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Report: #1226795

Complaint Review: Health and Wellness Channel - Miami Florida

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  • Reported By: Carrie — Sandy Utah USA
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  • Health and Wellness Channel 4000 NW 36th Ave Miami, Florida USA

Health and Wellness Channel Primedia World Group We paid upfront for production cost of an infomercial, and they never filmed anything for us. They don't return phonecalls. Miami Florida

*REBUTTAL Owner of company: HWC Responds with signed Affidavit and filings to Attorney General, and Miami-Dade Police

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We paid this company $3,500 for co-production costs for a television spot featuring our products. They also said they would feature our products on their website. Months later, they had still not filmed our products in any television segment as promised. They also never added our products to their website. We told them we want a refund of our production fees, since they had not done any filming for us. A termination agreement was sent to us, agreeing to refund our money. They have never refunded our company, and do not return multiple phone calls and emails asking for the promised refund or any explanation. This company is a fraud that offers nothing in return for 'production costs'. Do NOT give them your money!

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 05/04/2015 03:06 PM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/health-and-wellness-channel/miami-florida-33142/health-and-wellness-channel-primedia-world-group-we-paid-upfront-for-production-cost-of-a-1226795. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content

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REBUTTALS & REPLIES:
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#1 REBUTTAL Owner of company

HWC Responds with signed Affidavit and filings to Attorney General, and Miami-Dade Police

AUTHOR: Health & Wellness Channel - (USA)

POSTED: Friday, August 21, 2015

  PRELUDE

The last thing we wanted to do is to bring Mr. Marmer’s past into this discussion, let alone rehash this whole sordid ordeal. We offered Mr. Marmer and his company an easy way out on 8/12 by sending him excerpts from this document and asking, unless he really did feel there was fraud committed, to issue a retraction and an apology within 24 hours. He responded 24 hours after the deadline passed (we hadn’t yet posted our response because we couldn’t believe that we hadn’t heard from him) he sent us an email saying “My lawyer Derek Coulter’s wife just had a baby so he is out of the office for a couple of weeks. I will have his partner follow up with you in the next couple of days.” And then he sent what we had sent him to his partner’s attorney, copying us. Our more than generous response was “Okay Richard.” One week later nothing has been heard and so we are forced to officially defend ourselves from this libel. But be very, very clear on this: We gave Mr. Marmer more opportunity to right his wrong than anyone should reasonably be expected, and he has declined at every turn.

 

COPIES OF THIS ENTIRE DOCUMENT HAVE ALSO BEEN SENT TO:

The Law Offices of Michael Stewart, Miami, FL

Office of Attorney General of the State of Florida Pam Bondi
The Capitol PL-01   Tallahassee, FL 32399-1050

Miami-Dade Police Department Headquarters
9105 NW 25 ST   Doral, FL 33172

  

START:

In response to this posting let us say two things. Firstly, we have been aware that this posting has been here for several months, since the Better Business Bureau made us aware of it. We chose not to do anything about it because we didn’t believe for a second that anyone would put any stock in this type of posting in light of all the other information about Health & Wellness Channel and the legitimacy of the operation (after all, there are FOUR years of documentation, hirings, charity  work, announcements, over 1000 hours of videos on YouTube, Livestream, Vimeo and lots of behind the scenes footage of our Marketplace shoots, Special Olympics involvement,) etc. Not to mention the legitimacy of the company making the accusations. However, this three weeks ago we were proven wrong. So keep in mind, dear online reader, that this entire sad morass that is about to be revealed to the world is not of our making, but rather the making of Mr. Richard Marmer, President of Fusion Diet Systems, and before that, of Nutri Fusion Systems (the reason for the name change will be discussed below, as we have recently been made aware, and it involves the Federal government, and the criminal justice system.) So at the risk of burying the lede, let’s just go ahead and set the scene for this delightful story. An excerpt from the lawsuit ATT&T and Mr. Marmer were involved in. Specifically, this is an excerpt from the appeal case that Mr. Marmer filed in an effort to get his belongings back after the US Marshalls had seized all of his property.

