This has been a slow train coming down the track, and I take no pleasure in recording it.

Almost a year after the wheels fell off the Shaun Stenning-Dean Letfus-Steve Goodey hyperbole machine, reality is sinking in with attendant finger-pointing and blame shifting.

As you will see if you care to follow discussion and comments here at The Paepae about Shaun Stenning, Dean Letfus and Steve Goodey and their failed NZ Property Gurus/internet marketing enterprises, claims of distance seem hollow and implausible sophistry. Well, they do to me, personally.

These guys are spruikers and their chief skill seems to have been a talent for hyperbolic sales.

– P

Massive website letdown

GREG NINNESS Last updated 10:19 18/12/2011

The collapse of Dean Letfus’ Massive Action seminar business has left scores of investors unhappy over internet marketing schemes they bought through the company.

Letfus portrayed himself as a property investment guru and promoted his seminars and consulting services through Massive Action’s website.

Letfus also promoted an internet marketing package called Snipr, telling prospective buyers they could generate a significant cash income through the scheme.

However, the expected returns failed to eventuate for many and because Massive Action has been placed in liquidation they have no way of recovering their money.

Dunedin investor Trina Burt spent nearly $20,000 building 150 websites with the Snipr package, after Letfus said during a promotional seminar she attended that each website should generate between $1 and $3 a day in advertising revenue.

That should have provided her with an income of between $1050 and $3150 a week, but the websites have generated only about $400 in total since Burt finished setting them up at the beginning of the year.

“It’s all a big mess,” she said.

Whangarei investor Julie Gordon also relied on statements by Letfus that websites set up using the Snipr package could earn $1 to $3 a day in advertising revenue when she paid Massive Action nearly $3500 for the initial software package and training and then spent thousands of dollars buying domain names and web hosting services.

She said setting up the websites was more time-consuming than she was led to believe and the promised advertising revenue was a few meagre drops rather than the expected steady stream.

She estimated she has earned about $49 in total since setting up 15 websites at the beginning of the year.

She took a claim against Massive Action to the Disputes Tribunal, seeking the return of her $3500 initial fee and the cost of the ticket to the seminar at which Letfus promoted the scheme.

In response, Massive Action said it was merely acting as an agent for another company, Chandler Operations, and the money it received was passed on to Chandler which in turn provided the software and support services.

Letfus also claimed that an email from his email address which welcomed people to the Snipr programme was bogus and sent by someone else.

However, the tribunal found that Massive Action did not provide any evidence that a company called Chandler Operations existed or that money was passed on to it. It ordered Massive Action to refund Gordon $3518.50.

Letfus last week reiterated Snipr was purchased from an offshore company and Massive Action had “no financial benefit from Snipr and holds no funds from the Snipr sales”.

Letfus said he deeply regretted his involvement with Snipr.

“I have apologised publicly repeatedly and continue to assist clients to pursue the people who took advantage of them,” he said.

On November 4, Massive Action was put into voluntary liquidation. The liquidator’s report said it is unlikely unsecured creditors would receive any money. Letfus was bankrupted on December 8 and now lists his address as Tavua, Fiji.

– Sunday Star Times