I was contacted by Mary Gilmore telling me that I qualified for a Business Expansion Grant, and would be paying $385.00 for a team of lawyers to assist me in preparing the grant material. I was told that if for any reason I was rejected that I would be refunded all but $39.95. I was also told that after paying the fee I would receive a grant application package in the mail within 25 business days. I was told they have an 85% success rate, that Mary herself has gotten education grants from them, that I would be a priority because I'm a female business owner. Guess what, I was dumb enough to fall for it. I gave her my business checking account information and believed that I would be receiving the package in the mail. Here it is 40-50 days later, no package. I have called on numerous occasions to the "Customer Service" line that I was provided with, and have been told that everything is processed and the package is in the mail. Here's the strange part... No money has left my account and when I called and told them that, he said sometimes it takes 10 days to process. Now I tried to call today and only get voicemail saying the customer service is handling other calls and to please leave a message. Before I decided to invest in this company, I did tons of research, ask Mary Gilmore more questions than you can imagine on 4-5 seperate phone calls. I even made sure to check with the Better Business Bureau in Norfolk. Is it possible I asked too many questions and red flagged myself as a potential investigator? I would like to get to the bottom of this. Now I have to watch my account daily for any suspicious activity. Lesson learned.
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