“After discovering that defendants-appellants1  Richard Marmer and his company, Tech Communications, Inc. (collectively, "Marmer"), were selling "pirate" cable descramblers in violation of § 553(a) (1), plaintiff-appellee AT&T Broadband ("AT&T") filed suit against Marmer and sought an ex parte order freezing Marmer's assets and allowing AT&T to seize property related to its claims. The district court granted the order and we AFFIRM.

 After searching through public records, Marin and Frappier discovered Marmer's home address—(((Redacted)))—and began observing activity outside his home. Marin followed Marmer from the Pagosa Court address to a warehouse-type facility at 960 South Deerfield Avenue. Marin observed Marmer "carrying a black bag consistent with the size and shape of [a] laptop computer." Id. ¶ 11. He also observed Marmer drive to the Mail Boxes, Etc. location listed as the return address for "The Matrix," where Marmer retrieved packages "consistent with the size and shape of the illegal Matrix descrambler that [Marin] purchased from [Marmer]." Id. ¶ 12. Marmer then traveled from the Mail Boxes, Etc. to the Deerfield Avenue warehouse, where he unloaded the packages and then loaded additional packages retrieved from the warehouse. After Marmer departed, Marin searched a garbage dumpster near the warehouse and found several items that he concluded were "consistent with the operation of an illegal descrambler sales company."

Two days later, on 15 November 2002, AT&T filed an emergency motion to supplement the record and modify the district court's initial denial of an asset freeze and seizure of property. AT&T submitted a supplemental affidavit from Frappier, and the affidavit of Daniel Lefkowitz, an attorney who represented another cable company in an identical, prior litigation. Frappier's supplemental affidavit stated that Marmer was cutting off suppliers' shipping labels and shredding documents. R1-14, Ex. B at ¶¶ 6, 9, 10, 14. " [B]ased on [his] extensive experience," Frappier stated his opinion that, "absent a seizure, [Marmer is] likely to ... destroy evidence."

Based on this evidence, the district court granted AT&T's emergency motion for an ex parte asset freeze and seizure of property on 18 November 2002. The district court stated that AT&T, with the assistance of United States Federal Marshals, was permitted to search Marmer's Pagosa Court and Deerfield Avenue addresses and seize [and remove] any and all correspondence with customers, sales invoices, purchase orders, return forms, receipts, bank records, safe deposit box records, proceeds of sales, insurance policies, safes, shipping labels and tax returns of other business records, including all computer terminals, hard drives, servers, disks and tapes in their possession, which plaintiff reasonably believes contain or indicate the names or addresses of distributors, suppliers, manufacturers, and/or purchasers of Decoding Devices or any related equipment, or which contain, indicate or otherwise reflect or pertain to any transactions of any kind involving Decoding Devices or other business activities, and any and all Decoding Devices, and the illicit proceeds of the sales of such Decoding Devices.

AT&T responded to Marmer's motions with another affidavit of Marin stating that, during the search of Marmer's residence, AT&T discovered several fake driver's licenses bearing Marmer's photograph but not his legal name. R3-68 at ¶ 7. AT&T also seized $97,900 in cash located "in a briefcase concealed under a stairwell behind a water heater." Id. ¶ 12. In addition, seized tax returns indicated that Marmer set up a new corporate identity to sell illegal cable descramblers every twelve
Months on average.”

 Pretty disturbing, no? Let us also say right off the bat that our condolences go out to Carrie Kupcho, who was forced by her boss, Richard Marmer, to put her name on this (and surely other) dirty work that is so obviously the result of his own shortcomings and not hers. A job is a job I assume, but still, it cannot be easy to have to put your name on disputes that your boss is responsible for.

The Health & Wellness Channel’s exciting beginnings have been well documented. There is plenty of documentation about how the company started, where it was headed, and how it has repositioned itself in light of the way consumers now consume media. (The founder, Mr. Drew Nederpelt, is plastered all over the internet and on the HWC websites (his face, his movements, his interviews, his writings, and his history). He also hosts Marketplace on occasion. There is no doubt that Mr. Nederpelt is front and center if anyone needs to ask him questions or get hold of him. Contrast that to the fact that Mr. Marmer’s company, Fusion Diet Systems, doesn’t mention him once.)

