After sending for the Jeff Paul marketing kit, which my wife, who ordered it, never read, we got an unsolicited call from the Jeff Paul group, stating that if we were lucky enough to fit the profile, Jeff Paul and his professionals, who knew so much more than we, who are so successful, would take us under their wing and teach us how to reach all of our financial goals.
The caller was very interested in our Visa card, wanting to know how much available credit was on it. We told him in total terms what our CC debt and available credit were, but he was insistent on finding out about "the Visa card". I told him it was none of his business.
The caller asked us how much money we would like to make, and how little we would like to work. How would we spend this new found wealth? All things are possible if we are chosen among the select.
The caller would engage us with his questions, asking us our opinions and thoughts on statements he made, obviously feeling us out on how compliant we were.
There were several indications of a scam with this first person, the questions made to draw you in, the imaginings of being loaded with money, waking up in the morning and checking the internet to find out how much money you made while you were asleep, the interest in the available credit card debt, using OTM (other peoples money), etc.
We were handed off to a second person, the big boss, Jeff Eemish, a smooth talker, a closer obviously. He emphasized how, if we fit the bill, we could be among those chosen for special handling and grooming to be web mass marketers. Hey, we wouldn't even have to sell anything, we could just have hyperlinks to merchants on our website, and make money every time someone clicked to a merchant site from ours. And then there are the cases of the testimonials given on the infomercials, including the woman who sells bicyle pumps on the web and make twenty something thousand a month. He emphasized the commercial savvy of Jeff Paul and his elect, how he could teach us much, since we were not wildly successful ourselves.
Then came the pitch. Were we ready to make a committment? He had decided the cost for our committment was $4860. I stated that before I would plunk down this money, I would have to see a contract. The closer said the contract would come after my payment, with the student package, but I would be soon talking to a clerical who would be recording statements, and this would be a verbal contract.
Of course, I knew this would be disclosure ploy, "We do not promise results, etc." He stated that they were heavily regulated by the FTC, that if they were not on the up and up, they couldn't be doing what they were doing. He stated that a written contract at this time could not codify this type of transaction. I stated that what he should have is a service contact, a very common style of contact. We stated that we would not go any further without reviewing a contract.
He then got huffy, started jumping on the first caller, that he must have made a mistake because we were apparently not (and he did not actually use the word) desparate enough to jump at this "opportunity". We all ended the conversation. Both my wife and I knew during the first caller conversation that this was a scam, we played along, but it ended up being a bigger waste of time than my curiousity could afford. They really like to soften you up, but I wasn't born yesterday, been screwed before, thankyou, by better.
GerardHouston, Texas
U.S.A.
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