On or about August 9 I was contacted by Trend Trading to Win (actually Independent Marketing) about a mentoring program that teaches you how to trade successfully in the stock market. It was something I wanted to do so I agreed to sign up. They informed me that it would be $5500.00 which they would charge my credit card immediately for the 12 classes and that I had a 3-day cancellation period.
They said they would be emailing me a contract to sign and send back to them. I informed them I was leaving on vacation the next day and would not be able to sign and return it to them until the following week. I then asked the program director what would happen if I got in an accident or something and would not be able to take part in the classes. He said they are understanding and would refund the money if something like that happened.
On August 15 I faxed them the coaching agreement. Later that week I was contacted by Barbara Anderson to setup a time for the 12 classes I would be attending online. They did not have an opening until September 12. I said that would be fine but it was about a month away. At this point everything was fine until hurricane Katrina hit on the weekend of August 27th. Later that week I learned because of my job I would be going down to the gulf coast region to assess damages sustained to equipment of our customers over the next 2-3 months. I realized then I would not be able to participate in the Mentoring program because of work obligations over the next 9-12 months.
On September 6 I called Barbara Anderson to let her know I would not be able to participate in the class. She said that was no problem and they could reschedule me for a later class. I said I didn't know when I would be able to take the class in the future because of work obligations. She said that I would still have to pay even though I could not take part in the classes. She said they have a really strict cancellation policy and that they don't give refunds.
I said that this was beyond my control and I didn't want to pay for something I was not going to be able to do. I then asked who could make the decision to refund my money and she said that would be Kim French. Over the next 3 days I left a message every day on Kim French's voice mail. She never returned my call.
Then on the morning September 14 I received a call from someone under Kim French saying she was returning the call for her. I proceeded to tell her the whole story and she said that they could not refund my money. I then asked her who could make that decision and she said Kim French. At that point I said I wanted to talk Kim French and she said she was in a meeting and would call me back.
As of September 26th Kim French had yet to call me back. I called Barbara Anderson on September 26th who seems at least understanding and again explained my situation and that Kim French will not call me back. She told me to hold on and got Kim French on the phone with me. I proceeded to tell her the whole story and she said she couldn't give me credit because I did not have a good enough reason. I guess helping my customers get their equipment up and going and helping with the cleanup after the hurricane is not a good enough reason. She then told me she would call me back that afternoon and let me know if they could give me credit.
As of this moment I have yet to hear back from her and its September 30th. I also asked my credit card company (Citi Cards) if they could do anything. They gave me a temporary credit until they resolved the dispute. I guess they were not able to resolve the dispute because the temporary credit was reversed. I have also contacted the Better Business Bureau with no results yet.
All I want Independent Marketing to do is refund my $5500.00 because I cannot participate in the mentoring program because of the Hurricane work I will have to do. They say they have a contract but a Good business would be compassionate and understand that things like a hurricane can change a persons obligations. I hope Independent Marketing will have some compassion and make a good business decision.
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