I last wrote about this over a year ago and you can find that post about TechMedica right here.
Recently I’ve been getting comments on my original post which lead me to believe that the company is coming apart. I’m also occasionally searching for references to the company on other blogs which leads me to stuff like this about TechMedica.
The first comment on there surprised me, one for citing me, and two for showing something that I seemingly stumbled upon on my own but they also noticed. Truth be told I may have read it earlier, filed it away, then subliminally searched for it myself tonight. I cannot say for sure.
From the TechMedica company webpage I took this snapshot:
Note the address in the caption. This differs slightly (as in every single fuckin digit) from the address in the picture.
Take a gander at the lovely water. Thats gotta be a sight in Los Vegas, Nevada! Especially when you consider what the area looks like according to the address when you map it out with satelite images in Google Maps:
Hmm, not much water there. Lots of asphalt, not much water.
So, what happens when you look up the address for TechMedica in Grand Rapids, MI via Google? You find that their building indeed had the address of that in the picture, complete with body of water out front.
Why lie about the location? I’m not sure, but if I had to take a guess, and my guess is biased, I’d say it was done simply because the founder/president/whatever role he plays in the company, Tony Pham, is a pathological liar.
I could see lieing about the primary business location if you were a scammer in the middle of some slum in a 3rd world country, but I don’t see why it would be a bad thing to inform customers that you’re located in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Hell, look at the picture! Not a bad place!
Why lie about something so non essential? Why make it so obvious? Anybody with half a clue knows that a) bodies of water in Las Vegas are rare, and b) lush pine trees aren’t found in the area. You should note that off to the right of the building in the original picture there’s one sitting there.
I’m going to try and stay on top of this one. It could get interesting, and I’m vastly fascinated that people have picked up my blog on this subject when it was only something I’ve briefly visited on here.
Update: Comments are closed. I’m sick of people astroturfing here.
Hi Justin,
I can see your point and maybe some of it is valid. What you may not know is this:
1) Google Maps is not always right! Hard to swallow that I know but it is true. I just finished a client’s site which used the Google map api, low and behold he told me his property wasn’t mapped correctly. That meant the address given to Google was not giving the correct coords to make the maker on the map. If you copy the “email” link from google maps you will see the long and lat coords. Those are not correct either, for this particular client. So, long story short, Google Map is not always right. I imagine other mapping sites may have similar problems.
2) Techmedica has two locations. The building you refer to is supposed to be their office. I called them on this and I asked the same question. They do have another location where everything is put together (the capsules).
I am not sure why so many people are bent on talking bad about a company. If things were this bad the gov would have shut them down for good. Many people point to the fda doc / request which in the end Techmedica fixed the labels to where their would not be any problems. How do I know this you might be asking, because I called and asked the same thing. Since I was taking the diabeticin capsules I wanted to know if all this was true. I also read the fda doc thoroughly as well and I understood it as a bad label or bad marking on the product and, they needed to change the way the customer reviews – to show no “cures” and to make sure the heading didn’t say “here is the proof” etc.
I welcome any comments / stories.
I’m guessing that Justin is keeping an eye on this because TP is a lying, cheating SOB.
1) Google Maps is not always right!
They have a Google Map link to their place just below that photo. If it’s good enough for them it’s good enough for me to call bullshit on it.
2) Techmedica has two locations. The building you refer to is supposed to be their office. I called them on this and I asked the same question. They do have another location where everything is put together (the capsules).
I referred to two locations, one in Grand Rapids, one in Nevada. They have a picture of a building in Grand Rapids with a Las Vegas address below it. Does that make any sense? No. It’s a less than honest representation of their company.
That, and I’ll bet you dollars to donuts that the building they picture on their website has been Photoshopped. The lettering on the signs with the company logo is too clean, too white, and is entirely off center.
That and when you zoom in you see that the letters are prefectly shaded — just as they would be if placed there via Photoshop.
I’ll swing by tomorrow and take a picture of the actual building. I could be wrong, but I’d bet 100:1 odds that I’m right.
I am not sure why so many people are bent on talking bad about a company.
Because we believe it’s a scam run by a con artist that’s defrauding people left and right? Thats my motivation. Hell, I threw away the possibility of makin some spare cash by firing off an email to every email address I could find within the company railing against Tony Pham.
