Disclaimer: Due to multiple threats from Your Success Ltd Lawyers claiming this website to be defamatory the following statement is made: The comment, articles and opinions expressed in this website are either a) the truth b) honest opinion c) parody. This website is an honest review of our experience with Your Success Ltd and associated entities. There is no malicious intent or implied on a personal level.
Update: Your Success Accountants appears to be no more. Chris Hardiman has no online profile and Gilbert Robertson now appears to have moved onto BDO Marlborough Tasman
WHEN CONSIDERING A BUSINESS PARTNER, ESPECIALLY ONE THAT PROMOTES ‘YOUR SUCCESS’, IT PAYS TO CONSIDER YOUR OPTIONS
The partners we chose were chartered accountants Gilbert Robertson and Chris Hardiman of Robertsons Chartered Accountants, now Your Success Ltd. This venture left us tens of thousands of dollars out of pocket.
As Robertsons they claimed to ‘Partner in Your Success’. Under a recent rebrand their new site makes more bold claims:
BUSINESS INNOVATION EXISTS TO INSPIRE OUR CLIENTS TO SUCCEED BY BEING THEIR VALUED AND TRUSTED BUSINESS PARTNER
The new Your Success site claims:
WE DELIVER SERVICES THAT WILL HELP YOUR DREAMS BECOME REALITY
‘Whether you’re looking for help watching over the numbers while you get on with business, or are seeking a business advisor for ongoing business development, choose Your Success Ltd as your trusted partner.
Gilbert Robertson and Chris Hardiman abandoned our ‘trusted partnership’ citing ‘time constraints’ and a commitment to setting up Your Success Ltd, leaving our venture in considerable debt. We personally cleared all outstanding debts and have sought fair and reasonable settlement from the pair. The last letter we received from Your Success lawyers Marty Logan of Pitt and Moore stated: ‘Our client will not be making any of the payments as it has no obligation to do so.’
You see I disagree. Their stated reason for not paying, although the debts are fully documented, is they claim it is ‘the business’ that owes the money, not them.
Let me clarify that accounting practice. As a shareholder, Gilbert Robertson personally commissioned work from my company. He personally asked us to make further cash injections on the written guarantee that he and Hardiman would match them. He never did, he walked away from the company and wrote off that debt.
He personally ran up considerable debt in the form of an overdraft. The overdraft was part of the cashflow projections he created. When he decided to commit to other projects both Robertson and Hardiman resigned as directors and left that debt with us. They advised that we keep the debt in the company and use the losses against future taxes.
He’d secured the overdraft at the bank we held our mortgage with. It later turned out that this was done in the knowledge that although all partners are jointly and severally liable, the bank will go for the easy target, the one with the property, that was us!
This may all be legal but in my honest opinion it’s not honourable, moral or the actions of a ‘trusted partner’. Regardless of the accounting loopholes, the fact is that we are servicing a very heavy debt as a result and will do so for many years to come.
So let’s meet the success gurus.
Success is hard to quantify and can mean different things to different people. For instance, I have big dreams. Success to me means not having to worry about the bills, being able to go on holiday several times a year on my private jet to places exotic and exciting. It means being greeted on my private yacht by my crew, being cooked fresh cray by my private chef.
‘Success’ is a big promise to make.
A TRUSTED PARTNER?
To me that implies that they will be there through thick and thin, will do whatever it takes to achieve those big dreams.
What a reasonable person wouldn’t expect in a trusted partner is for them to walk away at a critical time leaving the other partners servicing a debt.
Four years ago I moved to Nelson. Robertson was a complete unknown to me until I met him at one of his BNI meetings, introduced through a neighbour. I needed a local accountant to sort my affairs and took on the services of Robertsons Chartered Accountants. At that point their claims of ‘success’ were not so zealous. They had a typical office in Nelson with much of the austerity you’d expect from an accountant. The only reference I saw to success was a small tag line on their logo.
Over the course of several months Gilbert Robertson cultured a relationship on a business and personal level.
Robertson would often use the upstairs rooms of a local bank and introduced me to staff with whom it seemed he had a working relationship.
