I had just lost my job, depressed, totally at a loss and desperate as to how I would keep the roof over my families heads, I began searching the internet for an answer. I invested $297.00 in a Auction Listing Agent program that promised I would make up to $20 dollars an hour for posting auctions on the net and working from home. After all the cerification courses which took about a week I was soon contacted by phone, not by the Auction listing agency, but by Fortune Learning Systems sales person. I explained that I had invested in the above program as they proceeded to tell me that this was small time and proceeded to introduce what they could offer me if I "Qualified". They were very motivated especially after I had explained my situation, it seemed to spark even more interest in what they could provide me if I "Qualified". They talked about the pricipals of starting a successful intenet business that would not take the 40 hours a week I had been spending at my old job. They then began talking about how important leverage capitol was and how they would teach me to use other peoples money, (OPM) concept to avoid any out of pocket expense. Then the questions about my debt. And how would I feel about paying it all off in a very short time with very little effort. Of course I answered, Yes. Then the questions about my financial situation came into play, how much credit card debt., if I had car payments, did I own or rent my home, etc. I clearly stated that with recently losing my job and having no forseeable income, that I was leary of using my credit cards for any purchases at this time. This is when I was told that this is the program that I had been looking for. Now came the questions about myself; was I motivated and did I consider myself an action taker. Questions about me continued to determine as they called it, whether I was a excellent candidate to be one of their success stories. I was then told that they would talk with their Senior consultant to see if he thought that I would be a candidate and become part of their specially chosen team. Then came the call from the so called Senior consultant, and very shortly after I might add. I was told that I was the type of person they were looking for and that they believed that I was worth their investment. Boy; when your depressed and worried after losing your job, this is motivating to hear someone say. Then I was told that there would be a one time investment and for this investment they would, set up the business for me, help me build multiple websites and provide me with the necessary training and coaching I would need to be very successful in a very short time. The investment I would have to make was $5015.00. This was about all the credit line that was available to me at the time. For my investment they were going to help me set up multiple companies and stressed the importance of doing it officially and by their proven methods. I would need corporate credit which they offered to get for me, they would get me wholesale rates and higher ratings among the search engines on the web. All this so I would become one of their success stories. Even went as far as to invite me to Las Vegas within the next six months to have lunch on them to discuss my success story. Within two days I was contacted by my assigned personal coach that began with more motivational talk and was told where I needed to begin my assignments on the member's website. Nothing more that commen sense stuff. I was then contacted by their certified business specialist that explained that to be successful I would need to acquire an LLC for liability protection and business credit ratings through them at an additional cost of $1060.00 but I would have to act quickly for this deal. I expressed to him that I understood there was a one time investment and I was not willing to invest any more at this time. He told me that if I acquired the LLC I could then transfer my original investment from my credit card to the business credit and free myself from the credit card debt., even if the business failed I would not owe this money to the credit card company. This sounded illegal to me. I began doubting what I had done. Within a day I was contacted by another sales person with additional expenditures that would be necessary to become a success, I would need to obtain a membership with a wholesaler to help me with drop shipping merchandise I would get at a discount and could make a profit from. This would only cost me $1000.00 per year for the membership. I began to become extremely upset and tried to call and get a refund. No one would return my calls. I then sent an e-mail to the customer service support group requesting an immediate refund. No response as well.
After the charges appeared on my credit card I contacted the credit card company to dispute the charges and after 30 days of investigation I was sent a copy of the FLS contract with the 3 day refund policy highlighted. Within a month I began seeing the charges for hosting the website that I have not accessed since the beginning of this scam. I have tried to get a refund every time I was contacted by FLS and made an honest attempt to give them every chance to respond. "NOW", is the time to begin contacting state departments, federal agencies and web boards along with news agencies. I will dedicate myself with all the time available to me to see that no more honest hard working individuals will be taken in by these immoral individuals.in todays' economy, this should be considered nothing less than a crime. But indiviuals without a conscience rarely acknowledge that what they are doing is wrong. I wonder if the person on the other end of the line that is selling this "rubbish" is wearing a ski mask, and how do they look into a mirror and what do they tell their children they do for a living?
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