As a customer who had 2,500 of deposit money taken from them in this bankruptcy, why is anyone making a profit before I get my money back?????  Confused…

“Seventy percent of the net sale proceeds from the auction sale [after Apto’s expense deductions] … shall be available after Apto’s commission is deducted. From this 70 percent will be deducted a fee for the Trustee’s compensation and his counsel’s fees. The remaining funds are to be split between Scultze and the Debtor’s bankruptcy estates 87.5% and 12.5% respectively.”

You may want to read this:
http://somd.com/news/headlines/2008/8781.shtml
I sure hope you made the deposit with a credit card!
Good Luck!

As a former employee of Sound Advice, please allow me to clarify something. We were NOT paid salaries/vacation due/or any corrective pay promised to us by upper management. Tweeter has been making mistakes in payroll since this all began in the beginning of November. We were allways promised that it would be taken care of in our next check. They pushed that line all the way to the end when I was on my way to work and received a call to turn around because I no longer had a job to go to. All managers were also promised a “stay on” bonus that would be paid at the time of closing which was supposed to be 12/7. We were never paid that either. I do hope however that Mr. Shultz, Apco and the court appointed trusted and counsel spend there dividends well and have a very merry Christmas as my wife and I continue to wonder how we are going to pay our mortgage payment right before Christmas.

God Bless,
Former Loyal Employee

Techguy…thanks for your reply. That news about the deposits with the link you sent is practically ancient history about now.  I was stupid enough to pay cash for the deposit (I wrote a check).  The frustrating thing is that I wrote the check long before the bankruptcy, but the installation was scheduled for 11/11 which was after the bk was filed.  However, I was promised a refund check would come to me on 10/31, and of course, the computers were seized, and no check could be issued, or was ever intended to be issued. 
I have gone as far as meeting with the trustee of the bankruptcy George Miller today.  He is not a pleasant person to meet with.  He as much as told me to take a hike and to get in line with the rest of the creditors.  Maybe now its time to go after Wells Fargo..it seems as if they got paid by Schultze.  Because they got paid by him, and because my deposit money was taken, and I got no merchandise, arent they technically double dipping me?  Any way you look at it, its unjust that the little guy (employees and customers) have no voice in this matter).

I am confused about this…does this mean that the people who have outstanding deposits and merchandise due to them that never got it are going to get paid if they sell enough of the leftover merchandise??  Too much legal speak here….it sounds like the trustee gets paid, but after that I have no idea what “general unsecured creditors of the Debtors” means….is that me?

From the court filing:

Schultze [Asset Management, which owned Tweeter leading up the bankruptcy] has agreed to agreed to a carve out from the proceeds of the Warehouse Sale from the Trustee’s compensation, compensation for Trustee’s counsel and distribution to general unsecured creditors of the Debtors.

Hey! this is the same story I posted to the Twice talkback 24 hours ago. where’s my credit?

CT. Attorney General Richard Blumenthal filed an objection in court today. He basically told Schultze and Miller that all customers’ monies in Tweeter’s possession before Chapter 11 and all assets sold to customers before Chapter 7 but are now locked up in the stores are not the debtors’ property, GIVE IT BACK! Does Martha Coakley and the other AG’s have the guts to follow Blumenthal’s lead?

What Tweeter is doing is very similar of what happened with Voce Wireless in Feb this year.  Voce was a premium wireless company that dumped its service and their employees on 2nd February.  Their customers and employees went to the attorney general and FCC to file a class action against them.  One of the Voce’s customers started a website – http://www.voceclassaction.com - that kept a list of the people supporting the class action.
If any of you guys were affected with this (employees and customers), I would suggest logging a similar suit against Schultze (Asset Management) about this as soon as possible.  The employees need to speak up to a higher authority and make themselves heard, rather than waiting for the scraps after 30-70 split.
Best of luck.

I’m unclear why this article is referring to the 2007 bankruptcy and not the Nov. 2008 filing. It was previously reported that the moment Schultze paid off his debt to Wells Fargo he filed for Chapter 7 claiming Tweeter was suddenly out of cash and that he was unwilling to use his own money to pay for the final days of liquidation. this article is suggesting that when Chapter 7 was filed, Schultze went back to Wells Fargo and said now gimme some more money so I can finish the liquidation. does this make sense to anybody?

Good point on the article commenting on the wrong bankruptcy date….
Motion…have I mentioned that I actually met the trustee George Miller yesterday?? This guy is a real gem.  The impression he left me with was that he is a really bad guy who is mostly concerned with his bottom line.  If we are left with him to fight for our money, we are a lost cause. Hopefully the CT Attorney General can get something done on our behalf. My next step is to get a hold of the person who is handling my claim at the Attorney generals office in PA and see whats going on, and why they arent doing anything to help me.

I’ve been following your posts Joe. I’ll be posting another observation to the Twice forum later on that.

I feel the need to correct this article. On Dec. 2nd Tweeter didn’t shut down Tweeter, George Schultze did. He had just paid off Wells Fargo and was immediatley filing Chapter 7 to get out of paying anyone else. Employees on their way to work were told they were fired without pay, go home. Managers in the stores were told to lock the doors and get out, you will be arrested if found on the property. The liquidators didn’t even know. Those were the events of Dec. 2nd.

