Michael Louis Brittingham American Business Club, AmBizClub, A Closed Circle, International Businessman cannot pay my invoice that is not more than a fancy meal. Wilmington, Delaware

I was hired by Michael Louis Brittingham to layout his poetry book for both print and online sale. At that time, he presented himself as the President/CEO of the American Business Club in Zrich, Switzerland. Our initial agreement was that I would invoice him for the work once the project was finished.

I had no reason to doubt that he would pay me, as he presented himself on many websites with this - or other - title(s) and was working with a friend of mine to set up a record label to which he had offered an investment of 500K USD.*

I created the book layout in both print and Kindle format, and helped him lay down the steps to have his book published on Lulu, Amazon and Barnes & Noble, amongst others.

At one point in our project, there was the need to make a payment to buy an ISBN code.  Michael asked me to pay this for him and add it to my invoice. I refused because this is not in my standard business practice and asked for a down payment should he want me to proceed as such.

Given that I had provided all the services that had been initially agreed upon, I sent him my invoice for 660 EUR and told him to add an extra 100 EUR if he wanted me to purchase the ISBN code in his name.

Mr Brittingham wrote back that he would pay me within the week with the extra 100 EUR to continue his project. The money never came.

Two reminders later, he informed me that he had limited funds, was about to fly to America, and that when he got back, he would pay me.

We are talking about 660 EUR here, not a huge amount! I have many real International Businessmen friends and that is what they spend every week just eating out! So how could an international business man, top music producer and world renowned painter not be able to pay me 660 EUR when hes about to jump on a plane to the US? I mean... who did he think he was kidding!!!

Anyway, giving him the benefit of the doubt, I wrote saying I would willingly grant him a months extension to sort his situation out. After that time had gone by, and without any news from him, I sent him another kind reminder, to which he answered that I would be paid within a week; I wasnt.

All this had taken place in writing by email, so I started searching for a real address to send an official invoice to, only to find that American Business Club Ltd, such as it is presented on the internet, does not exist and that there is no such company registered in Switzerland either.

Given the above, and more Ive discovered since, Im pretty certain that Ive been ripped off.




* Youll also find her story on this website.