Corrections or additions?
Life in the Fast Lane
This articles were published in U.S. 1 Newspaper on
February 17, 1999. All rights reserved.
Since Consumer & Electronics Warehouse (CEW) opened
at 135 Village Boulevard in Princeton Forrestal Village in July, 1996,
it has staked its marketing efforts on deep discounts on brand name
consumer electronics from computers to air conditioners, cellular
telephones to home office products. Its advertisements are packed
full of low prices and amazing deals. But according to the state consumer
affairs regulators, some of those deals are not as good as they appear.
The Middlesex County Office of Consumer Affairs filed more than 100
charges against CEW in November, 1997, and 18 cases involving eight
individuals are still pending in Plainsboro Municipal Court. Then
last week Attorney General Peter Verniero and Mark S. Herr, director
of the state division of consumer affairs, filed an 11-count complaint
in Middlesex County Superior Court against CEW and a sister firm.
The company and its officers face a $7,500 civil penalty for each
of 11 alleged violations of the Consumer Fraud Act.
The summary of the attorney general’s complaint: that CEW and a sister
firm “advertised and/or sold electronic merchandise to the retail
public through the use of unconscionable commercial practices, deception,
fraud, false pretenses, misrepresentation, or the knowing concealment,
suppression, or omission of any material fact with intent that consumers
rely upon such concealment suppression, or omission.”
“If merchants advertise a product, state law requires them to
stock enough of that product to meet customer demand,” says Verniero.
“In addition to being unlawful, bait and switch practices are
unfair to customers and to other retailers in the electronics business
who advertise truthfully.”
“We cannot allow bait and switch advertising to become an accepted
practice. Advertising products without having the inventory to back
up those advertisements is against the law,” says Herr.
The suit seeks injunctive relief, monetary penalties, and restitution
for consumers. Sharon A. McCloskey, deputy attorney general, is handling
the case for the state. Lawrence Cimmino, the director of consumer
affairs for Middlesex County, contributed to the case.
CEW’s sister firm, Princeton Direct Inc. (also known as P Direct Ltd.)
advertised in national periodicals and on the Internet at https://www.pdirect2u.com.
It bore a similar name to Robert Zyontz’s Princeton Direct at 5 Vaughn
Drive. “It was a shock to have another company, in our back yard,
using our name that might stain our reputation,” says Zyontz.
“People were calling from all over the country, upset and unable
to get in contact with the company at the number they had been given,
and operators were giving them our number. We called our attorneys;
we have had this name incorporated for 13 years.” Zyontz is now
doing business as Princeton MarkeTech. CEW’s Princeton Direct Inc.
was dissolved on October 20, 1998, according to the state.
The attorney general has directed the defendants, at their own expense,
to restore “to any affected person” any money or property
acquired by means of a practice alleged to be unlawful.
Named in the civil complaint are Terrence Oved, Yaniv Hassoun, Ronald
Hassoun, and Ethan Hassoun. In response to a reporter’s interview
request, Oved faxed this statement to U.S. 1:
“Over the years we have serviced and satisfied tens of thousands
of customers, many of them repeat customers. We could not possibly
be in business for one day if even a shred of what was contained in
these charges were true. We are the target of an overzealous regulator
and will fight to protect our good name and reputation. We look forward
to continuing to service our customers and our community.”
When CEW opened, it advertised an in-house technical
support department for upgrades and technical questions and offered
90 to 180-day interest-free financing. A spokesperson who did not
wish to be named explained the low prices at that time: “CEW buyers
purchase only deals and are able to pass the savings directly to the
consumer without the inflated cost that most major chains are forced
to add to their products to offset their high overhead and related
expenses. We don’t know what we are going to have from week to week;
it changes so quickly.”
The state alleges that the two firms used “Bait and Switch”
techniques, including, as the complaint reads, “advertising merchandise
as part of `huge inventory’ or `over one million products ready to
be shipped’ when in fact they had little or no inventory of advertised
products.” Another method, the complaint says, was to misadjust
computer monitors or video cameras on display so as to appear to be
of poor quality, thus influencing consumers to buy a more expensive
model.
The state objects to the use of small typeface at the bottom of the
page, in contrast to large typeface prices at the top of the page.
Examples of misleading by typeface include, the complaint said, information
on zero interest financing offers, return policies on items, that
prices were valid only with the ads, and requirements for delivery
and installation.
Another dispute regarding advertising: Computers qualify as home appliances
when it comes to the requirement that the brand name and model or
serial number must be listed next to the selling price. Also a must:
the former selling price and the basis on which the former price was
established (“our regular price” or “a competitor’s price”),
and this must be “in close proximity” to the sale price. The
complaint alleges that CEW ads did not state the reference or basis
price.
