In 2006 we attended the Real Estate Wealth Expo in New York City, and attended the "seminar" given by Duane Barney on behalf of ClickIncome.com. We were "blinded by the light" due to our inexperience with this kind of offer, and bought a $600 supposed complete e-business store package.
This report is a summary - the complete train of events was horrible and very upsetting. Bottom line was the e-store wholesale prices offered us had been misrepresented and were actually higher than those being sold retail on eBay and we saw it was not worthwhile, so we tried to get a refund. ClickIncome is what as known as an internet store "middleman" dropshipper.
Unbeknownst to us, the credit card sheet we signed was ALSO a contract for services which states that you must return all materials within 3 days to get a refund. This means you only have 3 days to evaluate the entire business opportunity, and it's BEFORE you get access to their website so you can actually check out the prices, which is completely unfair.
However, the manual we got said we had 30 days and since we didn't know about the 3 day refund period, we thought we had 30 days. We returned our materials within the 30 day time period stated in the printed materials, and ClickIncome had told us on the phone we COULD get a full refund. They closed our account, but then each time we tried to call or emailed to get them to send our refund, there was no reply or no answer.
Eventually after weeks and weeks, when we got through, they said ClickIncome was not responsible for the refund, we would have to contact the sponsor of the original seminar in New York. Our account was closed and we had no further access to their website. We were out all our money and had nothing to show for our payment, and they were entirely unconcerned about it. Our credit card company refused to honor our complaint for misrepresentation, although we thoroughly documented what had happened. That showed that their fraud complaint procedure is a sham. (It's a huge bank in this country.)
The sponsor in NY originally maintained they were not responsible for granting a refund because we didn't return within 3 days (our printed materials had stated we had 30 days to return materials, and we didn't even know about the 3-day return policy stated on the credit card slip). We told them about this conflict and they said sorry, too bad, we have to honor "our contract with ClickIncome."
I was extremely upset, and filed complaints about ClickIncome and Duane Barney with the Utah State Consumer complaint bureau and the New York State consumer complaint bureau. I never heard anything back from those agencies. ClickIncome has dozens of complaints of a similar nature to mine on the Utah consumer complaint bureau - they have been scamming people for years, yet, for some reason are not being shut down. There is a term called "sharp practice" which means not strictly illegal, but definitely unethical. This describes ClickIncome perfectly.
There was finally a good outcome months and months later, but not due to any help from ClickIncome or the Utah Consumer Complaint bureau. I again contacted customer service at the seminar sponsor in New York and this time, they very reluctantly granted me a refund, to my great relief. It turned out well, but it was only after tremendously upsetting dealings. I am not naming this sponsor in this complaint because they finally made good on the product. But this is a word to the wise about ClickIncome - beware!
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