Hello All,
I was nearly taken in by a scam this week so I want to tell the world (or at least my faithful blog readers) all about it in this warning.
My husband received a mass mailer inviting him to a luncheon about how to make money on the internet. It included lunch & an organizer and was all for free. I was pretty skeptical about attending as I don't do well with sales pressure (READ: can't say no) but my hubby really wanted to go. So to be supportive I decided to attend (hey free lunch). The pitch was from an American Company called Stores Online.
The Luncheon:
The idea of the luncheon was to get you to sign up for a seminar for $20 a few weeks later. They said that they were an internet website hosting company that also sells software that helps you market your website. The workshop would give you some tips for marketing, help you come up with a business idea and then at the end they hoped you'd sign up to go through their company.Even though the workshop was only offered in Edmonton and on a weekday I signed figuring I had to take a risk & that I may learn something. And again it included lunch. Before leaving the luncheon they told you that regularly they sell1 website and their hosting for 1 year for $2800 + $2700 = $5500...however if you bought with them within the first 90 days they'd waive the $2800 (how thoughtful of them).
The Seminar:
So late Tuesday as I'm driving to Edmonton I start regretting signing up for this workshop. It is being held at the Ramada which I have to find all on my own and it’s late so I’m tired. The day is to start at 8:30am and go until 6:30pm (now I’m a government worker so I’m used to 8:15 – 4:30 with plenty of breaks) which is sounding really LONG to me. I also forgot to discuss with my husband what his thoughts were going into it (like would he be interested in buying?).
I arrive the next morning at the hotel not having eaten breakfast. The drive took me longer than I thought it would my mother-in-law’s house and I had planned on grabbing something on the way. Walking into the room I realized I didn’t have time to get anything and the company hadn’t brought in any breakfast. So I grabbed this itty bitty teacup and ate some candies I had brought with me (mmm, nutritious). I was seated at a table with two very nice people, a gentleman named Wilf (http://www.gainconsulting.ca/) and a lady named Tracey. Despite the fact that we were told we’d get lots of one on one training & that sitting was limited I counted about 12 rows of 16 people equaling 192 people and only about a dozen Stores Online reps.
The presenters were upbeat, likeable and funny. However they had this really great way of talking about nothing for a long time. By the first break at 9:30am they had us all fill out a credit check for so we could see if we were approved for their financing…I hesitated knowing that every credit app reduces your credit but for some reason I signed it. Then they even convinced me to give them my credit card to ensure I could make the down payment needed. The “this day only” deal was the following:
3 Websites + Customer Service Support for $2700 or
6 Websites + Customer Service Support for $4900
BUT you also need to buy the eCommerce software which allows you to take credit cards securely over the internet for $999 & this Auto Responder software that is $399 or $499 (for 3 or 6 sites respectively). Also, once your websites were active then you were charged $24.95/month for hosting. Totally $4098 or $6398 for the one day.
That is a lot of money, however they make it sound like with your effort it will be no time before that’s paid back. Between break and lunch one of the reps came over and stroked my ego by telling me that I have excellent credit and to be sure to go the “break out session” during lunch. By 1pm I’m starving. I head over to this session and find out they are trying to get us to buy right then and there. I say I still need to think about it.
Wilf decides he’s learnt all he can and that he is leaving. Before he goes he handed me a couple papers he’s printed off the internet, one showing an article about Stories Online being investigated in their home state and another from an unhappy customer. Let’s just call that the seed of doubt.
After lunch we hear some good info about marketing and how some of the tools they have are exclusive to Stores Online. That would include the “Reverse Search Engine Tool” which in my opinion is the only reason I would buy with Stores Online. This tool allows you to type in keywords and see how many people typed in those same words in a search engine in the last month. Great opportunity to look at the internet market of what you want to sell before investing any money.
I get pulled out to have my “one on one” time with a rep: Mark. I asked him about how you would get legal information to report your online income. His answer: it’s all on the software. He asked me why I wanted to do this (I think about everyone’s answer is the same): to make money so you don’t have to have a job. Then I said that I didn’t want to make a decision before I talked to my husband (who I had text message to call me ASAP as he was at work in Fort McMurray). He pitched the financing to me: it was a two year loan at 18% (yep that’s high).
At our next break I decided to call my bank and see if I could get a line of credit through them for less. The answer was yes: prime + 2.75% (working out to 8.75 right now). However the money wouldn’t be available for 3 business days. I asked Mark how that could work. He said I could write him a postdated cheque for that. Then right about 5:30pm Tyler called. Thank god, $6400 is a lot of money and I wasn’t comfortable making that decision by myself. I started to tell Tyler about it and he says “do what you think” (thanks honey). I said no I’m not doing that, and then I told him more about it. I was slowly starting to realize that I was trying to talk Tyler out of it. When he said no it’s not a good idea at this time in our lives I was relieved.
Coming back to the room Mark came over and asked if I just talked to my husband. I said yes and he vetoed it. He tried to dig a little harder and I said right now we couldn’t take this financial risk. He approached me again and tried to convince me again. I said no firmly. He left me alone. (What person would hear “no” from their spouse and then willing go out and spend the $6400 anyway?). The workshop didn’t end until about ten to seven…by the time I gathered my stuff, talked to my mother-in-law and drove home it was after ten. I was exhausted.
Last Night:
I was trying to fix my computer (it has some viruses) when I was googling stuff (as in http://www.google.ca/). When I googled “reverse search engine” I discovered the following site:
http://www.ultrasaurus.com/sarahblog/archives/000081.html
Here there were several rants about Stores Online as well as a link to the FREE reverse search engine this is EXACTLY the same as the one Stores Online claims to have an exclusive on:
http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/.
So I am really thankful I hadn’t purchased such an overpriced product.
I did learn a few things from the workshop so it was worth my $20…but let me save you your pennies. If you want to know about the following let me know (I will pass it on for $19.95, just kidding completely FREE):
-learn what a “reverse search engine” is and why it’s useful,
-learn how to get yourself to the top spots in a “relevancy based search engine”,
-learn how to get on the sponsored links of 120 search engines (http://www.overture.com),
-learn about drop shipping,
-learn about Auto Responders,
-learn about free samples,
-learn how to find business partners on the web (http://www.thomasnet.com/).
That’s it for today…remember to trust your gut & be skeptical! Any company that doesn’t respect my right to go home and research them before handing over my money is not a company I want a relationship with.
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