Also listed in the complaint:
“Selling used merchandise as new, selling new merchandisewith substantial defects, and selling merchandise with different featuresthan represented to consumers.””Falsely advertising electronic merchandise as `brandnew’ and `complete with U.S.A. manufacturers’ warranty, unlessotherwise indicated.'”Failing to disclose to prospective consumers that they arenot authorized retailers for certain manufacturers and that manufacturersmay not honor the warranties.Failing to disclose, before the customer buys the merchandise,that it is not in stock nor will it be available for immediatedelivery.Representing that certain accessories are needed to operatethe merchandise and selling them — when the accessories are eithernot necessary or had been pre-installed in the merchandise.Advertising a computer system as factory direct from aparticular manufacturer when the system consists of components fromvarious manufacturers, or when the system has been reconfigured orrefurbished and/or upgraded, thus voiding the manufacturer’s warranty.Improperly billing consumers credit cards for items not purchased,or items returned or exchanged, including cell phone service arrangedby CEW and terminated by consumers.Failure to deliver bonuses as promised.Denying refunds, misleading consumers regarding store refundpolicy, and charging improper stocking fees .Failure to honor rain checks within 60 days.Failure to display written warranties in a conspicuous manner.Judge Richard Knecht is trying to schedule a motion this weekfor some of the county cases in Plainsboro Municipal Court; none hasbeen resolved. Some consumers, meanwhile, may be weighing their ownscales.Bill Hawkins, owner of New Directions Public Relations, based in PrincetonForrestal Village, says he bought two items at CEW and had no problem.”I didn’t need to return an item or need to make good on a warranty.”But, says Hawkins, “I’ve always been wary of things that soundtoo good to be true; generally they are too good to be true.”Computers and Electronics Warehouse: CEW, 135 VillageBoulevard, Princeton 08540. 609-520-0099; fax, 609-452-7352.– Barbara FoxTop Of PageCommunity Banks:Now, LambertvilleThere has never been a better environment for bankingthan now, says Patrick Ryan, founder and chairman of Hopewell ValleyCommunity Bank, which started functioning as a full service commercialbank this Tuesday, February 16. And another bank, the Lawrenceville-basedVillage Financial Corporation, is offering common stock at $10 pershare. The net proceeds from the public offering will be used to capitalizeVillage Bank, the company’s proposed federal savings bank subsidiary.Meanwhile, the New Jersey Bankers Association (NJBA) has announcedthat it has accepted a new bank charter application for a bank inHunterdon County. If the application is approved, Main Street Bankof New Jersey will be located at 39 Bridge Street in Lambertville.Community banks, with their emphasis on personalized service, haveattracted a lot of investors these days. Hopewell Valley will openwith a solid capital base of $7.8 million invested by 441 shareholders.James Hyman, a Rutgers University graduate and former CEO of the FirstCommunity Bank in Clinton is first president and CEO. The bank openedwith 10 employees at its temporary Pennytown Village office on 145Route 31. The bank hopes to relocate to its 3,600 square-foot facilityat 4 Route 31 this summer.Village Bank, to be headquartered at 590 Lawrence Square Boulevard,on Quakerbridge Road, with a branch office on Route 31 North in thePennington Point complex, is expected to open for business in midto late spring after the conclusion of the stock offering, says KennethJ. Stephon, president and chief executive officer of Village FinancialCorporation. Call 609-689-1010 for the prospectus about the stockoffering.With technology costs starting to come down, both banks think theycan stay small to serve the community in a personal way yet offerup-to-date high tech products. But, says Stephon, “our orientationand regulatory structure will be different from Hopewell Valley’s.”Village Bank will operate as a thrift savings institution and servehomeowners in West Windsor, Hamilton, and the part of Lawrence thatlies on the east side of Route 1. “The purpose of a thrift charterhas always been to help individuals and families to get funds forhome ownership, and we expect to maintain that tradition.”Stephon, who has an MBA from Rider, emphasizes that whatever mortgagesVillage Bank writes, it will also service. “Customers get disgruntledwhen they decide to do business locally and they end up doing businesswith someone they have not chosen to do business with.”