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123 College.com, IN Financial Advisors BEWARE! Parents of college-bound students, save your money! Deerfiled Beach, Florida
I wish I had seen some of the reviews from other advisers before agreeing to associate with these clowns. The "services" they offer can be helpful in getting more financial aid for some families, but what they offer is mostly common sense and the high school guidance counselors can do almost the same.
They pretend that they have this foolproof system that will have families beating a path to your door. Don't bet on it! We had a fledgling college planning business that we wanted to grow. 123 College owner Ronny Jay promised the moon and stars with his "foolproof" system that would "have you making $10,00 per month!" After nearly $10,000 in fees, marketing costs, rental costs, mailing lists, and everything else they could suck out of us, we had to shut down that business because we had dug such a deep hole without any hope of getting out with these clowns. The company went out of business Dec 31, 2011, and these clowns called me today demanding that I pay the annual renewal fee!
Now is where it really gets interesting. The contract expired two months ago and the only reason it appeared on their radar screen is because some new girl from 123 College called me to ask why I wasn't scheduling any seminars with them! When I informed them that the company I had been working with was closed down by the owner (who, incidentally, doesn't happen to be me!), they asked if I wanted to renew the contract. I WAS DUMBFOUNDED! I had just finished telling them the company went out of business almost 10 months ago, which should have come as no surprise, because I told them the exact same thing in May when some other dipstick called me! How dense are these people?!
When I told them, "No, I wasn't willing or even able to renew", they hung up on me without any further discussion. Then, two hours later, some other broad named April calls back and starts personally threatening me! They actually sent ME to collections within 6 hours of talking to someone for the first time! They have already started emailing and calling me personally at my work because they can't seem to reach the former owner of the company that went out of business because their "foolproof system" turned out to be a load of crap!
I have my own company as a financial adviser and worked with the college planning company to help execute the suggested aid strategies, but because I'm still in business, it's me that they have come after. What scumbags!
College planning is a much needed and worthwhile service that can help so many families, but if you are an adviser wanting to get into this arena, avoid 123college.com at all costs! These people seriously take advantage of planners, rip off families by charging ludicrous prices for common sense solutions, and they'll go after anyone and try to ruin theier business just for a stinking buck. I'm sure this will cost me more to legally defend myself because I'm certain the former owner of the planning company is not going to do anything to resolve the issue. Why should he? These scumbags aren't coming after him because he's already out of business!
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Aaron R
miami,Florida,
United States of America
Aaron R
#3UPDATE EX-employee responds
Thu, January 03, 2013
Regarding the comments posted by the past employee: They are accurate but he did not present himself well. I am a former "employee" and have found the same experiences to be true. Does not matter that this guy was his brother. 123college uses predatory practices and contracts. For what it is worth, I did not pay these excessive quarterly fees and was willing to go to court to fight it. If you join, then keep thisin mind as a road that may have to be travelled.
I am an outstanding and succesful salesman and have a great track record. The person who wrote the rebuttal is one of the owners of the company and has a bad temper. When asked why he would not confirm the verbal warranties made by his boss, the owner, his answer was all anger and steam, nothing factual. Rather than discuss results, he prefers to angrily express collections and lawsuits.
I also filed a complaint report to substantiate the previous complaint/claims. I tried to make it as objective as possible. Rather than take my word, read it and approach 123college.com with your eyes wide open. Also go to YELP.com. My advise is have an attorney review your contract and ask his/her opinion. At that point you will be well informed. The most anyone can hope for when reading these things is that you will be very aware of how 123college really operates. That it is about getting your dollars not about getting seminars. that's the most we can hope these articles will do, nothing more. Buyer beware!
Robert L
Deerfield Beach,Florida,
United States of America
The Real Truth about Doug K
#3UPDATE Employee
Fri, November 02, 2012
Doug K just happened to leave out one glaring factor. This company that dissolved was owned by his brother. It happened to be his brother that would not speak with him or share the expense. Doug K is claiming we could not get in touch with his brother. I would assume most honest people would know how to get a hold of their own blood in this day and age. Nonetheless, 123College.com did hold Doug K liable for his fee as the contractual agreement and everything about the account was in his name, not his company name or his brother's name. Doug K paid the money he owed despite his ludicrous claims. We also settled the account for less than less than he owed due to his struggles. There is a fraud here and it is not 123College. 123College is a great system for those who
know what to do when they get in front of potential clients and have obtained their financials. 123College is not the system for individuals whom are inexperienced with sales and have a weak financial background.
Doug did not make it in the financial sales industry as he began to explain. 123College did what we claimed we will do...that is set up seminars, put bodies in the seats, and gave Doug K every chance to succeed. This business is not for everyone. 123College does not teach you how to become a salesperson. Our job as a marketing company is to get you in front of more people. We wish the best of luck to Doug K in his future endeavors.