These liquidation sales are generally funded by the liquidation firms who are also paid up front. These firms were not and had to go to the courts to get their payment from Schultze. No one is buying this excuse that Tweeter just suddenly ran out of money after Schultze paid off the only debt that mattered to him. Schultze is not a CE guy, he is a Wall Street guy. Remember that.

The fact that Schultze Assest Management is going to get 70% of the proceeds from the selling off of Tweeter’s remaining inventory and assests is insane.  What about the employees that were not paid the stay on monies and unused vacation time?  I bet that Schultze is not going to offer it from their cut of the deal.  Sure, the companies that are creditors to Tweeter will also lose out.  But, they will most likely have the benefit of writing it off, something that all the former Tweeter employees can’t.  This is what happens to good, hard working, trusting people when one of these assest management companies buys up a distressed company. They only care about one thing, the bottom line.  When you ask what is wrong with America today, this is a perfect example of it.  Sooner or later people are not going to take stuff like this anymore.  I hate to think what will happen then.

I heard from a coworker that a very angry customer actually broke into a Tweeter store to get his merchandise. The police showed up, the GSM showed up. The customer had his receipt so they said you know what, don’t press charges, let him go with his stuff. I wonder if Schultze is aware of the physical danger he’s in if one of these people come across him?

That’s bullshit. The police have no idea what’s going on in the courts, in regards to Tweeter’s liquidation; nor would they care. If someone broke into a business, they would be arrested.
And with the money they’re still owed, no former GSM is going to care if someone breaks into a store.
That previous post wasn’t by the real “motion”.

In bankruptcy, whoever provides financing gets a priority for their claims to be paid. Otherwise why would anyone finance these things?  The trustee has one job only, maximize the debtors estate for recovery.  The bankruptcy financier, apparently Wells Fargo, gets 1st in line because he money helps maximize the asset liquidation. Then the secured lenders get theirs.  The Judge decides on all claims.  The bankruptcy court has the same mission: maximize the estate.  If there was enough money for everyone’s claim, they wouldn’t be bankrupt.

Tom, you happened to catch me while I was online. Please research the actions of George Schultze, the owner of Tweeter, and you’ll discover his sleazy method of disposing of the company to pay off his debt to Wells Fargo while stealing as much money as possible from everyone else to do so. The trustee, George Miller, is a sniveling low level accountant who has given Schultze everything he wants and the judge is a spineless woman who says ok to every request made by the debtor. George Schultze should take out his checkbook and start paying for the mess he created but he’d rather use everyone else’s money. The guy is a total dirtbag in the world of big business and unfortunately he has lots of unethical friends. Want to dispute me? Bring it on.

Tom, I think everyone involved is somewhat aware of how bankruptcies work. The issue i as a customer have, and the issue the employees have is the manner in which it was handled.  We know Tweeter has no money, which is why Schultze opted to steal money from customers and from employees.  He tried to make himself look noble by offering to refund any deposits to customers, but then filed the bk early so these refunds could not be made.  He closed shop without warning to employees and then didnt pay them properly.  He took the cash that he had and instead of taking care of the little guy, he paid wells fargo instead.  All these calculated decisions screwed over everyone except himself and Wells.  He could have made everyone whole, but instead opted to screw over customers and employees.  Why the judge allowed this is beyond me.  In any case, I am likely out 2,500.00 and everyone involved in this nightmare could give a rats ass about my money.  I dont care about maximizing anyones estate..i just want my money back.

What about the people that own extended warranties?  My 60” XBR just started showing yellow shading on the right hand side of the screen.  Who do I call for service?  The TV’s three years old and the warranty is (was) for five years.  Do I still have a warranty?  With whom?

David D. Contact AON Warranty Group or Servicenet. A warranty from 3 years ago was probably AON. See if there is a record or your warranty purchase. Contact Sony as well and explain your situation. If you need a copy of your warranty purchase through Tweeter, contact the trustee George Miller at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) and demand a copy of your receipt from Tweeter’s database. I’m sure he’ll be uncooperative and useless though. Good luck.

Miller is one of those guys that hates getting the hundreds of phone calls from angry people everyday at work.  I spoke with him pertaining to access of my 401K account which is tied up in this mess too.  He was very short with me and had a crap attitude.  If Miller doesn’t like listening to angry people maybe he should consider changing employment, but then again why would you when your one of the guys getting paid still….

Neither the trustee nor the BK court is on the side of the affected customers and employees.  It appears that trying to get anything out of them is like getting blood from a stone.  We see posts on a few websites about the losses of both customers and employees but that is about it.  In order for the possibility for action to take place I think that there needs to be a broader exposure. The affected parties need to band together as a group and hound the media and protection agencies demanding action. If the Attorney Generals are not doing their job on this then alert the local media. Unless there is more in the press this will just die out and fade away.

Continue to hammer Mr. Miller with emails and phone calls. His responses have been condescending and juvenile. It’s like corresponding with a 3rd grader. Everytime he is foolish enough to reply with another smartass comment I forward them off to my local news outlets. Pathetic doesn’t even begin to describe this damn fool.

CE Pro is working on a magazine article on the rise and fall of Tweeter. We would like to speak to employees that worked on the store level. Ideal sources are ones that were there for five years or more and were there at the end.
If you are willing to go on the record in CE Pro, please contact me at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
thanks