Want to get rich? That's the pitch a California company is making. Now, they're in western Pennsylvania.

As WTAE investigative reporter Jim Parsons found out, lots of people have already forked over their savings. They may not know that this company has been in trouble with federal and state regulators.

Why are so many people saying "Yes" to this sales pitch? Team 4 went undercover with a hidden camera to a recent seminar in Pittsburgh to get some answers, and Parsons delivered the following report May 3 on Action News at 11 p.m.

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It certainly isn't glamorous. Who would believe they could get rich buying vending machines? But that's exactly what this California company came to Pittsburgh to sell. And Team 4 was there with hidden cameras.

Dana Bashor, president and founder of Antares Corporation: "You know, once or twice in our lives there comes a time when we come upon the path to success."

His company's video makes it easy to see what he is selling. The message? Success comes from buying Antares' vending machines.

But here is a different message about Antares from the Federal Trade Commission and the Better Business Bureau -- the BBB gives Antares an unsatisfactory rating because of "a pattern of unresolved complaints alleging misrepresentation in selling practices."

In 1996, the FTC brought charges of misrepresentation against Antares that resulted in a $1 million settlement.

Bashor: "First of all, this company knows what they're doing. They have been doing it for 15 years. So clearly, they have a great track record."

If the audience wasn't impressed by that claim, they probably were when the company's pitchwoman said this:

"The average gross profit on all the products I'm talking about is better than 50 percent, and I will tell you we do better than 50 percent."

Fifty percent?

Thomas McMann, Automatic Merchandising Association: "The vending industry's profit margins on the average over the past 10 years has been about 5 percent per year. Any company that is promising well above that is a company that any potential investor needs to be very, very careful about."

Mike Robbe of Murrysville says he was careful in considering Antares' sales pitch last month. He went ahead with the purchase.

Robbe: "It's eight machines."

Parsons: "What do you think that's going to run you?"

Robbe: "Forty-some thousand."

Parsons: "Are you confident that you can recoup your investment?"

Robbe: "Yes, I think I am."

But the head of the Pennsylvania Automatic Merchandising Council isn't so sure. He has heard from others who made the investment.

Jim Wittler: "These guys would just tell me heartbreaking stories. They had invested all their money. The money didn't come back to them. The promises that were made by the biz-op companies, whoever that might be, weren't kept."

Mark Salyer spent $25,000 on Antares vending machines, and never earned a dime back.

Salyer: "We never placed one. They sat in the garage. They were covered with plastic."

But Antares salesmen tell consumers not just anyone can buy their vending machines.

Hidden-camera footage: "What we're doing this week is we're choosing 15 new distributors from this area, just for the next week."

And if I am chosen, Antares will help me find locations for my vending machines.

Hidden-cam: "How hard is it to get a location? It's not at all. I mean, it's hard to get picked."

He is not supposed to say that. The FTC banned Antares salesmen from telling customers how easy it would be to find locations for vending machines. So we went back the next day to ask him about that.

Kirby Burnett: "We assist in finding locations for all of our people."

Parsons: "But you are not supposed to characterize how easy or difficult it is to find locations for these machines."

Burnett: "We assist people in finding locations."

Mark and Glenna Salyer say they did not get much assistance. They never found locations for their machines.

Glenna Salyer: "We actually paid people to take them off and haul them to the dump."

We spoke with three western Pennsylvanians who all had similar stories. They spent thousands on Anatares vending machines and, in the end, they didn't come close to recouping their investments.

None of those people would agree to an on-camera interview.

As for Antares, the company did not return our phone calls.