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Debt Diet, DDI, Reed Blake, Murray Blake, Reed Murray Blake Debt Diet Scam a WASTE of your TIME & MONEY $ Ripoff American Fork Utah
BEWAREof Reed Blake, also known as Murray Blake, the CEO, presenter, promoter, and product trainer of Debt Diet Inc (DDI.) He is an unscrupulous, smooth talking, charismatic flim-flam man masquerading as a successful businessman selling a business opportunity (for $495.00) to unsuspecting and trusting seminar attendees.
At a wealth-building seminar my husband and I were told by Reed Blake that Debt Diet was a credit counseling service and there was a high demand for DDI services and products. Furthermore, DDI would set itself apart from other credit repair and counseling services and for those people (at the seminar) with debt and credit problems they could repair their credit and become their own first customer with DDI and get paid a commission on themselves!
But, what Reed is really selling is nothing more than a GET RICH QUICK scheme, with a twist. Instead of you getting rich He is getting rich! Andhe is leaving a trail of frustrated, disappointed, disillusioned, and helpless, victims behind.
He takes their hard earned money and precious time!
DDI's seminar circuit includes but is not limited to, large cities such as Seattle, Sacramento, Houston, Dallas, LA, San Diego, New York City, Boston, Idaho Falls, and Denver among others. Around May or June 2005 Reed and DDI expanded his territory to include unsuspecting Canadians in Vancouver, BC and Toronto. This guy gets around! Watch Out!..he could be coming to a US city or Canadian Providence near you!!!!
My husband and I attended an Entrepreneur's Cash Flow Power Summit Building Wealth Through Multiple Income Streams--An Ambridge Report seminar on February 26, 2005 in Bellevue, Washington. The Ambridge Report is also Future 500 Connect, and WealthTools International.
The Event schedule read, Murray Blake How to Create $10,000 a month Income in 10 Weeks
Murray Blake (weeks later he wanted to be called Reed Blake) of DDI made a presentation, in order to recruit Debt Diet Assistant Branch Manager's (ABM'S.) Anyone could become a Seattle DDI Assistant Branch Manager by paying a fee of $495.00. Reed made promises of Income earnings of $10,000 a month in 10 weeks working on a part-time basis of 10-15 hrs/wk, with no previous experience necessary. Each DDI ABM would be given six (6) DDI Sales Associates to manage, which would be recruited by Debt Diet. We were also told we would be given support and product training from the DDI corporate office. It was said, If you could follow directions and follow a plan you would be successful. As a DDI ABM we would receive a commission of 40%, of 3% of the interest saved for each client.
My husband and I saw this as a business opportunity and Reed Blake claimed that DDI was established in other markets throughout the United States and said there were other DDI ABM's and DDI Sales Associates making big money $$$$$$
At the recruiting seminar Reed also promised as a bonus, we would receive:
1)Free back-end website w/unlimited links
2)Free website content for our StoresOnline website
3)Free customized marketing materials and content
4)Free Credit Arbitration, Debt Elimination and Tax Programs
5)Free Debt Analysis on-line software
6)Hopper system mail, phone and email
In April, the Saturday before Easter the Seattle Branch had their DDI Super Saturday. Blake promised he would come back and train us until we were fully trained and could perform our own corporate previews. That did not happen.
The Super Saturday training was incomplete and Reed promised to make it up later. Which he never did. What I found somewhat alarming was during the discussion on Compensation that our group was strongly encouraged to put all of our efforts into recruiting, recruiting, recruitingand not into sales. Reed said that the big $$$$$ money is in recruiting people and mentoring those people to become Branch Managers. You could make $250,000-500,000.
During the Super Saturday presentation to our group Reed criticized the other Ambridge Report Vendor's and their products and services including Synergy. At least the other Vendor's had legitimate products and services to sell. Reed had no product and as far as I know from the people that have contacted me, Reed still has no products or services to sell.
