminar – free, it states – on how to make money flipping houses and make millions. Perfect, this is just what I need to stop managing other people’s wealth and begin accumulating my own. I sign up.
One week later I attend this seminar only to be told almost right up front by some sloppy, out of shape, used car salesman looking guy who is “not a professional” speaker that I couldn’t have possibly expected to leave here with the information to such great success without “paying” something? Right? Ok, I’ll bite, what do I have to pay? Well normally it is $3000, but today and today only, you can get a three day seminar and the books, cds etc necessary to make you rich flipping houses using the “Armando Montelongo System’ for only $1497. I paid another $797 for the sister program regarding tax lien/tax deed investing (of course at a $500 discount).
Ok, now am I going to get rich, according to the salesperson, once I attend the three day seminar, yes! So, I attend the three day seminar and by the lunch break (btw, nothing but free coffee and hot water offered at that point) I feel as if I have not heard anything useful and begin to suspect that I have been scammed. I did hear a lot of stories of how Mr. Adam Sachs made millions doing this deal and that deal and how “later on” he is going to show me exactly how he did these deals. Lunch was a $15 buffet which was paid for by one of the presenters if you sat at one of their tables.
After lunch, Chris (forget his last name) who has made millions, but because he has only been doing this for the past nine years and not 20, cannot be a mentor to anyone, comes up to present a segment on how to scam, I mean sell, real estate on E-bay and make, you guessed it, millions. At this point I am not only questioning whether I’ve been taken for a ride, but also whether these people have any scruples. But I digress. Chris proceeds to “teach” us about the millions he’s made without providing any step by step instruction about flipping homes. “That will come later” he insists. He does begin to tell us how to improve our credit scores by disputing every single thing on our report that is negative or otherwise not flattering. Including blatantly lying about owning cards that belong to us, or rather stating that I don’t own such a card with X amount owed on it and my name on it, etc. By doing so, he went on to explain the tedious work needed to resolve this dispute and that the hourly waged employee whose job it is to prove and provide for the investigation just won’t do the job because they have such a crappy job and are so miserable performing these tasks. Therefore, in 30days, there is a 50/50 percent chance that the item in question will be removed, thereby spiking up our credit score. When this happens, go out and get “as many” credit cards for the largest amount available as possible. This will help us with repairs we may need to make on the homes we buy without using our own money.
Chris also tells us to call each and every credit card we own and demand an increase five times our present limit. Ask for a supervisor whose pay scale gives them the power to do so and if questioned why, let them know it is for “home improvement.” This was our homework assignment for the night; increase the amount we may borrow from our credit cards. By the end of the day, I’ve not had any instruction on how to flip a house, figure out how much a house will cost to repair, or anything other than how wealthy these presenters apparently are and how poor the audience is or we wouldn’t be here.
The next day was pretty much the same thing. They did ask if anyone increased their credit card availability and many had. Each time we heard how much they were increased the presenter would come over, high five the audience member and shout out to the rest of us, “now isn’t that empowering?!” A short while after this is when they first inform you about a bus tour with Mr. Montelongo that we MUST attend to be successful. They could give me a step by step book and presentation about how to build a car, but didn’t I believe that hiring a teacher or mentor to work by my side would help me build that car a lot faster and with fewer mistakes? Of course, which is why it makes so much sense to hire a mentor and go on this bus tour for between $41000-$51000 depending on what was included. Of course purchasing these packages before the end of the three day seminar would give us a $10000 discount. However, if we paid by Saturday night, we would receive our initial $1500 back and a special real estate program not offered to anyone else that will help us create our empire.
As embarrassed as I am to say that I came very close to doing this, my better judgment told me to wait. I did and discussed it with my wife that night. Naturally, she was scared I was going to throw this money away and I promised her I would not do it without further investigation. I got to the point that I had a friend give me half the $41000 to defer some of the costs that I figured I would make back with my first couple of flips of course. I’d like to note here that I was used as an example during the presentation on Saturday of someone that had a large loan on his or her home and was upside down. It was then demonstrated how it just did not make sense for me to keep my home; that I would be a motivated seller if somebody came along with a smart plan to get me out of my house, put some money in my pocket and put the house in the hands of the smart investor who would then turn around and profit from it. I later disclosed to the presenter, Mr. Adam Sachs, that I actually lost my home to foreclosure, as well as, another investment property, had lost almost a half million dollars as a result and was scared to put another $41000 into something I couldn’t be sure of. Mr. Sachs’s response was, you cannot afford NOT to do this Peter. These people are not our friends, mentors or want to see us succeed – they want to separate us from our hard earned money. If that means giving them our very last penny, maxing out our credit cards or taking it from our IRAs, it makes no difference; GET THE MONEY AND GIVE IT TO US is their primary purpose. Again, the money I did spend I really can afford, it takes me about half a week to make it. However, there were people there that could barely rub to nickels together, elderly and naïve. AND THEY WERE SCRAPING UP THEIR LAST $$$ TO PAY THE $41000! I’m sick to my stomach just thinking about it.
By Sunday, the last day, I just showed up to get phone numbers of people I had met the previous three days and paid the money to go on the bus tour. I’m going to call them in a couple of months to see if they feel the money was well spent or not. I will then repost a response. I asked those people if they did any investigating before they put that money up and they all said yes. I got my numbers and left. I didn’t spend another penny. Oh, before I left, I asked one of the presenters if I would have to spend any money on the bus tour or was the $41000 the last amount – what do you think he said? Well, you can’t expect to get something for nothing, so of course there are some nominal fees to pay to the hard money lenders who want a guarantee on their money if they are to lend it to you. Up to $12000 or more. I’ve later discovered that the hard money lenders on the bus that are supposed to provide the money you won’t need to have come out of your pocket to make that purchase will not lend to you until you sign up for the follow up class on Monday after the bus tour – cost: $55000! Are you kidding me? This is simply just despicable.
I just want to summarize – we have gone from getting rich flipping homes for no money out of your pocket, to paying for the information necessary to get there, to the money spent to get that information only gets you enough information to understand you need to pay more money for further information that will eventually get you there, to that money is only enough to teach you that you need a mentor or teacher to really make it big and make the millions you are dreaming of making; and so on, and so on, and so on. I don’t know where it ends, but with me it ended with the initial amount. I do have a lot of valuable information in the books I’ve received and believe that I will eventually become quite successful in Real Estate investing, but the way they lead you on and attempt to make you believe you need to pay for a mentor to be successful is unfair and downright deplorable.

Take a look:

3-day seminar, books and CDs - $1497
Tax Lien/Deed books and CDs - $797
3-Day Bus Tour, etc. - $41000
Monday Follow – up Seminar - $55000

Total - $98294

Let’s just call it 100K of YOUR MONEY - to learn how to get rich flipping homes for none of your own money - huh?
Right, this is a total scam that preys on peoples dreams, forces them to beg, borrow, scrape together not only their last available penny, but their last available resource to any future pennies. Disgusting.
Don't do it. Take your $100K and do what I am doing, educating myself and building my wealth over time without somebody pressuring me to use their system.