HWC’s Marketplace initiative, which some have called ‘healthy home shopping,’ has been called “brilliant” by Doctor Oz (yes, that Dr. Oz). That is a fact. The fact that Mr. Marmer sees boogiemen where  none exist and followed through on his threats to libel the company and the founder in public does not reflect in any way on HWC or Nederpelt. Mr. Marmer has a problem. He has had many legal problems in the past. He has a temper issue. His attorney, when HWC spoke to him, admitted that Mr. Marmer has a serious problem controlling his temper. Mr. Marmer threated HWC that he would libel the company (see his email below) and its founder if he didn’t get his way (which is typically called “extortion”). Let’s reiterate that: As is shown below Mr. Marmer sent HWC an email saying that he insisted on unilaterally terminating a valid contract that he had signed if he didn’t get his way. Again, this is a fact. And if you’re read the criminal appeals case above, you know that Mr. Marmer is not accustomed to not getting his way, until the full weight of the criminal legal system is brought to bear.

Mr. Marmer also personally threated the founder with physical violence if he didn’t get his way. Since we’re not afraid of bullies (though we have checked in with the Miami-Dade police department and the Florida Attorney General who is now aware of these exchanges), Mr. Marmer didn’t get his way, and so he followed through on his threat to libel HWC and Nederpelt, and now that we have demonstrable proof of having lost business because of his writings, he is legally liable for this libel (proving loss of business being the final stage for defamation damages). So now we are free to explain why Mr. Marmer has posted this online diatribe while hiding behind the skirt-tails of his assistant.

HWC has shot over 100 products from dozens of vendors in anticipation of the launch of the network which was supposed to happen earlier in 2015 but now will happen on September 17 (delays happened when you’re trying to do something that has literally never been done before). These products range from exercise equipment to healthy supplements to cool underwater MP3 players to help you train. One of the shoots that was to happen in December had to be canceled when the main Product Specialist, Lucy Demeo, called in the morning of the shoot to say that her 18 month old baby was sick and she wouldn’t be able to make it. Keep in mind these are all facts and are all 100% verifiable. Of course we were upset that all our planning had been for naught, and Lucy was very apologetic (coincidentally Lucy dropped by our studios the other day and is a staple in Marketplace going forward), but alas, she had a very sick infant and didn’t feel, as a new mother, that she should leave her child.  We had vendors in from around the country and had been planning the shoot for a while so the disappointment was substantial, but what can you do with a new mother and a sick baby? So we all got over it very quickly, praying that the baby would be okay, and we all agreed to suck it up and reschedule. All except  Mr. Marmer. Mr. Marmer took the postponement of the shoot as an indication that something foul was underfoot and so emailed the Founder to say that he wanted a meeting- a “meeting” that we would come to learn meant something very different than what most people mean when they say “meeting.” The fact that his products weren’t loaded on the website was because the Marketplace shoot hadn’t happened yet and so there was no need or point to place the items on the shopping site. But as we would learn, Mr. Marmer didn’t actually care about his products being uploaded on the website.

Hi Drew,

 How are you? I am concerned that our products aren’t uploaded on your website and would like to set up an appointment to meet with you in Florida at the end of January.

 Please let me know when you have an available appointment. Also when do you expect our first infomercial to run.

 Thanks.

To describe what we’re doing as “infomercials” is not only problematic because we chose our vendors very carefully and we don’t have competing vendors as clients. In other words, if you’re our yoga mat supplier, you’re it exclusively. So we don’t just take anyone like an infomercial would. Secondly, we don’t charge people to shoot these segments- infomercials cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. We simply have a co-production cost that is very clearly explained in our contract, and ONLINE, that is to ensure our vendors are legitimate businesses and will respect the timeliness and the supply agreement. Our agreement states this very clearly: Paragraph 10 reads:

“INTENT, USE, AND OWNERSHIP OF PROPERTY: It is understood that the primary business of the Company is to sell vendors’ products online and telephonically and that the segment produced by the Company is done so as a marketing tool to aid in those sales. The Vendor does hereby understand and acknowledge that the Marketplace segment produced and aired by HWC is wholly owned property of the Company (HWC) and that no rights are conveyed to Vendor to use, excerpt, copy, or reproduce, without the express written consent of the Company, not to be unreasonably withheld.”