This was just the beginning of weeks and months of broken promises scheduled and postponed corporate previews, a lack of response to emails, a lack of support from DDI, last minute training cancellations and many, many, many stall tactics. Reed has also changed many conditions along the way. At one point, in May he said he was going to freeze his recruiting until he got everyone currently trained. That lasted about a week, and then we noticed other new groups were joining DDI. Former reps were dropping out as fast as Reed was recruiting the new ones into Debt Diet.
I was on every audio conference training call when I started to notice a pattern. At that time, the long-distance audio conference calls began at 7 p.m. (Pacific) and 8 p.m. (Mountain) and 9 p.m. (Eastern) time and people from across the USA that had signed up with DDI at seminars were on these conference calls. Sometimes as many as 81 participants were training on long distance conference calls through freeconferencecall.com. Most of the time the calls started out chaotic because only one-half of the reps had received an email, outline or the agenda, necessary to follow along with the conference call. This was the norm!
Reed was usually late getting on the conference calls.
Naturally, people began talking and before you knew it, they were sharing similar frustrations with each other about DDI. Many of their complaints and issues were about but not limited to, a lack of response to their emails, phone calls, and unanswered questions, lost paperwork faxed into the DDI office and issues on product training and certification.
Some Seattle ABM's have been waiting 5 months to receive their signed DDI contracts back from Reed, and to date, they still are waiting for the contracts.
When Reed got on the conference call to find people complaining he restricted any future complaints or personal issues from being aired during training calls and encouraged people to call him at the office. On the web cast when they began to exchange their frustrations with Debt Diet, Reed threatened to ban them from future web casts.
He told us he did not want us talking to others in our group or sharing information. I also heard comments made by other US DDI reps that they did not trust Blake and they refused to hand over their personal financial information to him as part of the DDI training process.
I was new at the time so I watched, listened and asked a lot of questions. And so did the others from the Seattle group. Instead of answering our questions Reed would talk over the person so loudly and drowned them out, adding that they call him at the office. Training sessions were routinely cut short, for a variety of reasons including, Reed's date night with his daughter.
It was at the Super Saturday that the Branch Manager, Lisa Lilley was introduced to the Seattle group as their new BM. Lisa Lilley is also from Utah just like Reed. At first, I couldn't quite figure out if she was inept or just a bad manager. But it was more than that. I feel she was running interference for Reed. I sent multiple emails to her that went unanswered.
Others in the Seattle group complained that Lisa Lilley didn't respond to their emails or their phone calls either. Four out of four DDI corporate previews where scheduled, rescheduled and canceled at the very last minute. The first corporate preview was formally canceled the day after it was supposed to be held, because Lisa said she didn't know what to tell people.
The usual response from Lisa was that my questions and issues couldn't be answered because Reed was super busyand she was unable to schedule any time with him, to get the answers!!
And if she gets a minute him, there are too many questions to ask and not enough time with Reed. It is interesting to note that Lisa Lilley is the Vancouver, BC BM as well. Lisa also blamed Reed for the lack of information we had to train on. Lisa also cut off training sessions early because of her date night. After 5 months I still haven't seen anything that remotely resembles a product or service to sell.
Reed is constantly talking about Debt Diet's proprietary information, yet on the web cast we would often be shown other company's products and services with the name of the company whited out. So, they were using other company's information. It appears, because DDI didn't have their own.
Here are some tips for any future DDI seminar attendees:
If Reed tells you that other DDI reps are making money in other markets, demand to see their checks and demand to talk to the reps! Debt Diet told the Vancouver group that the Seattle Branch was making money hand over fist. Nothing could be further from the truth! No one in the Seattle Branch has made a penny as of July 26, 2005. It has been five months since the Seattle Branch joined DDI. And still
No signed contracts, and no product to sell.
I spent over one hundred hours of my precious time and a lot of money on long distance phone calls and fax charges, paper and ink cartridges thinking that DDI was a legitimate business opportunity.
