Intimate Attitudes The Story
Steve & Sheila & what happened to Intimate Attitudes INC.
We are the Victims of complex fraud & a breach of trust. How? Being a former Fire Fighter Paramedic I trusted people who I thought earned it. We trusted Eric P Telford, like a father, he used our trust to defraud us of our company and its assets.
Eric P Telford, the owner of 21 Love Boutique Locations Alberta, Telford Investments 17551 108 Avenue NW, Edmonton, AB (780) 486-0433 & now the Company he defrauded our family of www.intimateattitudes.com / www.intimateattitudes.ca
The conman Eric P Telford, for whatever reason, he choose to destroy our families life by a calculated breech of our trust.
He’s a professional con artist and liar.
He convinced us to enter our company into Voluntary Bankruptcy in order to help us restructure, with that trust he defrauded us of our livelihood.
Simply, he earned our trust to defraud us.
You are encouraged to ask how Mr. Telford he so wittingly acquired his home party company & see what lie, you are told.
In Sheila's words;
We started Intimate Attitudes Inc so that I could supplement the family income while staying home with my children. IA Inc quickly grew into something I never imagined and was wonderful. It was a business that offered personal growth to the Consultants and their customers in turn improving their home lives.
2001
We moved the company from Red Deer AB to Medicine Hat, AB, where we had family to help out with the time demands of running a company. My husband Stephen Henchel gave up his job as a Paramedic/Fire Fighter to help build the company. It was hard at first but we managed to quickly substitute his wage with the income.
IA Inc grew to be the second biggest company of its kind in Canada. Thru the years we managed to maintain our strength even though a handful of consultants individually left to start their own Home Party companies.
JANUARY 2003
As more and more companies entered the industry we felt it was best to join forces with a distributor.
FEBRUARY 2003
We began talking to Eric Telford at the trade show. We had been thinking about and had spoken to Undercoverwear and Ultra Love about the same possibilities with them. It was getting very tight financially and we were going thru another growth curve, which can make it even tighter. We had also come to the conclusion that it would be best to work with a supplier where we would have less backorders and we could focus on the growth of the company as opposed to the finances and ordering.
Eric had mentioned that they were thinking of starting a home party company to add to their stores and wholesale distribution company.
From there we met in Edmonton to discuss the possibilities of them purchasing Intimate Attitudes Inc Several phone conversations and emails brought us to the second meeting in Edmonton to see if we could arrive at a deal. Eric was not prepared to purchase the company but felt it was worth making a deal. When we arrived at the office, we were in a boardroom with Eric Telford, Lynn Lalonde, Gwen Telford, Brian Alexander (Accountant), and a bankruptcy officer. This is where the decision was made to bankrupt the company with the expertise of the people that attended this meeting.
APRIL 2003
Eric Telford stated to me on several occasions that this was best, and he would make sure us “kids” would be taken care of. He stated that he understands completely that Intimate Attitudes is Sheila and Stephen, and he wants us to focus on building the business while he focused on the financial side.
Eric made it very clear that he would work something out with Neil and Gary from Ultra Love as they were our biggest creditor and they meant the world to us and we did not want to leave them hanging. He knew we had been speaking to the about moving the company to Ultra Love, they did not have an interested in owning a home party company but they would have let us drop ship from their warehouse or move an office next door so that we would have access to more stock without the financial burden. I even heard Eric phone Neil and tell him they would work out a payment with him. I have spoke to Neil and to this day he has been paid nothing.
I also remember very clearly as Eric had a tear in his eye stating “you kids do not deserve all of this, and I promise I will roll out the cheques to pay back your family and friends once we get rolling here.”
April to November 2003
There were many ups and downs as would be expected in moving a company and our family. We worked very hard to develop stability for everyone.
It was a shock to us when we were told that they were going to deduct 5% commission off our cheques as a “: payback” which I was not clear on what they meant. Once our extra commission was being deducted from our pay-to-pay back friends and family it was getting very hard to make ends meet. We still tried to continue to pay back our friend credit cards even though we were not given the funds promised by Eric, but this caused us to not be able to pay our own debts. This began to make it very hard to sit back and watch our sales grow, TIL take more money for themselves and us barely be able to buy groceries.
