Complaint / Review
National Small Business Alliance
Ripoff, stole over $350, won't return my money, won't return my calls

I suppose I was a sucker signing up for a credit card to bolster my small business. We needed IT. It seemed like a good deal. Once we got the NSBA package, we realized what a crappy program this really was and immediately cancelled.

According to a letter I received from the NSBA (dated 1/26/06), "This letter confirms that your membership with NSBA was cancelled per your request on 1/25/06... If you have cancelled withing 30 days of joining you will be refunded the entire enrollment fee and not be charged annual membership dues... Your refund will be processed within 30 business days of receipt of your returned membership kit."

Well, the date is now 5/23/06. It's been almost four months, and no refund. I've called customer service. They referred me to a woman (supposed supervisor) named Romy Schlaffer. I left her about 10 polite voicemails for her to return my call. Nothing.

Romy seems to be part of the scam and is expertly trained to ignore voicemail, so don't bother wasting your time calling her. She doesn't even show up to work until about 10:00 Pacific.

That's too bad too. The National Small Business Alliance portrays itself one way, then screws the small business owner when it comes down to money. We thought we had found a good organization to help us with our growth, when in reality all we found was a shell organization that makes profits by hoping customers don't expect refunds when they cancel. Nice business model.

Oh, I forgot to mention. We are a PR firm. The NSBA just screwed over a PR firm. Not only are they rude, but not too smart either.

We have attempted to get Dennis Mario involved, but he won't return our calls either. So, uur expert media pitchers are standing by to make a few calls into the national business press in regards to an investigation of the NSBA — a media blitz is coming.

We are giving the NSBA 24 hours to respond and send our refund (FED Ex, with tracking numbers) before going public with BusinessWeek, USA Today, the Wall St. Journal, and the New York Times.

The date is 05/23/06. The time is 12:47 Eastern. The clock is ticking Dennis!