Until one day in May when I realized nothing was getting completed on DDI's end. I was frustrated with the incompetence, broken promises and dishonestly of Debt Diet and the fact that I had followed through with everything they asked of me and DDI had very, very poor follow through with anything on there end.
So I decided to request a refund.
I made at least a dozen written requests to Reed Blake, and Lisa Lilley, BM, including certified letters. They failed to respond to me.
So I called into the DDI office and spoke to Reed's secretary, Jessica. She told me that Lisa (Seattle BM) should have got back to me by now. I told Jessica that was part of the problem; Lisa didn't get back to me.
Jessica then went onto explain that I would have to fill out, sign and return an affidavit. I thought it was pretty bizarre. This affidavit would have kept me from telling people about my negative experiences and problems with Debt Diet.
At this point, I was forced to contact American Express and ask them to help me recover my money. I submitted my paperwork to AMX and within a very short time the investigation was completed and AMX ruled in my favor. I was issued a partial refund from WealthTools, the merchant account for Debt Diet.
I called AMX because I was curious why I hadn't been given a full refund.
AMX told me that the Vendor (DDI) was charging me with a 15% restocking fee. Since Debt Diet did not provide me with any materials, products or services maybe they were restocking..their stall tactics, broken promises and deceptive business practices, to be used on some other unsuspecting DEBT DIET VICTIM.
So, then I began to do some investigating into Debt Diet and Reed Murray Blake and found out some interesting facts!
1) When Reed Blake recruited our Seattle group his Utah business license had expired because of a Failure to File Renewal. (The information is available through the Utah Department of Commerce.)
2) The Utah BBB informed me that Debt Diet had an Unsatisfactory Rating because of a failure to respond to a complaint. Imagine that!
3) Mr. Blake had some former businesses that are no longer in business such as, Clean Credit USA, Inc., and Golden West Financial Corporation.
As of July 26, 2005 Seattle ABM's are still waiting to receive their contracts from Blake. He has told them the contracts are going to be amended and returned to them any day now. Without the approval of the ABM's.. Reed has announced his intention to unilaterally modify their contracts.
All ABM's are independent contractors and not employees of Debt Diet. Many of them have been through product training 2 and 3 times on the same products and methods without receiving a questionnaire to complete or their certification on the completed product training and they are still looking for a product to sell.
It is worth noting; Reed indicated at the Super Saturday that he wasn't interested in working with Wright Thurston.
And now Reed is a Presenter and Vendor with the Wright Thurston Group coming for three days in the Seattle and Portland area on August 25, 26, & 27, 2005.
Reed is also working along side Sid Sperry, whose product's Reed criticized at our Super Saturday.
When the company is involved in wrongdoing, you can expect to be treated rudely, be hung up on, lied to, and stalled. Quote founder of Rip-Off Report, Ed Magedson
I believe the Debt Diet Scam is to sign people up under the pretense of a legitimate business opportunity andthen Debt Diet frustrates and aggravates you to the point of giving up and walking away from the your $495.
If an average of sixteen people were recruited from each seminar that is $7,920. Not a bad day, even after expenses!! Two presentations a week is $15,840not a bad week! 4 weeks in a month is $63,360.not a bad month!
52 weeks in a year is $823,680..not a bad year!
I would not be surprised to see Reed Blake or Lisa Lilley featured on America's Most Wanted or 60 Minutes for victimizing working class people across the United States and Canada.
Pamela
Port Orchard, Washington
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Pamela
Port Orchard,Washington,
U.S.A.
Debt Diet, DDI, Refund Received
#2Author of original report
Sat, July 30, 2005
I received a check for $74.25, by certified mail on 07/30/05. The check reflects the balance of the Debt Diet refund owed to me.
My economic investment of $495. has been refunded. DDI finally did the right thing. Thank You
However, I am disappointed that I have invested well over 100 hours of my time in Debt Diet and the cost of hours of long distance phone charges, and office supplies, and nothing to show for this.