NOVEMBER 2003
We had decided to enter into personal bankruptcy under the advise of Bob Pringle & Eric Telford. Our personal bankruptcy was due to credit card bills from Intimate Attitudes Inc that Eric had promis ed to help us clear up as well as for a photocopier we signed a personal guarantee on. Bob had recently retired from a management position with Scotia Bank. He explained that if we settled with any of the credit card companies it would still affect our credit rating. He said we would have a huge weight lifted off our shoulders if we just got the bankruptcy over with.
Things were continuously rocky at the office as we constantly had Bob on our backs about how sales were down and how we make too much money. He told me several times that I should be walking to work when we concerned about vehicles. To be honest I really thought that Bob was the problem; everything was scrutinized when Eric was away, once he returned it was fine again. I now see thru this. I truly feel Bob was Eric’s pawn.
JANUARY 2004
We were not making enough as employees so asked to be put on contract again and
made it clear we wanted what we supposed to be paid. They had constantly referred
to a payback we owed them which was already being deducted from our cheques. We
demanded a true account for these numbers. When it was given to us we were in a
state of shock. They wanted us to pay for the amount that they paid Deloitte and
Touché for the bankruptcy, their Accounting bill, Lawyer bill, bonuses to the
Consultants, company catalogues etc
FEBRUARY 2004
Once we came to our own realization that we needed to put our foot down I spoke with Bob Pringle several times stating that this is not fair. I finally said to Bob “basically Bob we are being charged to have a job” he said “your right, I don’t agree with it but if you work really hard for 1 to 2 years than it will all go away.
We were called into a meeting with Bob and Lynne to “get this matter taken care of” When we entered the room Bob was extremely nervous and fidgety and it was very unsettling as John Telford sat outside of the doorway in an intimating manner. Which no one has ever sat outside of the room before?
Bob explained that they have dropped the payback to $77,068.00, they would pay me 10% commission and Stephen could no longer work there. He demanded that I sign the contract right there. I told him that I would take it home and think about it, I could not make a decision like this under the gun. He told me I had to or else we were done. He also stated that we were to turn the keys to the Van over and our laptops. I asked what we were supposed to do to get home and that the laptops were our personal property that we purchased several years ago with our own credit cards. He told me he would call us a cab and we had to give up the laptops. Bob was very nervous, we told him several times this was crazy and how could this possibly come to this. We also made it very clear that we knew he had nothing to do with this and that he was only the messenger. After a bit Stephen finally said this is ridiculous we are leaving, we will call you with our decision. I did not follow Stephen out of the board room right away as I was quite stunned that here I sat being told to accept this ridiculous contract or to leave everything I worked so hard on the past 7 years. This was my baby. Bob shouted at me to close the door so he could talk some sense into me…. I felt like a child, and told him that. He than closed the door himself and stood in front of it not letting me by. I was becoming very frightened by the whole incident and began to cry (very humiliating I might add), I finally said that I am not letting my husband think I have chose Telford over him and to let me out…Lynne Lalonde finally spoke up said “Let Sheila go” We went home, called Ross Swanson, dropped off our Van at a Bank of Nova Scotia, called Telford and told Bob where it was and to come and get it. We than went to our appt with Ross to find out our rights.
Eric Telford called me the next day to tell me he had an offer that would make me dance – he would drop the payback, I would make 10%, I would work 9 – 5 (anyone in this industry knows full well I spend several hours on the phone with Consultants in the evenings and weekends so many times I would leave the office at 3:00, and then book appts starting around 7:00 to 11:00 at night), I could have the van back for $680 a month (which is ludicrous!!!!), he than said he would sell me a kit (I have no money I don’t know how I would pay for this.) so I could go do parties for extra cash.. He also explained that Stephen was no longer welcome in the office…I explained this is crazy how can they tell the person who helped develop the company, wrote all the content that he was no longer welcome. He stated that Stephen has to many ideas of programs and incentives etc to grow the company and Telford was a well-greased wheel that never changes. As well he stated that Bob was afraid of Stephen. I had noticed that Bob was always telling Stephen to not get mad which we would look at him and laugh because Stephen wasn’t mad yet he constantly thought he was.
I told Eric I would think about things, as I was still talking to Ross about what to do, I told Eric I would get back to him that Saturday. Later that afternoon I called Bob and left a message to let him know that I had spoke to my lawyer and would not be responding to Eric by Saturday. I receive a call an hour later from Bob stating the Eric was furious I went to a lawyer and now they were going to theirs. This was the last I spoke to either one.
