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eMerchant Club Smart Living Company Misrepresentation, Fraudulent, Scam, Unethical Business Practices, Dishonest Henderson Nevada
On Sept. 14, 2015, I paid $9.95 for the specials, 1st month and on Oct. 2, and Nov. 2, 2015, I paid $29.95, for the gift business hosting fees. The website itself is free, which offered 100-of the Smart Living Company (SLC) products that would cost the consumer $19.95 or less.
On Sept. 25, 2015, I spent $72.78 on the purchase of catalogs, to distribute.
On Oct. 6, 2015, I was contacted, offered and I accepted an upgrade that would allow me to offer 50-SLC products, of any price range and 25 non-SLC products. The cost of the upgrade was $595.00 and was to be made in 6-payments of $100.00 and the last $95.00. As of today, I have made 2-payment towards the upgrade. (The information of my confirmation # was 655748 for the upgrade and the receipt of the 1-st payment was emailed to me and now has mysteriously, disappeared.)
On or about Oct. 22, 2015, was when I first opened the store to the website and prior to and since, I have invited just over 500 to the site by means of word of mouth, business cards, emails, catalogs, and social media. As of today, the website has not produced 1-order.
I have contacted tech support with many issues, for the following reasons:
For about 2-weeks, I had not received the expected kit with the training manual, price list and catalogs. When I called one time, I was told that I would have had to request the kit and when I called again, was told, it was to have been automatic and they could see it was not sent and would be shipped out that day. This was a delay as it was finally received.
In the stores back office it stated in the mail box and showing that I am permanently banned from the site. I contacted tech support who told me this was a problem that lies with my internet service provider. All of the techs with eMerchant with the exception of 1-said they had never had this issue. The 1-said they have seen this issue with Google Fiber who is my internet provider.
I contacted my IS provider, who informed me that it would take approx. 5-days before they could look into the problem of the site, which resulted in me closing the store, during this time. The Internet provider disagreed and said the problem lies with the company that host the web-site and it is they, who can remove the block.
I called eMerchant tech support again, and told they were to route my complaint to another dept. to handle my problem and was told the hosting co. of the website is handled by a 3rd-party.
I then was told by the tech support of eMerchant, they now would check out everything and restore everything, stating this should take care of the problems and again, this took days to resolve. Again, this resulted in me having to close the store again. Afterwards, I then had to re-enter all of the information that I had previously entered that took a lot of time.
On the navigation key for the numbers to appear on the order form was originally set at 2 and then I had set it 102. The manual said that once set, how it cannot be set to a lower number, however, I went back to this place, to find it was set back again, to 2.
On the website I had 2-products in the carousal that did not have the “buy now” link, that would of given the customer information about the product and cost. I was advised to remove these and put 2-other products, rather than them installing the links.
I was told with the upgrade that I would be able to send out 50-Grand Opening Announcements, per day for a total of 200, which was offering a 25% discount off the total purchase. The email generated an error when I tried to send out 50. I then contacted tech support and was told to only send out 20-per day, because more than that would appear that I was spamming. I did as suggested and received a message, that was saying that the 20-exceeds the amount to send. I then tried to send the emails later, from my cell phone. I was not getting a message, that I was expecting that said the “emails was successfully sent.”
The Training Manual states that each email is to separated with a (;). and then I did so with a space. I contacted tech support and was told that I am not to have a space between the (;) and the next email. I did as instructed and it still would not allow me to send emails. The Manual did not state that it should not be a space, but is shown as if does have a space.
I then sent the emails, 1-at a time. I then contacted 1-of the recipients of the email, who said it was received 7-times. I explained all of this to the tech, and told this could be the reasons for the block, which may have appeared to be spam, to the customers.
I was not able to view the emails from the mailbox from my desktop, but could from cell phone. At one time I was told that I should not send emails from my desktop, but do so from my cell phone. I then was told not to send out emails until further notice.
I contacted tech support again and was told to send my emails,, now from my gmail account rather than the store site of the gift business. I sent 20 emails ending with a ; and most were returned as undelivered. These were those that I had just received their business cards the day before at a networking event and were good, up todate and current emails.