Why would somebody throw away a money making opportunity? Ethics? Yeah, that sounds about right.
If things were this bad the gov would have shut them down for good.
Give it time. Eventually the market or the government will shut this one down.
Many people point to the fda doc / request which in the end Techmedica fixed the labels to where their would not be any problems. How do I know this you might be asking, because I called and asked the same thing.
I usually don’t have to place multiple calls to a supplier of a health product to verify that they’re legitimate. That should throw up a nice big red flag.
I also read the fda doc thoroughly as well and I understood it as a bad label or bad marking on the product and, they needed to change the way the customer reviews – to show no “cures” and to make sure the heading didn’t say “here is the proof” etc.
In other word they were illegally labeling their product. All that research on a super-duper advanced cure-all drug and they never had anybody on staff that knew about FDA regulations with regards to product labeling?
Yeah that sounds like an honest mistake.
Try the address 3854 Broadmoor SE, Kentwood, MI 49512
http://mapshare.delorme.com/Consumer/V.aspx?p=v7hmqhvb
I can get you a REAL picture if you are interrested.
Also,
http://web.archive.org/
Has snapshots of the websites, but strangely all the more recent snapshots have disappeared,as have all for micronutra.com.
Your first URL is a bit off, there Justin.
Just for fun, I looked at their website. Pretty cheesy. They couldn’t even be bothered to come up with unique commentary for each of their various products?
I do think that herbal remedies can be effective, but this looks more like snake-oil marketing to me.
Justin,
You have one week from today to remove all negative posts about Techmedica and our employees, including Tony Pham. Our attorney’s are standing by to serve a lawsuit against you for libel with clear evidence that you have cost us lost revenue and caused us harm due to your libel. You have also threatened our employee with bodily harm when you stated “He wants to meet up for lunch. I want to meet him in a dark alley.” in your own blogs. We will sue you to the
fullest extent of the law to recover damages done to us do to you slander and libel. We will sue you for threatening bodily harm to our employees.
To stop the lawsuit, you have until May 3, to do the following:
1) Delete all negative posts about our employees and our company including
those at thehighroad.org
2) Cease and desist in all actions to defame and libel us
3) Send an email to president@techmedica.com that you regret the negative posts and that you are rescinding all the negative things you have said, including seeking bodily harm to our employees.
Techmedica will protect its people from threats from people like yourself, who are para-military types that preach violence and revenge, under the disguise of “self-righteousness”.
Justin, this is truly your only warning. Comply by May 3 or our attorney’s will be unleashed upon you.
check this out
http://www.xymetri.us/images/office.jpg
also, techmedica no longer exists, apparently now it is call “true value media” or atleast that is what there sign says on broadmoor, well in real life it says that
Justin, I wouldn’t worry about this too much.
I really don’t see how techmedica can single you out and file a “lawsuit against you for libel with clear evidence that you have cost us lost revenue and caused us harm due to your libel”
How can they say you are the single cause for their “lost revenue” when all over the Internet there are hundreds and hundreds of negative (and TRUTHFUL) comments about techmedica and their scams. There is no way they can account for you being the sole cause. It’s very possible the reason they have LOST REVENUE is because Snake Oil on the Internet only works for so long, until people find out the truth about things. Thanks to blogs and other networking sites, people can get the truth out pretty quick.
http://chinese-school.netfirms.com/reviews/diamaxol-scam.html
http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=251627&page=1
http://www.wehavediabetes.org/blog/elvis/diabeticine-aka-diamaxol-my-report
http://diabetestalkfest.com/forum/index.php/topic,831.0.html
http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/17/2633/comments/
This is only after about 5 minutes of reading, these comments are everywhere. This company is terrible. It is ridiculous they are not all in jail.
more links:
http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&q=techmedica+scam
Also, how in the world are they going to get you for “libel”, that would mean you would have to tell LIES about them. Everything you wrote is TRUE.
Another good post about Techmedica:
http://www.topix.net/forum/business/biotech/TDJ5I3IMO9HK88GB9/p3
By the way, these guys have changed their name at least 10 times (Why would they have to do that????)
