Eric "FATBOY" Peterson

[Fatboy]

Good Point Fatboy! What fun would that be? We all have blown off a lot of time to this forum, but we just can't stay away forever. The pool gene is just too strong in us.

All is good here. Nice to see you post again. BTW...Sev is at 99,999 posts and then crickets. He lurks but no 100,000th post yet. Hummmm?

99,999 posts!!!!

Wow did I miss a lot lol.

I can’t lurk. I’m sure some would prefer that, but I can’t help myself.

Some of my posts are dumb or bad jokes. But I’ve always tried to offset those with meaningful and useful posts. Now that I’m older I have more history I can post. I have a good memory.

Useless fact: I’ve always been well spoken, but when I came to AZB my writing skills were bullet points and the worst spelling ever. I used to post just to practice writing sometimes. I constructed posts on ivory and other long winded essay style posts for that reason and to enlighten people as well. I’m still not a great writer-never will be but I improved lots. My spelling still blows, spell checkers have improved.

Best
Fatboy

 

[Jack Justis]

Hey, good to hear your back. Loan me $50...jk

 

[jay helfert]

The real Fatboy did stand up!

 

[Black-Balled]

I think you mean spill chickens?

99,999 posts!!!!

Wow did I miss a lot lol.

I can’t lurk. I’m sure some would prefer that, but I can’t help myself.

Some of my posts are dumb or bad jokes. But I’ve always tried to offset those with meaningful and useful posts. Now that I’m older I have more history I can post. I have a good memory.

Useless fact: I’ve always been well spoken, but when I came to AZB my writing skills were bullet points and the worst spelling ever. I used to post just to practice writing sometimes. I constructed posts on ivory and other long winded essay style posts for that reason and to enlighten people as well. I’m still not a great writer-never will be but I improved lots. My spelling still blows, spell checkers have improved.

Best
Fatboy

 

[Kickin' Chicken]

hey Fatboy;

nice to see you back on the azb, sir.

best,
brian kc

 

[pt109]

hey Fatboy;

nice to see you back on the azb, sir.

best,
brian kc

Brian....I was just thinking about your April Fool’s day post about Eric....
...he was flipping till someone hepped him up.....:rotflmao1::rotflmao1::rotflmao1:

Will somebody buy Eric a calendar?

 

[Fatboy]

hey Fatboy;

nice to see you back on the azb, sir.

best,
brian kc

Hey!!! Good to see you!!

Hope all has been good with you.

Best regards,
Fatboy

 

[Fatboy]

Brian....I was just thinking about your April Fool’s day post about Eric....
...he was flipping till someone hepped him up.....:rotflmao1::rotflmao1::rotflmao1:

Will somebody buy Eric a calendar?

Please! I’m not sure what year it is. Lol

It’s fun to be back here, I’m gonna be here for a while. I miss the azb crew. I been thinking and remembering lots of cool stuff here from years gone by. It’s a good thing when people can share things for year after year. Even if everyone isn’t friends we still all decide to share the same corner of the internet with each other. Can’t be all bad.

Best
Fatboy

 

[us820]

Relatively new to the forum.Just curious ,no need to answer but always curious to find out how people who have done well in life did it.What occupation did you make your money in?I assume it was not from gambling as every gambler I personally know is 95% perpetually broke and 5% hit it big over the year.

 

[u12armresl]

Lots of threads about it, but here is an excerpt.

"10. Since at least early 1997, the defendants have engaged in a scheme to defraud consumers throughout the United States through the telemarketing of credit cards and/or lines of credit. Defendants mail out advertisements to consumers throughout the United States. Through said advertisements, defendants represent that consumers can obtain from defendants a line of credit, cash advances, a “CashPlus credit card,” and a Visa or MasterCard, regardless of their credit history. In response to the advertisements, consumers throughout the United States call the telephone number listed on the advertisements, and speak to defendants' salespersons.

