My experience echoes that of many others who have been duped by Bankcard Empire's sale of "call blasts" and "e-mail blasts" through their sister company, Edgemont Productions LLC.
The initial telemarketing rep told me specifically that 40 percent of all merchants contacted result in "conversions" or "referrals" that would yield residual income that, in turn, would more than cover the $19.95 monthly cost of maintaining a "back office." Based on this statistic alone, I (foolishly) decided to try this venture.
Their verbal contract (consummated by Edgemont) promises a four-month lead campaign and bi-monthly reports on the results. After months of delay and my queries to get the promised reports, they finally sent me a breakdown of the phone blasts showing meager results ("Survey sent to extension" for only 0.1% of the leads).
To date (after 13 months), my back office has shown NO referrals and I have received absolutely NO income for the $30,000 charged to my credit cards.
The fatal mistake is to believe that you are using OPM (other people's money) to do this business. That is a lie. Bankcard Empire is the company using OPM YOUR money (in the form of credit), which you have to pay back. Don't make that mistake!
The other lie is the 40% claim, which in my view constitutes fraud, because, in the words of an October 14, 1983 Policy Statement on Deception from the FTC, the statement "is likely to mislead the consumer" and "consumers are likely to have chosen differently but for the deception." No testimonials of success were given, and I suspect the company knew full well that such leads were unlikely to pay off for affiliate advertisers.
Two months prior to my signing with BCE, shareholders David Mersky (also president/CEO), Michael Malkin, and Janice Mersky registered a new for-profit corporation in Arizona under the name "Davidan Corporation" at the same street address as Bankcard Empire. I wonder who is pocketing all our money? Are there any attorneys out there who can recoup it for us on a class-action suit?