World Traders Association (aka: United Traders Association) ripoff consumer fraud ripoff Sylmar California...
As an current affiliate of WTA I can verify the truth of the complaints above. As for the company's rebuttal (in another posting) asking to face the complainant, in my case the problem with that is that I have 'invested' (or rather wasted) thousands of dollars in this company, and to expose my identity would be to lose any chance of trying to recoup my losses or receive any help the company may in fact offer. Although the actual value of any help I might get is another question.
My actual experience is as follows: The Training - a joke. It consisted of half a dozen phone calls outlining what was already in some promotional material, and some basic maths of marking up goods, any ten year old could handle it. The written Material - 13 'books' being 1) listings of various companys (many of which don't exist any more); 2) lists of export/import agencies, chambers of commerce, etc, etc, (all of which are available for free on the internet, library and phone book); sample letters of introduction that read like they were written in 1950; chekclists of things to do (possibly of some use).
None of the books were mentioned once in the training, as the whole business revolves around cold calling people out of the yellow pages.
The formating, layout and typing looks like they were thrown together by 13 different people (under the age of 13) who never spoke to eachother, couldn't type, and didn't proof read. About 50 percent of the content is duplicated between one or more books. Pages are out of sequence. Fonts are all over the place. Its a freakin insult to be delivered that freakin trash for 7 grand - what a joke.
Leads provided by the company - another joke. They are taken straight out of the yellow pages online and faxed to me - why bother, why not just say "Homer, go to this yellow pages website and there are all our 'hot' leads".
Support - yet another frustratingly bad joke. As a beginner, you ask a question and need a pretty full answer. What do you get? At first nothing, then after two or three followup emails, eventually a one line answer is returned leaving you none the wiser - as you had already thought of that common sense answer before asking the question in the first place!
On the positive side, there is obviously a business in surplus stock (I hope), and I can only try and muddle my way through learning the ropes by myself and try and make my money back. I have no confidence whatsoever that I will receive any real assistance from WTA - there is no substance to anything I have received from them yet. The only thing they do offer is a brokerage service, which you pay for twice: once in monthly fees, and second when they take their commission of the top of any transactions.
I don't know how those guys can look themselves in the mirror without cringing - taking good honest and unsuspecting people for a ride like that. If you work for the company, ask your self this: How would you like to be standing in my shoes? (Don't just read those words - try doing it.) Or, How would you like your kid to be taken for a ride like that?
Enough said, I think you get the picture. If there are any legal eagles who can give me some free advice (too broke to pay:) on matters like misleading advertising etc, it would be welcome.
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