On Nov. 13, 2015, I contacted Brenda Dukes who was assigned as my SLC Account Rep with questions about Fund-Raising.
On Nov. 13, 2015, later that evening, now from my desktop, I can not gain access to my gift business website, to the back office of the store, nor their website, which now has a message stating “This webpage is not available,” but I am able to gain access by my cell phone. I then and now have currently closed the store again, from the cell phone.
On Nov. 16, 2015, I contacted tech support and they are now telling me, that it is my computer. Again, I am able to gain access to all other sites except those mentioned above in No. 14.
On Nov. 19, 2015, I contacted the eMerchant tech support to cancel all services to learn that according to the billing, as it was said repeatedly that I was only to be charged $394.00 for the upgrade of the hosting of the website that I only owed $194.00. I have this conversation recorded as well as the one on Oct. 6, 2015. Please refer back to the 3-rd paragraph of this complaint.
I now believe Eric Morse, the Advanced Website Representative, 1-800-522-6590, is the one who sold me the upgrade is also involved in this fraud and also believe that orders may have been placed and someone is on the other end to receive the orders and receive the money. Because as said, I have directed a lot of traffic to the site and have not received 1-order.
Also on Nov. 19, 2015, I forwarded an email from my internet service provider to the tech support of eMerchant Club in c/o Jesus Gonzalez, which stated the following: I recommend contacting your provider who helped set up your website to reset your Dynamic DNS. Configure DNS for your Network Start your PC in Safe Mode.
Gonzalez was contacted on Nov. 23, 2015 and said he never received the email, is false and asked that I resend it and did. eMerchant Club is still wanting to say the fault lies with my internet service provider, when the problems existed, before and after, eMerchant restored the website.
eMerchant Club has agreed on Nov. 23, 2015, to cancel the website and is only willing to refund, $269.85 and is not willing to pay other damages. This is unacceptable as I will pursue, legal actions.
If you have had any problems, with this company, file your complaints here, the BBB of Henderson, NV, bureau of Consumer Protection-Federal Trades Commission, and FBI (United States Federal Bureau of Investigation) at the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3).
2 Updates & Rebuttals
UPDATE
#3Author of original report
Mon, November 30, 2015
UPDATE
On or about Oct. 22, 2015, was when I first opened the store to the website and prior to and since, I have invited just over 500 to the site by means of word of mouth, business cards, emails, catalogs, and social media and never received 1-order.
On Nov. 16, 2015, I called (eMC) & told it is my computer. Again, I am able to gain access to all other sites, but not the (eMC) or my gift business website.
On Nov. 18, 2015 I received an email from tech support stating “We want to inform you that we have resolved the issue with the widget and now is working correctly”. But has responded to the complaint saying that the website did not have any problems.
Also on Nov. 19, 2015, I forwarded an email from my IS provider to the tech support of (eMC) in c/o Jesus Gonzalez, which stated the following: I recommend contacting your provider who helped set up your website to reset your Dynamic DNS. Configure DNS for your Network Start your PC in Safe Mode.
I called (eMC) Nov. 19, 2015 to cancel all & told billing for the upgrade, costed $394.00 & not $595.00 as told Oct. 6, 2015. Eric Morse, the Advanced Website Representative, 1-800-522-6590, is the one who sold me the upgrade and I now believe is also involved in this fraud and I also believe, orders may have been placed and someone is on the other end to receive the orders and the money.Please refer back to the 3-rd paragraph of this complaint. (The information about the upgrade & confirmation # was 655748 and the receipt of the 1st payment was emailed to me and now has mysteriously, disappeared.)
Gonzalez was called, Nov. 23, 2015 & said he never received the email, I sent from the IS provider is false & asked me to resend it. (eMC) says the fault lies with my IS provider, when the problems existed, before & after, (eMC) restored the site.