– Teena ChandyTop Of PageCarnegie Move-OutHere’s a rare, reverse move involving a Princeton officecenter: By March, 2000, Peterson’s is scheduled to move out of theCarnegie Center and to nearly double its space as the lead tenantin a new 120,000 square-foot, three-story building at Princeton PikeCorporate Center. Brandywine Realty Trust owns the center, which nowhas 52 acres with three buildings totaling 390,000 square feet, andapprovals to build three more buildings with 360,000 feet.Brandwyine Realty Trust bought the 10-year-old park property fromDKM Properties in March, 1998, for $50.7 million or $130 per squarefoot. Gerard H. Sweeney is president and CEO of the real estate firmbased in Newtown Square Pa.Peterson’s 300 full-time employees — up from 200 four years ago– will have similar amenities to those they enjoy at the CarnegieCenter, including a full-service cafeteria and an exercise center.The firm, which moved to the Carnegie Center during the tenure ofits founder, Peter W. Hegener, was purchased by the Thomson companyfour years ago. Last fall Hegener stepped down as CEO. Peterson’spublishes books, data bases, and software for lifelong education andcareer guidance, and also provides admissions and enrollment support.It will plan its 62,000 square foot space to have fewer cubicles andmore open space, appropriate for a publishing company that is changingits focus from individuals editing books to team members collaboratingon online publishing projects. One of recent projects was a jointventure with Educational Testing Service, GradAdvantage, that allowsgraduate students to register online.Peterson’s, 202 Carnegie Center, Princeton 08543-2123.Michael Brannick, president & CEO. 609-243-9111; fax, 609-243-9150.Home page: https://www.petersons.com.Top Of PageLaw MovesLaura M. Le Winn, Attorney at Law, 4454 Route 27,Kingston 08528. 609-924-0151; fax, 609-924-0615.Laura Le Winn, who practices appellate law in all areas, maintainsher main office in Cranford, but now she has opened a pied a terrein Kingston.A graduate of Wellesley College and New York University Law School,”the first lawyer in a family of doctors,” she is the chairof the New Jersey Board of Bar Examiners, a trustee of the New JerseyBar Foundation, a trustee of New Jersey Institute for Continuing LegalEducation, and a frequent lecturer on appellate practice.Just what is appellate law? “I come into a case after the trial,”says Le Winn, citing employment discrimination, matrimonial, personalinjury and medical malpractice, and commercial cases as being amongthose she covers. “Someone is dissatisfied with the verdict. Ilook at a record that has been created to see what, if anything, wentafoul of the law or what went wrong.”Appellate courts differ from others in that no one is examining ordeposing a witness in real time. “I am not strategizing as I goalong as litigators often have to do,” she says, “I am workingwith a frozen record that the litigators have made. That record ismy ammunition for trying to get relief for a client on appeal. Ifeverything goes right, nothing should come in from outside the recordthat will influence the result — there will be no surprises.”The state has nine appeal panels with four judges each, and Le Winnsays she has argued cases before most of them. “I know what kindsof things will get attention in the appellate court — the thingsyou have to show and the arguments you have to make,” she says.If she successfully proves there are grounds for appeal, she turnsthe case back to the original lawyers for the next stage.”Most of my clients are other attorneys,” says Le Winn. “Itis better to have someone objective come in and look at the recordand see what if any claims of error can be made. Trial attorneys getwrapped up in their cases. Sometimes it is not as great an injusticeas the attorney who has been in the heat of battle thinks it is.”Frances M. Merritt, Attorney at Law, 4454 Route27, Kingston 08528. 609-924-7753; fax, 609-924-7743.”Mediation is the coming field,” says Frances M. Merritt,who opened her law practice in January. A psychology major at Rutgers,Merritt earned a master’s degree in music from Westminster Choir College,where she taught voice and pedagogy for three years before going toRutgers Law School in Newark. She spent 11 years in Princeton withtwo firms — Katzenbach Gildea & Rudner (now Fox Rothschild) andWills ONeill & Mellk, before opening her own practice for family anddivorce law and mediation. She is just back from a self-funded sabbatical,a year-long intensive mediation course at Woodbury College in Vermont.Top Of PageStart-UpsTelos Solutions, 32 Baldwin Street, Pennington08534. Fred Bartl, president. 609-730-0889; fax, 609-730-9508.The speed at which people figure out what is happening in the marketplacemakes all the difference between success and failure of their enterprise,says Fred Bartl, president of Telos Solutions, a marketing consultingfirm founded late last year. Small companies often need outside expertise,he says, to help them stay ahead and accelerate profitable growth.Bartl majored in economics at Harvard, Class of 1963, and startedhis career in the telecommunications industry working with the nationalmarketing program at AT&T. Prior to starting his own consulting firmBartl was director of business marketing for the Public Service EnterpriseGroup.Small companies make up almost 90 percent of businesses in the UnitedStates today, says Bartl. “They face critical challenges in planningand executing business and marketing strategies but often cannot affordto hire a big consulting company. Telos is focussed primarily on smallto medium sized companies in the capacity of advisors, consultants,and interim executives.”A set of critical factors unique to each company determines the potentialfor profitable growth, Bartl says, and “discovering them startswith asking the right questions. The answers are the foundation fromwhich to create successful business development initiatives.””Successful business outcomes are rooted in understanding andsatisfying customer wants better than competitive alternatives,”says Bartl. “They hear and reflect the voice of the customer intheir business, marketing, and sales plans.”Top Of PageNew in TownAmeriquest Mortgage Company, 3150 Brunswick Pike,Crossroads Corporate Center, Suite 330, Lawrenceville 08648. Rob Monaco,manager. 