11. During the course of subsequent telephone sales presentations, defendants’ salespersons represent to consumers that, for a fee of approximately $150, CCS will provide the consumer with an unsecured $2,500 line of credit, the ability to obtain a cash advance of $2,500, a CashPlus Card (sometimes described as “a general credit card”), and a Visa or MasterCard. In response to these representations, consumers pay to defendants fees ranging from $149.95 to $169.95. These fees are usually paid to CCS from the consumers’ checking accounts on unsigned bank drafts and thereafter deposited by CCS into its bank account.

12. What the consumers receive from defendants varies significantly from what defendants promise. The $2,500 line of credit and the CashPlus “credit card,” are limited to purchases of goods from defendants’ catalogues. The $2,500 cash advance is limited to an initial cash advance of $10. Finally, consumers do not receive a Visa or MasterCard credit card, but only a form to use to send for an application for one of those credit cards."

Relatively new to the forum.Just curious ,no need to answer but always curious to find out how people who have done well in life did it.What occupation did you make your money in?I assume it was not from gambling as every gambler I personally know is 95% perpetually broke and 5% hit it big over the year.

 

[us820]

I honestly wasn’t trying to stir anything up.I like hearing how rich guys got rich.I was expecting new home construction or something though.

 

[Fatboy]

I honestly wasn’t trying to stir anything up.I like hearing how rich guys got rich.I was expecting new home construction or something though.

Actually I just got a new home a month ago. Life’s good.

I’ve been more than lucky, and there is never a day that goes by that I don’t take pause and realize that. My health could be better, but I do my best.

I have mellowed with age. I had to, my heart couldn’t take the stress. Now I work some, collect a few rent checks and buy & sell a little bit of property and if I do good-yay. If not, I’m ok.

Jack Justis your $50 is in the mail, On the square I’m happy to take you to dinner next time our paths cross!! Be a pleasure to see you.

Best
Fatboy

 

[Fatboy]

Lots of threads about it, but here is an excerpt.

"10. Since at least early 1997, the defendants have engaged in a scheme to defraud consumers throughout the United States through the telemarketing of credit cards and/or lines of credit. Defendants mail out advertisements to consumers throughout the United States. Through said advertisements, defendants represent that consumers can obtain from defendants a line of credit, cash advances, a “CashPlus credit card,” and a Visa or MasterCard, regardless of their credit history. In response to the advertisements, consumers throughout the United States call the telephone number listed on the advertisements, and speak to defendants' salespersons.

11. During the course of subsequent telephone sales presentations, defendants’ salespersons represent to consumers that, for a fee of approximately $150, CCS will provide the consumer with an unsecured $2,500 line of credit, the ability to obtain a cash advance of $2,500, a CashPlus Card (sometimes described as “a general credit card”), and a Visa or MasterCard. In response to these representations, consumers pay to defendants fees ranging from $149.95 to $169.95. These fees are usually paid to CCS from the consumers’ checking accounts on unsigned bank drafts and thereafter deposited by CCS into its bank account.

12. What the consumers receive from defendants varies significantly from what defendants promise. The $2,500 line of credit and the CashPlus “credit card,” are limited to purchases of goods from defendants’ catalogues. The $2,500 cash advance is limited to an initial cash advance of $10. Finally, consumers do not receive a Visa or MasterCard credit card, but only a form to use to send for an application for one of those credit cards."

I know you hate me.

Here’s some facts:

12 years in business, same place.

We closed down the biz due to lack of leads and profits were gone-the internet also took a huge chunk of our catalog sales.

We did $725,000,000 in gross sales. Adjusted for inflation it’s over a billion dollars.

I paid a $5,000 fine to the FTC in 98, that’s the only enforcement action ever against me. It’s on FTC.gov look it up. Eric A Petersen is my proper name for any search’s anyone wants to do.

After we closed in May 2008 we kept 3 people on full time for 13 months to service our customer accounts. This was part of the consent decree we signed with the FTC. We shipped product and fulfilled every obligation to any customer we had. At the end of the 13 months and $600,000 later we had the lawyers contact the FTC and close out the business as prescribed by the FTC.


I paid all my taxes, and went in my way.

