Why is Maths Worldwide being sued?

Answer 1

$4.3bn by Ingrid Burgman

We allege that Maths Worldwide (ABN 59 134 783 663) is behaving unethically, immorally, and illegally.1) Misleading claims, Maths Worldwide is claiming they have sold 35,000 copies to date - but this is only what the former fraud (Mathemagic Computer Tutor Pty Ltd and EDU Group Corporate Pty Ltd) did. Another web site (now removed from the internet) stated they had 600,000 students, another 750,000 students. Employees were asked to say they had around 800,000 students worldwide, and 88,000 families in Australia (Gorey.com.au). They claim to have 7 offices in Victoria, 6 in Queensland, 2 in Northern Territory, 4 in South Australia, 3 in Western Australia, 2 in Tasmania, but they were just in the process of setting the office up (Gorey.com.au).

2) No names of managers provided, is this not like black market sellers, who sell a product one day, and are gone the next?

3) Misuse of market power, acquiring a bankrupt's previous customers, only to charge them $30 for product activation (TPA s46). Assuming Maths Worldwide sold 800,000 copies of debtors worth $5,995, this is $4.796bn in annual sales revenue. This would tower the $60m development cost (Gorey.com.au); and is indicia that the Mathemagic liquidation was a fraud.

4) Inflating price of goods, targetting vulnerable customers with hefty tags, who are just trying to care for their kids (TPA s51AA) The prices don't justify their difference from tested and reliable products from OfficeWorks which are only priced from $59 to $129.

5) Misleading and deceptive conduct, in relation to its non-compliance with the misleading fee structure; no-lemons policy; its duplicated menus; and its "tutors" who cannot be quizzed, as recommended by the NSW Teacher's Federation (TPA s52)

6) Abusing employees, employees who were trained without payment by the company (TPA s53B, and now Work Choices Act)

7) Coercing employees, by requesting their employees state they inflate sales by at least 10,000 than they actually were. (TPA s59)

8) Harassment, for harassing existing customers over the phone; and coercing new customers into contracts (TPA s60)

9) No warrantee, for not upholding express warantees, shrinking into liquidation to void contracts (TPA s74G)

10) Unsuitable goods, since the software is not suitable for the purpose of tutoring children, and is unrefundable (TPA s74B) In Australia, educational "tutor" programs should be registered with the Australian Tutoring Association, Maths Worldwide is not.

11) False description, since the software does not match description, often hyped up during the one-hour sales pitch (TPA s74C). By stating that the program is a "tutor" program, it also upholds that the firm is a professional educational organization, but yet it is not kept accountable by the peak educational institution of Australia. This is thus a false descriptor.

12) Un-merchantable quality, since the software is not of a quality suitable to market, and should be banned permanently (TPA s74D). They claim to help children with mathematics, but one parent stated that it left their child "stranded and again failing maths".

13) Child pedophelia concerns, because tutors and salespeople hired by the Company do not need to be screened for child protection by the Police, as do all other professionals dealing with children. This is a very concerning stance, by a "professional" firm.

14) Use of legal loop holes, attempting ot use the classic corporate law textbook principle of a "corporate shell", to avoid liability, but to gain from a multimillion dollar investment. The new Maths Worldwide web site Terms & Conditions also states (an attempt) to exclude to implied terms of the Trade Practices Act, and liability in general.

15) Not placing the interest of children first, which is an obstruction against the International Law set out by the United Nations. Courts of countries who do not find in favor of children, may be taken to the ICJ (International Court of Justice).

16) Intentional liquidation, by the use of the corporate shell rule, which stipulates that a parent company is not liable for the damages caused by a child company if it was not aware. As a result, Maths Worldwide creates small subsidiaries, all of which it are "unaware", but there is a repeating pattern of bankruptcy and respawning.

These claims do not apply to their Phonica software, but we sure do hope this software isn't "Phony" too.