609-406-7997; fax, 609-406-9669. Home page: https://www.ameriquest.net.This mortgage company added a branch office at Crossroads CorporateCenter last December.Don Step Inc., 116 Stanhope Road, Princeton 08540.Duane P. Howell, tax specialist. 609-419-1010; fax, 609-419-1444.The headquarters of this 20-year-old full-service accounting and taxpreparation firm has moved from New York to Princeton; three peoplework at this location and branch offices are scattered across thecountry.Fema Electronics Corporation, 12 Stults Road, Suite103, Dayton 08810. Bob Cheng, president. 609-409-1720; fax, 609-409-1721.Fema manufactures LCD and LED displays and moved to Dayton from EdgeboroRoad in East Brunswick last year.KA Consulting, 2540 Route 130, Cranbury 08512.David Rikkola, president. 609-395-8300; fax, 609-395-8356. Homepage: https://www.kaconsults.com.The healthcare consulting firm has moved from Edison.Ryder Logistics, 1 Capital Drive, Cranbury BusinessPark Suite 102, Cranbury 08512. Michael Connors, manager. 609-395-0400;fax, 800-628-6124.A battery distributor has moved its distribution and logistics centerfrom Toledo to Cranbury Business Park.SysFour Solutions LLC, 3530 Route 27, Suite 203,Kendall Park 08824. Randolph Vaskas, president. 732-940-8770; fax,732-940-8780.A consulting firm providing information technology services to suchclients as AT&T and Lucent Technologies has opened a Kendall Parkoffice.Turtle Bay Institute Inc., 195 Nassau Street, Princeton08542. Robert Weekley, president. 609-688-9640; fax, 609-688-9644.Named after an area on the East Side of Manhattan, this firm doesmarketing research and business consulting in consumer products, hightech, and medical areas. It designs and executes research studiesand does executive interviewing, says Kathleen Murphy, vice presidentand co-owner. After 20 years in Manhattan it moved to Princeton lastyear.Uniform Code Council, 1009 Lenox Drive, Lawrenceville08648. 609-620-0200; fax, 609-620-1200.The Uniform Code Council sets the standards for and distributes UPCcodes. It is moving to Lenox Drive from Dayton, Ohio.Unique Homes Magazine, 327 Wall Street, Princeton08540. Rick Goodwin, publisher. 609-688-1110; fax, 609-688-0201.Rick Goodwin moved the editorial offices for his bi-monthly magazinefrom New York, to be closer to his home in Pennsylvania. The magazinehas an international distribution and offers information about luxuryreal estate available in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean,and Europe. Founded in 1970, the magazine has a staff of nine andoccupies 3,000 square feet at Research Park.Top Of PageExpansionsI Vision, 666 Plainsboro Road, Suite 1120, Plainsboro08536. Ajay Sharma, director. 609-936-1101; fax, 609-936-1107.This software development and consulting firm had temporary spaceat 5 Independence Way and is expanding from 10 consultants to 25 atPrinceton Meadows Office Center. Part of Globesyn Technology basedin India, it started U.S. operations in May, 1998.Premier Abstract & Title Agency, 1006 EastparkBoulevard, Cranbury 08512. Howard Stipe, president. 609-860-1000;fax, 609-860-1001.The title agency moved from 101 Interchange Plaza.Princeton Economics Group Inc., 707 State Road,Suite 223, Princeton 08540-1437. Peter Bronsteen, president. 609-279-0600.URL: https://www.econgroup.com.These consultants expanded from 2,500 feet on Village Boulevard to3,500 feet at 707 State Road, and the phone and fax (609-279-0201)are new. The group does antitrust and general litigation consultingfor law firms.Project on Ethnic Relations, 15 Chambers Street,Suite 435, Princeton 08542-3707. Allen Kassof, president. 609-683-5666;fax, 609-683-5888. URL: https://www.netcom.com/~ethic/per.html.The private nongovernmental organization is moving from Palmer Squareto 15 Chambers Street. It works in central and Eastern Europe andthe former Soviet Union.Top Of PageDeathsFrederick A. Eoff on February 5. A veteran of the KoreanWar, he worked at ETS.Susanne L. Vliet, 48, on February 7. She worked at ContinentalInsurance and at Sage Data.Thomas Milewski, 49, on February 8. He was president ofGreater Media’s radio group.Martin W. Knudsen, 65, on February 9. He was a consturctionmanager for Van Note-Harvey.Eleanor S. Young, 74, on February 11. She had been a realtorwith N.T. Callaway Real Estate.Michael J. Beres Jr., 56, on February 12. He worked atAmerican Cyanamid on Quakerbridge Road.Next StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
