We recently attended a GREAT workshop on Apartment Investing by Dave Lindaugh. Part way through the workshop he put a "friend" of his Marko Rubel on stage and let him pitch his computer software/marketing program to us. He was a pretty fast-talker and the program sounded great. HE EMPHASIZED the No Questions Asked Money Back Guarantee.
Once we got home it took my partner a while to get the program uploaded, and to learn how to use it. Once we did we also the Data Subsription Service @ $50 that the program would support. That was the first thing we noticed was not as cool as Rubel had professed it to be— and after a bit of hassle, we got UNsigned up for that and got most of our money back. I continued to learn how to work with the program— convinced that as a contact manager/mailing program it must have a lot of value— cos after all, it had cost almost $2000.
I finally felt as though I understood how to use the program. That said— I also realized it was a PIECE OF CRAP. I highly DO NOT recommend it. You can get MUCH less expensive— and equally or more effective contact managers/mailing programs for MUCH LESS.
Once I explored the program I found there were a LOT of limitations to it. Like, the the Data Subscription service, what the program professes to accomplish/do can be done in other, FAR less costly, far more convenient ways.
The program itself is very NOT user-friendly. It is awkward to use and not intuitive at all— and even with a partner who is very computer literate— the program simply was WAY INFERIOR to what Rubel represented it to be.
One piece of the proram that is different than what most contact managers/mailing programs might have is the scanner gun which is meant to be used in the case of returns— to scan a bar code on the mailing label and delete the outdated address from the list. This seemed like a cool device, and worth some expense, but honestly, I discovered that most mailing lists come in Excel format and that program allows you to alphabetize names, so it is easy to delete returned mail. THE SCAN GUN FEATURE is NOT WORTH the $2k we paid for this awkward, clumsy, ineffective program.
Additionally, I found the support service less than helpful. Hey are more like a back up SALES department— VERY PUSHY and not willing to be accountible.
AND Rubel stressed at the workshop— that if you are not completely happy he would willingly return all your money NO QUESTIONS ASKED, but in actuality, once you get the program home and read all the fine print— the Money Back Guarantee is VERY conditional. You have to send it back unopened within 30 days (it took us that long to get it set up and tried out just cos, like normal folks, we were busy after our Lindaugh seminar trip)— OR, if you keep it longer than that, you have to spend more money to travel to a different city in order to take his class in order to get yoru money back. Even though the class is free if you buy the program— having to take the trip and spend MORE money to attend the class in order to active the Money Back Guarantee is A PRETTY SMOOTH CON. If you already don't like the program, why would you spend MORE MONEY to go someplace and take his seminar???
I think sometimes it is hard to tell between someone with a good product to sell and a lot of enthusiasm— and someone with a mediocre, overpriced product with a lot enthusiasm to sell it.in this case, I'd say Marko is the latter. AND looking back, I think Rubel felt like the snake-oil salesman at the time— but I trusted that Dave Lindaugh would not put a shyster on stage in front of us— and my partner thought the program sounded great— which it did— but it did not live up to its HYPE. I was very disappointed with the whole experience and should have followed my intuition— my "con alert."
Additionally, when I emailed the company complaining about the "tricky" return policy (which, again, was NOT STRESSED up front— we realized it when we read through the paperwork later) and our dissatisfaction with the product, we got NO RESPONSE. Nor has the BBB gotten any response to our formal complaint. My personal opinion is that if you really have a quality product and someone is as dissatisfied as we are, you make it right, even if it means returning the money/taking the product back. If he is SO SUCCESSFUL— he can afford it.
I have already let all my classmates know my experience with this product— so none of them got burned by Rubel— but I think everyone should have fair warning about this con artist. AND I think Dave Lindaugh should re-consider having Rubel sell his product at Lindaugh's seminars, unless Dave wants to be associated with a CON ARTIST/SCAM!
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