Hi all,

I have an odd predicament. I am buying a business that has a lot of technical stuff that I need to be trained on (included in the payment for the business). The current owner wanted to take a downpayment, have me as a partner to train me, then take the balance when we were completed. I required tax info from an accountant, and all expense reportings, profit and loss, and etc. We signed a contract that was to be for a period of two years for training and transferring everything. I cannot get him to comply with any of it in a professional manner.

Every time I try and get him to train me, there is some reason why he can't. I have tried to get the credit cards into my business name, banking, etcetera, to have everything in my name. All the business tax info/expenses he has provided are hand-done Excel spreadsheets. (He has 8 divisions, I am buying one - they are all reported on one sole proprietor's taxes so he will not give me copies as the rest does not pertain to me).

I have made written requests for a third-party accountant to do the accounting (for his accountant to provide all the expenses to them, and then provide me a reporting). I have no substantiated proof that the business is worth what he says it is; I need to know that the actual expenses are not funding the other 7 divisions. or are they? As a partnership, we have made plans to expand a portion of the business which I have funded. Nothing has been paid back to me (profit-wise) in two years, and I still have no documentation supporting his claims.

With that said - I have given him the $30K+ downpayment already and am thinking he will treat it as non-refundable if I walk away. But we are ending the timeframe of the contract and nothing on his end has been done yet, and I don't want to pay him the balance without proof that it is worth it.

Do I walk away? :-(

At this point I view it as either: Stick with it, and have an uncomfortable time for the next 6 months or so, do something else to gain an income, pay him, get rid of him, learn on my own. OR do I walk away, losing almost $40K, writing it off as a lesson learned, and move on. (I would hope he would refund some, but I have been sharing office space with someone so he may want to charge me rent for the two years (WHICH should only be about $6K realistically). Me personally, I'd just view the new MAC I bought as a $40K computer. }(