Robertson and Hardiman come across well. They are smart, intelligent and I thought we got along well, which is important to me. After a number of months of ‘due diligence’ I accepted an offer of trusted partnership with Robertsons (Now Your Success Ltd) in a new and exciting online project. During this time Robertsons had held a ‘success’ seminar at The Rutherford, Nelson’s grandest hotel. Over two hundred business people attended.The partnership was based on based on impressive cashflow forecasts and the ability of Robertson to galvanise the business community.
The business was launched. Now you’re expecting to read about just how successful this partnership worked out to be? … read on!
Gilbert Robertson and Chris Hardiman are now attempting to carve out a position as business coaches. www.yoursuccess.co.nz/
LET US HELP YOU REALISE YOUR DREAMS OF SUCCESS AND FINANCIAL FREEDOM
Well, the very least I’d expect is a track record of success in their chosen sector. It turns out that even this may not be the case. According to what Gilbert told me, he has been the victim of unfortunate circumstance in previous business ventures, ‘one land deal almost driving the family to bankruptcy’.With audacious claims such as these you’d expect a glittering portfolio of clients powering their way to financial freedom. You’d expect these mentors, these ‘business gurus’ to have been wildly successful in multiple business sectors. You’d expect a team that offers ‘financial freedom’ under their tutelage to be multi-millionaires …. wouldn’t you?
I’m told that the original accountancy firm Robertsons CA was set up not by Gilbert, but by his father. That’s a very different proposition to setting up and building a business from the ground up.
So why become a business coach?
During our ‘trusted partnership’ Gilbert expressed concern that ‘accountancy was dying’. With the growth of Xero, traditional accountancy work was becoming less relevant in a digital age. Gilbert was keen to protect his future and branch out. I took this as a positive and understood it to mean that he would be even further motivated to grow our new venture.
Little did I know that he and Hardiman were actually working on another project. They were setting up an existing business for failure whilst setting up in the businesses coaching, success guru sector.
By nature of our experience, attitude and service offering, the Your Success team is passionate about helping businesses like yours succeed. At Your Success we are experienced business people, mentors and coaches. We can help you with getting your existing business to its full potential or assist new start-up businesses and thrive on supporting you in growing that or any and taking you towards what you consider success. Achieving your goals and your success!
The dodgy grammar aside, Gilbert/Hardiman walked away from obligations as a ‘trusted partner’ to set up Your Success Ltd. Robertsons Chartered Accountants merged with Mark Brown Accountancy.
After less than twelve months that merger appears to have failed also with Mark Brown moving into a new premises in Richmond.
A trusted partner?
For me, if someone is offering to be a ‘trusted partner’ they should have a strong track record, be honest, and open about their past. So imagine my shock when sometime after my trusted partners moved on to become Success Gurus, I discover that one partner was the director of one of New Zealand’s largest failures.
LDC FINANCE ACCUSED OF BEING RECKLESS
Source: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11573401
Lawyer for out-of-pocket investors claims firm insolvent from its incorporation but defendants deny allegations.
The representative action is against the firm’s former directors, accountants, trustee and auditor. The directors named in the proceeding include Christopher Hardiman. The accountants are Carran Miller Strawbridge, now in liquidation.
LDC Finance was insolvent from the time it was set up and its directors ran it “recklessly, incompetently and with disregard for the basic requirements of a finance company”, a lawyer for the firm’s out-of-pocket investors has alleged. A six-week trial was due to begin in Nelson in July – almost nine years after LDC collapsed owing 1000 investors about $20 million.
Some got their money back but unsecured investors had received nothing and were still owed more than $12.5 million. Secured investors were still owed about $1.5 million in interest over-and-above what they have already got back.
The investors’ lawyer, Hugh Rennie QC, said it was believed the evidence showed LDC was “from its incorporation insolvent and operating in breach throughout of prospectus disclosure and other requirements”.
“The directors were conducting the operation of the company at least recklessly, incompetently and with disregard for the basic requirements of a finance company,” Rennie is quoted as alleging in Associate Judge Matthews’ decision.
