Re: Cessation of Services by PTT

[Jorge Chaves]

Hello there. I am confirming that I have signed up for this as well. I was a "lifetime subscriber"

[PJ]

Me too.  4K of services potentially down the drain.

[Pete Buczkowski]

Thanks for setting up this group

[PJ]

No problem.  I used to manage forums in the past so we had to create something quickly.  Making a copy of those posts on PTT was the most important thing as well as a way to keep contact.

I am in awe as to the whole ordeal on PTT.

[Atif Malik]

Thanks PJ

[PJ]

My pleasure.

[mat...@hotmail.com]

Yes, nice setup good job! Thanks!

[mike straub]

Thanks for creating the group.  Lifetime subscriber 

[Liyuan Liew]

Thanks for setting up this group!

[King Claude]

Thanks PJ

[Ryne Schraw]

Thanks as well PJ.

Another lifetime subscriber here. I'm curious to hear more from Jorge when he said we may have some recourse over getting money back? I understand that "lifetime" warranties in general have no set legal definition, but usually there is some implied reasonable time-frame involved (for instance a bathtub may be guaranteed for the reasonable life of 7 years rather than 100 years of the house).

In the case of the lifetime subscription here most of us essentially paid for 3+ years of service at the yearly rate (which I believe was $1,300 or $1,400 during 2014), so it would seem we should be prorated for approximately half our lifetime rates if this were to be resolved fairly. Big if!

The more I learn about Ian and Jeremi K. (after reading the PTT case study and how much subscription revenue they made in 2014) the more I believe they acted completely careless with the business and in bad faith. For that kind of money to have produced such a laughably glitchy platform, inability to send emails properly, and the 90% fluff content of most Research articles, it is clear they pocketed the bulk of the revenue for themselves as opposed to reinvesting it into the business.

[Ryne Schraw]

Also here are two other data points I came across:

The link to subscribe to the newsletter has already gone dead and produces a 404 error: http://pttresearch.com/shop-ptt/

Mark's home address in Miami in case it comes to a point where he has gone dark on the forums and SA and we need a last recourse to contact him: http://southflorida.blockshopper.com/sales/developments/30000002243-il-villaggio-on-south-beach/property/0232341151250/1455_ocean_unit_1511/6965755

[TexasThomas]

Thank you for creating this group.

I've been a Lifetime Member of PTT since October of 2013.
On PTT i'm one of several "Thomas's," the one with a picture of an old guy (I'm 74.)

On the original PTT forum, which was even worse than the crappy platform now being used, I used to post occasionally.
But, I stopped posting when the frustration level with PTT kept rising and there was never any response from PTT to my requests.
For example, during those first months everyone was struggling with how to create R/R charts, requests for a training video from Mark to show us how to use FreeStockCharts went unanswered.

I even joined Pipeline for one year, but the articles were technical mumbo-jumbo to me.  I asked for each article to have a conclusion with a suggested action to be taken, but while I was a member nothing changed, so I did not renew.

If memory serves me correctly it was mentioned that Jeremi Karnell created the PTT platform.  My guess is he got money for doing that and it may explain why PTT never seemed to consider using a proven platform with a format we are all used to.  Instead we got a ridiculous forum that nobody likes.

I also remember reading somewhere that Mark said he and Ian Karnell were friends.  That is when the first alarm bell started to ring for me.  As time went on I was under the impression that Mark had partnered with a friend who had very different objectives than Mark.  I believed that Mark truly wanted to be an analyst and help his subscribers but that the Karnell brothers had only one objective in mind and that was to make money by riding on Mark's coattails and reputation.  That bad feeling was increased as all of a sudden PTT wasn't Mark's baby but a totally different thing with people such as Margolis coming aboard to charge us even more money.

Now, I'm not sure what to believe.  I would like to believe that Mark is a good man who is not going to leave us twisting in the wind.  But if we don't hear something from him fairly soon then I will be joining those who feel we've all been taken for a nasty ride.

Sorry if I've been too verbose but I needed to vent someplace and, hopefully, provide some info that might not have been known to those who joined PTT much later than me.

Fingers (and toes) are crossed that this ends well.

Cheers,
Thomas
. 

[Eric Spellman]

Thanks PJ for,setting up the group. If PTT goes dead, how do we access this group without a thread from PTT.

[Mark Gomes]

Thomas (and all),

As I've said before, I'm not at liberty to say much, but hopefully my presence here and on SA say something that I can't. I'm not saying much, but I'm not hiding. The story will surely come out in due time.

Other than that, I can only say that I'll do my 100% best to clear this up as quickly as humanly possible. This is VERY difficult for us ALL.

Kindest Regards,

Mark G.

p.s. Ryne, I know that my home address is publicly find-able, but posting anyone's personal information is a little bit in bad form. For some, saying "bad form" may sound like the pot calling the kettle black, but I only ask that you reserve judgement until the facts of the situation are revealed. Trust me, I don't fear repercussion, so I'm not going anywhere... and if I do, I won't be at the address you posted, so doing so was unnecessary.

