I contacted Synergy Pro Consulting (aka unclesamsmoney.com) back in May and spoke with their sales person and explained that I was looking for grant funding. They explained that they specialized in helping people secure funding. I told them I had quite a bit of experience writing grants, but needed additional help as I was not having success getting the larger grants. They gave a price range that went from ~$3000 all the way up to ~$8500. We were told the range varied to account for the amount of funding sought as well as experience. It was based on how much "hand holding" they would have to do. I elaborated on my experience and the sales person acknowledged that I was far more experienced than most, but he assured me they could get me over the hump. The sales person explained that I would be provided with help in reviewing proposals from advisors that had been successful in obtaining funding. I agreed to spend the requested amount of time working with their coach and doing my homework. I paid $8350 for this service. Since I had so much experience and was still charged almost the highest rate, this should have been my first clue.
I was sent via email the name of my coach. I asked her if she had ever secured funding. She didn't directly answer the question so I requested an answer again. She finally admitted she had not personally received any funding but she would work closely with others in her organization that had. We also called their main office and requested several times for them to point us to a counselor who had received funding, but a new coach was never appointed.
We started our 30 minutes sessions and she (the coach) provided us with lots of resources and a standard Business Plan template of which I already had many of. I fulfilled my responsibility and followed up on all of the resources she supplied. Then I signed up for "Boot Camp" in Las Vegas where I was promised by my coach that I would receive help with my Business Plan, specifically the financial section. I attended on my own dime, but never received that guidance.in addition, I started conveying to my coach during our sessions that I didn't need more resources (websites, forms, funding sources), but rather help refining and reviewing my proposals and business plan. She provided some very minimal input and in addition provided me a marketing plan template she found on the internet. I was starting to get frustrated so I emailed her with adequate notice, that I didn't want to continue my sessions until we could define a plan of action as I was not getting what we had to agreed to up front and in the contract. She kept trying to "put my sessions on hold". I did not want them on hold. I wanted a plan of action we could agree on so that I could get what I needed out of the sessions, but they kept trying to put them on hold. Many other conversations followed, via email, to try to resolve the issue. I requested a partial refund, which was denied. I have plenty of documentation that shows what they agreed to, and an email trail to verify that I was not satisfied and wanted resolution. To date they have not been able to provide me with a plan of action to meet my needs and what they agreed to.
I cc'd Mel Feller on some of the later emails to my coach and he had the gall to accuse me of trying to get him to coach me directly! I never stated any such thing! The partial refund requested was pretty generous given that fact that most of the information given to me was boiler plate forms and public websites I already knew about. I told the sales person right up front that I knew most of the sources, but needed help on business plan financials grant reviews.
I've reported them to the BBB. When you look there, they are listed as Synergy Pro Marketing.
Do not believe their satisfaction guarantees!
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