Here are a few I found:
Techmedica
MicroNutra Health
FaithMeds
Living Remedies
PetFriendly
Alt Discoveries
True Value Media
Diamaxol
Diabeticine
Tony Pham
Dr. Don
Better Business Bureau:
http://www.westernmichigan.bbb.org/commonreport.html?bid=24006027
Justin like I said before they will go down before you will ever go down. They are frauds and the government will get them in a matter of months, weeks or maybe just days from now. And I can’t wait to see Tonys butt walking into court in Cuffs and all of us that know how fake and unreal that company is will be testifying and putting him and his goon squads away for a very long time.
Yeah, not a whole lot to worry about. I mean, do you think he, or anyone from techmedica REALLY want to step foot inside of a court room? I don’t think so :)
Justin…
I have serious problems with this company and some of the marketers of the products of this company. We started a legal procedure against this company and have a difficult time to track down this company. If the lawyers of this company really sues you, would you please, let me know of their addresses?
For about a year, they used my name and my pictures to market their products as if their product has been developed by me. I have protested them repeatedly…There must be special places in hell for these people.
Justin, We purchased some Active from Micronutra Health early April and are still awaiting to receive the pills. We have been debited through our credit card but have not received the pills. We have made numerous e-mail communications which have not been answered and the most recent ones have been returned to us by our internet provider. We are currently speaking to our bank about recovering our money and they intend contacting Micronutra’s bank to arrange a credit on our behalf. We were amazed to read all the stories about the underhandedness and also amazed to see how many name changes have occurred. We have an e-mail address if you can advise if MicroNutra Health really exists? We are spinksgaca1@dodo.com.au
Kind regards
Anne & Graeme Spinks
Sydney, Australia
To Kim and folks in Australia or where ever you may be. The address for this company which now calls themselves True Value Media is located at: 3854 Broadmoor. Kentwood, Mi or Grand Rapids MI whatever you want to use. Zip can be found somehow. Not sure of it. Yes they will tell you that it is coming, etc. However they have so many different items, but only about 3 pills that they use for them all. They come in big barrels from Dr. Thao. in MO. and he can’t even keep up with the demand of the fake stuff they put out. Last year Dr. Thao was raided by the FDA and they took their computers and all their pills. Last I knew they had to go to court to try and get the stuff back. Techmedica keep changing names, sites, labels, pills, etc. To try and pull fast ones off and over on the FDA, etc. Who are trying to track down everything this company is doing. So I would say get yourselfs good attorney to all who have bought this crap and get your money back from these folks who are just getting rich of you. Making believe in your head it will work. They are buying big houses, nice cars, boats, etc. and living it up because of you the customers who keep buying the stuff. Even Ronny Milsap has been scammed by these folks also for lots of money out of his pocket. Besides other stars who should all step in and bring a suit against them also. Thanks.
very interesting, but I don’t agree with you
Idetrorce
I usually don’t get involved in name calling but I thought I would reply just to set the record straight on three accounts.
1) The picture of the building is of TVM (True Value Media) with a photoshopped name on the front. We didn’t have a good picture of the Las Vegas location and unless you specifically like sand and parking lots we weren’t going to get one. Besides Techmedica does internet and phone sales and we didn’t plan on anyone dropping by.
2) All the sites listed are different companies with similar or the same products. It works similar to how Expedia, Hotels.com, Hotwire.com, Tripadviser.com, RoughGuides.com, and Vacationspot.com are all owned by the same company and all use the same products (hotels, condos, and b&bs). All these brands are marketed at different demographics. Check out IACs (InterActive Corps) portfolio if you don’t believe me.
3) A lot of Techmedica’s products help people. I hear a lot of good things from customers. Sometimes they don’t work at all and we try to make it easy to return the product. A lot of the times they are taken inaccurately and we try to make it easy for the customer to return the product.
Whatever, in the end I hear most of the problems are with customer service and I’ll admit that is something we are working on. Techmedica was a company that started in a garage a couple years ago and grow too big, too fast and before they realized it, there was a lot of problems keeping up with orders and customer service. A lot of restructuring is going on right now because the old model wasn’t scalable. A lot of invoicing, shipping, marketing decisions that were made when Techmedica was a small company were made poorly. But, Techmedica is trying to correct these problems that existed in the past so they can continue to help people in the future.
