International Profit Associates Losing my job because of IPA Buffalo Grove Illinois

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*UPDATE: Rip-off Report Investigation - International Profit Associates recognized by Rip-off Report as a safe business service - IPA pledges to resolve all complaints, 100% commitment to customer service and satisfaction, feel confident and secure when doing business with IPA

Here is a repeat from another reponse:

"Your solution is quite simple.
Understand that IPA will run from any former client who shows strength.

First, file a complaint with your state, county, and even city Attorney General regarding IPA.

Second, file a complaint with your state, county, city Better Business Bureau.

Third, contact you local newspaper to be interviewed for an article detailing the treatment, tactics, and lack of value received to warn other businesses in your area.

While you may be hestitant to follow the above processes, be brave. It is NOT an embarrassment to have been duped by these crooks. That is what they are counting on - you will be too embarrassed to disclose that you were a sucker for their very smooth methods. I would be willing to bet that many others in your area have experienced the same loss in time and money. Share your story and other will come forward."

My additional suggestion to help you and other situations is this:

Casually call as many suppliers and customers of the company you are working for. Ask them if they have ever had any dealings with IPA. Take notes. Contact your newspapers and offer to coordinate an article regarding any responses your receive from your comments. If they resist, guilt them into it saying that surely that media cares about the economic health of the area.

IPA's defense is to delay any legal actions and hope it goes away, or to settle. I agree that you currently have no defense against IPA - unfortunately. However, since you are seeking employment elsewhere, it behoves you to help protect other small businesses in your area. Be sure to present your position to the media as a concerned citizen/employee that others not be duped. You will have to be careful not to relay any confidential info from your current/previous employer. Future employers will see your article and you as an honest person that they want as part of their organization.

Remember, honesty will always prevail in the end.

Best wishes to you in the future.

Here is a repeat from another reponse:

"Your solution is quite simple.
Understand that IPA will run from any former client who shows strength.

First, file a complaint with your state, county, and even city Attorney General regarding IPA.

Second, file a complaint with your state, county, city Better Business Bureau.

Third, contact you local newspaper to be interviewed for an article detailing the treatment, tactics, and lack of value received to warn other businesses in your area.

While you may be hestitant to follow the above processes, be brave. It is NOT an embarrassment to have been duped by these crooks. That is what they are counting on - you will be too embarrassed to disclose that you were a sucker for their very smooth methods. I would be willing to bet that many others in your area have experienced the same loss in time and money. Share your story and other will come forward."

My additional suggestion to help you and other situations is this:

Casually call as many suppliers and customers of the company you are working for. Ask them if they have ever had any dealings with IPA. Take notes. Contact your newspapers and offer to coordinate an article regarding any responses your receive from your comments. If they resist, guilt them into it saying that surely that media cares about the economic health of the area.

IPA's defense is to delay any legal actions and hope it goes away, or to settle. I agree that you currently have no defense against IPA - unfortunately. However, since you are seeking employment elsewhere, it behoves you to help protect other small businesses in your area. Be sure to present your position to the media as a concerned citizen/employee that others not be duped. You will have to be careful not to relay any confidential info from your current/previous employer. Future employers will see your article and you as an honest person that they want as part of their organization.

Remember, honesty will always prevail in the end.

Best wishes to you in the future.

Here is a repeat from another reponse:

"Your solution is quite simple.
Understand that IPA will run from any former client who shows strength.

First, file a complaint with your state, county, and even city Attorney General regarding IPA.

Second, file a complaint with your state, county, city Better Business Bureau.

Third, contact you local newspaper to be interviewed for an article detailing the treatment, tactics, and lack of value received to warn other businesses in your area.

While you may be hestitant to follow the above processes, be brave. It is NOT an embarrassment to have been duped by these crooks. That is what they are counting on - you will be too embarrassed to disclose that you were a sucker for their very smooth methods. I would be willing to bet that many others in your area have experienced the same loss in time and money. Share your story and other will come forward."

