Complaint Review: National Small Business Alliance

WE HAVE MADE IT RIGHT FOR ALL WHO HAVE COMPLAINED HERE! Yet, we have had only ONE person respond positively.

I know of one member who had called me to tell me that she sent in a positive rebuttal because she felt that I was getting a raw deal. RipOff Reports has yet to post it.

I have responded in kind regarding my frustrations with this site. RipOff Reports never posts them either.

As I have with everyone else, I invite you to call me. Both John and Tom have and are happy they did. Tom has written something positive as I hope John will.

Keep in mind that I am the Founder, CEO and President of a very large membership organization and yet I personally take the time to address these issues. How mwny others at my level do you know who take the same interest in knowing what is going on and trying to fix it?

Dennis, you almost had me believing you until you agreed with Robin about "read before you sign" when you knew it was a telemarketing call that snagged the original poster. Now you are upset with Rip-off Report because "the good stuff doesn't get posted"? You need to read other reports where the companies being reported do respond, do what they said they were going to do, and the satisfied consumer posts that information. That's what this site is all about. You have the option to make things right. If you choose not to do so, don't blame Rip-off Report for making sure other consumers don't get taken.

John, I just realized that I hit the wrong digit for the member services telephone number. So much for getting to work at 5:00 AM.

The correct member services number is 800-506-6722 (NSBA).

Sorry for the mistake.

John, I know there are several people out there that are frustrated. But just think about the shear numbers associated with our company.

We have the best statistics in the country. Our retention rate is 67% better than our competitors. Our renewal rate 104% higher. Our satisfaction rate is well over 99%. And we have the least number of complaints of any other organization such as ours.

We do track all of this. This is why I get frustrated with sites such as this. The good stuff is never reported.

We are trying very hard to provide the best service we can. We are constantly expanding our customer service area and are in the process of acquiring a new phone system to better handle the load. All in all, the challenges we are facing are a result of rapid growth.

Also, I cannot find your information in our database. When someone cancels before we procss their order, we don't include their information in our database. I do want to speak with you. However, This site won't publish my phone number or e-mail address, accordingly I have to ask you to call customer service and ask for Raymond. He will provide you with my cell phone number.

Thanks!

Thanks Robin! I am happy to see that people are now starting to understand that there are two sides to every story.

John, I have searched our database extensively and cannot find you or Kathryn in your town. Since this site will not publish my telephone number or e-mail address and I do want to speak to you. I am asking you to call our customer service department at 800-406-6722 explain that I have asked you to call and to ask for Raymond.

I have instructed Raymond to provide you with my cell number.

The original poster does not say that they read anything because they received a telephone call. If "terms and conditions" are not expressly verified in a telephone conversation then the person receiving the call could not agree or disagree to the terms.

The response from Robin does make good sense, and good advice. But, not all these situations, obviously, are not all the same as how you were approached. First of all, our particular account was never activated simply due to the fact that my better half told me just what you said after i had given NSBA all the information they needed to access my bank account. Yes, i got a lecture. Yes, my wife did just what you suggested and low and behold, there was no where near as the same imformation as the sales person gave me. That is why she had no choice but to close our account so that it could not be accessed. Many, many phone calls were made to the customer service of NSBA which is the number the sales person did give me. Never once was I able to talk to a human being, just a machine. For our own safety that is why we closed the account. If you read all of the complaints, you will find a simularity between all of them. Maybe you need to read all of them to better understand what the real problem is.

I went to the NSBA website and went to the Terms and Conditions page. On that page it did not say anything about a credit card, it said "line of credit for travel and computers. I realze that in this day and age we are all guilty of skimming the "Terms" pages. We usually just click the "I agree" button and never really read anything. But shame on us for taking the short cut. We honestly have not right, as consumers, to complain when we are not acting responcibly but NOT READING. Every lawyer in the world will ask you if you read the contract before you signed. So will a judge. Please do not jump on the band wagon and scream fraud when you, the consumer, are at fault for not reading the "Terms and Conditions" of a agreement for which you are expected to pay for something. Please note that I have also felt badly when I didn't read things carefully, but I was usually adult enough to accept that I was in error - not the company who provided the service or product.

