Weiss Ratings, LLC review: Deal hunters alliance - misrepresented investment service 3

I learned about Deal Hunters Alliance Service through a video linked to me by Weiss Ratings which I subscribe to. The service was pitched as a method to weed through early stage firms with very high return potential to find the few diamonds in the rough and invest via SEC registered crowd funding sites. The primary person leading the research effort is Chris Graebe who was touted as having extensive early stage investment experience.

I subscribed on 7/19/22. The hook was the promise of an extraordinary and unique deal in the electricity storage market. The deal was to be made available exclusively to Deal Hunter Alliance subscribers. Graebe indicated that the company was likely to go public within one year. The subscription cost was $2,450.

I am a retired venture capitalist and should have been more cautious about believing Chris Graebe’s hype about his first phenomenal deal to be revealed 7/28/2022. I suspended my normal skepticism because the service was being offered through Weiss Ratings which has a good reputation established over many years. The hyped deal involved an area that I am very interested in – electricity storage for alternative energy production. I expected a company with pioneering technology and a highly qualified team. What was revealed on July 28 was a company with no revenue, virtually no assets, no breakthrough technology and lots of heavy weight competition.

Graebe’s flaunted analysis was uninspired. He talks about the whole solar market size instead of the market for residential battery storage. I just installed a solar system at my residence. I spent a good deal of time evaluating battery storage solutions and determined that none of them made sense without a strong subsidy. California is one of the few states that provides a strong subsidy for battery storage. Colorado does not. Graebe does not mention that these systems do not make sense for the ordinary residential solar system owner without a large subsidy. One of the companies I looked at was Sun Fusion Energy Systems in San Diego [www.Sunfusioness.com]. Their offering is very similar to Paladin Power, but they have actual sales and customers. They discouraged me from pursuing their solution because Colorado does not subsidize battery storage systems. So, I believe the current residential market is much smaller and limited to states that have heavy subsidies. This should have been revealed to to the Deal hunter Alliance subcribers.

The management team is very light weight and has limited relevant experience. The founder/CEO’s previous company failed. The competition in this market is extensive with several large, well-established companies vincluding Tesla, LG, and Generac. A startup with limited resources and a lightweight team is unlikely to be successful.

This "exclusive" deal was offered to anyone a few days after 7/28.

I believe Weiss is doing their subscribers a huge disservice by recommending investment in Paladin Power. The likelihood of this company going public at any time let alone in the next year is remote. There is a higher likelihood that this company will be out of business in the next year.

The promotion video implied that Chris Graeber has a team of highly qualified analysts who will only recommend very strong deals. The first recommendation belies this claim. He did not reveal whether Weiss is being paid to recommend this company.

I requested a full cash refund as I believe the service was totally misrepresented. Weiss' policy is to only provide a credit toward other Weiss products rather than a cash refund. Since I have a lifetime subscription to Weiss' Safe Money Report and am not interested in any of their other products, a credit would do me no good. I requested they refund my entire subscription fee on 7/28/22, but they have not had the courtesy to respond.