Ultimate Concert Complaints

The head of a VIP concert access business who promised to bring thousands of jobs to a community in Shelby, N.C., is getting the third degree after local media uncovered a history of Better Business Bureau complaints.

Napoleon Brewer, who heads up Ultimate Concerts Inc., told the Shelby Star he planned to open a call center to address orders for the company’s Super Concert Access Card, which allows consumers to attend concerts around the country in exchange for a monthly fee. Ultimate Concerts held a job fair in the community Jan. 5 and hundreds lined up to submit resumes.

At the time, Brewer told the Star he was hopeful, and while Ultimate Concerts hadn’t secured a location in the city yet, some employees would be able to work from home at first.
“We announced the jobs because the jobs are more prevalent than the location,” Brewer said. “The facility is the icing on the cake.”

Still, some wondered if Brewer’s promises were too good to be true.

After a little digging, the paper found that Ultimate Concerts had a history in several states.

The company Web site, UltimateConcerts.com, lists an address in Inglewood, Calif., as its headquarters. While Brewer filed for incorporation in California in 2005, the company license was suspended in 2007 for failing to pay a $250 fee to the secretary of state’s office, the Star reported.

Brewer then moved Ultimate Concerts to Alaska and apparently racked up advertising debts with two Anchorage media outlets, leading to BBB complaints and an ‘F’ rating in the state.

“He owes us over $10,000 for advertisements and promoting the Super Access Concert Card,” Fox 4 KTBY-TV General Manager Kirsten Bolton told the Star.

KFAT-FM 92.9 GM Jeff Glaser had a similar story for the paper.

“He owes $8,670 and we are still working with a collection agency to collect it,” he said.

A company by the name of Ultimate Concerts also has an advertising complaint on the Web site of the Texas Better Business Bureau, although the site notes that it appears the company is no longer in business in the state.

Ultimate Concerts hasn’t been incorporated in the state of North Carolina yet, the Star said, but Brewer told the paper he’s in the process of filing the paperwork, and that the community of Shelby needs to have a little faith.

“I am asking for the grace and patience of this town,” he said. “It does not mean the business is illegitimate. It is a process.”