We had bills to pay and two children to take care of, we spoke to a few people about our options once Ross Swanson told us we could continue to work in the field.
APRIL 2004
We spoke to Steve Lavery of Rebel Marketing about running his home party division. We decided this was the best place for our family. As we were very uncomfortable living in the same city as Eric P Telford. He knew where we lived and do not trust him. We moved out to White Rock, BC to work with Rebel Marketing.
MAY 2004
We received notice that we were being sued; Ross Swanson turned our case over to a co-worker Ted Feehan, a contract lawyer. He worked on the case until July and than stepped down as we cannot afford to pay him. Our bill to date is approx $10,000 to defend our right to work. Now we are trying to represent ourselves, as we have no other options.
JULY 2004
This summer has been awful, we have been living paycheque to paycheque as we had to leave Edmonton before our house sold, thus we had to cover rent and a mortgage plus all living expense on our wage. We sent our children to Medicine Hat for a month to visit their grandparents as we were very sad and stressed and could barely afford food. We also found out that our bankruptcy firm was denying our release in August, as we had not paid them the monthly $400 over the months, which we could not afford due to everything that happened. As well, our taxes have not been completed as Telford had all of my personal papers in my old office and told me I would have to come and clean them out myself, I would never go back into that office to do so out of fear of them.
Also due to lack of money because of our situation we have not been able to get our furniture, kids toys, kids furniture & all of our family and baby pictures due to the fact that we cannot pay for the truck.
All of this has lead to our to stress levels that have affected our marriage and health. When we moved to Edmonton to work with Eric Telford we owned 2 vehicles & a farm…. now we have one car, and live in a two bedroom place…we have our bed on our deck so our daughter and son can have a bedroom of their own as they a both going thru puberty.
SEPTEMBER 2004
We are now representing ourselves as we cannot pay a lawyer. We are being forced to spend all hours researching for someone who can help us & looking up laws to defend ourselves. This is taking away our time with our children and on trying to focus on our jobs which affects our paycheques as we work on commission.
We have done everything to be as fair as possible to these people. We moved from Edmonton so that we would not have Head Offices in the same city let alone the same province. This was not easy, we had just moved our 9 & 11 year old less than a year before and now they had to be uprooted again. Our family is not holding up well thru what we have gone thru in the past year.
We have we are living in a 2 bedroom condo….
Steve Henchel Statement:
- Sheila and I operated a home party company named Intimate Attitudes Inc prior to April / 2003, we began having financial difficulties but, the customer sales force & community we created & supported was with standing with great future potential. So it made sense to approach distributors whom could handle our volume, thus seeking an arrangement with a larger distributor, we approached UCW, Ultra Love and Telford Investments. UCW sent a written proposal, Ultra Love was interested in us moving to Vancouver but had no desire to have ownership let alone steal our livelihood away. Telford wanted to make a deal quite aggressively and made numerous promises, guarantees and insured fairness, sugar coating it all especially with the written proposal by Tiffany James of Under Cover Wear, UCW, he compared his verbal proposal to this, which he has done nothing of the sort… And being a career con man… all his promises verbal course and us trusting him
- One of the main factors for us choosing Telford investments was Eric Telford himself promised to help us repay debt to family friends and particularly ULTRA LOVE, WHOM ERIC TELFORD CALLED NEIL WATSON PERSONALLY STATING HE WOULD MAKE FUTURE PAYMENT ARRANGEMENTS! NEIL HAS NOT RECEIVED ANY PAYMENTS TO DATE … NEIL WILL PROVIDE A LETTER TO CONFIRM THIS!
