Various Other Pacesetter Corporation Experiences

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Thanks to Pacesetter Corp. and their attempted legal action to shut down this site, we have now started asking each author to swear, under penalty of perjury, that everything stated in their story is true. The author of this story has confirmed that everything stated in it is true. Also, someone seems to have posted this story on the misc.consumers.house newsgroup, so it can be read there as well.

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From:    Private
E-Mail:  Private
Subject: latest victim

I guess I was not surprised when I came across your website. I have been dealing with Pacesetter Corporation through the Attorney Generals office of Nebraska attempting to rectify our situation with James B. Miller, General Counsel for Pacesetters.

My mother is an elderly, mentally disabled widow living solely on social security of $929.00 per month, and is also a victim of Pacesetters. In July of 2002 their telemarketers got their hooks into her. Edgar Gallup of Pacesetters showed up at her doorstep and pressured her into signing a contract, to install 6 diamond light 7000 windows on her house for $5800.00. They are financing this contract with an interest rate of 14.83% making the total cost of these windows $8791.20!!! My mothers house is valued at $20,000.00 with a first mortgage balance of $19,000.00. She had no idea that she was signing a second mortgage and what the ramifications of this transaction would be.

After making a trip to my mothers and discovering these windows we were dismayed that someone had taken advantage of her in this manner. Upon seeing the windows I was amazed at the poor quality of workmanship of the installation. After some research on new custom made windows I could not find anything close to the high price of these pacesetter windows and I looked for the most expensive windows in our area. I have seen more professional window installation at way more affordable prices. The interest rate they are charging is well above industry average. When I discuss this situation with other window manufacturers/installers they shake their head and can't believe this company is operating in this way, saying, "Companies like this give everybody a bad name".

In a letter from James B. Miller of pacesetters, he claims that these are the Cadillac of windows, I informed him that my mother can not afford the Cadillac of windows. It is obvious to me that she could not afford these windows. I'm sure it was also obvious to pacesetters after seeing my mothers credit application and credit report, which shows her income status as being disabled. In Mr. Miller's letter he makes these fiberglass windows sound like miracle material, well, it's just fiberglass… it's been around for many years.

I would have thought that bringing this matter to the attention of Mr.Miller of Pacesetters that he would have realized that pacesetters had made a mistake in this matter and tried to rectify it. To my amazement Mr. Miller is defending the actions of this company as being completely justified, how these people sleep at night is beyond comprehension.

While there is no way she can afford this second mortgage payment, Federal Diversified Services, a division of Pacesetters corp. has called my mother threatening to foreclose on her home. Before all this she was doing fairly well but Pacesetters has changed that.

I am very surprised at how a company of this size can get away with preying on the weak and elderly. Installing the most expensive windows they have on a twenty thousand-dollar house and knowing her financial and disabled status reflect that this company operates in an unethical manner.

Admin's Note: This post may have been altered from the original version to remove the sender's name and e-mail. Spelling and grammar have not been corrected.

Also included with this message were several pictures of the windows:

<Picture 1>
predator_and_prey-win1.jpg
<Picture 2>
predator_and_prey-win2.jpg
<Picture 3>
predator_and_prey-win3.jpg
<Picture 4>
predator_and_prey-win4.jpg
<Picture 5>
predator_and_prey-win5.jpg

The author additionaly states that the Attorney General's office of Nebraska indicated having similar complaints against Pacesetter, and thus provides the following contact information:

State of Nebraska
Office of the Attorney General
Jon Bruning-Attorney General
2115 State Capital Building
Lincoln, NE 68509-8920
402-471-2682
(fax)-402-471-3297

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