All Forum Posts by: M Marchand

According to Amex, @Brian Gibbon's argument is that I did not complete the 12 months of coaching therefore I am not entitled to a refund. Besides all the abuse documented above and as mentioned he insisted that anything I earned whether I did all the work or not would need to be split with him 50/50 since we were 'business partners'. I would have to be certifiably insane to agree to an arrangement like that or continue with him for the 12 months just to hand over my hard-earned money.

I am re-disputing it (3rd time) and Amex seems to be equally perplexed with the decision yet have no power with Stripe apparently, the payment processor he uses. At this point I will post this on Ripoff Report and anywhere else I can find to help protect others from this predator. 

I will update this thread once I get a resolution to this dispute. Brian can cancel the [second] dispute at any time, knows he did and said these things (hasn't responded here since I can back it all up), and yet continues to let the dispute stand. That speaks volumes.

I just want to add one more thing. Everything was fine for the first two months when we had a strictly coach/student arrangement. Brian was great. Very encouraging, full of good ideas, I felt I had made a good decision in hiring him. He started referring to me as his favorite student and made me feel special. 

Although he's big on some pre-internet tactics such as door knocking to ask if people had friends or family interested in buying a house, and wanted me to go to realtor's and mortgage lender offices to make connections with them rather than call, some might argue these are still effective tactics. Not so sure about the door to door thing (i'm in a city where you can't even get a fixer upper for 400k, one of the most expensive in the nation), but i do think going to offices (which i did) is a smart move.

Things only started getting weird after he proposed we start a company. And even then there were many high points. He could be the nicest person on the planet at times (otherwise I'd of been done much sooner). He could also switch in the same day, phone call, or text exchange. He would go from calling me a dingbat or some other derogatory name to telling me how great I was all in the same hour. Classic Jekyll and Hyde behaviour. 

What alerted me to the fact that he could be dealing with real mental issues was not just using the wrong contract for our first deal and making a multitude of errors on it (which I, the rookie discovered and alerted him to), but when he wanted to go through it line by line, he'd have me read it to him while he fixed the error, and every line he'd be yelling to either read him the whole line, or just tell him the item. "Marni, I don't need the whole line, just tell me the item we're editing!" "Marni, I need the whole line! Read me the whole line!" It went on like this for an hour. I knew then that something was terribly wrong. When he wanted to go through the second sellers contract the same way I flat out refused. 

So all this to say there was alot of good along with and bad as is usually the case in life. Towards the end he did become unhinged and it was getting worse by the day. He still wanted to write up a JV contract for us on the final day we spoke and I said 'no way'. Then he offered to start the coaching all over from the beginning (12 months, 2 hrs per week), I thanked him but declined. I sincerely hope he gets the help and/or medication he needs. He's just a good person with issues. And who doesn't have issues?

@Mike M. 

1. Thank you! The calls have always been my favorite part. I just like talking to people and they like me (yay me!).

2. Agreed. That would be his refund policy and I believe, based on that and his admitting via email we went from coach/student to company mode, I'm eligible. His website (and mine/ours which he refused to take down) is suspended right now but he emailed it to me too so I have it in my possession.

3. Could be. Tis the season. :)

4. Luckily he indicates all this in his email.. "The reason I gambled with my time with you is I thought both of us could build a company together regarding lease options and land contracts in the midwest where these seller financing tools are common place. And I did this without a JV agreement in place." 

One of my dearest friends is a lawyer and has already been alerted, he advised me to re-dispute it and then he'll step in if necessary.

5. Fortunately I have almost all of this in text messages as that and phone was our main means of communication (including the texts with his threats, see email below). I also have screenshots, documents, and our final email exchange.

6. Agreed. Though I tried to state it all as factually as possible and leave the emotion out of it. Some pretty bizarre things happened and were said so I can see how it could come across as heated. If he hadn't forced me to re-dispute I likely wouldn't have documented my experience here with you all, though I felt [very] guilty for not warning other potential clients and knew I should probably write this either way. So now that my back is against the wall, here we are. 

7. 100%, and I tried to handle it that way. However, my last email to him went unanswered, which speaks volumes. Since we're on the subject, here it is (names changed for privacy).. fwiw, one thing i got wrong- i was on the phone for 7 hours, not 6 (10-5):

11/6/2018

Hi Brian,

It was actually being called dingbat more times than I could count, getting yelled at regularly, told I was 'lazy' and to 'stop ****ing around and get to work' during the 6 hours straight I spent on the phone trying to find a prop manager to handle the Smith's house, threatening to call Jane and tell her the company I brought in was doing illegal activities (before you even had the facts, turns out they're not) which of course would have killed the deal after I had worked on it for a month+, reading me the riot act for just under an hour if I was 1-2 min late for a call (even though you made me 45 min late for my appt. with the Smith's messing with the contracts, when i could have done it in 5 min because my computer was working fine and yours wasn't..i kept offering and you kept saying 'shut up'), telling me to shut up all the time, not sending the contracts to the Evergreat folks as you said you would, then refusing to take any responsibility for it or discuss it at all even though according to you if I don't follow through w what I say i'm going to do I better be dead or unconscious. Lastly, the pay structure with JB was so completely confusing he ended up pulling out. When I told you I felt I was being abused and all the yelling and name calling was inappropriate your response was 'Ok I'm done', followed by 'not kidding' in the middle of finishing JB's contracts. I believe you are a poser, bipolar and narcissistic (always claiming to be the best of the best, even though the contracts for both deals were riddled with errors we had to amend, which ended up being incredibly embarrassing, then telling me to 'fix it Marni').