Nobody can sit in one location for 12 years and collect $725,000,000 in a fraudulent manor and get away with it. Period.


This will make you happy:

After we closed the biz in 2010-2011 I lost about $80,000,000 of my net worth in the collapse. Feel better?

However Fatboy has a lot of layers to his onion. He’s never been to jail, kept all the $ from his credit biz and proceeded to lose $80,000,000. Moves to Beverly Hills and is living happily ever after.

I’ll never apologize for making $.

Did I harm consumers? Yes I did,, when I was a telemarketer from 93-96. Not proud of that.

Case closed!

Warmest regards,
Fatboy

 

[xianmacx]

Good grief...Just read a blog from guy who claims he used to work for your company. :yikes::yikes:

 

[justadub]

Nice seeing you posting here again, Fatboy

 

[fromthebeginnin]

Welcome back Eric

Eric glad you’re back it’s been kind of quiet without reading your posts. Hey wondering if you still have my Barry Propeller Cue, which you bought from Jeff in Birmingham?

I still have it’s Gus twin, all the best to you!

Rich

 

[Fatboy]

Good grief...Just read a blog from guy who claims he used to work for your company. :yikes::yikes:

I had about 65,000 employees over a 12 year period. There was lots of turnover in the phone rooms. My executive staff of 30-40 people I had almost no turnover-great people. I went into the operations once a month. I always worked from home and never met 99.99% of the people whom I employed. They had health insurance, paid vacations. The whole bit.

A majority of the harmful complaints were not customers at all but rather disgruntled employees. I know this because every customer was assigned a unique number and we could track the real complaints from the upset employees. Also the employees had insights and could make more damaging complaints because they worked there.

We had 1 complaint per 1000 paid memberships(customers) this number was very consistent over the last 10 years in biz. The first 2 years we made mistakes and pissed off customers.

As was posted about the “Cash Plus Card” in my FTC compliant-the one I settled with the FTC I did about $250,000 in sales when I got in trouble. I was green and didn’t know the rules. I flew to Washington DC and told the FTC & my lawyers that I wanted to be in full compliance with ALL Local, State & Federal Laws and continue in the business. They believed me.

I signed a consent decree and that was a list of rules which I had to follow to the letter in addition to any new laws to stay in biz. That was in 98, so for 10 years I played by the rules.

When I felt it was safe and we met the standards of compliance administered to me then I scaled the biz up larger. Some States & the Feds had conflicting laws much like the weed laws now. Legal in some States but not Federal. In those cases I didn’t market into conflicting States. Didn’t take chances. So I was in biz in roughly 39 States.

We did have real complaints where customers were misrepresented and every time we were aware of that we cured the problem much to the customers favor.

Additionally after 5 years in biz we approached 2 of the 3 credit bureau’s to report our customers trade line with us-it was defined as a “merchant card and merchant line of credit” same as Sears. It took about 24 months to get the credentials to report to them. The reason it wasn’t all 3 is Experian didn’t recognize sub-prime people. Mite have been Equifax. Trans union did recognize our customers. It took ~24 months of microscopes up our asses and more disclosures if trade practices to get that approval. That helped calm down the FTC as it is simple checks and balances.

We never touted credit repair, because we didn’t repair credit.

We also leased names(data for junk mail) for a one time solicitation from those 2 credit bureaus. We made millions from that. People often wonder why they get junk mail(back then more so than now) well the bureau’s make more $ leasing your private information than they make running your credit score. They are the people who create junk mail and back in the day the telemarketers. Most people wonder how they got on the “list”, now you know.

There is lots more to this, I never spoke about this ever as I was in biz and signed confidentiality agreements. I honored those as well. We played by ALL the rules. Made mistakes early on and “came into compliance”. That’s the FTC’s way of saying we corrected a bad biz.

So go ahead and post all you like about my mistakes and realize that was $250,000 in biz done wrong. But not so wrong they hit me with a cease and desist or even worse criminal charges. They struck a deal with me I could live with and they could too. So again $725,000,000 in sales playing by the rules and $250K making rookie mistakes(enclosing a application for a general credit card like a Visa) that’s what got me in trouble-marketing 2 credit offers simultaneously, so took the general credit card offer out and just sold the merchant card for use in my catalog.


