Complaint Review: Dr. Bizness BD- Profit and Growth Unlimited LLC

Complete scam.

1. You pay them and then the hustle is you then scam others to pay for "radio interviews" you do for them - they get you for a 6 month "contract" and automatically charge you monthly. You get NOTHING for these fees. No one follows up with you - no one contacts you outside of fake "trainings" (see below)

2. NO radio station and shows - streams on iheartradio and tunein to about 20 followers a week. They were not founded in 1947. WGIV radio which is now defunct was founded then. They were somehow associated with them which is partly responsible for that AM radio station being defunct now. 

3. NO clear social media presence - the IG @wdrbmedia.radio (they have gone thru so many accounts) has 8k followers which they may have paid for because almost all of the posts are the new "hosts" standing in front of the step and repeat after their first training getting coached on how to say the business is so great - you literally get told what to say. Same for the facebook (https://www.facebook.com/WDRBmedia) you would think they would be promoting the radio shows, interviews, etc. These two media accounts did not exist beyond 2016.

4. NO real customer service

5. Ernest Smith will hustle you out of everything you have if you let him

6. the barter exchange has like 5 items on it with no explanation but $25 a month?

7. Continued to charge me even after my bank disputed their charges and my money was refunded

This organization for lack of a better word is a complete scam. I encountered them in May. I was a vendor at a health fair and was approached by a guest who was interested in interviewing me for a radio show. We exchanged cards and he reached out to me to schedule the interview. I went in for the interview and as I was in the waiting room, I noticed that the receptionist was making certain waiting people watch a video she played from a large screen on her desk. I also noticed that a man (Ernest Smith) I knew of personally came out of one of the offices and I was surprised to see him. I did the interview and the hosts were very nice but it was surprising. Even though I have never done radio work before, our interview was such that it could have been done in a home with a few mics from amazon. I did enjoy the interview but I started to feel leery like where is this really going. 

After the interview, I went out into the waiting room and realized something. I have a non profit project and I had received a flyer for free radio advertising at an event a few weeks prior and I realized that this was the same radio station with that offer. I asked the receptionist about it and she made me watch the video - a video about building wealth and some inspirational stuff. I was then ushered into an office and the man (Ernest Smith) I knew of personally walked in. I did make the mistake of trusting him because of where I knew him from - huge mistake. 

He proceeded to tell me how they have a business barter exchange, how I could have my own radio show and they have millions of listeners because they are nationally syndicated and they have a partnership with iheartradio. They offered me a month worth of advertising for my nonprofit project. I was looking to grow my business, honestly and the business barter exchange and my own short radio show seemed like a good idea at the time. Looking back, I see where and how he was trying to hustle me in his demeanor and his words. I ignored the flag that went off in my head because of who he was in my community. Big mistake.

They got me for a 15 min radio show with a 6 month "contract" - which on later review cannot hold up legally but I will get to that. This was about $95 a month. They also got me for $25 a month for the business barter exchange. I was told to come back for an appointment in two days to get set up.

I came back for the appointment - I should have known better. I met with a woman (she is one of the partners in this). She had a whole manual and all this stuff I had to fill out about my business. I had to watch all these videos on how to set up my account with the exchange. She kept telling me don't worry, they actually do the initial business set up for the barter and then I can add my items and services. I then went to the radio station side. Fill out a whole manual on "radio training" - like "I agree to send in the recording of my show on time". Basically, if you record your show in the studio there are all these charges. Turns out, you could record your show on your cell phone!

Now they teach you the structure - how to basically scam people. So the point of having your own show is so that you can charge people for the recording and/or video recording of their interview. As all this was happening, I was hit up over 20 times by the host for the initial interview I did, to pay $100 for audio and video of my interview. He wanted me to meet up with him and provide him with a flash drive and he would give me my recordings. I dodged him for a month and then declined. The man came in to tell me also, I could set up a partnership with another host to share the cost of the recording time fees. 

I was there for this training for a total of 5 hours with no break and was exhausted. At the end, they make you stand in front of their step and repeat while the woman records you with a tablet making positive statements about the radio station, the man (Ernest Smith) and the business barter. I now know they do it at the end of the "training" when your mind is mishmash so it doesn't seem odd to you.

From there - I started to dig for info on this company - something I should have done in the beginning. I searched and found scam alerts. I couldn't find a definitive social media presence which was alarming. My interview wasn't promoted at all - the radio hosts I sat with barely had followers and didn't even list my interview or any other actually. Their youtube was non existent. They don't promote their hosts or anything. Additionally, I realized that basically they just stream over iheartradio and tunein - maybe 25 people listen a week. I wanted to cry. The business barter exchange website looks like it was made in 2000 and had very few listings. I couldn't even access my account for 3 weeks. I randomly got an email finally providing access after that. They said they were making a banner to promote my show for their website. I did not get an email for that until mid June even though I took the picture for it at the training (which I wasn't prepared for). 

They make you come for Saturday "trainings" once a month - media training they say. They also make you pay for media passes so that you can "get into any event around the city free because you have this valuable media badge". They charge $25 for it. I did not get it. I went to the first Saturday training. It's 4 hours of hype on how to hustle people to pay for you to interview them. After that experience, I knew I was done. I sent several emails demanding to cancel my contract which were never responded to. They charged me for the first month and I let it go. I was mentally preparing myself to lose $600+ on this terrible deal. They didn't charge me for July at all and then charged me in August. I disputed the charges and I won - getting refunded by my bank. They had the nerve to try and charge me again a week ago. I disputed that as well and my bank cancelled my card so that they can't charge it.