I found this website through a blog post looking for the Key Word Indicator and I'm totally floored. Stunned, even.
I sell collectibles for a friend on eBay and he got the invitation to a 90 minute seminar by StoresOnLine in March and asked me to go. I did, but I wasn't impressed. The rates they quoted for websites were totally ridiculous, but then they do this sales pitch, But you'll be offered incredible deals at the all day seminar. The only reason I went to the all day seminar was because my friend paid the $10 on my behalf and I had that day off from work. Oh, and that free organizer they handed out was super cheesy; like Made In China overstock they got at 10 cents a piece and they had the nerve to put a $49.99 price tag on it. Just because you put a big price tag on a piece of crap doesn't mean it's worth it.
I went home after the 90 minute seminar and punched in Google, Thomas Guide Inland Empire just as they did in the slide show. Their SOL customer did not come up second like in their demonstration. It didn't even make the first page of the Google search.
I went to the all day seminar by LAX the following week. The first thing they did was hand out a flier asking for your Social Security number, questions about your credit, credit card limits, etc. Folks, NEVER GIVE OUT YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER OR CREDIT INFO TO STRANGERS!
The best way to deal with shysters is honesty. It disarms them. It throws them off balance. So when the sales guy came by and asked for the credit information handout I simply told him while looking him straight in the eye, You must be crazy if you think I'm going to give out that kind of information to a stranger like you. There was a moment of hesitation and then a bland smile as he moved on to the next victim. My friend and I just looked at each other in disbelief. But it was amazing to see the number of people who just gave out their personal information like they were handing out candy on Halloween.
During lunch when people were signing up, we remained in our seats and, of course, the sales people came around with this memorized opportunity of a lifetime monologue. Again, I used honesty while looking them in the eyes and said, How much commission do you make with this hard sell sales act? Again, a glazed look/bland smile reaction. Then I added, I find your sales tactics really offensive, especially while I'm eating. Then they simply went away and never came back.
Now, I sat all day listening to their hard sell pitch just to get some useful internet marketing information which they said at the 90 minute seminar they would give us. The only useful information I got was the Reverse Word/Key Word Indictor. And yes, they do imply that this is an exclusive SOL mechanism along with a lot of other marketing tools, which is totally misleading.in reality, the Key Word Indicator is free through Google's Overture but they don't tell you that. They also made the claim that if you could click a mouse, you could build a website using their incredibly intuitive, easy to use software.in fact, they showed a video of a woman from South America, living in Florida, who said she used the software to build a successful perfume site leading people to believe that if she could do it, they could too.
Now, I'm not writing this to make the people who got ripped off by SOL feel bad about themselves because at some point in our lives we have all been taken by con men and schysters. IT IS ONLY A MISTAKE IF YOU DON'T LEARN FROM IT and if you don't expose it and stop these people from doing it to others! The success of con games is that you feel so ashamed you don't want to tell anyone because you don't want other people to realize how stupid you were. Con is short for confidence because they are pimping your own confidence in yourself against yourself. For every 100 people they rip off I bet only one person has the nerve to admit it publicly. So do the math. This is a huge rip off organization and as an American I am sickened that SOL is not only doing this to my fellow countrymen, but taking this sham to other parts of the world. Doesn't America already have a tarnished enough reputation?
If you got shammed and you owe them money, don't pay them another cent and don't let them intimidate you with dunning letters.intimidation is the second act of their con game. It is SOL that did not fulfill their obligation. It is SOL that misrepresented themselves. So keep reminding them of that. Write the Attorney General, your senators and congressional representatives, etc., and remind him or her that if this happened to their spouse, their siblings, their parents or favorite relatives they would be motivated enough to shut this operation down and it is their duty as public servants to protect the public from this kind of operation. Let SOL get a letter from your Senator and see if they give them the same line of bullshit.
And this brings me to another unsavory part of Americana. These SOL guys clean cut, faux friendly, white shirt/black slacks uniform - are preying on your false belief that they look too conservative and church going to do something as unscrupulous as rip you off. Now, I don't mean to slander goodhearted Christians because I'm sure they exist, BUT the biggest schysters in the world I ever came across called themselves God fearing, born-again Christians, and that includes Mormons and other evangelicals. Not being a Christian myself I cannot fathom what excuse or rationalization they employ so that they can live with themselves or sleep at night. Maybe they think they can simply repent to God at the end of the day and all will be forgiven and their bad karma will simply evaporate.
Now, take a step back and look at the bigger picture. This microcosm of shamming people out of money is almost considered acceptable now in American society. It is really no different from the macrocosm. For example, the con game the Bush/Cheney administration perpetrated on the American public by pimping our fear of terrorism so they could wage their war in Iraq. The Big Oil companies pimping you at the gas pump while posting record profits. Think of Lay and Skilling's sham at Enron filling their pockets with millions while the shareholders and employees were financially ruined. Folks, the list is too long to continue here.in this respect, we are all getting fleeced because it is the American taxpayer that foots the bill after the smoke has cleared.
If we want to change the world, we must demand it as part of our basic human rights. We have to brave enough to speak out because DISSENTION IS NOT UNAMERICAN. It is a facet of FREE SPEECH, which is guaranteed by our constitution. We must DEMAND the rights which protect us as consumers be implemented and not be just lip service or an inactive piece of legislation. If we can put SOL out of business and stop the perpetration of other lies against us, we can change the world for the better. However, it will require us to put aside our apathy and disillusion so we can think with one mind, speak with one voice and act with one spirit. Don't be afraid to say publicly that you fell for the sales pitch of SOL or Galaxy Mall or iMerchant or Net Whatever - because they are all the same con men operating under different disguises.
Ironically, at the end of the seminar they put Mark Twain's famous quote about how you'll regret not doing something in 20 years, rather than doing it. What they should have put up was P.T. Barnam's famous quote, "There's a sucker born every minute."
Bernice
Los Angeles, California
U.S.A.
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