We entered an agreement with Telford Investments April / 04 based on previous dialogue / verbal agreement and dialogue like the memo dated April 4, 2003 from Telford’s chartered accountant Brian Alexander
- In hind-sight, Telford clearly set out with the intention to defraud us of our livelihood! Now the customers / sales consultants whom seen what has happened have choose not to continue business with Telford, based on the behaviour of this con man, that is there choice to make not ours… we cannot force, nor induce these people to buy or support either way. This is purely their choice to make and there’s alone as it is any persons choice to shop at Safeway…. Superstore… or buy form any other distributor in Canada
- Now that the con man’s perverted plan didn’t work out, he is merely lashing out like a child having temper tantrum and clearly filing this suite with no solid constitution, with the intention only to try to INTIMIDATE, HARASS & FINANCIALLY HARM US as much as he can, AS WELL TO TRY TO COVER HIS CRIME. CLEARLY INTERFERING with our right to earn a living, be free to choose where we want to work, who we want to work for and who we want to represent
- REBEL MARKETING HAS BEEN AN ESTABLISHED DISTRIBUTION BUSINESS FOR 8 YEARS, O! BEHAVE THE RETAIL STORE, WHICH OFFERS HOME PARTIES HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED FOR OVER YEAR PRIOR TO MY WIFE AND I EMPLOY AS MANAGERS, WITH 9 HOME PARTY REPS ALREADY ACTIVE AND SELLING
- Again this clearly shows that MR TELFORD HAS SET OUT WITH NO GROUNDS, BUT TO CLEARLY DO HARM, INTIMIDATE & HARASS US
- TED FEEHAN, WHOM REPRESENTED US FOR A PERIOD OF TIME, WHICH WE CAN NO LONGER AFFORD HAD INFORMED ME THAT TELFORD’S INTENTION WAS TO SEE US SPEND AS MUCH MONEY AS HE COULD TO FINANCIALLY HARM US AS MUCH AS HE CAN / (already after what he has done to our family), HE WAS SURPRISED TO HERE THIS SO BOLDLY FORM MR DUKE!
- SEPTEMBER WHERE WE WERE CALLED TO THE BOARDROOM TO DISCUSS OUR CONTRACT WITH ERIC P TELFORD, BOB PRINGLE, SHEILA HENCHEL AND MYSELF PRESENT, WE WERE SHOCKED WHEN ERIC TELFORD, NOW WITH INTIMATE ATTITUDES WELL SEATED AND UNDER WAY SAID, NOW YOUR GOING TO START PAYING ME BACK FOR THE FIRST SIX MONTHS OF PAY OF $6000 / MONTH (so we basically set up a company for this man for nothing), THIS IS WHERE HE IMPLEMENTED HIS PAYBACK ACCOUNT WHERE HE ADDED ALL SORTS OF PURE BUSINESS EXPENSES TO BE DEDUCTED FROM OUR PERSONAL PAY. IN OUR CIRCUMSTANCES WE WERE JUST BARELY MAKING IT AS IT WAS. HE HAD ANOTHER ONE OF HIS CONTRACTS DATED APRIL 15TH AND STATED SIGN IT, I REPLIED DO I HAVE A CHOICE, HE REPLIED “NO” WITH A SHIT EATING GRIN ON HIS FACE
- AS WELL OCTOBER THE INTIMATE ATTITUDES WEB STORE MERGED INTO THE LOVE BOUTIQUES STORE (1 STORE SERVING TWO WEB SITES, CONVENIENTLY MR TELFORD COULD NO LONGER TRACK WEB-SALES FROM THE INTIMATE ATTITUDES WEBSITE WHERE WE WERE SUPPOSED TO PAID COMMISSIONS FORM
- NOVEMBER, NOW HAVING 5% OF OUR PERSONAL PAY BEING DEDUCTED AND CREDITORS ON OUR BACKS DUE TO CREDIT CARD DEBT INCURRED DIRECTLY FROM INTIMATE ATTITUDES INC, WHERE MR. TELFORD IS NOW ENJOYING THE BENEFITS OF, ($40,0000 SECURED) AND BEING ADVISED IT WAS FOR THE BEST CONSTANTLY BY BOB PRINGLE, A FORMER BANK MANAGER, WE DECLARED PERSONAL BANKRUPTCY ALL THIS AND BY DECEMBER 31 / 03 SHEILA AND I WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR PRODUCT SALES OF $495,000 FOR INTIMATE ATTITUDES LTD, EXCLUDING MERCHANT FEE AND WEB FEE PROFITS
- BY JANUARY BOB PRINGLE AND ERIC P TELFORD HAD THIS “PAYBACK” ACCOUNT TOTALLY IN EXCESS OF $90,000, (REFERENCE BOB’S HANDWRITING!
