After reading other reports I feel like "Deja Vu"...
On October 4 I purchased Jeff Paul's Millionaires Club program after watching an infomercial on TV (29.95). I received it, read it and found it quite intriguing. The information in it made sense.
The following Tuesday (10/12) I listened to Jeff Paul's Tele-Seminar and by the end of the call I decided I wanted to give this business a serious try, so I called up and placed an order for $1,995.00 in 4 monthly payments and with a 60-day unconditional money back guarantee (which is the only reason I signed up).
Needless to say the "bait-and-switch" came a couple of days later (10/14) when I received a call from one of their associates (Jed Johnson) offering to refund my $1,995 investment and rather get me into a fast-track Mentoring program (which would take me by the hand and ensure my success in this business). I was promised to make back my full investment by the time I needed to pay my credit card.
After sensing some interest and excitement from me, Mr. Johnson then transferred me to Mr. Shane Jones to close the deal and get me to commit $8,500.00 on my credit cards. (After they tried my Master Card and reached its limit they called me back to ask for a second card to complement it)
This guy got me all fired up and excited about the prospect of making around $100,000 a year in a few months (and personally guaranteed that I would make my initial investment back in 2 to 6 months, or they would continue to mentor me until I did for free) I decided to give it a shot.
Now here's what's happened so far:
First of all it was never made clear to me exactly WHAT was included with my investment. All I was told is that I would get the products, ads and mentoring. (With my initial purchase of Jeff Paul's millionaires club ($29.95) I knew exactly what I would get.)
(Even with the second offer ($1,995) I knew that I would get the masters to the manuals and recording, the rights to the book Business Owners Guide to Little Know Marketing Secrets That Work, Marketing Critique Coupon and the Automated secret marketing weapon (Software).)
I never received a confirmation e-mail or letter stating the terms and conditions of my investment. Everything has been done verbally and very vaguely.
They did record the conversation and are trying to hold me responsible for it.
Late at night on Friday 10/15, I went online to show my wife the business and, after a simple search query, I found some very disturbing warnings about this company (including a negative report and series of complaints filed on the Better Business Bureau and many reports on this website).
I called Customer Service the next day to cancel my service and they asked me to call back on Monday because no-one was available to help me).
On Monday 10/18 I called Mr. Jones and expressed my concerns. He dismissed them as being Buyer's Remorse.
He told me that he could not cancel my subscription because the 3-days had passed (even though I tried calling on Saturday).
He said that he would be able to cancel everything except for 15% re-stocking fee. He convinced me to not quit before I even started. So I decided to give it another shot and wait for my first meeting with my mentor.
On Tuesday 10/19 I got a call from my Mentor, Ms. Peggy Koschin at the scheduled time, and in that conversation she asked me to start thinking about an advertising budget
(WHAT!!! I was told by Mr. Jones that my investment would include all of that). She also asked me to complete a few assignments for the next meeting which included calling ePower and Profits to activate my subscription with them and start doing business on E-bay.
When I did a search for Epower and Profits I was bombarded with warnings from other consumers who were scammed by that company and extremely dissatisfied. (Here's one of the many articles I found http://usacomplaints.com/reports/ripoff109900.htm)
I called Mr. Jones and when I asked him about the negative postings, he got extremely rude and defensive and replied: You're just looking for excuses not to do this business, you're focusing on the negative! Stop trying to find bad comments! He also said that Ms. Koschin was a new mentor and she shouldn't have told me that I needed to invest more money in advertising. He offered to assign me to a new mentor.
I asked again for a list of products, terms, services and guarantees included in my investment and, once again Mr. Jones was very vague and evasive.
I asked him for an e-mail address so I could communicate with him more effectively and he provided me with a free address (very unprofessional).
As you can see, when you add all these factors, it seems that something is not quite right.
At the beginning I was very excited about getting into Direct Marketing with this company, but right now I feel like I'm being taken advantage of and this deal is sounding shadier and shadier every day.
So far I've called American Express and Master Card and initiated a dispute.
I have not received any products from this company (or e-mails confirming my purchase)
... Wait a minute... I just got an e-mail from Jeff Paul customer service saying the following:
("RE: Credit Card *8, Exp * for $2180.32, Thank you for your order. Unfortunately the credit card listed above was declined by your bank. If that is an incorrect card number or expiration date, please provide us with the correct information.
You may provide a different credit card number or send a check or money order instead. We will process your order upon receipt of your new financial information. You may send check or money order to Po Box 570 Van Nuys CA 91411")
I don't know if they're trying to charge some more to my credit card or what...
If anyone has any suggestions I would be very happy to hear them.
Best regards
By the way, I discovered that this scam is also going under John Becks Amazing Profits Free & Clear Real Estate, (apparently they use the exact same ("Mentoring Company").
RobertSan Diego, California
U.S.A.
0 comments