On May 22, I purchased five-hundred-seventeen (517) Reverse Mortgage sales leads from Creative Listing Inc. 1121 South 21 Ave. Suite B Hollywood, Florida 33020. (1-800-609-6638). I spoke primarily with Elizabeth Thompson, who informed me that she was the sales manager for the company.
Ms. Thompson repeatedly stated all of the Reverse Mortgage sales leads were no more than 30 days old, and were generated by means of a survey. According to Ms Thompson, each and every lead was a person that when surveyed, had expressed an interest in reverse mortgages and was expecting to be contacted by a Reverse Mortgage Sales Consultant.
She also advised me that each lead met all of the qualifications necessary for a person to obtain a Reverse Mortgage (i.E.: age, home owner, equity, etc.). Ms. Thompson stated that all of the leads were "scrubbed" against the National Do-Not-Call List, in order to ensure compliance with Federal regulations. She also stated her company offered a 2% application rate guarantee for a 90 day period.
In other words, within 90 days, I was guaranteed that I would take at least two Reverse Mortgage applications for every one hundred leads.
When I began calling the leads I purchased, I quickly learned that these leads were not at all what Ms. Thompson had claimed. To date, I have called approximately one hundred fifty (150) leads and have spoken to more than eighty (80) people. Every person I've spoken to has informed me that not only have they never taken a survey, they have not expressed an interest in a Reverse Mortgage, or information pertaining to such.
Two of the leads were people that were actually deceased, so in those cases I spoke their wives; one of which advised me that her husband had died in 2005! Another individual informed me that she was on the National Do-Not-Call List and that she was going to complain.
I currently work for a national bank, which adheres to a strict code of business ethics. We are strongly discouraged from calling and bothering people who have no interest in our products and services.
With this in mind, I expressed my concerns to Ms. Thompson, and told her about my experience with her companys leads. I've subsequently demanded a refund, since these leads are obviously not as advertised/claimed. She informed me that in order for me to obtain a refund, I must first finish calling the remaining leads, writing down each and every name/phone number and include a commentary as to what happened during the call!!! I told her that this was absolutely ridiculous for a number of reasons:
Creative Listing, Inc. (via Ms. Thompson), made certain assurances and guarantees which have been fraudulent;
Why should I continue to call and bother people who absolutely have no interest in talking to me about a Reverse Mortgage. To continue to call and bother these people goes against my companys policies;I have better and more productive things to do then the silly busy work that Ms. Thompson has requested.
It seems very apparent to me this absurd writing assignment Ms. Thompson is requiring is a way of discouraging me from my requesting a full refund, for which I am entitled. For these reasons, I am making a demand for full reimbursement on the basis of fraud.
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