So to call it an infomercial completely misses the point of what Marketplace is. Unless people produce infomercials without any expectation that they can use their own infomercial. Regardless, we replied to Mr. Marmer’s inquiry:

Happy New Year Richard. Happy to meet when you like. If you want to get something on the calendar I am going to be sticking close to home at the end of January for our launch so let’s just set a date.

 Thanks for your note. Sorry about not getting you an update before the holidays but it’s been a little hectic with everything going on. We’ve had a similar inquiry from a couple other vendors as well so you are not alone, and I take full responsibility.

 As you can see by the attached screenshot, despite all our last minute rushing, Lucy had to cancel the morning of our shoot. This, as you can imagine, was a huge issue as we had two people in from out of town who flew in specifically to attend the shoot (from Chicago and Los Angeles). We went ahead and shot two of the 5 segments that didn’t absolutely require her with a stand-in but had to push back the other shoots. We visited with Lucy before the New Year and she is back on schedule (she knows the gig, she’s good, and she’s 5 blocks away).  

 Naomie (copied here) will have an update early next week for our new shoot. Let her or I know if you have any additional questions. Stephanie will be handling all the uploading and product specs as well so if you hear from her, it’s important she get what she’s looking for.  

 Thanks Richard. Looking forward to a great 2015. Let me know what day you wish to visit FLA.

Of first note here is the fact that HWC Founder Drew Nederpelt took specific responsibility for something that was clearly not his fault. “I take full responsibility.” Make of it what you will, but this should speak volumes, and will separate the two parties in this dispute even more as it continues.

So Mr. Nederpelt’s offer to host the meeting at any time was met with another email from Marmer on SATURDAY January 3:

Drew,

 I have to go with my instincts here and we cannot provide your company with any credit terms at this time. So we are going to have to figure out a billing system if you would like to continue doing business with us.

 Thanks.

 Best,

 

Mr. Marmer’s email was clearly a statement. There was no question asked and therefore in the three business days from the day he sent his note, there was no answer or response provided or even required. What is clear however is that Mr. Marmer was demanding to change the contract. A contract that had already been signed and ratified. Another example of Mr. Marmer’s belief that everyone is put on this earth at his discretion and for his personal use.

A discussion about changing a ratified contract in the middle of the process would take time and we wanted to be able to give an obviously upset Mr. Marmer (though we had no idea why he was so upset) the chance to calm down and start to put things in perspective and start thinking clearly. But HWC had lots of other pressing issues and three days went by. Here is where we learn that you should not not answer Mr. Marmer’s non-questions.

 Drew,

 Unfortunately, All of your plans that  have been promised to our company have been delayed so we would like to request a refund for the full amount since you haven’t shot our commercial.

 Thanks.

 Best,

The wording itself is passive-aggressive nonsense. “Delayed” plans are expected in business, especially when it comes to something as complex as broadcast production where on-air talent and vendors flying in from around the country are involved. If they had been “canceled” or “terminated” or if the other party had disappeared it would be wholly reasonable to infer that things were not going to happen as planned, but Marmer himself admits that the plans were simply “delayed.” Agreed, we did have a delay because our key on-air talent’s infant was sick. But then Marmer “requests” a refund. Which isn’t like requesting your $2.85 back from McDonalds because your egg McMuffin is cold. It’s asking that a signed, legitimate contract be terminated. It’s like driving over to the people who sold you their house, dropping your keys in their lap, and saying “Here you go, I would like my money back now.” And it’s not asking, as we will soon find out, it’s telling.

