We are a real estate investment company. We own an apartment complex which was having an issue with A/C units being stolen from the rooftop. We contacted Emerging Innovations Corp. in Dec. 2013. The company advertised through their website a specialized product and service for tracking stolen A/C units through a GPS Tracking System.
We contracted with Bruce Banko II and Sr. who were listed as the COO and Director of Sales at Emerging Innovations Corp. After we agreed on the contract price for the promised products (AC Trax was the product) and service our Company wired $27,975 to a bank in Kansas. After several weeks only a small portion of the GPS tracking units were shipped. It was difficult in getting a commitment from Banko II and Sr. on when the remaining units would be delivered. After several weeks the communication stopped. We have been trying to communicate with Banko II and Sr. since placing the order. We have had no response or resolution to fufilling the order and the 3 yrs. of tracking service promised in the original contract.
Our subsequent research has found at least 5 entities connected to Bruce Banko II and Sr. which are now dissolved. Banko II and Sr. have not registered Emerging Innovations with the Florida Department of State to legally create an entity. The billing address on the invoice was a residential address owned by RSC Renovations located in Lehigh Acres, FL. This renovation company's main office shares an address with Asset Trax Inc. (one of the Banko's dissolved entities) in Naples at a virtual office space at 2430 Vanderbilt Beach Road.
Their business dealings were very professional and positive up front, and then once the $27,975 was wired to their account, the communication faltered and then stopped. We have notified the Attorney General's office, Lee County Sheriff's Office and we are committed to seeking our $27,975 through the appropriate court in Florida.
As listed on the Florida Gulf Coast University website; Mr. Bruce Banko II is also employed as the Media Coordinator at the college since September 2013. Another family member Ryan Banko is listed as a Sales Representative in the public records for Asset Trax Inc.
We would highly advise not wiring any funds to this company as the services and products promised were not fufilled.
THe company sold me 4 ac tracking devices.They charged my credit card more than the agreed price. The units are a scam.They don't monitor anything. My ac units were stolen and when I finally talked to someone who calls himself Bruce Banko he could not give any explanation as to why my ac units were not tracked.When you call any of the phone numbers for the co it is always the same response "we are helping other people and will call you back." Don't do business with this co they are a total scam.
Stay away from Emerging Innovations Corp, Bruce Banko II, & Bruce Banko Sr
My review is a very similar situation to the other review above from August 26th 2014. We have ordered a total of 23 Units from this company. The units for a while would come in and we were happy with the concept of the product. The deliveries were taking longer and longer to come in over time. Talking to someone at the business after a ton of emails and phone calls became increasingly difficult. I had the owner's Bruce Banko's cell phone number of which I would call often and he would come up with excuse after excuse. Finally it had been about two months and the 8 units I ordered totaling over $1600 did not arrive. I kept emailing and calling and no response. Finally Bruce called back and came up with more excuses about a new product and his health issues. Then their return of phone calls and communicating with me stopped.
As if this is not bad enough on 9/18/14 their company fraudulently charged me $718.95. No product was even ordered at all and they just charged my card.
Stay away from this company! Read the reports with Better Business Bureau. They are a scam. I have been contacted by other real estate investors that they have stolen money from them as well. Apparently now they are doing business under another name.
This guy "Bruce Banko" is a scammer running a fly-by-night operation. There is a reason why his various companies have lots of negative feedback online. Here's my dealings with them:
* I called "Emerging Innovations Corp" several times over a few hours duing business hours, and their "sales" line always went straight to voicemail, saying all their sales people were too busy to pick up. Too busy? For hours? Hmm...red flag. I did eventually got a call back from one of the "owners" (Bruce). Whle we were talking, Bruce offhandedly claimed that his company was clearly legit because they were selling 60+ expensive units a day. Hmmm...alarm bells started going off already: if they were legit and really selling that many units, why wouldn't he just hire a sales people to answer the phone. It was obvious he was either lying or the worst businessman ever. But plenty of people puff up their small businesses, so I let it slide...