My additional suggestion to help you and other situations is this:

Casually call as many suppliers and customers of the company you are working for. Ask them if they have ever had any dealings with IPA. Take notes. Contact your newspapers and offer to coordinate an article regarding any responses your receive from your comments. If they resist, guilt them into it saying that surely that media cares about the economic health of the area.

IPA's defense is to delay any legal actions and hope it goes away, or to settle. I agree that you currently have no defense against IPA - unfortunately. However, since you are seeking employment elsewhere, it behoves you to help protect other small businesses in your area. Be sure to present your position to the media as a concerned citizen/employee that others not be duped. You will have to be careful not to relay any confidential info from your current/previous employer. Future employers will see your article and you as an honest person that they want as part of their organization.

Remember, honesty will always prevail in the end.

Best wishes to you in the future.

Losing a job can be tough on anyone, but it can also ber a blessing in disguise. In your situation, you simply got kicked off a sinking ship. If what you stated in your initial post is accurate, then it sounds like the company was sinking faster than the Titanic was after hitting the iceberg.

As for myself, I decided to leave the employment of IPA since I couldn't abide with their lies and deceit. Sometimes their consultants come in and do a good job. It is my belief that the company sends their best (and some of them are very good with a lot of experience) consultants and analysts to those companies that have the ability to pay the largest fees. John Burgess oversees the assignment of consultants and analysts so if you are a small business with barely a million in gross revenues, you usually get a rookie analyst or an inexperienced consultant. However if you are a ten million dollar company or larger, then they send the best they have.

One thing that made my decision to leave IPA easier was when i spoke to another "Senior Area Manager" who covers the territory where I live. My territory was about an hour's drive from my home. His home was an hour's drive from his territory and right outside my territory. It made no sense for me to be operating a territory an hour away and for him to be operating a territory an hour from his home. When I suggesting trading territories, he said he likes running a territory that is that far from where he lives since he doesn't have to do business with those he sells on the analysis or consulting.

That is not how I was taught to operate. I was taught that the product or service I sell should be of such quality that after the sale, I should be able to walk in to a customer and be greeted with open arms and a smile. With IPA, I may be greeted with a loaded shotgun if I wallked into a company after an analyst or consultant had been there. That aswered the question why IPA doesn't want us giving out our cell phone or home office numbers and addresses. I can see why. I wouldn't want a disgruntled customer throwing a brick through my window.

I am glad I left IPA before I got too sucked into their trap. At least I still have my integrity and can look myself in the mirror. I don't know how those long time employees of IPA can look themselves in the mirror each day.

Laura, you can't post bad crap about this company and expect nothing is going to be done. I understand the frustration - it tells me though that you were never a good fit for this company. I have to tell you what this analyst indicated as far as firing long-time employees is one the company management bought into well before they hired you - they would have to since letting go of employees working for a company for more than 25 years is not an easy process from an HR standpoint.

Here's my guess:

1. They needed someone to come in and clean house. You did that.
2. They wanted to promote someone who could clean house. You fought them and lost.
3. You assumed the responsibility of something many small company controllers do; I had to step into a company as Controller a long time ago with a smaller company and create the HR and Admin Departments (the HR Dept when I got there was a baseball bat hanging on a wall). IT was already mine to begin with. I had a staff of three. It can be done - you just have to be organized. Revenue at that time was $12 million when I started.
4. You no longer want to play the game and now you're gone.

I get the fact they've taken the company for a lot of money. You indicated the company is behind on A/P, and has to be behind on A/R as well (if they weren't, the company needs to go out of business). What you didn't indicate is how well the company was doing before? My guess would be poorly. You stepped into a nightmare, you cleaned out what they wanted you to clean out, and then they finished you off so they could find someone else who would say yes. Bravo for you because you don't need that garbage.