Rennie also submitted it was believed Perpetual had “failed to act as a competent trustee” and that it “agreed to or acquiesced in actions which enabled trading to continue when LDC was insolvent”. Perpetual said it strenuously denied the allegations.
The actions or inaction of Sherwin Chan & Walshe allegedly “enabled the issuing of a misleading prospectus” and it failed to identify which borrowers from LDC were “the primary cause of its insolvent position”, Rennie alleged.
“Mr Rennie therefore says that the evidence for the plaintiffs will show that from its incorporation, LDC was not an entity to which any informed or prudent investor would have entrusted investments. Its financial statements were a fiction, reporting as assets loans which were not recoverable when due or, in some major instances, at all,” Associate Judge Matthews said.
LDC FINANCE LIQUIDATORS REACH $3.8 MILLION SETTLEMENT
Carran Miller – which had reverted to its original name after several years as Carran Miller Strawbridge was second defendant in a High Court action arising from the collapse of Nelson investment company LDC Finance in 2007
Mr Hardiman, was among the first defendants in the civil action initiated by LDC’s liquidators and a number of investors that aimed to recover $12.5 million belonging to secured and unsecured investors. A statement of claim against LDC’s directors and Carran Miller was lodged in the High Court at Nelson.
Nelson-based LDC collapsed owing 1000 investors about $20 million. Any further recovery had hinged on the outcome of court action brought by LDC’s liquidators and a group of investors against the firm’s former directors, trustee and auditor.
Some of the allegations in the case included that LDC was insolvent from the time it was set up and that its directors ran it “recklessly, incompetently and with disregard for the basic requirements of a finance company”.
The allegations were denied and the case now won’t see a courtroom after liquidators Iain Shephard and Heath Gair reached a settlement with the defendants.
The directors named in the proceeding were David Miller, Kevin Elliott, Christopher Hardiman and John Janetto. The firm’s trustee was Perpetual Trust (which has since merged with Guardian Trust) and the auditor was accounting firm Sherwin Chan & Walshe.
Shephard and Gair on Friday said these defendants all contributed to the $3.8 million settlement which, after costs, will see eligible investors get a payout. The precise terms of the settlement are confidential but Shephard believed the deal was the best outcome that the company’s creditors could achieve in the circumstances.
OUR EXPERIENCE WITH THE SUCCESS GURUS
As far as I am aware, Gilbert and Chris have never set up what is generally accepted as a ‘highly successful’ business of their own and driven it to the dizzy heights of our dreams. As far as I am aware, they have never coached a business owner from the ground up all the way to financial freedom.
So how can they promise that to others?
After listening to Gilbert’s sales spiel in the early days I certainly expected great things but as you’ll read, our experience with Gilbert Robertson and Chris Hardiman was far from fruitful. In fact, we were left in an accounting mess and for the first time in my life burdened with a large business overdraft set up and abandoned by these ‘trusted’ partners.
I was threatened (not for the first time) by Robertson’s lawyer Marty Logan of Pitt and Moore and warned to take down this website. I was warned that publishing this experience would actually ‘reflect badly on me’. ‘People reading this would find my actions entirely reprehensible.’ ‘My statements would diminish my standing in the eyes of current and potential clients’. They would draw the conclusion that I cannot be trusted with confidential information’. The publication of my experience shows a ‘telling lack of judgement’. I’m ‘sending signals to readers indicating a lack of business competence’ and further dissemination will ‘further diminish my reputation’.
Wow!
Not sure how that all that works so moving swiftly on, my reason for making this all public is that I feel it is just and fair to ensure those looking for either an accountant or business partner are furnished with facts. Facts are cool. Facts outline the truth and if you can prove that your facts are correct then the likes of Robertson, Hardiman & Logan can throw out all the threats they like. The basic defence against allegations of defamation is the truth!
If your reputation is damaged by your own actions then you are the architect of your own demise. Freedom to report those facts is perfectly legitimate. Making defamation threats because you don’t like it is not, otherwise every criminal, every offender, every dishonorable person would hide behind them.
This article details our experience and it’s not a good one.
