In March I attended the national Re/Max convention in Las Vegas. At the convention I visited the Advanced Access booth and spoke with their sales representative, Tiffany Meyers. She assured me that there was an unconditional, 30 day money back and cancellation guarantee that allowed me to cancel at any time after giving them notice.
With those assurances I signed their contract on March 6 and gave them my credit card number to set up automatic payments of $49.95 per month. They were to assist in constructing a website and host that website. On the following Monday, March 10 I registered their product and received the web based username and password.
After returning home I decided to change brokerages. The new brokerage, as part of their agent package, provides website construction and hosting services with another provider. After I moved to the new brokerage I contacted Advanced Access on and informed them that I was moving to another brokerage and would like to cancel my unused subscription for their services.
I emailed the cancellation notice to them during the week of April 13.
At that time I had not constructed a website using their software nor had I had time to seriously review how the software worked or if it would be of use to me.
Mr. Ryan Smith of Advanced Access called me on April 17 and informed me that since I'd let the 30 day cancellation period lapse I was obligated to pay them for an entire year of service. I tried to explain that:
1. It had been represented to me that I could cancel at any time with 30 day notice, not just within the 30 days immediately after signing the contract.
2. I had not used their software, nor had I tried to upload any files or engage their services in any way other than to register online to use the software.
3. It was not an option with the new brokerage to utilize a web construction and hosting firm other than the one provided by the new broker.
After expressing my extreme displeasure over the entire affair, their customer service representative, Ryan Smith, told me that I needed to figure out a way to use the software because they were in no way going to provide redress or modify their position.
Quite simply I was stuck to pay for something that I didn't want, couldn't use, and had no intention of using.
I politely asked that a supervisor contact me as their earliest convenience so we might resolve the complaint.
No contact from anyone at Advanced Access from that time forward.
I have, within the last month, sent several email messages to them asking for verification that the subscription will be cancelled at the earliest possible time.
Still, no response of any kind.
I've previously owned and managed several service companies and often did business with exclusive service contracts. But, whenever a customer signed a contract but never utilized the service we made a refund and cancelled the contract. It is the right thing to do and the only thing to do if you want to create a positive impression of your company.
I simply cannot believe that Advanced Access can't see it in their best interest to cancel the subscription and refund my money.
From a larger perspective, and judging from the posts on this website, Advanced Access may want to rethink their marketing and administrative procedures. As it stands they have created the impression that they don't much care what current customers and potential clients think of their company.
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