Investors in hard-sell property investment company Blue Chip Financial Solutions Ltd may be wondering if they made the right investment decision. Some are complaining that they've been sold leaky properties and many others simply haven't been delivered the apartments they paid deposits for.

The news jumped out at me because I was cold-called by Blue Chip in late August and took them up on the offer of a one-to-one presentation.

This wasn't the first time I've sat through such a presentation. I started following up on dinnertime cold-calls while researching an article for Consumer. Invariably, I met a salesperson or went to a seminar from a company that made money by selling off-the-plan property.

They wanted me to borrow against my home and all suggested that buying their particular offer was a win-win situation backed up with graphs that only show property values going up. Blue Chip was no exception. Just its offer was more complex than most.

Blue Chip's suited smooth-talking adviser started out by telling me Blue Chip "specialises in helping Kiwis to invest in residential property".

Actually it would appear the company specialises in buying new-build properties in bulk from developers, on-selling to investors and then clipping the ticket on the insurance, valuation, legal fees, LAQC set-up and on-going management and maintenance.

My adviser said Blue Chip would find me an off-the-plan property for $435,000, "excluding furniture pack". I would borrow against my own home to the tune of $136,071 for the deposit, with a mortgage covering the rest. I would also set up revolving credit for a further $34,700 "working capital facility".

I was given a spreadsheet which suggested the weekly rental would be $520 and I would make $387,971 profit over eight years on my property.

Some of the details were a lot more complex than most property investment companies offer and I've seen a number in the past two years.

In the case of Blue Chip, the mortgage is arranged through Executive Mortgages, in which Blue Chip has a stake via its fully owned subsidiary, Tasman Financial Group. The valuation, loss attributing qualifying company structure, property manager and insurer were all arranged by Blue Chip. This week, Marisa Rakich, Blue Chip's marketing communications manager, said Blue Chip had "no interest" in the property manager but the company's adviser told me: "Auckland Residential Tenancies is a subsidiary of Blue Chip." The companies office confirms this is the case.

Like many of the sales people running wealth seminars, the Blue Chip adviser offered to help me work out my own "personal investment plan". The spreadsheet he sent me after our meeting said my goals were: "Long-term investment providing additional income to support retirement planning." It wasn't exactly an in-depth analysis.