WATCH ABOVE: A soldier says he paid $8000 after being told he won a prize. As Sean O’Shea reports, the high-pressure sales tactics led to a sale but Alberto Basallo says he got nothing in return.
A Toronto-based member of the Canadian Armed Forces says a prize pitch in April cost him $8,000 and he didn’t get the services promised by the company making the offer.
Alberto Basallo said he responded to a phone solicitation congratulating him for winning a prize. He and his wife, who was pregnant with their first child, were asked to attend a sales presentation at a hotel near Pearson International Airport.
“It was very appealing,” said Basallo, a combat veteran of the Afghanistan war in 2010. Basallo said the company making the pitch said he could “save $400” a month in a range of services by buying a “bundle” at a cost of $8,000.
What Basallo said he was most intrigued at was the promise of refinancing his condominium in the Downsview area of north Toronto. He said the company claimed its mortgage brokers could arrange a preferential financing option.
But eight months after paying Cachet Partners Group the money via a debit card transaction, Basallo says he received none of the promised services.
In phone calls and an email Cachet Partners said their brokers were unable to assist because the condominium corporation where Basallo resides is having taxation issues with the Canada Revenue Agency.
“We strive to assist all of our customers to their complete satisfaction and pride ourselves on providing top of industry customer support,” said a man named Jonathan in an email, identifying himself as a consulting manager for Cachet Partners.
Basallo said he asked Cachet for a refund, but without success. He asked Global News for help.
When contacted, operations manager Paula Staples said the company wasn’t averse to giving the refund. Later in the day, she told us: “he can have his money back, I’m tired of dealing with him.”
Basallo has been assured he can retrieve the $8,000 from Cachet Partners, which operates from an unmarked office location in Woodbridge, when the company reopens in January.
“Thank you,” said Basallo, who added the company had been unresponsive to his requests for weeks.
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