I responded to an employment ad in Craigslist that was placed by Don Gillette regarding an opportunity to work as a lead broker. The ad was deceptive in that it was not a job but after a lengthy presentation it was revealed that it was a business opportunity. The opportunity however sounded very good.
The premise was that you purchase the Lead Net Pro software for $397.00 and a $19.95 per month fee, you also need to set it up on your own domain (it requires its own so you need to purchase a domain name and web hosting) and they strongly recommend a merchant account through First Data which requires a minimum six month contract. To cancel this contract now will cost me $150.00 in addition to everything else I have been charged. After all of this is done Don emphatically stated many times and in several ways that you could use this software to extract leads for any industry, and sell them to service providers such as Mortgage Brokers, Debt Settlement companies, Insurance Agents, Roofing Companies, and anyone who needs fresh sales leads. Of course there is no way to test the software ahead of time because you need a personal copy set up on your private domain.
The problem is that once I purchased the software and got everything set up it became obvious that it was not capable of producing such lists at all. Let me explain what Lead Net Pro (LNP) actually is. LNP is first an extractor, second an e-mail broadcaster, and third a phone broadcast system (autodialer). It combs the Internet extracting e-mail addresses and phone numbers from various web sites according to the keywords you put in. As extractors go, LNP returns paltry results. What made it attractive is that it was said to be able to extract customers for the services listed above which would indeed be beneficial and unusual. LNP however is NOT CAPABLE of doing this! It like other extractors can only gather the information of providers for these services who are listed on the Internet. There is no repository for potential customers, no place where people go and say I am likely to buy this product or need this service in the near future. The way lead companies get this information is through expensive advertising and capture pages. It was insinuated that somehow LNP was able to get this information.
When I confronted Don Gillette about this, he said he could go onto CraigsList and do a general extraction (extract all of the e-mails and phone numbers from all of the ads) and do a mailing offering a service or product and the people who responded could then be sold as a lead to a business. The problem is that he is simply spamming and breaking the law according to the Can Spam Act. Also you could not gather enough names that way to ever run a successful lead company. So not only is he intentionally lying about the capabilities of the software, he is teaching people how to break the law and put themselves in jeopardy.
LNP themselves admitted that the software couldnt do what their reseller said it would do, but they didnt offer any solution but rather threatened to pull their support to me if I continued to write them letters of complaint. Since that first e-mail they have not responded to any of my subsequent e-mails or phone calls.
According to the training videos the way you are to use the software is to extract the information for Network Marketers and reverse market to them through e-mail (express an interest in their business in hopes of opening a dialog and then sell them the software) the problem is that after mailing thousands of people the response was only seven people who were complaining about the fact they are getting bombarded with these types of e-mails and that they knew I was trying to sell a lead system. You can also try to autodial the phone numbers it collects, which I admit I didnt try to do because it costs money to send each one and I already know they are upset with people trying to sell them the system. Lead Net Pro is simply a rip off. Don Gillette brags about making $20,000 to $30,000 per month selling this system through his deceptive CraigsList ad to poor people looking for a job. When I confronted him he said sarcastically Yeah Im sure you make more money than I do. Like that was what is important and not the way you make that money. For me, ripping people off isnt worth my integrity, even at $30,000 per month.
When I started to point out what he was doing was illegal he quickly said he would refund his portion ($300) of my $397 a week and a half later. I am waiting to see if he does as I write this.
I had spoken to Dan Miller and worked one of his other programs before and I thought he was a very nice guy (even though I didnt make any money with his other program called IPC) so I trusted him. That was a mistake! He cannot be trusted, and his software is a blatant rip off. Period! I cannot get any response about getting a refund from him, and I am out a lot of time and money. I will now try and win my money back through a credit card dispute which is a lengthy process, always difficult, and there is no guarantee I will win. First Data has already told me they will not cancel my contract with them even though LNP lied to me. They are demanding the $150.00 to cancel.
I dont want anyone else to go through this. Keep your money in your pocket, and if you come across anything associated with Dan Miller or Don Gillette, turn and walk away!
0 comments