AdvanceIt Aggressive, pushy salespeople - very PREDATORY Internet
This company is using a relatively new financial leverage tool - essentially cash advances on a business' credit and debit sales at a fairly high cost. The salespeople are very skilled at avoiding the opportunity for the business owner to say "no", and before you know it, they're asking for you to sign a release to obtain your debit/credit statements. The actual cost of this kind of loan is not disclosed by the salespeople, and is nowhere to be found on their website - a pretty sure sign that it's absurdly high.
I got caught on the phone with one of these slick salespeople. I was curious to see what exactly they were proposing, so I provided my email address to send over their documentation. The documents themselves are quite ambiguous and intentionally vague, but there was nothing starkly illegal that I could see, so I let it lie.
Then the harassing emails and phone calls started. I received dozens of emails from them, and daily phone calls to both my business and personal cell (which is contained in my email signature). One day, my cell phone was called at least 10 times before I finally called back and asked them to stop calling, saying I wasn't interested. Emails and phone calls kept continued. When I did finally answer again, the salesman accused me of "not understanding what [I'm] missing" and went on to explain that he just got off the phone with my competitor (for whom he did not have the correct business name). I told him I wasn't interested and hung. He called back twice more. I emailed the two salespeople and asked them to remove me from their list. The one childishly responded, "consider it DONE".
Having been around business for some time, I can usually spot a scam when I see one... and this one has all the signs! The first huge red flag is a lack of information and disclosure about what the product is and how much is costs. The second is that this is a "new" industry that is currently quite unregulated... which is always draws the sharks. The third is the ridiculously aggressive and persistent sales tactics - if the product was that strong, you wouldn't need to badger people!
It makes me sick to think that someone could get duped into this and lose their business once the real costs sink in. BEWARE!
2 Updates & Rebuttals
DerekWilliamson
Impressed by Response
#3Author of original report
Wed, September 18, 2013
Although there may still be some underlying concerns with the sales tactics, I must say that I was quite impressed with the response I recieved shortly after filing this report.
I was called directly by a Manager (I believe of Customer Support?), who apologized multiple times, and carefully explained the mistakes that had been made by the sales reps, and what they were doing to correct it.
I cannot speak to their services directly as I have not used them, but I can understand how any commissioned sales staff might get a little carried away in their pursuit of a sale. It's unfortunate, because the product itself is somewhat complex, and relatively new, which will turn people off in a hurry!
The rebuttal echoes the same points that the Manager made with me, and at least they are upfront about the costs of their service.
Advanceit Mgmt
Montreal,Alabama,
Our sales force is passionate!
#3UPDATE Employee ..inside information
Wed, September 18, 2013
We would like to take this opportunity to respond to the above consumer review, dated 04/17/13, regarding our sales tactics. This situation was unfortunate and we hope the following information can help to clear any issues regarding Advanceit Financial Corp.
Regarding the complaint and the number of times the above author was contacted by our sales rep, we realize that there was an error and have corrected it. We have discussed with this single sales rep and had instituted a better process and oversight on our customer contact procedure directly following this complaint.
Our sales people are very passionate about what they do. Advanceit is passionate about what the products and services we offer, which is alternative financing that SMBs may not find at a bank or other traditional financing source. Our sales people truly believe that we can help Canadian SMBs grow their business, take advantage of smart investments in their business and ultimately become more successful. For this reason, our sales people call hundreds of Canadian companies across the country each and every week looking to work together towards success.
As the above author correctly points out, Advanceit operates in a relatively new and evolving industry here in Canada called the Merchant Cash Advance industry. What we do is work with Small & Medium sized businesses (SMBs) and look to help them with additional cash flow for growth and investment opportunities.
More specifically we work with SMBs to understand their credit and debit card receivables (through our partnerships with Moneris, Global, Paymentech, etc.) in an effort to provide them with to access to money which we finance with a one time fee, the SMB then pays these monies back to Advanceit over the following future months. To be completely honest our financing is expensive, it is more than that of a bank, and we are upfront about this fact. As we don't ask business owners for collateral and work with them in the challenging and fast paced world of SMBs in Canada, it is a risky environment.
Advanceit is the clear industry leader on all measurements; # of years in business, # of employees, # of client accounts and customer retention – this last item is what we are most proud seeing as 90% of our customers are repeat and remain with us month after month, year after year for the last 7 years.
Should any reader require more information, please visit us at www.advanceit.com.
Regards, the Advanceit Team