I will stress that this article focuses on our personal experiences and based on undeniable and documented facts. There may be clients of Your Success Ltd that are enjoying financial freedom thanks to their coaching …
Gilbert prides himself on his strategy meetings which are pretty good I have to say, he even got me to offer a testimonial to potential clients. BUT, and it’s a big but, strategy meetings don’t put the dinner on the table. As a marketing man I understand that setting up a business and attending endless strategy meetings does nothing for the bottom line. We partnered with Gilbert and Chris for some eighteen months. In that time Chris devoted not one single hour to growing the business and Gilbert’s key marketing strategy was to ‘open the phone book’.
I first met Gilbert at a local Nelson BNI meeting and he seemed credible. I later received an invite to attend a business building seminar which I attended.
It was hosted by a business ‘hotshot’ who actually seemed more focused in indulging his ego, rambling on about what a hard man, karate expert he was than giving us anything tangible. However, as Gilbert had managed to gather together over 200 local business owners I could see promise.
I was new to the Nelson area. I had carved a rather successful living building and launching commercial websites. Every one enjoyed a degree of traction, every one was profitable, none had ever incurred debt.
I am an ideas man, I come up with new and innovative ways to solve problems and my sites have done well. Other business owners looked to me to solve their online issues and over time it became clear to me that a new solution was needed in the marketplace that not only complimented the current options of Trade Me and GrabOne, but also empowered businesses to grow on the Web.
My problem was that this new idea was completely out of my comfort zone. It required dealing in the ‘real world’, face-to-face contact … I needed am ‘in’.
Gilbert Robertson appeared to fill the criteria. Once he’d done the cash flows and projections he became pretty excited. I felt they were a little ambitious but they clearly showed that my idea had big, fat legs.
When Gilbert offered to become partners in a new company I made the strategic decision to run with it.
Gilbert followed his planning and secured an overdraft at ‘my‘ bank. I’d never had a business overdraft in my life. As I’ve said, I’d turned over many millions of dollars from my websites over the years, all turned a few dollars into many.
So why agree to an overdraft, you may ask?
This was a new venture for me, staff, overheads, real-world marketing. Gilbert was a chartered accountant with his finger firmly on the pulse of Nelson business …wasn’t he?
I had made my decision to partner with Robertson and Hardiman on the fact that they could gather together hundreds of local business people. Their seminar at the Rutherford was well attended. I later discovered that it was not even organised by Robertsons. A company called C07 organised it and they went bankrupt.
Who goes bankrupt putting on success seminars?
For the first three months the business was developed and traded. The website was developed and Gilbert handled strategy and employment.
With Chris Hardiman not lifting a finger and with Gilbert at the marketing and strategic planning helm things didn’t quite go as expected. The company began to fall behind on Gilbert’s cash flow projections and the overdraft rapidly reached its limit.
When we set up the company a shareholders agreement was left for Gilbert to prepare. This never materialised and in fairness it wasn’t pushed for. In hindsight it would have outlined roles and responsibilities and maybe as a chartered account and and trusted partner it should have been put in place. The New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants certainly recommends it.
However, I’m of the ‘do whatever it takes to get the job done’ mindset.
Gilbert had claimed the accounting and strategy hat. He’d also been given the offline marketing role due to his claims of being a local business point of contact.
I got on with organising the software. There are two options. Build from scratch or find an off the shelf solution. Option one is hugely expensive. I’ve gone down that route on other projects. Option 2 was a go but here wasn’t an off the shelf software that did everything that was needed. we settled on a software called Magento – it’s the most powerful ecommerce software in the world and we chose to make the various modifications to suit our needs.
Granted, there were issues with the programmers but hey, there isn’t a website published that hasn’t got ongoing bugs. We deal with them, I’ve been dealing with them for fifteen years. With any new venture you get it to an acceptable stage and launch, then as Microsoft do, fix things as they occur.
The point here is that rather than take ownership of meeting targets the finger began to point technical issues, no matter how insignificant. Although the software was the most powerful eCommerce software on the planet developed by ebay, it was never good enough for Gilbert Robertson. Fix one issue and another was blamed. Even now despite writing that he didn’t have time to devote to the project Robertson cites the ‘failure of software’ in his legal threats as his reason for parting company.