(eMC) talks as if there were not any problems for my reasons to cancel. See Attachment: about the widget being fixed and from their Manual that clearly says how many emails I could send as it relates to my Grand Opening Announcements. I have this conversation recorded where I am told to only send out 20 emails at one time. NOTICE: The info when it speaks about the semicolon! Again, I am able to access all sites, but not my website, the back of the store or the eMerchant Club website, however they want to elude to the fact, that it is my IS provider, that has the problem.
On Nov. 23, 2015, (eMC) did agree to cancel the website and did refund $269.85, on Nov. 23, 2015 but is not willing to pay for other expenses, loss & damages such as incurred promotional expenses, loss of time and the inability to use the website.
On Nov. 24, 2015, I received an email from the Microsoft Online Security Team stating that my account had been compromised.
On Nov. 27, 2015 and as late as Nov. 30, 2015, I learned the (eMC) still had the website up and running along with back store, after I had closed shop, that was supposedly canceled, stating that it would be up temporarily. This conversation, has been recorded.
(eMC) was not able to tell me for how long, is temporary and said, it was up because I filed a complaint and how it was needed to be up to show that it was properly functioning. It was not nor had it been properly functioning, was one of the many reasons for the cancellations. (eMC) says no one would be able to order anything, if they were to go to the site. I believe the store was open to receive orders!!!
(eMC) says they still have exclusive rights to have the website up and running, even after I had canceled the site. After contacting many other websites, I am told this is not true.
I just contacted the Smart Living Company, the one for which I would get my products from, says one does not have to use (eMC) to host their website.
Do a search for “web hosting services.” There you will find the Top 10 Best web hosting companies that's free and/or 10-times cheaper,, than (eMC) who is is a ripoff and a scam, costing $29.95 per month. You will be very disappointed in using the eMerchant Club, to host your website.
eMerchantClub LLC
Henderson,Nevada,
USA
Issue was with her Internet Service Provider
#3UPDATE Employee
Wed, November 25, 2015
eMerchantClub is surprised that Ms. Phox has chosen to complain about our service after it was verified by an email received from her Internet Service Provider that her issue was due to a setting she needed to change on her ISP account and had nothing to do with our service. eMerchantClub went above and beyond our duty to help her solve the issue she experienced. Her issue was a result of a setting with her Internet Service Provider and her home computer. The bottom line is she needed to change settings on her ISP account to resolve this issue.
First and foremost, the website she purchased from us was functional the entire time she was having an issue, as was proven to her numerous times – in fact, she was able to access her website and her website’s Site Manager from her smart phone. We also verified that her website was accessible by testing in multiple states with multiple ISP and cell phone providers. A Google search proves that her website, www.larondasgifts, is live and accessible. We’ve provided a screen shot of a Google search performed today, and you can see the first search result is her website. It states her website was temporarily closed on November 9th, which she did herself and was before her ISP got back to her with instructions on how to resolve their issue; they said it would take 5 days to research, but it in fact took double the amount of time for them to get back to her.
After numerous phone calls and troubleshooting sessions with Ms. Phox and after determining that the issue was not on our end, we asked to have a 3-way call with Ms. Phox and her Internet Service Provider to resolve the issue, but she refused. She contacted her Internet Service Provider on her own. When they did investigate, they sent her an email on November 19th with a list of actions that she needed to complete to change her settings on her ISP account and computer, but apparently the steps were never completed. Looking at the dates, she created a complaint before her ISP even got back to her.
Ms. Phox’s website was active and accessible to customers across the internet from the day it was built for her, even during the period in which she couldn’t access it from her home computer.
Here are a list of actions we performed to diagnose the issues Ms. Phox was experiencing with her website from her home computer:
Ms. Phox’s complaint should be focused on her Internet Service Provider, and not eMerchantClub. We honored our contract with her, and went above our normal call of duty to help her. Despite the terms and conditions she agreed to, which state that we do not give refunds, we made an exception for her because this issue is something we never encountered before. Ms. Phox feels she is entitled to more than a full refund, which is not acceptable based on all the service and work we performed for her that had nothing to do with our service or our company.
If Ms. Phox would have made the changes suggested by her ISP, this issue would not have escalated.
We wish her all the best in her future online business endeavors.