Out of curiosity, I filled out a request for grant information. Today, I received a number of mysterious calls from a number from Ogden, Utah. When I answered, there was no response. I called the number and no company name was given, only that I had reached customer service. My options were to select 1 to speak to a customer service rep and 2 to have my number taken off their list. I selected 2 however this did not stop the calls.
On the last call, I was finally spoken to by a representative who gave her name as Cassie Cavar, employee number 2414. She explained she was with Grant Instructor and that they assisted people with information regarding grants, from housing, medical, education and so on. Ms. Cazar then advised me that they could set me up with a special password to be able to look at their website and that the cost would only be $1.95. Now, that really isn't a lot to pay and I have no objection to this, however I DO have an objection to giving my credit card information to a person I do not know, a company that I have never heard of. I stated that I would not give them any information until I was able to research their company. I was given the company's name again, as well as their website address (www.thegrantresourceguide.com) but of course, without the initial $1.95, would not be able to get on the site.
I firmly stated that I would not release my credit information until I knew that the company was legitimate, that normally my purchases were done through PayPal for my sense of security. I advised her that if I found that their business was legitimate, I would contact them. This led, of course, to the spiel that this is a 'one time offer'. I still refused and Ms. Cazar 'put me through' to her supervisor, who advised me his name was Coco Martin. Mr. Martin tried to reassure me by stating that he and Ms. Cazar would not put their jobs in jeapordy to rip off someone's credit card and that the company they worked for had been in business for 'a number of years'. Mr. Martin kept attempting to get my credit card number with further reassurance. I advised Mr. Martin that 1) I had never heard of his company before and I until such time as I had researched the company, I would not do business and 2) I didn't know HIM either. Mr. Martin then stated it was a one time offer and that they could not call me back with it. I informed him that if the company proved to be legitimate, I had been given their number and that I would call them and was told that this could not be done.
The end result is that they didn't get my number and I started researching and found out about Grant Instructors, LLC via complaint. Thank you! It is a pleasure know that there is a place where such information is available as I get a number of these types of calls, e-mails, etc.
I advise those who are looking into grants to please be aware of Grant Instructors, LLC and their attempt to rip you off.
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