invest-islands.com

Invest Islands Hong Kong owe clients money!!

I worked for Invest Islands for nearly 5 years based out of the Hong Kong office. It was a very typical boiler room feel at first, lots of cold calls etc selling land in Lombok, Indonesia (next to Bali). Things were going well at the beginning and even during the pandemic. However, there was always some underlying issue: 1. They couldn't afford to pay salary on time (this happened around 8/9 times and especially during the end of my employment. Ex staff are still owed salary!! 2. Clients asking for updates on their build and the resort that was supposed to be building and marketed for at least 2 years. 3. Clients asking for resale values after a few years and getting no information from Lombok 4. Clients requesting their deposit refunded as they were not proceeding and in most cases the company would need to put together a repayment schedule as they didn't have the client's money. 5. Lack of communication between the Hong Kong office and the Lombok office. When progress on developments and clients land prices/sales was communicated to us, we had no way of knowing if it was true or not as the excuses seem to always be the same and was always ended with a " we will know more in 3 months time". From a personal perspective, I was owed a large amount of money in commission from a sale that they couldn't pay (although the client has already completed the transaction), therefor after 8 months of waiting for them to resolve I had no alternative but to take them to the labour tribunal court. This caused great stress for my family and myself, not to mention the time and collecting of documents to prove my case. I was awarded the case and they were ordered by the courts to make a payment sum to me in 12 monthly installments (due to cash problems again) . This, surprisingly went as scheduled , up until August when I received a request to pay half on the due date and half two weeks later, again, due to cash flow) payments then stopped altogether in month 9!! After several attempts at liaising with them to rectify this I was met with the same story that clients were being fed: " we have a group of investors looking to buy into the company and then we can settle our debts, we will know more in 3 weeks" This went on for 3 months and has now brought me to this review. I have spoken to a few clients (mine as well as others) that have been treated very badly by Invest Islands with empty promises from Jack Brown the CEO. One client (who I inherited off the CEO Jack Brown) while I was working there, I had to call to tell him his building, that he had spent a considerable amount of money on, was no longer being bult as the resort was not going ahead. I feel sorry for these clients that get zero communication. These clients are spread far and very near (the office opened on Lamma, a very close-knit community where a number of clients still live) including Europe. This company have no morals and show no remorse!! Jack Brown the CEO should feel ashamed!!There is no more staff at the Hong Kong office, however, the office remains open.

Date of experience: Oct 01, 2025