The key to success in my book is ‘sales’. The product was world class and a sustained marketing push was all that was required.
Gilbert Robertson had made one critical error in his calculations … in my opinion he’d forgotten to factor in the ‘get off your backside’ equation. He’d fallen into the trap of believing Internet hype. I’ve seen it a hundred times. People believe that just because you put something on the Net it’ll ‘magically take off and riches will follow.
The fact is that it’s as hard, if not harder to get traction online.
I believe Gilbert had totally miscalculated the time and effort needed to get this venture rocking and rolling; a mistake that shouldn’t have been made by a partner that boasts ‘Your Success’.
During November/December 2015 the relationship between myself and Glibert Robertson became uncomfortable due to the lack of input from both Chris Hardiman and Gilbert Robertson.
Worse still, Gilbert’s management of cash flow entirely disintegrated. Within just two months he had chewed through the entire overdraft, some $25,000 without consultation or permission. (FACT!)
The time soon came when another cash injection was needed that according to Gilbert, ‘would see us straight’. However, Gilbert now claimed that ‘he had no money’, not even $100 to input. He asked that I put in more money and after consideration and a number of caveats I agreed. Basically, it was agreed (in writing) that anything I put into the venture, Gilbert and Chris would match. You’d expect an agreement with your partners, especially chartered accountants to be pretty solid wouldn’t you? Read on!
So a few more months went by with some limited progress, my frustration growing and Christmas 2014 looming.
Moving on to January 2015, I’m excited … you know that feeling after the long holidays, a renewed drive to see the new year be the best ever and we had the most amazing product.
So I wrote to Gilbert and told him I was going to take up the marketing reigns and ‘drive this thing’. Imagine my surprise when my enthusiasm was countered with obstruction and negativity.
It transpired that over the previous months Gilbert and Chris closed Robertsons Chartered Accountants ‘Partners in your success’ and moved onto a new venture with ‘Your Success’ accountancy practice. The irony is tangible!
When pushed as to their lack of input in driving the venture Gilbert announced that he ‘no longer had the time to commit and would no longer work on the project’.
This effectively meant that the company was no longer in a position to trade and meet its commitments.
And that’s where we are today. Gilbert made some proposals which were entirely unacceptable.
I made what I felt were positive proposals that were rebuked and the long and short of it is that we had to stop trading.
Your Success? … Really!
The company has a large overdraft that I am servicing and an amicable resolution has yet to be found.
The good news is that I’ve now moved on without Gilbert Robertson, Chris Hardiman and Your Success Ltd
Now, I have given Gilbert and Chris opportunity to address this article and have been presented with nothing to suggest the contrary other than claiming this story to be defamatory through his lawyer. (See pages on Pitt & Moore)
UPDATE
On 28th October we received a letter from a Marty Logan at Pitt and More threatening legal action for defamation.
The letter made numerous spurious allegations, the most poignant of which was that the failure of the venture was down to the software and not Gilbert Robertson and Co deciding they had better things to do with their time.
As we stand by every syllable published we’ve responded and to date, there has been no action.
There has however been a couple of staggering developments in that Gilbert Robertson has seen fit to approach our staff telling them to quit their jobs because “he is going to put us out of business”. And even more incredulous is that he marched into the new accountants we’ve commissioned to sort out the mess Gilbert Robertson has created and tried to persuade them to not take us on as clients.
Naturally, our account is aware of the issues and the event only cemented the reputation Robertson is gaining as what one business colleague described as a cowboy.
Only Gilbert Robertson can fathom that one out!
FORMAL COMPLAINT – UNFORTUNATELY WE CANNOT SAY TO WHICH ORGANISATION BUT BY NOT DOING SO, CAN SAY THAT IT WAS UPHELD
Robertsons Chartered Accountants now Your Success operates under and is governed at all times by relevant governing codes of practice. Generally they are:
- be straightforward, honest and sincere in their approach to professional work and act with integrity
- be impartial, intellectually honest and free from conflicts of interest
- be competent so that all professional work is completed carefully and on time
- understand and apply all relevant technical, accounting and professional standards
- act in a way that upholds the good reputation of the accountancy profession
- be independent in the general sense of the word.