If you read Mr. Marmer’s emails and have any sense of human nature you can imagine him working himself up into a frenzy. First he asks for a meeting, and is not happy that he gets a more than courteous reply that the door is open, come by any time. He is very likely not expecting that. It is likely that in Mr. Marmer’s mind and world, everyone is out to get him (if you had his past, wouldn’t you?) and he’s the only one smart enough to outwit the bad guys (more like outwitting the good guys). Then in a passive-aggressive manner he announces that his “instincts” are reigning supreme, like Spiderman, and that now he has made the unilateral, executive decision (like only a super-sleuther can) that new payment terms are in order, despite the fact that we have an agreement, signed by Mr. Marmer and HWC, that specifically outlines payment terms. (Note to anyone interested in doing business with Mr. Marmer of Fusion Diet Systems- contracts mean nothing when The Marmer makes up his Mar-mind to screw the signed agreements and go with his “instincts.” But again, if you’ve read the criminal lawsuit, you know that a suitcase of $100,000 in cash hidden behind a water cooler under the stairs are the actions of someone who is accustomed to answering only to the voices in their head.)

The next day HWC responded simply, and using the incorrect name (honest mistake- we have hundreds of vendors):

Hi David- I guess I should have just given you a date to meet and left it at that J

 Drew,

 My name is Richard and if you have any integrity you will happily send me a refund like a gentleman.

 Thank you.

 So here is Mr. Marmer, the person who is demanding that a signed contract be unilaterally terminated because HE and only HE demands it, suggesting that someone else have “integrity” and that that “integrity” can only be achieved by canceling a valid contract because Mr. Marmer says that is his wish. (Let’s leave out the fact that someone who was caught illegally selling counterfeit cable boxes, with fake licenses, and incorporating companies every 12 months to stay one step ahead of the law, should probably not be lecturing anyone about “integrity” or acting like “a gentleman.”) If you’re not yet rolling your eyes, you are probably starting to not like Mr. Marmer, as we started not to like Mr. Marmer. But alas, we had a contract, and we felt that Mr. Marmer’s products filled a consumer need, and so we slogged on.

The next day Mr. Marmer didn’t even wait for a reply. He sent the following threatening email (a Fusion Diet Systems staple) and called HWC’s offices 4 times in the span of 3 minutes, not once leaving a message.

  Drew,

 If you cannot call me or let me know of a resolution for our business dispute unfortunately letters are going out to the following. Don’t try to screw me it won’t be worth it in the long run/

 (((REDACTED)))

www.stopfraud.gov

www.fraud.org

www.usa.gov (Internet Fraud Division)

Better Business Bureau

 Thanks RICHARD

 Note once again: Mr. Marmer’s unilateral demanding that a signed contract be nullified is called a “business dispute.” And his request to “let me know of a resolution” is malarkey. He has no interest in hearing about how to resolve the situation, because he’s already made it quite clear that he demands the contract be terminated simply because he says so. And the penalty if Mr. Marmer doesn’t get his way? Letters to his long litany of good friends at all the scam websites. He must have this list in his wallet he knows them so well.

Nederpelt then responded via email while still on the phone:

From: Health & Wellness Channel [mailto:drew@hwchannel.com]
Sent: Friday, January 9, 2015 1:38 PM
To: 'Richard Marmer'
Cc:
(((REDACTED)))
Subject: RE: Letters will be going

 What is wrong with you? I am on the phone. I will call you in a minute.

 I don’t know who pissed in your cornflakes Richard, but this is ridiculous. 

 In the world of Mr. Richard Marmer, when he “requests” something what he really means is that you had better do it because he has a handy list of websites he’s going to make your life a living hell with. These companies have all been supplied this documentation so that they’re aware of how Mr. Richard Marmer uses their very worthwhile companies like a bludgeon to intimidate people into doing whatever Mr. Richard Marmer “requests.”

When the two parties finally spoke shortly thereafter the exchange was like something out of a mob movie:

Nederpelt/HWC: “What is your problem Richard, we haven’t done anything wrong, why are you flying off the handle. I said I was happy to meet with you like you asked.”

Marmer: “Ask anyone in Boca, ask them what I mean when I say I want a “meeting.””

Nederpelt/HWC: (silence) “What? What are you talking about?”