John, you are absolutely right! We all have been letting emotion take over good business sense. I do apologize for my comment. It wasn't the right way to handle the issue. I will call you on Thursday to discuss.

FYI: the reason I have been answering complaints personally is because, I feel, I need to be part of the front line to know what the challenges are that NSBA is facing as a company.

Part of the problem has been our rapid growth. We are constantly hiring more people for customer service and are in the process of getting a new phone system to better handle the load. We are trying very very hard. This is why I have been getting frustrated with ripoffreports.com. The site s designed to inflame and incite people's emotions to the point where they lose focus of the issues then exaggerate and fabricate. They just get caught up in the emotion. Unfortunately, so did I. The difference is that every fact that I have included in my responses are completely true.

Thanks again!

this is in my eyes a very simple area to understand. you can not honestly expect to do bussiness with the public if you do not deliver the exact product, or service that is agreed upon. now if it is true that all these people are wrong about your company, than why is it that the department that would handle lost accounts, or new accounts that choose to drop your service, are not calling the former customer back to resolve the misunderstanding. one better than that would be you dennis. your position with a company of this size, (as you claim).is this one account much more important to you than your status alone. every account matters. that is the bottom line in doing business. so why are you of all people in your company,(if you really are not a rip-off), making sure that all the complaints are answered, and an attempt is made to save the account. i never recieved a simple call back to see what went wrong that i felt that closing my bank account so you could not be paid. tell me you have no way of knowing who i am to call me, to see if you can correct whatever may have changed my mind. canal fulton ohio is a very small community, with very few businesses. that alone makes this lost account easy to find and do a call back on. my wife and i have worked hard to have the few little things we can call ours. i did that simply by delivering to my customers exactly what is agreed upon and making sure they are very satisfied with the service they received. yes, dennis that does mean giving a little back or a refund of GOOD FAITH, just maybe to recieve a good referral in the future, or a new loyal customer. business is being honest and loyal to your customer that in the long run is what pays your bills, and pays to raise your family. think about that next time you take a vacation, or just enjoy a night out. who really helped you pay for all this? could that be the customers your company has? my point is, every customer is very important to big and small business. i'm not hard to find in your own system dennis. unless my bussiness does not matter to you.

what are you upset that you couldn't get my money? why would i call you dennis? so you can try to tell me again that i was going to get a credit card with an 8000 dollar credit limit. or tell me that its only 99.95 down and 19.95 A month. and this would benefit our business. ha, you have me sadly mistaken for a fool.

if your phone calls are recorded then it is on tape that you do not tell these people that it is a credit card for only the places you sponsor for travel or a computer shop. or you don't tell these people that you will be taking the 19.95 a month years subscription all at once. when you tell someone A month that is what that means and nothing more. drama queen huh? well let's see.

when you are told that you will be getting a credit card for your business you think wow, awesome, this is what our business needs to grow. we can do this and this and this. oh no i had to read about you on rip-off reports. and read about all the horror stories that we were about to go through.

so how did it feel to find out i stopped payment on the 99.95 and the 239.40 that you were going to take out of our account? the last thing we need is for some company like you that was totally misleading on what we actually wouldn't have been getting tear our company apart, or cause us to shut down our business that my husband and i have woked hard for. now that/s drama!!!

Dennis, your canned response is getting old. Unfortunately, the people who post here are now writing down dates and times of phone calls to you and your refusal to answer those calls. One complaint, okay. Two complaints, a little shaky. More than two complaints, people will start catching on. Just like this poster has. While you consider it dramatic to close one's bank account, I consider it much easier to close the account than try to get money back from your company after reading these complaints.

We have over 45,000 happy members. I feel you are being too dramatic by closing your account.

It is unfortunate that you are influenced by a handful of people who don't have the resolve to call me directly when requested versus the 45,000 strong.

In each response I have asked each person to call me, not one has. I invite you too to call me also.