Facts:
1. Around Dec we sought the services of Robertsons to deal with our NZ company and immigration affairs
2. On 13 March a proposal was made by Gilbert Robertson to manage our affairs with regard to immigration, which we agreed with. However, as we later discovered this was set up from a tax saving point of view which is totally different to setting up for immigration requirements.
3. On 12th April a mail was sent to Robertsons clarifying the position from NZ immigration
4. On 21st May I opened discussion with Gilbert Robertson in regard to a new business idea developed by my company gauk Media known as company. (Buy One Get One Free) A new concept in the daily deals sector
5. (BREACH OF 2) During May/June Gilbert prepared a number of cashflow forecasts which looked very healthy. Discussions progressed with Gilbert/Chris Hardiman offering to become partners in the venture. Their company selling proposition was that they were ‘partners in your success’. At that time Gilbert was running the local BNI group and had also launched a number of seminars attracting large numbers of local businesses (I later discovered that Gilbert had lost money on the seminars and he later resigned from the BNI). The ‘pitch’ by Gilbert seemed to make sense and appeared to be a positive contribution to my idea as being new to the area I needed a way into the local business community. Robertsons made the commitment to manage the cash flow and strategy and to drive the sales and marketing. We were to concentrate on the software and technical issues.
6. (BREACH OF 2/3) Over the next few weeks Gilbert set up the company and secured an overdraft with ANZ bank based on his projections. I was rather uncomfortable with an overdraft. I have launched many, many websites over a fifteen year period and none had incurred debt or were started with borrowed money. However, this was a venture with traditional business and we were assured by Gilbert that this would all work and the overdraft was needed for ‘working capital’.
7. When setting up the overdraft Gilbert said he used ANZ because he had an existing relationship with the bank. It later transpires that he had NO relationship. In fact the bank was the one where we had our personal accounts and personal mortgage. Although we were jointly and severally responsible for company Ltd they would seek any recovery from xxxxx because their assets were with the bank. In the breakdown of the company (outlined later in this document), it transpired to be a deliberate tactic by Gilbert Robertson, during crisis meetings he stated that he didn’t care about debt to the bank because he knew they would come after us.
8. Over the coming months both Gilbert and I ran our respective commitments to company and invested personal money separately to the overdraft based on written agreements and terms. Adding money was based on Gilbert’s recommendations and cashflows.
9. The overdraft was opened some time in July and managed by Gilbert.
(BREACH OF 1) For the first three months the business was developed and traded. The website was developed and Gilbert handled strategy and employment. The company began to fall behind on Gilbert’s casflow projections and the overdraft rapidly reached its limit.
During November/December the relationship between myself and Glibert Robertson began to become uncomfortable due to the lack of input from both Chris Hardiman and Gilbert Robertson. It transpired that they had moved onto a new venture with the Your Success accountancy practice.
When pushed as to the lack of input in driving company Gilbert announced that he no longer had the time to commit and would no longer work on the project.
This effectively meant that the company was no longer in a position to trade and meet its commitments.
Gilbert proposed that gauk Media take on all debt and continue to trade without them. This was not acceptable. He was adamant in this proposal and unwilling to entertain the numerous solutions made by xxxxxxx, designed to mitigate any debt incurred to date.
10. (BREACH OF 1) According to the bank statements. Almost immediately upon securing the overdraft Gilbert withdrew $2,178.77 to his personal credit card without permission or consultation
11. (BREACH OF 1) In September the accounts show further withdrawals of $1,600, $3500, to his credit card without permission or consultation
12. (BREACH OF 1) The accounts show that within a couple of months Gilbert spent the entire overdraft.
13. Gilbert’s cash flow was based on sales introduced by a sales person. On 23/9 a sales person called xxxxx was employed. I was apprehensive about this as we were not ready with the website but Gilbert assured us it was ok.
