Synergy Pro Consulting phoned me after I had been on a website to look at grants. I had heard about people getting grants to start business and wondered if I could get one to start my business. My husband and I spoke to several people at the company and it sounded good at first. That is until we heard how much. They quoted us at $4,550! It was a lot of money for us, but we figured if we could get a grant it would all be worth it in the end. They made a big deal of congratulating us when we were excepted into the program and we felt stupidly good about that.
I signed a contract the same night we were excepted. It stated that we had a total of 6 sessions that were pro rated and there was a cancellation fee of 15%. I wasn't to worried about that but I should have been.
I was assigned a coach who was to call me once a week to help me with my business plan and then the grant process. I was to begin working with her the following week, and boy was I excited.
My first conversation with my coach went well except right off she told me she could not give me her success ratio of getting grants. My first red flag. She gave me homework to right out my goals and expectations, and a business plan to get started on.
I completed my homework the next day or two and sent it over. The business plan was lengthy, but I was determined and went in on it, with everything I had. Right off I had several questions about the worksheets that came with the plan.
I had never filled one out before and the plan did not offer any examples. It also could not be printed out without cutting off half the sheet and the worksheets themselves were very antiquated.
I emailed her several times that week with questions and most every time she emailed me back that she was asking other people or hunting for the answers. Should she not know that plan inside and out?! My impression was that she had never even looked at this plan before now and seemed completely unfamiliar with it.
On session number two she went over my homework of my goals and expectations in which she told me that two of my expectations she had problems with. I had written that I expected my coach to actively find a granting source for my business that will suite my personal and professional goals and advise me of the steps I need to take to obtain them. She stated to me that she would not be responsible for finding grants and that she would not advise me. WHAT! Didn't I just hand $4,550 to this company to do just that? And what had I hired them to do exactly that I couldn't have done myself for free.
So fare I had heard what they were not going to do for me, but I had not heard what they were going to do for me for all that money! I told her all the problems I was having with the plan she gave me but she offered no solutions for me.
After looking at several grants I began to get excited again. Maybe this was going to be along painful process, but just maybe it would all work out in the end. WRONG! My coach found a grant for me at last. This is what I was paying good money for.
The grant looks promising and it stated on the form to contact my local agency for more information. I did that and spoke with the business programs specialist (my local government agency) who informed me there were no such grants that she had ever heard of for a for profit small business. She said she would peroanlly speak with anyone who told me there was any such grant available and set them straight.
I was shocked! I was angry! That was the last straw. I called Snergy Pro Consulting to get out of the program and get my money back. I was so angry I wanted all my money back due to the inadaquate service they provided. (latter I settled for what the contract stated I was due). I had to leave a message with customer service, stating I wanted out now! They didn't call me back.
I wrote them a letter and emailed it to them so I had something on record that I wanted out immediately and if they did not respond to my request to resolve this issue I would seek legal services. They called soon after and told me I had to make an appointment to cancel and they didn't have anything available until the next week!
I got a call from the cancellation person the next week who was arrogant and sputtered something about being a former state representaive or something to that effect. I recognized this as an intimidation tactic. He tried to get me to stay on with the program under his supervision.
When I told him I wanted out of the program and I no longer trusted him or the company and all I wanted was the remainder of the money they owed me according to their contract. He stated I was 'Down to Zero' and I may as well stay on with the company because I had no money left anyway. How could this be? The sessions were pro rated and minus the cancellation fee I figured I was still owed quite a bit on money. The conversation got a bit more heated and I asked him how he could sleep at night knowing he was stealing money from honest people trying to make a living. He said he could sleep just fine.
After I got off the phone with him and I ran numbers and figured they owed me over $2,300. I called customer service to inform them that they did in fact owe me money according to their own contract and I wanted a phone call from them and my money back. (Interesting, I can never get anyone to answer the phone at customer service when I call over there.) I still haven't gotten a call back and it's been several days. I am seeking legal help with this matter but I don't want this to happen to anyone else ever again. I have learned that there are many free agency's out there that will help and have more knowledge and resources for small business starting out. SBA for instance is a great resource along with many others like the MBDA. Gov. Please don't let this happen to you, stay far away from Synergy Pro Consulting they are crooks!
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