PS: Techmedica is in Las Vegas because the laws favor small businesses in Vegas. Just like divorces usually happen in Delaware for Men and California for Women and copywrite lawsuits take place in a tiny town in Texas (Marshall, I think).
Techmedica was a company that started in a garage a couple years ago
Are you telling me that this is OK because they were peddling nutritional supplements out of a GARAGE? Think about that.
I tried their extenzol…it does nothing. No results, no changes, no heartrate or mood changes or anything. Micronutra is a scam, scam, scam I tell you!
Their real address that they had me send their product back to:
ADDRESS=====>
MicroNutra Health™
Attn:Processing Center
2525 East Paris Ave, Suite 100
Grand Rapids, MI 49546
But they also have many fake addresses that you will notice are all different if you look on faithmeds, techmedica, or on the micronutra site. Need a spam email address? Try this one: service@drdonhealth.com
Very soon I will reveal everything, all the dirty little details to the whole story. Please understand, I can’t do all that right at this moment, but I will very soon.
I care about the freedoms that we have left and quite honestly people like TP can ruin it for everyone.
We need to fight for our right to choose our own alternative health care products and services and if we are not careful, we will loose it all.
Codex Alimentarius is just waiting for another Tylenol scare. Then they can take over what we have called the FDA and shut down the whole show. I am worried about companies like this one, there are just too many loose strings and red flags here.
We as a people need to stand up and insist that companies that prosper in our country are legit, through and through.
We should be able to insist to know, who is really making these products and who is regulating the quality and safety of the ingredients in these capsules and pills.
Why does the FDA wait until there is a tragic event, before they do anything proactive to help keep the marketplace a safe and prosperous one?
Don’t get me wrong, I am not a fan of the FDA, I believe they have become even more corrupt than stupid . . . there are affective, safe, natural cures available that the FDA and big Pharma will do anything to keep you from knowing about.
The question is, do we really want to depend on government agencies to look out for our best interests? The fact is, we are fully capable of raising the bar, if we work together, and will be better off if we do.
There are just too many red flags when it comes to companies like this one. So if there is any suggestions out there of what we can do together, please let me know.
Let’s all start a self governing, self sustaining network of consumer advocates. The timing is perfect and if we did it right, we would be making history-good history!
I don’t want to interfere with real companies that are helping people with real products, I want to help them . . . but we need to revolutionize the industry standards ourselves, or we will all begin loosing those freedoms we still have left.
Perhaps, instead of spending all of our time searching for the truth, we can make more progress by simply removing the obstacles to the truth within us all.
Please share you thoughts on this.
Live well, OD
Update:True value Media just got raided by the Grand Rapids Police and The FDA. Tony Pham, one of the other principles and a shipping employee were arrested today around 1pm. Apparently for their involvement with Techmedica. we have yet to get all the details, but I can’t imagine how Micronutra isn’t involved somehow.
Word is complaints about side effects have gotten really bad . . . plus they have simple been evasive and totally non compliant in general.
OD
SPRINGFIELD — A federal grand jury indicted three businesses in Springfield on Thursday on charges of fraudulent marketing. The grand jury believes the companies, their two owners and business associates fraudulently marketed several dietary supplements over the Internet with illegal claims that the products could prevent, treat, or cure a number of diseases. Investigators say the businesses sold the products to a business in Michigan that used several Web sites to sell more than $16 million worth of the products in 2005 and 2006.
The indictments, which include 40 separate crimes, are against Charles Thao, Mai Lor, Nutrapha Research, Bio Nutrasource, Tony Pham, Tong Vang, Techmedia Health (also known as Frist Nutrients and K.Y.C.), Shua Vang. The defendants, who were all arrested by Thursday, could face decades in prison or hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of fines.
This was from March, just for the record-
More Info.
http://www.woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=7946461
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/mow/news2008/thao.ind.htm
http://www.ky3.com/news/local/16085487.html
67-page indictment: http://media.ky3.com/documents/thao_indictment.pdf
Pham is out of prison, business as usual…
http://blog.mlive.com/grpress/2008/03/drug_firm_called_shell_game.html#more
Shua Vang was released after the hearing. Tong Vang and Pham were expected to be freed today after being fitted with electronic tethers.
You’re not very democratic