Could make for a Dateline Show

My wife and I quite often watch Dateline on NBC.  This particular story has nothing to do with the show but when I heard what was going on my first thoughts were that the situation I learned of yesterday, given some time, could well turn out into something to air on TV.

The reason for writing about it is to have something written on the web that is fully accessible to anyone with Internet access.  This way the facts would be out there for public consumption.

At this time I will not disclose the names of the players to protect the innocent.  Who knows, time might prove me wrong.

The story goes as follows.  About twenty years ago my wife and I started a software development business.  We had good and not so good times as most small businesses do.  Three years ago a group approach our company with the idea of helping us get to the next level.  The group was not of investors but of managers.  Later we found out that the company had no more than three people.  One was the president that allegedly was very well connected but had little time to spend with us.  The second individual was a marketing person also well connected who spent most of his time on and off with us.  The last person was an accountant.

After a little over a year into the relationship with things not going well at all, the decision by the management group was to sell the assets of the company.  They were sold early this year.  Some of the employees moved to the new company.  Working at the new company has been great for all of us.

Interesting to note is the fact that the web site of our old company is still up with all the products that have been acquired / transferred to the new company.

Now to the reason of this entry in the blog.  Yesterday I get a phone call from the principals of the new company telling me that somehow someone was contacted from the old company.  The person on the phone gave a name of an old employee who chose to leave the old company shortly after the management firm came on board.  She claimed that the offices are still in the same city as our old company was.  What was quite interesting is that she mentioned that the old president was no longer with the company and that my family was paying for the expenses of the old company.  Of course my family has no connection with the old company whatsoever.

It is interesting that someone is paying for the toll free number (888.xxx.xxxx) and for the services of this person to answer the phone.  What is also interesting is that for products and services she is referring callers (at least that is what she stated) to the new company.

Several things are not right.  For me the most important is the claim that my family is paying for expenses from the old company.

I am going to see what the new company is going to do about this.  One way or the other I will contact local and possibly federal authorities so at least they also have a precedent on what is going on.  We do not wish to be liable for any problems that the old company and whoever is paying for the expenses might incur.  Given that only the assets were sold the record should be clean indicating that my family has not been involved with the old company since the assets were sold.

More to follow in the next few days as the drama unfolds!

A few days have elapsed since I first wrote the first part of this blog.  A group of people, including me, from the new company called the toll free number of the old company.  After taking with the person that answered the phone we spoke with her supervisor.  It appears that the phone line is being manned by an answering service paid by the new company.  All a false alarm.

We need to look at this example as a learning experience.  What is initially perceived might not be correct.  This appears to be the case with many cases in our judicial system.  If you are ever in a position of being part of a jury please make sure that your peer sitting in the defendant chair might be innocent regardless of what is being said.