14. Although we experienced a number of teething issues with the software
xxxx started to build momentum bringing aboard a number of businesses.
15. (BREACH OF 1) By 31st October it was becoming clear that further development was required and I was asked to get quotes. At this point Gilbert had started to ask if I could contribute from my own funds as the overdraft was running dry. email from Gilbert: ‘That seems a lot, … I don’t think we have a choice at this stage. Are you able to contribute to any of that cost?’
16. (BREACH OF 1) In November we are again discussing immigration requirements and at every juncture Gilbert was assuring us that he was organizing my affairs and all would be in order
16. (BREACH OF 1) During this time we are having further development done to the software which it’s agreed that I will fund on the understanding that Gilbert matches it or it’s repaid from income.
17. By 4th December I am beginning to have serious doubts about Roman and the momentum was slowing
18. Around 20th January xxxxx handed in his resignation
19. Around 31st January xxxxxx was interviewed
20. During the time of our partnership Robertons had invoiced for work on immigration and gauk Media Ltd. accounts. In February we made an arrangement to pay the invoices at $500/month to clear them. It was my hope that company would begin to see a return and we could clear them sooner. We made a number of payments in accordance with our agreement.
21. (BREACH OF 1) 4th Feb Gilbert asked that we fund the company as ‘they have no personal money’: My email to Gilbert: ‘From what I’m understanding, you guys want us to fund all the wages whilst it’s getting off the ground? Looking at figures you want us to find $3,000 a month and then get paid back as the company makes money. I have no problems finding wages so long as it’s equalled out 50/50 so if you guys are putting money in other places – eg overdraft then we tot up each month and the other makes up a shortfall.’
22. (BREACH OF 1) On 4th Febuary Gilbert outlines that they will pay OD etc and match our contribution
23. In April the company was not meeting its targets and Gilbert claimed that we needed more working capital. Gilbert begins to broach the subject of further investment and brings on board xxxxxxx who begins to evaluate the idea.
24. Gilbert effectively stops trading as he attempts to secure a $50k investment.
25. 2nd September Gilbert organizes paperwork for an investment from xxxx and allocates shares. The money is never deposited.
26. During this period xxxx also resigns.
27. In Dec 2014 Gilbert generates another business plan with a view to getting more investors aboard.
28. We have a meeting with investors where Gilbert makes it clear that he doesn’t have the time to drive company Ltd and the large investment required is to pay ‘someone’ to do the work Gilbert hasn’t time to do. Obviously the investors are not interested.
29. On 6th Jan Gilbert reopens communications with xxxxxx and offers him a place in the company and in the short term he is to drive it forward. In a separate meeting at my home I ask xxxxxx why he is back on the scene. He states that Gilbert hasn’t the time and had asked him to take the role of moving it forward based on a number of promises made independently by Gilbert.
30. 16th Jan To reinvigorate sales I make a proposal in that I’ll handle the marketing. I also broach the subject of his comments to xxxxxx regarding his involvement, lack of time and commitment. I make it clear that he needs to re-evaluate his situation as I was not prepared to run the company on my own and carry sleeping partners.
31. Gilbert decided that he couldn’t devote any time whatsoever to the company effectively rendering it inoperable.
32. (BREACH OF 3) On 23rd Jan I resume communication with my immigration agent and ask Gilbert to supply the information they require. His reply was that ‘the accounts are not in order’.
33. Around the same time I receive a formal demand for Robertsons outstanding invoices. We had stopped paying the $500 per month because we had been asked to subsidize company Ltd and couldn’t afford to do both.
34. (BREACH OF 1) 17th Feb. Gilbert stops servicing the interest payments on the overdraft as agreed and we receive a demand from BNZ collections department
35. (BREACH OF 1) There are a number of meetings and offers by ourselves to resolve the situation but Gilbert remains adamant in his demands leveraging both the overdraft and my immigration.