Marmer: “Ask anyone who knows me in Boca, what I mean when I say “I want a meeting.” I’ll tell you one thing, it ain’t a ‘business’ meeting that’s for sure.”

Nederpelt/HWC: “What? What the… what are you talking about? Are you threatening me?”

Marmer: “You had better refund my money.”

Nederpelt/HWC: “You’re insane. I have no interest in knowing anyone like you let alone doing business with you. You’re crazy. We’ll process your refund. Good bye.”

So the first question might be, what is Marmer talking about “Boca” for? He lives in Utah. And how would Nederpelt know anyone that Marmer knows in Boca Raton? Well, a little Google with “Richard Marmer” and “Florida” will open up a whole can of worms. Specifically, this criminal appeals case. Apparently Mr. Marmer has a history in Florida, which neither HWC nor Nederpelt was aware of until two weeks ago (perhaps, while others err on the side of believing too much in online information, we don’t rely on it enough). And while we believe that if we keep our heads down and do our jobs and mind our business, we will succeed, the fact that Mr. Marmer has opened up this can of worms, means that this information, also posted online, BY THE COURT SYSTEM, is perfectly appropriate and legitimate to reference since Mr. Marmer has spared no expense to defame Nederpelt and HWC. A repeat of a few of the high points from the case files:

“After discovering that defendants-appellants1  Richard Marmer and his company, Tech Communications, Inc. (collectively, "Marmer"), were selling "pirate" cable descramblers in violation of § 553(a) (1), plaintiff-appellee AT&T Broadband ("AT&T") filed suit against Marmer and sought an ex parte order freezing Marmer's assets and allowing AT&T to seize property related to its claims. The district court granted the order and we AFFIRM.

 After searching through public records, Marin and Frappier discovered Marmer's home address—21407 Pagosa Court—and began observing activity outside his home. Marin followed Marmer from the Pagosa Court address to a warehouse-type facility at 960 South Deerfield Avenue. Marin observed Marmer "carrying a black bag consistent with the size and shape of [a] laptop computer." Id. ¶ 11. He also observed Marmer drive to the Mail Boxes, Etc. location listed as the return address for "The Matrix," where Marmer retrieved packages "consistent with the size and shape of the illegal Matrix descrambler that [Marin] purchased from [Marmer]." Id. ¶ 12. Marmer then traveled from the Mail Boxes, Etc. to the Deerfield Avenue warehouse, where he unloaded the packages and then loaded additional packages retrieved from the warehouse. After Marmer departed, Marin searched a garbage dumpster near the warehouse and found several items that he concluded were "consistent with the operation of an illegal descrambler sales company."

Two days later, on 15 November 2002, AT&T filed an emergency motion to supplement the record and modify the district court's initial denial of an asset freeze and seizure of property. AT&T submitted a supplemental affidavit from Frappier, and the affidavit of Daniel Lefkowitz, an attorney who represented another cable company in an identical, prior litigation. Frappier's supplemental affidavit stated that Marmer was cutting off suppliers' shipping labels and shredding documents. R1-14, Ex. B at ¶¶ 6, 9, 10, 14. " [B]ased on [his] extensive experience," Frappier stated his opinion that, "absent a seizure, [Marmer is] likely to ... destroy evidence."

 Based on this evidence, the district court granted AT&T's emergency motion for an ex parte asset freeze and seizure of property on 18 November 2002. The district court stated that AT&T, with the assistance of United States Federal Marshals, was permitted to search Marmer's Pagosa Court and Deerfield Avenue addresses and seize [and remove] any and all correspondence with customers, sales invoices, purchase orders, return forms, receipts, bank records, safe deposit box records, proceeds of sales, insurance policies, safes, shipping labels and tax returns of other business records, including all computer terminals, hard drives, servers, disks and tapes in their possession, which plaintiff reasonably believes contain or indicate the names or addresses of distributors, suppliers, manufacturers, and/or purchasers of Decoding Devices or any related equipment, or which contain, indicate or otherwise reflect or pertain to any transactions of any kind involving Decoding Devices or other business activities, and any and all Decoding Devices, and the illicit proceeds of the sales of such Decoding Devices.

