Jennifer Powell/Coje Consulting, LLC Took $2400 to customize Zoho for my business, lied incessantly, delivered nothing Destin Florida
I met Jennifer Powell the day after a Zoho Conference. She claimed that she did not know I was there for Zoho, but I know that is a lie. We were both on our way to the airport, so she gave me her business card. I made contact with another Zoho Partner while I was at Zoho, but they never reached out to me, so I called Jennifer.
When I called, she claimed to have been bitten by a brown recluse in the lobby of the Austin Hilton (the chances of this happening are next to zero). I explained my business, and she sold me on all of these innovative ideas to streamline my business practices. She was going to revolutionize my business backend. I really just needed my email migrated to Zoho, but she sold me on numerous customizations that she was going to create. Her ideas were going to save me $700/year, and I would get tons of discounts through her Zoho partnership. She asked me for copious deliverables, which I promptly provided.
She sent a scope of work with milestones and then sent the first PayPal invoice, which I paid. (The only thing she is on top of is sending invoices to take your money.) A few weeks went by and we had or first meeting, where she was supposed to show me the work of the first milestone. As it turns out, she had really done nothing, stating in passing that she toyed with Projects and Sprints for a bit, but found this amazing, incredible solution that would only take four more hours and I would have this custom document submission pipeline. Will it do this? Of course! Will it do that? Oh yeah, absolutely! It sounded great. I paid the invoice. She also sent another invoice for the email migration (I think) so we could get that going. Of course, that went nowhere too.
Over the weeks that followed, she asked me for numerous things that she needed to make the necessary customizations and claimed to have started my email migration (without ever having asked where my domain was hosted). When it came time to deliver, the lies/excuses started, similar to other people who have been ripped off by her. Last minute travel, flight delays, mysterious illnesses, ANOTHER brown recluse bite (this time at Chicago O'Hare!). She cancelled meeting after meeting, making up even more ridiculous excuses (was hospitalized again, mother fell ill, stuck at the airport for two days, etc.). Finally, I gave her an ultimatum. She promised no more excuses, and SHOCKER, she did not deliver. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch.
As with another person that was scammed by her (see BBB review for Coje Consulting), she promised a refund in 5–7 business days, claiming that is how long it took on the Zoho side. She also told another previous victim that she was getting out of the hospital and was hit by a truck crossing the street! Imagine the horrible luck this woman has! She is a pathological liar, a con artist, and a criminal. She is a pitiful excuse for a human being. I called Zoho, and of course, they have no record of her initiating a refund.
I am a single parent and am recovering from cancer and the loss of my father to cancer. I work 100+ hours a week running my business, doing the work of my business, and trying to build my business. Now I am back to square one on this and am out $2400.
Jennifer Powell has multiple aliases and multiple businesses around the country, mainly in states with no income tax. Go figure. Some business licenses have been revoked. Once Coje Consulting is tainted, as I am sure it will be, she will move onto something else. Watch out for her. Spread the word!
Here are reports from her name/company aliases:
Sterling Rose Consulting Corp.
Coje Consulting
Jenody Enterprises
Gerlach Marketing
Jennifer A Rusz (Oh, the irony!)
Jennifer Gerlach
Jennifer Powell
Ripoff Report | GerlachMarketing, LLC Review - Chicago, Illinois
Sterling Rose Consulting Corp. | Better Business Bureau® Profile (bbb.org)
Coje Consultants | Complaints | Better Business Bureau® Profile (bbb.org)