* So I asked Bruce to explain how the AC Trax product worked, and he had some script that he was reading from, but he could not tell me any of the actual important technical details abou the product (such as battery specs and communication modes). That would have been okay if he had just said "I don't know, but I can find out and get back to you." But instead, Bruce started yelling at me, asking why I wanted to know! His screaming was very unprofessional, and a common tactic among scammers: If the mark asks an uncomfortable question, just get angry to divert attention.
* So then I asked Bruce whether he could connect me with a technical person, or send me a spec sheet like other GPS tracking companies have, or even just email me the manual for the AC Trax product, and he flat out refused. He got all belligerent again and even accused me of trying to reverse-engineer their "product". I asked him how in the world anyone could reverse-engineer a GPS tracker just by reading the tech sheet or manual (and why I would do that instead of just ordering a device and disassembling it), and he got even more belligerent and said he was gonna hang up on me. Big red flag: Threatening to hangup is yet another common scammer tactic.
* So I told Bruce that I was concerned about the battery life and reliability, and asked whether there was a way I could verify that the unit was operating correctly, maybe by calling customer support and asking them to confirm the location of the device. Bruce blew up again, saying that NO! customers were not allowed to contact the monitoring people and that basically I would have to take his word for it that it the system was working.
* I asked Bruce whether he had references for companies or installers who would vouch for his product. He said yes. So I asked him for the references, and he said he wouldn't give them to me!
* The funniest part of the conversation was when I asked Bruce what the return policy was if the AC Trax didn't work properly. He wouldn't answer the question and kept asking me to define what "doesn't work" meant!! How bizarre is that??! He ended up refusing to say how long the warranty was.
Long and short, don't do business with these people. It is obvious that their product is vaporware. If you order from them, you'll either get nothing, or you'll get something that isn't what they promised. Save your money and go with a legit GPS asset tracking company that publishes data sheets and answers your questions like professionals.
This company sells GPS devices to prevent theft of HVAC units. Their BBB report tells a story of organized deception because the units do not work reliably and the company ie Bruce Banko will not honor their replacement guarantee if a unit is stolen. This also happened to us.
They also charge fraudulent charges to customer's cards. This also appears in many different complaints.
Emerging Innovations Corp Reviews
We are a real estate investment company. We own an apartment complex which was having an issue with A/C units being stolen from the rooftop. We contacted Emerging Innovations Corp. in Dec. 2013. The company advertised through their website a specialized product and service for tracking stolen A/C units through a GPS Tracking System.
We contracted with Bruce Banko II and Sr. who were listed as the COO and Director of Sales at Emerging Innovations Corp. After we agreed on the contract price for the promised products (AC Trax was the product) and service our Company wired $27,975 to a bank in Kansas. After several weeks only a small portion of the GPS tracking units were shipped. It was difficult in getting a commitment from Banko II and Sr. on when the remaining units would be delivered. After several weeks the communication stopped. We have been trying to communicate with Banko II and Sr. since placing the order. We have had no response or resolution to fufilling the order and the 3 yrs. of tracking service promised in the original contract.
Our subsequent research has found at least 5 entities connected to Bruce Banko II and Sr. which are now dissolved. Banko II and Sr. have not registered Emerging Innovations with the Florida Department of State to legally create an entity. The billing address on the invoice was a residential address owned by RSC Renovations located in Lehigh Acres, FL. This renovation company's main office shares an address with Asset Trax Inc. (one of the Banko's dissolved entities) in Naples at a virtual office space at 2430 Vanderbilt Beach Road.
Their business dealings were very professional and positive up front, and then once the $27,975 was wired to their account, the communication faltered and then stopped. We have notified the Attorney General's office, Lee County Sheriff's Office and we are committed to seeking our $27,975 through the appropriate court in Florida.
As listed on the Florida Gulf Coast University website; Mr. Bruce Banko II is also employed as the Media Coordinator at the college since September 2013. Another family member Ryan Banko is listed as a Sales Representative in the public records for Asset Trax Inc.
We would highly advise not wiring any funds to this company as the services and products promised were not fufilled.
organized scam
We will be happy to help with any legal action as we had the same bad experience
THe company sold me 4 ac tracking devices.They charged my credit card more than the agreed price. The units are a scam.They don't monitor anything. My ac units were stolen and when I finally talked to someone who calls himself Bruce Banko he could not give any explanation as to why my ac units were not tracked.When you call any of the phone numbers for the co it is always the same response "we are helping other people and will call you back." Don't do business with this co they are a total scam.