If that makes me a bad guy, then feel free to hate me.

Proof is there, kept all the $, same location for 12 years and never got in any serious trouble. That’s not luck, wake up and read the memo “I play by the rules”, hell I'm scared not to. Show me one “scam” That lasted that long that was that big for that long in the same place. Please show me one.

I can talk openly now as the final NDA agreements have long expired.

I’ll never feel a bit of guilt or apologize for those trade practices. Again what I did in 93-96 was a totally different biz and yes I did harm and live with bad feelings everyday because of that.


So hate away, keep trying to beat me here, the FTC couldn’t. FBI only gets involved if it’s deemed criminal activity by the FCT. The FTC never got to 2nd base with us. So for all you haters and arm chair keyboard warriors, ask yourself this.....are you smarter than the Government and FTC who didn’t win. Fatboy won, I don’t win every game in life, but I won the big one. $725,000,000 from 96-08-that’s a $1,000,000,000 factoring in inflation.

That’s winning,

My best to everyone,
Fatboy

P.S. I’ll go the distance with this, so please try and break me down....my pissed off jealous employees tried, the Govt. I’d bet it’s unlikely any AZB genus can either. Windows I’ll lay +500

 

[Fatboy]

Eric glad you’re back it’s been kind of quiet without reading your posts. Hey wondering if you still have my Barry Propeller Cue, which you bought from Jeff in Birmingham?

I still have it’s Gus twin, all the best to you!

Rich

I have every Szam (B&G) I ever owned except one Barry I traded(basic 4 pt 4 veneer)

None are for sale and will not be. I’m going to preserve a piece of cue/pool history with that collection.

I haven’t done a cue deal in years for that matter. Only cues I’d ponder selling are the Bushka’s

It’s great to be back on AZB, sorry about that long post just now. But I’m all about winning, haters don’t bother me. Losing does, or shitting in case $ ball. Neither of those happened in the credit biz. I was just stupid lucky and good at what I did.

Kindest regards,

Fatboy

 

[Fatboy]

Lots of threads about it, but here is an excerpt.

"10. Since at least early 1997, the defendants have engaged in a scheme to defraud consumers throughout the United States through the telemarketing of credit cards and/or lines of credit. Defendants mail out advertisements to consumers throughout the United States. Through said advertisements, defendants represent that consumers can obtain from defendants a line of credit, cash advances, a “CashPlus credit card,” and a Visa or MasterCard, regardless of their credit history. In response to the advertisements, consumers throughout the United States call the telephone number listed on the advertisements, and speak to defendants' salespersons.

11. During the course of subsequent telephone sales presentations, defendants’ salespersons represent to consumers that, for a fee of approximately $150, CCS will provide the consumer with an unsecured $2,500 line of credit, the ability to obtain a cash advance of $2,500, a CashPlus Card (sometimes described as “a general credit card”), and a Visa or MasterCard. In response to these representations, consumers pay to defendants fees ranging from $149.95 to $169.95. These fees are usually paid to CCS from the consumers’ checking accounts on unsigned bank drafts and thereafter deposited by CCS into its bank account.

12. What the consumers receive from defendants varies significantly from what defendants promise. The $2,500 line of credit and the CashPlus “credit card,” are limited to purchases of goods from defendants’ catalogues. The $2,500 cash advance is limited to an initial cash advance of $10. Finally, consumers do not receive a Visa or MasterCard credit card, but only a form to use to send for an application for one of those credit cards."

This is the $250,000 in sales I did and made mistakes.

Please show me the $725,750,000 in biz I DIDN’T get in trouble
For. I’m ready, happy to tell all. It’s all done and I can talk now. Before I couldn’t.


My very best regards, I only wish you could be so fortunate,

Fatboy

 

[Fatboy]

Nice seeing you posting here again, Fatboy

Great to be back