Did they commit any action exposing themselves to liability? I would guess not based on the information you provided. Either what they did is legal on its face, or you didn't provide enough context for us to evaluate. In most cases, you would be an "at will" employee, so they can lay you off for the situation you described without legal liability. That would apply for the long-term employees as well.

In the end, it's the management's choice to hire the consultant and for the money they pay - they follow the consultant's advice.

Hey Integrity-

If you hired them, wouldn't you be the client?
As you put it, "every report is not even accurate", maybe that's one of the reasons
most of us don't want them in our business. They are a scam and over charge
for their so called services.
Believe me, we don't want to be like IPA.
You say you saw a 6:1 return. It's easy to turn $100.00 into $600.00. But one thing IPA did not teach you is how to spell.
The SBAC endorsement doesn't mean crap, all you have to do is join and donate money.
Have you looked at the law suits against IPA?
If you haven't, you must be blind or some sort of employee of IPA.
Do us all a favor and mind your own business.

I had them as a client. Excellent.. Every report is not even accurate. a nominal fee from 300-1200 is charged for anaylyst.. if not happy you dont pay. then and only then they send in a consultant. you can take recommendatino and be done

All these complaints are by people who NEVER DID THE CONSULTING SERVICE..
they are only compalining about high--pressured sales. MAYBE IF THIER own PEOPLE WERE more like IPA OR THEY WOULD NOT BE A SMALLLLLL COMPANY

ipa is endorsed by small business advisory council of the gov't

Small business owners have egos.. they apparentyl were bruised...

We saw a 6:1 return on our money after 2weeks of impleneting the ideas the analyst made with the consultants...

After I filed my report, IPA contacted my boss. He talked to me and told me they emailed him my report. He assured me that he felt my frustration was against IPA (which it is) and not the company. Two days later the "senior analyst" called to say "he was going to be in the area" and thought he should stop by to see how things were going.

Today I was fired. My boss says he now feels I'm not trustworthy. The only people IPA wants companies to trust are the people that are afraid to questions their practices. Hopefully, my boss will see the writing on the wall before IPA nails a "For Sale" sign on it.

Sounds like John might work for IPA-IBA.
How can anyone support these idots.
This company needs to be sued more. They are taking advantage of
small businesses. They come in to see how much money you have and then
try do drain your bank account.
I hope both Burgess and Steinberg go to jail for a long time.
I wish the best of luck to all of you that have been scammed by IPA-IBA.

"John" apparently didn't read my entire post. I am not "sue happy" as he suggests. I like hundreds of others of others, feel I'm being victimized by IPA and am sharing my story in case other employees of companies being duped by IPA are in the same situation.

John do you work for IPA?

No you don't have an recourse against IPA, you haven't even been fired or let go and even if you were that is a decision from the owner of the company not an action by IPA. They could fire you because they don't like the shoes you wear and its perfectly legal. I hate sue happy people, if you don't like the direction your company is going or the decisions they are making then quit and find a new job but you don't get to sue everyone just because you feel like it.

If you can document the material facts of what you have posted, you should contact the Reda & Desjardins law firm immediately. Go to ipalawsuit.com and register, then contact the law firm with your documentation. They have filed a class action lawsuit against IPA under RICO. You can also look up the phone numbers and e-mail addresses for the Reda law firm and speak to them, They do return phone calls and will talk to you.

I also suggest that you contact the attorney general of your state about this company taking your employer down the tubes. Several state attorneys general have opened investigations into IPA. It loks like the vultures are circling around that company now. Also read some of the other postings on this web site about this company. They are a bunch of crooks and this company deserves to be put out of business and John Burgess should be sent to jail.

Oh, BTW did you know that their head honcho, John Burgess is a disbarred attorney and a convicted felon? Also if you check further into this company, they are currently facing a sexual harrassment action filed against them by former and current employees. Oh, one of Mr. Burgess's felony convictions (he has more than one) is for soliciting prostitution from a minor. That should tell you something about the man and this company.