Considering our good history, I hope you understand where I'm coming from.

[PJ]

Also here are two other data points I came across:

The link to subscribe to the newsletter has already gone dead and produces a 404 error: http://pttresearch.com/shop-ptt/

Mark's home address in Miami in case it comes to a point where he has gone dark on the forums and SA and we need a last recourse to contact him: http://southflorida.blockshopper.com/sales/developments/30000002243-il-villaggio-on-south-beach/property/0232341151250/1455_ocean_unit_1511/6965755

Repost

[Ryne Schraw]

Mark, as someone who uses Blockshopper to find addresses frequently (even out of laziness when I just don't want to find a piece of paper I wrote it down on), it literally is the first result if you Google "mark gomes miami blockstopper". As a public figure/partner of an LLC and we have all done business you can understand why having a credible mailing/email address for all parties to be reached is in our best interest as customers, even if it's never comes to a point where any official agency has to investigate (I tend to feel the same way you do about the SEC and I think it's also clear that Montext LLC are likely the ones who would have to answer as to the ethics of retaining lifetime subscription dollars after a material change to the service, at this point).

Don't take it personally, it's just that everyone here needs a solid way to contact you and the guys in Austin when things were bound to go the way they just did in the last couple hours, when Jeremi and Ian just pulled out the "we're just as shocked as all of you!" card on the forums. Although I do think a lot of us expected this to turn into a he said/she said scenario when no updates came through late Friday.

At least now it seems a narrative should come out soon since everyone is starting to talk more openly, but the other day the risk of finding more 404 errors on the PTT site seemed pretty high. My main concern is what is going to be done regarding the millions of dollars the Karnells openly admit on Montext's site that they collected in subscription dollars, considering that a pro-rated refund at this point would likely amount to 1/3 of 1/2 of our lifetime subscription rates relative to what we've received had we simply paid on an annual basis. Until we know this is something they will even consider entertaining, it's hard for most of us to not feel like perfect suckers of an elaborate scam...

You know I've disagreed with the way Research was run in general for most of 2014 and this year (far too much macro focus and not enough tech/software picks which is what all of your SA readers from 2009-2013 were looking for) but nothing is going to change that now and my only interest in being further involved at this point with PTT LLC is to not make it too easy to just write off thousands of dollars of services paid like yet another tax loss on an investment.

Hope things make more sense in the coming days and turn out well in the end for everyone involved. I know no one likes being in the situation where they are forced to be on the defensive and feel like they are being attacked and made out to be a villain. Honestly Mark, even if your way of investing is not for me (which I am almost sure it is not at this point) I am on your side because I appreciate that you take a more philosophical view of these things and are doing it for different reasons from what I can tell, than the guys running Montext.

At this point I want to avoid drama and speculation an re-hashing everyone's past mistakes here, and my main reason for participating here is simply to focus on the one question as to whether there are any legal means to re-coup the lifetime subscription fees if PTT isn't as cooperative as we are all hoping they will be.

On that note I hope everyone has a great Christmas and New Year and we can all take a few days off from worrying about our money once the market is closed later this week! :)

[PJ]

Ryne, very well said.  I really appreciate your post.  I believe your message is representative of all the venting that is been going on from customers.  

[Mark Gomes]

I'm more than willing to provide updated contact info. In fact, my Pipeline Data and Yahoo email addresses haven't changed in 11 and 20+ years, respectively.

I understand your point regarding the information being public. My point was simply that I would hope that people would provide a LITTLE sensitivity to privacy by not broadcasting it... especially since I have loved ones here. If you had kids and/or nieces and nephews, perhaps you'd understand.

This is especially true if you at-least consider that I'm trying to remedy this situation. This, despite the fact that I have NO legal obligation to do so. The PTT LLC is very protective of its partners' personal liability, giving them the option to just walk away if the entity goes under. So, considering how some people are acting, perhaps I should do that...

...but that's not the kind of person I am.

That doesn't mean you should think of me as a great guy, but it should cause you to CONSIDER giving me the benefit of the doubt (at least until you find out what's going on).

That's all I'm trying to say. In any case, I GREATLY APPRECIATE your calm demeanor and hope you'll think about what I've said here. I'm doing everything I can to produce a positive result for everyone involved. So, if you ever trusted in me, try to hold on to it a bit longer, because I may be everyone's only shot of a positive outcome (knowing our corporate structure and the limited avenues it provides for legal recourse).

[Mark Gomes]

For the record, venting is fine and justified. This situation  is a terrible cherry on top of a crummy sundae that my picks delivered this year.

Bash away. I'll even provide the bat...

[WKF]

+1 Kaiser

[Capricorn]

+1

[PJ]

How much time would you give him?  A month, a year?