AT&T responded to Marmer's motions with another affidavit of Marin stating that, during the search of Marmer's residence, AT&T discovered several fake driver's licenses bearing Marmer's photograph but not his legal name. R3-68 at ¶ 7. AT&T also seized $97,900 in cash located "in a briefcase concealed under a stairwell behind a water heater." Id. ¶ 12. In addition, seized tax returns indicated that Marmer set up a new corporate identity to sell illegal cable descramblers every twelve
months on average.”

 So you might now be wondering why we are stupid enough to pick a fight with someone like Mr. Marmer. The bottom line is that we did not pick a fight with him- we, unfortunately, became involved with an unscrupulous business person. Someone who is very well aware of all the scam websites because…well, you can come to your own conclusions. Someone who also is very happy to use the BBB despite not being an accredited member of it. And now we know why he didn’t bring in the authorities when things didn’t go his way (see below).

Then the two parties went back and forth and HWC decided that they needed an agreement in place governing the termination of the former agreement because Mr. Marmer was obviously not stable and was likely to do anything (looking back now, we’re not sure what we thought having a written termination agreement in place with Mr. Marmer would mean considering he just unilaterally terminated our original agreement in one fell swoop. And of course he did the same with the new agreement as we shall see).

While the two parties were negotiating the wording of the agreement Mr. Marmer’s attorney Derek called HWC and asked what the holdup was. It was explained to him that HWC wanted some type of clause in the termination agreement that kept Mr. Marmer from doing dumb things- i.e. the things that he had already threated to do  (this would become a theme). The attorney said that was fine but that the process needed to be sped up. “Listen, your client better pray to god that I don’t reveal that the guy threatened my life because I am sure that little nugget is going to hurt him a lot more than three grand will,” outlined Nederpelt. The attorney agreed that his client has a habit of overstepping his boundaries and has a terrible temper. The call ended with the agreement that HWC would get the process in motion. Frankly, we at HWC were fearful that there would be a knock at the door if we didn’t, either from Mr. Marmer’s “friends in Boca” or himself.

Recall Mr. Marmer earlier asking Mr. Nederpelt to act like a “gentleman.” And Mr. Marmer thinks nothing of threating physical violence against a fellow human being who has done NOTHING wrong. That, in Mr. Marmer’s world, is what “gentlemen” do.

One week later we received the following threat from Marmer’s assistant Carrie:

Hi Drew,

 We still have not received this refund payment. Due to non-payment, as agreed upon in the attached contract, we will need to move forward and contact the proper authorities to enforce the agreement. We have given you plenty of time to send the payment as agreed in the termination contract. Please confirm payment status and tracking.

So again, more Fusion Diet System modus operandi: Threats.

Now, normally the “proper authorities” would mean the court system for civil issues or the police for criminal issues. And that would have been fine because we had a written agreement now that governed the actions of both parties (silly us!). The issue is that the termination agreement that both parties signed didn’t stipulate a specific timeframe for any refund to be processed and so there was no breach on HWC’s end. We welcomed Fusion contacting the “proper authorities to enforce the agreement” since they would take one look at the agreement and agree that HWC was not in breach in the least. The issue was that Fusion Diet System (and more to the point, Richard Marmer’s) idea of “proper authorities” was libeling someone online. And as everyone knows, libeling someone online does absolutely nothing to “enforce the agreement.” All it does is open you up to legal action. Which is what this action has done.

Regardless, HWC’s response was simple.

Hi Carrie- It’s in process.

And frankly you can contact whomever you wish. We have done nothing wrong. We would have already lived up to the letter of the contract to shoot your Marketplace segment last month- I have the footage of the other companies who were in your same boat. The only reason we didn’t is because your boss threatened me with physical violence and I said I had no interest in doing business with people like that. The follow up agreement has two basic stipulations- one that you don’t disparage us (which I felt that I needed to include because your boss threatened all kinds of ridiculous actions which were completely meritless but nonetheless would cause us to have to spend money on suing him, having the items disputed/removed, etc.) and the other was that we would refund your Co-Production cost. Period. There was no time frame stipulated in the agreement which you signed, so we’re not in breach of anything. And if you do contact anyone, it is YOU who will be in material breach of the contract that you signed, and you will also not be due the refund.