- SO IF TELFORD’S CLAIMS WERE TRUE, WE WOULD HAVE BANKRUPTED INTIMATE ATTITUDES INC, MANAGED AND DOING SALES IN EXCESS OF $600,000 IN EIGHT MONTHS FOR MR TELFORD AND PAID HIM $90,000 FOR DOING IT…. NOT BAD DEAL FOR HIM, BUT COMPLETELY INSANE!
- THIS CONFIRMED THAT MR TELFORD HAD NO INTENTION OF DOING ANYTHING BUT CONTINUE TAKING FULL ADVANTAGE OF US IN EVERY WAY HE COULD, HE TRIED TO HOLD OUT AS LONG AS HE COULD IN REVEALING THIS “PAYBACK” AMOUNT, THUS UNLAWFUL EXPENSE AND DEDUCTIONS AS EMPLOYEES, WE THEN FINALLY WITH THE NUMBER AND SUMMARY BOB PROVIDED SUBMITTED THIS DEBT TO OUR TRUSTEE AT BROWNING AND CROCKER. WE WERE NOT GOING TO BE TAKEN ADVANTAGE BY ERIC P TELFORD ANY LONGER FOR DOING NOTHING MORE THAN MOVING OUR ENTIRE LIFE TO EDMONTON, TRUSTING AND WORKING HARD FOR ERIC P TELFORD. WE WERE DONE WITH THE CON MAN
- OUR CONTRACT EXPIRED DECEMBER 31 / 03 we had continued working under good faith until the February meeting with BOB PRINGLE, LYNNE LALONDE
- I made it clear to BOB PRINGLE & ERIC TELFORD IN A LETTER AND PROPOSAL WHAT OUR EXPECTATIONS WERE to continue with Telford Investments / Intimate Attitudes LTD. SEE LETTERS, Prior to our meeting to negotiate our contract FEBRUARY! BASICALLY TO HOLD HIM TO HIS PROMISES…TELFORD’S WORD!
- BOB PRINGLE CALLED US AND ASKED US TO BE AT THE TELFORD BOARD ROOM EARLY FEBRUARY 2004, TO GET THIS CONTRACT DONE. WE WENT TO TELFORD INVESTMENTS, TO THE BOARDROOM WHERE, JOHN TELFORD WAS UNUSUALLY SITTING OUTSIDE THE BOARDROOM DOOR THIS MADE US UNCOMFORTABLE TO START, LYNNE LALONDE, BOB PRINGLE SHEILA HENCHEL AND MYSELF PRESENT IN THE BOARDROOM. BOB PRINGLE STATED CLEARLY IN THE PRESENCE OF US ALL YOU WILL SIGN THIS CONTRACT BEFORE YOU LEAVE THE BUILDING, YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO LEAVE THE BUILDING OR THE BOARDROOM UNTIL YOU SIGN THIS CONTRACT AND DEMANDED OUR PERSONNEL LAPTOP COMPUTERS. AFTER A LONG AND UNCOMFORTABLE PERIOD OF TIME AND THE REAL THREAT OF PHYSICAL CONFRONTATION TO GET OUT OF TELFORD INVESTMENTS, I INFORMED BOB PRINGLE AND LYNNE LALONDE WE WILL NOT BE HELD HOSTAGE AND FORCED INTO ANOTHER TELFORD CON…. TRACT. I LEFT THE BOARDROOM AND NOTICED SHEILA DID NOT FOLLOW. SHEILA TOLD ME ONCE SHE GOT OUT OF THE BOARDROOM, BOB AT ONE POINT BLOCKED THE DOOR BY STANDING IN FRONT OF IT NOT ALLOWING HER TO LEAVE, After BOB PRINGLE TRIED DETAINING, INTIMIDATING AND FORCING US TO SIGN A CONTRACT WE CALLED ROSS SWANSON OF DUNCAN & CRAIG
- Ross reviewed our non-compete agreement, heard our statement and advised the TELFORD CONTRACTS were not binding IN ANY WAY, ESPECIALLY IN LIEU OF THE TELFORD CONDUCT AND TRUST, THAT we should get as far way from this slippery fish as we could!
- Then we issued our monetary claim to Ross for the money TELFORD owes us and made it clear, via Ross Swanson, to Telford we would not return nor be subject to his abuse any longer!