Kindly take down the website associated with my LLC and any ads you have up to find a prop manager for me. Flushing that 7k down the toilet would have been a better use of my time than the endless hours spent just to be verbally abused and completely discouraged from doing this business.

@Jonathan R. much appreciated! :)

@Jonathan R. once again I appreciate your thoughtful response. The only part I don't agree with (due to the nature of all that transpired) is taking it across the chin and giving up on getting a refund. I'm not in a position to do that (which Brian knows full well) so I'll at least give it my best shot. 

But I'm happy to report my interest in it has very recently been rekindled, I just found I was starting to dread getting on the phones and questioning how i got myself in such a bad spot even up till a month ago. SLO is Sandwich Lease Options (a potentially risky strategy but could be a good one done right). Buy and Hold's have caught my interest in the best few weeks and I definitely welcome a conversation with you on the matter(s). :) I love to network and would like nothing more than to find my bearings and get my RE Investing practice off the ground. I know the potential is there and am fascinated with the endless possibilities in this realm, it's such a creative field. I'm heading out for a bit but will message you, would like to hear more about what you do and share whatever I can, albeit limited lol.

@Jonathan R. the other thing I would say is as a complete newbie I didn't expect to have more sense about how structure these deals than someone whose coaching me and been at it for 32 years. 

His wanting to keep the price of the first house 75k above fair market or 'dump her' was confounding at best. And I'm convinced that he lost the second deal because the guy was very enthusiastic to do LO after I explained it to him and made him the first offer (based on Brian's instructions.. i wasn't crazy about tying the purchase price to a new appraisal when TB is ready to purchase, nor were 5 other investors I checked with, but I realize that's debatable). Seller was ecstatic when Brian got on the phone and made him a whole new offer of raising the already very high price 3% per year (amongst the more expensive in the state and in an up market). He was understanding but obviously upset and rescinded when I let him know I wasn't comfortable with it and why. That was 10k down the drain for us and then he ended up just getting a regular renter and staying a landlord which he didn't really want to do as he was moving out of state. Brian did a disservice to all of us with that one. 

I don't believe Brian is operating on all cylinders and after all that I definitely want a full refund. I should mention too that of his abundant materials he was so proud of and shared with me, about 10% were great (he's made some great videos for sure and had a few very helpful handouts), the other 90% was junk, non-related (much of it was for realtor's) and his dropbox files were literally like sorting through a hoarder's attic. No order whatsoever (he said he was going to fix that, but by that time I was done). God knows where he got it all, he didn't even know where when I asked him for full size pics for website.. he mentioned he had thousands, yeah, almost all except a handful (6 to be exact) were miniature thumbnail size. 

I suspect he wanted to form a company with me 1. to profit off my efforts and 2. I can only think he liked me beyond a coaching student as he spoke several times of flying out to 'train' me, which on the one hand I was flattered that he'd want to fly out for me, but on the other hand, what could he teach me in person that he couldn't relay in our countless calls (some were several hours long, all business) or over skype?

@Jonathan R. I appreciate your input. 

I don't remember seeing the video on Brian's page before signing up with him, but even if I had it wouldn't have deterred me as I am not afraid of being pushed and I am not allergic to curse words. What I DO take issue with is outright abuse. I held back in my post as to not go on forever. First off, when he told me "You're just lazy! Stop ****ing around and get to work!" It was in the middle of my calling every possible property manager I could find. I didn't take a break to eat, I was frantic (7 hours straight I spent in total). There was nothing more I could have done. Although he had told me to 'get dressed up and drive to the largest property management group in the town where house was located, an hour away from me, and they'll for sure do it.' That was absurd advice as it would've taken two hours away from the all places I could call during that time, and when i did call them every single one said specifically 'we don't work with LO.'

I also neglected to mention I had question him on wanting me to go door to door to ask if anyone knew someone who wanted to buy a house and he screamed at me at the top of his lungs for 10 minutes.

Look, someone who tells you "if you don't follow through on what you say you're going to do, you better be unconscious or dead" then drops the ball on something as big as getting contracts sent when they say they will and before it's too late (as he did), then refuses to take responsibility (he refused to discuss it when I questioned him "let's just move forward, what other questions do you have" was his response), that's a poser. Or whose such a stickler for time he freaks out if I'm a couple min late for our call (finishing up w prospect was no excuse as far as he was concerned "Our relationship is more important than 10 prospects" whatever the fvck THAT'S supposed to mean) and then makes me 45 min late when i was scheduled to be 15 min early for my first appointment to sign a seller up, messing with his computer when I could have had them done in no time, but woudn't let me- that's a mental issue.

I did not sign up for military training. And him telling me he wants half of what I make whether he does any of the work or not?? That's a scam artist.

@Jay Hinrichs My post is not about what I am doing or not doing now, it is specifically about my experience with Brian Gibbons.

@Jay Hinrichs , if you re-read what I wrote the lack of success had nothing to do with the market being up or down and yes, Brian has many great reviews here which was why I chose to hire him. 

On another note, I know several people who specialize in and do well with LO and SLO in any market.