 So enough with the threats, the refund is in process.

 Thank you

And then as one might imagine if you’ve been paying attention, Marmer had had enough waiting and had his poor assistant Carrie wade online and post disparaging things about HWC being a fraudulent enterprise, which has directly caused us to lose contracts that were already ratified. That action also materially breached the termination agreement. So now they are out their $3k as well as liable for libel. Such is the world of business when you deal with the Marmer’s of the world. But that is a reflection on Mr. Marmer, NOT on HWC or Mr. Nederpelt, and we will not be made to feel otherwise.

One interesting thing to note is that with all of Mr. Marmer and Co’s threats of “authorities” getting involved, two things have never happened: 1. A lawsuit has never been filed, and 2. a credit card dispute was never made. Ask yourself dear online reader, if Fusion Diet Systems has a legitimate claim (which no one in their right mind, after reading the facts, could conclude), why have neither of those things happened? It is SUPER easy to dispute a credit card charge, and it’s not expensive at all to file a small claims case to recoup $3k. The reason neither of those have happened is because Mr. Marmer would rather libel someone online (because he’s a bit of a sadist that way) than do something constructive to alleviate his predicament. Threats of violence and his “online authorities” are much more satisfying than actually having to provide the contract by which his business dealings have been legitimately documented. Not to mention having to answer to REAL authorities about his threats of violence. READ THAT AGAIN: Mr. Marmer hasn’t contacted any legitimate authorities because he will actually have to enter into evidence the agreements that he has signed. First the agreement that he signed that he wanted to be let out of by making threats, and the second agreement that he signed (standing behind his assistant) that lays out the specifics of the termination of the first agreement, which he has already breached. His only choice: Threaten and then go online and make false accusations about a legitimate business in the hopes that those on the other end will capitulate to a bully. And of course, several online simpletons have ended up falling into his trap, but those people were likely not the best and the brightest to begin with. As we all know, if you do the best you can, what other people think matters not.  Mr. Marmer will be visited by his karmic comeuppance, we are quite sure of that.

Hopefully this other side of the story shines a light on this situation that has been up to this point very one-sided. The words “fraud” and “scam” are blunt instruments used to disparage and intimidate, and while the consequences will not be debated on this website, the bottom line is that the internet can be used for all kinds of nefarious things, if you let it. People who believe what they read posted online and more importantly, those who make their business decisions based on one-sided postings from people whose history is unkown are firstly, not very bright, and secondly, not very good business people.

And now that the entire planet has access to the musings of one Mr. Richard Marmer, one thing that should be very clear to everyone (besides the fact that Mr. Marmer is a bully) is that Mr. Marmer was very well aware that the shoot was postponed for legitimate reasons. Not only that, but Mr. Marmer didn’t demand repayment because he realized he had been the victim of “fraud” as he thereafter claimed, but that he “requested” that the contract be terminated because things had been “delayed.” Those are both Mr. Marmer’s own words. “Request” a refund and that the process had been “delayed.” And yet online he characterizes HWC’s business dealings as consisting of “fraud.” If you don’t know what happens to people who claim others are “frauds” when they know very clearly (and have said so in writing) that not to be the case, just Google it. It’s not pleasant.

Apologies for any readers who were only interested in the Reader’s Digest version but we had to gather all this document for the lawsuit anyway so we figured we would just post it in our defense while we were at it.

And finally, let it show for the record that neither HWC nor Nederpelt started this little online p***ing match. We were more than happy to let Mr. Marmer’s temper tantrum sit online to rot as we continued to do business with integrity. But it turned out that Mr. Marmer’s online temper tantrum was doing as he intended- it was affecting our business, BUT EVEN THEN, we gave Mr. Marmer an opportunity to avoid this type of rebuttle, and he refused, so at the end of the day, we value our success more than we value the success of Mr. Marmer or Fusion Diet Systems, and so you have this 7,000 response to wade through. Our apologies but we had no choice.

 Drew Nederpelt

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