Stay away from Emerging Innovations Corp, Bruce Banko II, & Bruce Banko Sr
My review is a very similar situation to the other review above from August 26th 2014. We have ordered a total of 23 Units from this company. The units for a while would come in and we were happy with the concept of the product. The deliveries were taking longer and longer to come in over time. Talking to someone at the business after a ton of emails and phone calls became increasingly difficult. I had the owner's Bruce Banko's cell phone number of which I would call often and he would come up with excuse after excuse. Finally it had been about two months and the 8 units I ordered totaling over $1600 did not arrive. I kept emailing and calling and no response. Finally Bruce called back and came up with more excuses about a new product and his health issues. Then their return of phone calls and communicating with me stopped.
As if this is not bad enough on 9/18/14 their company fraudulently charged me $718.95. No product was even ordered at all and they just charged my card.
Stay away from this company! Read the reports with Better Business Bureau. They are a scam. I have been contacted by other real estate investors that they have stolen money from them as well. Apparently now they are doing business under another name.
This guy "Bruce Banko" is a scammer running a fly-by-night operation. There is a reason why his various companies have lots of negative feedback online. Here's my dealings with them:
* I called "Emerging Innovations Corp" several times over a few hours duing business hours, and their "sales" line always went straight to voicemail, saying all their sales people were too busy to pick up. Too busy? For hours? Hmm...red flag. I did eventually got a call back from one of the "owners" (Bruce). Whle we were talking, Bruce offhandedly claimed that his company was clearly legit because they were selling 60+ expensive units a day. Hmmm...alarm bells started going off already: if they were legit and really selling that many units, why wouldn't he just hire a sales people to answer the phone. It was obvious he was either lying or the worst businessman ever. But plenty of people puff up their small businesses, so I let it slide...
* So I asked Bruce to explain how the AC Trax product worked, and he had some script that he was reading from, but he could not tell me any of the actual important technical details abou the product (such as battery specs and communication modes). That would have been okay if he had just said "I don't know, but I can find out and get back to you." But instead, Bruce started yelling at me, asking why I wanted to know! His screaming was very unprofessional, and a common tactic among scammers: If the mark asks an uncomfortable question, just get angry to divert attention.
* So then I asked Bruce whether he could connect me with a technical person, or send me a spec sheet like other GPS tracking companies have, or even just email me the manual for the AC Trax product, and he flat out refused. He got all belligerent again and even accused me of trying to reverse-engineer their "product". I asked him how in the world anyone could reverse-engineer a GPS tracker just by reading the tech sheet or manual (and why I would do that instead of just ordering a device and disassembling it), and he got even more belligerent and said he was gonna hang up on me. Big red flag: Threatening to hangup is yet another common scammer tactic.
* So I told Bruce that I was concerned about the battery life and reliability, and asked whether there was a way I could verify that the unit was operating correctly, maybe by calling customer support and asking them to confirm the location of the device. Bruce blew up again, saying that NO! customers were not allowed to contact the monitoring people and that basically I would have to take his word for it that it the system was working.
* I asked Bruce whether he had references for companies or installers who would vouch for his product. He said yes. So I asked him for the references, and he said he wouldn't give them to me!
* The funniest part of the conversation was when I asked Bruce what the return policy was if the AC Trax didn't work properly. He wouldn't answer the question and kept asking me to define what "doesn't work" meant!! How bizarre is that??! He ended up refusing to say how long the warranty was.
Long and short, don't do business with these people. It is obvious that their product is vaporware. If you order from them, you'll either get nothing, or you'll get something that isn't what they promised. Save your money and go with a legit GPS asset tracking company that publishes data sheets and answers your questions like professionals.
This company sells GPS devices to prevent theft of HVAC units. Their BBB report tells a story of organized deception because the units do not work reliably and the company ie Bruce Banko will not honor their replacement guarantee if a unit is stolen. This also happened to us.
They also charge fraudulent charges to customer's cards. This also appears in many different complaints.
Scam
We had the same experience. This is not bad business, it is a scam.