In January Higher Impact contacted me and my partner about a home based online business. The business was to be a UNIQUE website featuring 4 products: Health Insurance, Mortgage financing, an Online Mall and an Audio store. And they would teach us the marketing to bring traffic to the site. I was very specific about that part. We're not interested if we can't learn how to bring traffic.
They used the ploy "leverage 'Other People's Money' (Our Credit Cards) to jump-start a profitable business". But after my partner purchased the site, the marketing material we received showed that "training" was an expensive advertising campaign run by them and paid for by us. The website wasn't even unique. It was a copy of their Community Advertising Network Home page with a unique userid in the URL.
Initially we agreed to a 5 thousand dollar ad campaign (over the phone, knowing we had a 30-day right to cancel), but the day we recieved their advertising material I faxed a cancellation notice to them. There was nothing about training us in it, just authorization forms for us to sign so they could bill us and a statement saying once they fulfilled their advertising, they were done with us no matter how much or how little money we made. We were supposed to sit back, let Higher Impact work, and 'watch the money roll in' with the understanding the "OPM" would be repaid by the website profits.
We were not going to agree to that, especially when we did not know where the advertising would run, how often it would run, what it would look like, or anything related to visitor information on the website. None of this was mentioned or discussed in any of the literature Higher Impact sent to us.
Before I sent the cancellation I was always able to contact someone at Higher Impact, although never the person I actually wanted or needed to speak to. That person was always conveniently unavailable. And after I faxed the cancellation, they would not even answer their phone to me or return any calls (I left messages on numerous occasions).
We filed a complaint with the Arizona BBB (completely useless, don't expect any help at all from them. [They even have the numbers to prove H.I. Is crooked and still give them a high rating: close to 2/3 of consumers who compained about H.I. Were not happy with the resolution offered by H.I.]) and the Arizona Attorney General's office. The AG replied that they do not prosecute on behalf of a single individual, but on behalf of groups of consumers. So please, if higher impact has ripped you off, file a complaint with the arizona attorney general and your own local ag. If enough complaints are received they might actually try to do something about Higher Impact.
We also disputed the charges on our credit cards. H. I has never received any signed authorization forms to provide any service to us. Yet Higher Impact CHANGED THE INVOICES they sent to us and even CHANGED THE WEBSITE address originally assigned to us in a deliberate attempt to make it appear that they did not receive our cancellation and unlawfully bill our credit cards. They also claimed they had already fulfilled the advertising campaign, even though it was supposed to last a year and not even 2 months had passed, and this all without reporting a single item to us (No chance to see or approve the ad, measure visitor traffic, see the ad in action, etc. - more unfulfilled lies). They even went as far as to present our signing for the UPS package as a signature authorizing their credit charges. And it worked for them - to this day we have been unable to get a refund of the original web site purchase through CAPITAL ONE, the only credit card company that did NOT stand behind the consumer (they stood behind the merchant)! And it took months to get the charges off of the other cards. Thankfully I had sufficient proof to support my claim!
Higher Imact knows all of this. They could care less. They got our money and have moved on to their next victim. Don't let that person be YOU. If they approach you ask if you can talk to anyone not related to them who has made money through their program. They'll give you an excuse as to why there are NONE they can refer. Plus they have no statistics to back any of their claims, even after all this time in business.
HIGHER IMPACT IS A RIP-OFF, plain and simple. STAY AWAY if you treasure your money.
Soon we'll be filing a small claim in AZ against HI because it is our last resort.
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