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Grant scam - I fell for it - please read

mightyforkmightyfork subscriber Posts: 2
edited May 2008 in Growth Funding

I just got scammed. In your search for funding, you MAY run across this so I am swallowing my pride (because I AM embarrassed I fell for this bull) and trying to get the word out just so if you didn`t know, know you will!



 



My roommate kept telling me about this awesome book he had. He finally gave it to me to look it. It was an outdated copy of Matt Lesko’s book about grants and money and resources for among other things, small business. So I figured, it’s probably not going to amount to anything but I should invest maybe 20 mins and take a look. Since it was outdated, I went online to research some of the government sites to access info on these. The government sites are hard to navigate and read, and I came across a site which had all this info in one place. I skipped over several sites that seemed “scammy”, and came to one that was $1.50 to try it out. I thought, hey, $1.50, for 7 days, I’ll give it a go. I read their agreement twice. I went to the checkout page and never found ANYTHING that made me say “hey, I don’t want to sign up for this, it’s a binding agreement.” I am VERY alert to being scammed, and I should have known better but I didn’t find ANY red flags. So I gave it a go. The site kind of stunk and I left, but hey, it was $1.50.




 




Well, no it wasn’t. Today I found a $49.50 charge to my bank account (I used debit). I called the company, and of course they said I had signed an agreement to a 7 day trial and I HAD TO CANCEL WITHTIN 7 DAYS or I had agreed to be a member for $49.50 a month. I said I had never seen that anywhere and they pretty much said “how could you miss it, it was right on line 2 of the agreement.” Sigh. It wasn’t. Oddly, I can’t even GET to the web page I originally landed on to sign up, to even double check myself. The lady I first spoke with hung up on me (I did get mad, but still). I called back to confirm that my account was cancelled. Then I found TONS of info on these scams online and was heartened to find one person reporting a similar scam and she argued until she got them to refund the money. I called back and did my best, which just wasn’t good enough. The guy called me a liar, pretty much flat out said he didn’t CARE about if I was a happy customer or not when I told him I was his customer and not happy, and wished me good luck getting my money back from my bank since I had given them my credit card information and “signed an agreement”. He was apparently the 2nd person under the people who owned the company because I asked for a manager and he said he was the manager, then I said well why don’t you get me one of the owner’s and he said he was an owner. I got to the end of what I could do and had to settle for asking him how he slept at night with such a black soul and reminding him that karma IS real and it IS a bitch, so enjoy the high times now.




 




So now I feel really stupid. Upset. Mad. Worried that I am down $49.50. Defeated. My ONLY consolation is that I am going to tell EVERYONE I can about this so NO ONE makes the same mistake! Stop giving these people your money! It is a waste. They are thieves. I filed a complaint with the BBB, more as an FYI. I’m SURE they had that disclaimer SOMEWHERE in a TINY font so I’ll never get that money back. I’m sure my bank won’t back me up (I hate my bank too but that’s another story). As that jerk off so snidely pointed out on my third call “I gave them my credit card info so good luck.” Thanks for stealing from me and then rubbing my nose in it too. REAL nice customer service.




 




Here is the website I went to (except I cannot find the page I saw originally where you “sign up”)



 


http://www.grantresearchguide.com/resou ... =index.php






 



This is another site which is the same company. (advertising the "free CD" which apparently never comes in the mail and then magically costs $49.50 /mo)  www.grantresearchguide.com




 




I have found SO many complaints online about this company and others like them. DO NOT EVER USE THEM. If you have had trouble with THIS company here’s their address and file a complaint with the Las Vegas, NV BBB!




 






 






800-235-1364






Grant Resource Center






Grant Instructor LLC






3155 East Patrick Lane






Suite 1






Las Vegas NV 89120






 






 




I got the last guy I called to SAY that he doesn’t CARE what I think about the company, and that nothing I could say would hurt their business, since THEY’RE on the INTERNET. Well, I’m on the internet too, so PLEASE LEARN from my mistake. Don’t give these evil people another cent!

Comments

  • bjortandcompanybjortandcompany subscriber Posts: 1
    Sorry to hear you went through that.  I`m glad you posted this because that will stop them by people knowing what`s going on.  Thanks again.
     
     
  • cashpriorcashprior subscriber Posts: 0
    I totally feel you, I got scammed by "onlingo", just by searching that term on google you can see their website as first result and "complaints board" as the second result. You have to be very careful with "
    trials"
  • cubemonkeycubemonkey subscriber Posts: 11
    i went to their page and this was in the first paragraph of the terms. found it in less than 1 minute.
    "If you have not cancelled the free bonus within the 7 calendar day
    trial period (if offered on product purchasing) from the purchase date,
    you are agreeing to purchase the bonus material and/or service at a
    monthly reoccurring cost. The resource center is billed at $49.50
    monthly"


    I have to agree with brent281 on this. I think it would be hard for you to find a company that wouldn`t charge your card full price after not canceling before the end date. From my eyes that is the standard and the mistake is on the customer.
    But if they went back and added that line then pull the old agreement from google cache and decline the charge.
  • kellyqkellyq subscriber Posts: 0
    I did see the fine print at the bottom just now after being charged. here`s my problem with it. I never got the CD. How am I suppossed to try something out that I don`t have? That`s great that I can cancel if I don`t like the service but I never got the service to begin with. This is my biggest complaint with them. I`m calling my CC company to get the charges taken off. I will be reporting this compant as well.They failed to deliver the goods and I`m not paying for their mistakes.
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