35. (BREACH OF 1) Their demand is that xxxx and I pay their invoices @ $10k mostly made up of immigration work which was not in order. They will use that to pay their part of the overdraft. They will sign over the OD and the company to us $25k and walk away:
‘The situation is very simple. We have a $25k OD which we are equally responsible for. You owe us nearly $10k. Either we can offset our share of the OD with what you owe us, or you pay us the $10K immediately and we will clear our share of the OD. Chris and I are not prepared to put any more money into the OD, until we have come to an agreement and things are settled. The email you are referring to (Gil would match our monetary input) was over a year ago, and up until now we have been putting money into the OD to keep it in balance.’
36. (BREACH OF 1) Gilbert states ‘I will sort your immigration out once we have agreed on how we are going to deal with the OD and outstanding fees.’
37. (BREACH OF 1) I broach the subject of funds introduced by xxxxxx. Gilbert states that we are to write off any funds we’ve introduced to the company
38. There are a number of outstanding invoices to my company gauk Media for development which are outstanding also.
39. (BREACH OF 1) Friday 6th March the overdraft is in arrears again. Gilbert/Chris are not paying the overdraft interest they agreed to. It was also pointed out that our credit rating is being affected by this.
40. I wrote to Gilbert/Chris to resolve this OD issue and they totally ignored correspondence.
41. I then wrote to Gilbert’s new partner Mark Brown of the new company Your Success ltd. explaining that I was about to put in a formal complaint to NZICA and that as this would affect him and his new partnership.
42. (BREACH OF 6) Mark Brown offered to mediate on the understanding that we withdrew a complaint to NZICA and to advertising standards.
43. We agreed snd a number of conversations and meetings were held.
44. At this time a very large bill became due relating to our affairs in the UK. We needed to extend our overdraft at ANZ however the bank refused to do this until we had addressed the company Ltd overdraft.
45. (BREACH OF 1) on 22nd May In a meeting Mark Brown stated that he had commissioned a report from KPMG (not seen) stating that we had ‘no case’ reference our complaint about his partners Gilbert/Chris. He outlined our choices and felt that if we submitted our complaint NZICA would rule that this is a dispute between company partners and that we wouldn’t get the outcome we desired. He stated that our other course of action was through the courts, which would be very expensive and relying on the KPMG report, we wouldn’t win.
46. They would go on to leverage our position at the bank, immigration and stated that the only outcome was to accept their offer. If we did not then they would block the overdraft with the bank by making no contributions and go to recovery for the outstanding invoices to their company.
47. As it was clear we were getting nowhere we took the difficult decision to resolve the overdraft whilst reserving our rights. This allowed the bank to extend our overdraft
48. We have kept the company Ltd overdraft in good standing
49. We have also trying to deal with issues of ACC, GST, Company Registration and other issues. Your Success receive theses letters and forward them to us refusing to deal with them.
Summary
The evidence clearly shows that Gilbert Robertson and Chris Hardiman have seriously breached multiple codes of ethics, multiple times. Their actions or lack thereof, have directly resulted in the failure of company Ltd.
Their actions have directly resulted in considerable financial loss and hardship by xxxxxx and gauk Media Ltd
Their actions have severely affected our good name and good standing with financial institutions.
Outcome
1. Amounts withdrawn and spent by Gilbert Robertson without permission be refunded to the company ltd overdraft amounting to: $15473.13
2. That funds introduced to company ltd personally by xxxxx be matched by Gilbert Robertson Chris Hardiman amounting to: $7,154.29
3. That funds introduced to company Ltd by gauk Media: $10497.50 be matched by Gilbert Robertson Chris Hardiman
4. That the invoices generated by Robertsons to xxxx relating to immigration be refunded taking into account amounts already paid $1250
5. Interest accumulated on overdraft and outstanding invoices be settled.
6. That legal and personal costs incurred by xxxxxxx be awarded
7. company Ltd current affairs such as ACC, GST, trading status etc be resolved by an independent accountant and that costs be awarded to xxxxxx.
8. Suspending the member from certain accounting bodies for up to a maximum of five years
9. Impose a monetary penalty of $20,000
10. A full investigation be undertaken into the trading practices of Your Success. By trading as Your Success and making specific promises of ‘success’ in their literature and website would imply that a track record of making companies successful would be required.
Our experience with this company has been the most incompetent and amateurish ever.