Iworks promises to coach you on how to write a fundable grant proposal and that they will stay with you up to 1yr or until your grant is funded. The cost for the service is based upon the amount you are seeking in a grant. I was seeking a school grant so they added 6 years of schooling and my cost was over $5,000.00. However, when writing the grant they stated I would have to write for 1 school quarter at a time and then look for a renewal grant.
There is a 3 day window for a refund, but you will never talk to a coach that soon. The process of writing my grant proposal took 4 months; that was meeting every deadline given by my coach as well as all revisions that were required. You are well outside of the "refund window" by the time you have written a proposal which the company deems fundable.
After I had a "fundable" proposal, I was told I needed a fiscal sponsor. It took two more months to find a sponsor for my project. When the sponsor was found, I went through another 3 months of revisions. I would make revisions requested by my coach and then he would submit them and I would not hear back for a while and would be told about some minor changes. I had to make 3 or 4 correction submissions and the things which I was fixing at 4th submission were also on the 1st submission.
Finally I was told it was fundable and I could send out letters to ask that grantors review the proposal. We went through the same review process with the request letter before I was told to send it out.
Over a 3 month period, I have sent this letter out to over 40 grantors and have not heard back from even one. My fiscal sponsor will not return any kind of contact which I make. The coaches no longer return e-mails either.
I iWorks website is now under construction. The people answering their 800 number say that they are no longer working with iWorks. The number to the coaches has been disconnected. There is a new number which was given to me by the people at the old 800 number and those people do not have me in their database and also claim to not be working with iWorks. The new people also claim to be in LasVegas NV and not UT.
Fortunately, I put a deposit and allowed my card to be charged a monthly fee. I have had the charges stopped and am "only" in for about $2,700. However, the bills keep comming.
I obviously did not receive the "fundable" proposal which was promised if I followed the coaches and maintained their deadlines. I contend that the proposal is not fundable because no grantor will fund it. It is long, and full of information. It does seem eloquent and well written. However, it is not fundable.
I am goning to contact the state's atty to see if there is any legal action which I can take. If there is an Atty in UT that would take this case to help me recover my money, I would like to talk. If iWorks wants to resolve this, I am open to discussion; however, I cannot get in touch with them.
I would not do business with this company unless you know that someone is willing to fund your proposal and you only need assistance writing it. Do not believe them when they say that they can help you find a grantor to fund anything. Find your grantor first then obtain help writing the proposal.
0 comments