Optionetics Promises made in pre-seminars are not kept and deceitful Redwood City California
At the free seminars that this Optionetics company repeatedly have the presenter will give examples of trades that made a lot of money. He or she will say that there are even real trades given at the non free seminars that students can call in to trade right at the seminar. Nothing is ever mentioned about further education, tools required etc. They present the seminar as being something that one can attend and just after they attend they can start to practice the theories and make some profitable trades. There is also a 2 part guarantee where one can return the course material by the afternoon of the first day and get a full refund or after 6 months if they did not achieve a 300% return on the class tuition.
The fine print which was never mentioned by the presenter is that 36 'Optionetics limited risk' trades must be opened and closed during that time. This is nearly impossible for someone who is new to trading as it will take more than 6 months of trial and error to get even 1 profitable trade.
At the paid seminar there is no new information given until after the deadline for the full refund has passed. Then on the second day, which is a trading day there was a trade given to the class which was completely inaccurate. False information regarding the earnings date for the company was told to the entire class. There was no internet access at the class so there was no way to verify the information. Many of the students called to their brokers to execute the trade only to find out that it was based on false information. When I tried to ask about this issue on their bulletin boards all the information concerning this was removed mysteriously from the board.
Besides all of this, on the second day all day long all the students get is a bombardment of marketing propaganda for very expensive classes, software and services that the instructors seem to imply are needed to be successful in trading.
Overall it is a decent basic class to learn about options but to charge $2995 for such a simple class is a complete rip-off. One can learn this for a small amount of probably under $300 and not get all of the marketing drilled at them.
Ian
Tustin, California
U.S.A.
3 Updates & Rebuttals
John
Baltimore,Maryland,
U.S.A.
Your 2nd post
#4Consumer Comment
Sun, October 30, 2005
I will only address your 2nd post as the reply to the 1st I have addressed in other postings on this site regarding optionetics. Do a search on optionetics on this site and read the threads.
So, regarding your statement that optionetics clarify what is being pushed in the 2 day seminar, do realize while optionetics is an educational company trying to help, they are also a business. I haven't been to a free seminar in a while, but last time I checked, it was still a lot better than what Wade Cook was pushing in his free AND paid seminars. Optionetics delivers upfront good info in the 2 day without holding back more for the non-professional trader. As for the errors, I see your point, but you can't say your perfect either. As for what you paid, you got exactly that and nothing more. Good quality education instead of some red light green light system.
I realize this is a year late, but like my other posts on this site, since I'm not an employee, I'm not obligated to scan the net for complaints.
Ian
Tustin,California,
U.S.A.
Reply to the owner's reply ..false earnings statements is incorrect
#4Author of original report
Mon, November 22, 2004
The statement about false earnings statements is incorrect. What I said is that the trade of the day which was stated in bold letters above the trade in detail had listed that the earnings date was 11/8 when in reality it was 10/20. This was obviously an oversight on Optionetics part but with 250 students some of whom are new to options and were told there would be real trades given in class these things should be double checked before presenting it to the masses. I see regularly there are errors such as this in the newsletters I receive from the company and often the corrections are sent out after the errors are found. I did not mishear or misunderstand anything, whoever created the slide with the trade on it did not verify the information. The posted replies (on the bulletin board) are similar to the ones found here, completely missing the point.
Another complete inaccuracy is the statement:
"Ian contacted us after his seminar wanting us to give him free additional products. When the customer service rep. politely refused we got this report filed against us instead."
1) I filed this report before calling customer service.
2) I didn't call to try to get free additional products, I only asked for the ones that were included with the fee I already paid.
I see the owner will try to hide the truth often in his rebuttals by going down a completely different path from where the complaint was coming from - same as the presenters do in the free seminars.
Just to set the record straight I will say the company is not 100% rip-off just that they imply a lot more than they deliver. If they disclose everything about the paid-for seminars at the free seminars then I will be satisfied. This includes the details about the guarantees (not only in the small print of the contract but in words at the seminar). They need to say the 300% or your money back in 6 months guarantee requires 36 Optionetics open and closed trades and the proof of this is required before the 7th month ends. They need to tell the people in plain English at the free seminars that there will be several expensive classes, software and other tools marketed to them at the paid class. They need to say these would be very helpful to be successful but are not totally required. If these two items are corrected I would be willing to withdraw my complaint.
Just as is required by the SEC, full transparency and full disclosure is required of public companies - even with these strict rules we still get the many rogue companies such as Enron and the rest. All I ask for is transparency and no surprises. There are several other students who seem to agree with me (just look at the other complaints on this web site) ... so these two small changes will go a long way to keeping Optionetics reputation as a positive one.
Richard
Redwood City,California,
U.S.A.
Correction to Ian's statements
#4REBUTTAL Owner of company
Tue, November 02, 2004
Hi:
I regret this customers experience but it is not reflective of the truth or anything close to reality. Let me explain.
* The Optionetics 2 day intermediate seminar is complete and no further education or tools are required. This is mentioned and enforced in the contract that a customer signs. But we do have 12 years worth of alumni (40,000+) that want additional training that we also have available.
* Once you have paid your tuition you receive home study materials that you can review before you decide to continue.
* Like anything in life, some people attend and can start to trade immediately. Others need more assistance. We accomplish this by allowing a free lifetime repeat of the seminar to learn at their own pace and in different markets. Some thank us for their success others will blame us when things are disappointing.
* We are not a brokerage company. We are educators. We are not providing individual investment advice.
* The educational process is illustrated by looking at the stock market to find case studies. This has been our teaching style for 12 years. Over 16 hours +- of teaching marketing any additional services is a small amount of the learning process and often restricted to optional after hours sessions.
* 36 trades is not difficult to do over 6 months. It may seem like it when you start out but not when you understand what you are doing.
* The course consists of a home study library and also a live seminar. The materials are provided in advance. No surprises what we are about to teach. The first day of the seminar is option basics in the morning and then we move into more complex strategies in the afternoon.
* It is utter nonsense that our instructions would give out "false" earnings statements. The customer either misheard or misunderstood.
* The only part of Ian's discussion board post that was deleted that was offensive to our speaker - the original question was left intact. The boards are for positive discussion about trading not rude comments, spam, promotion etc. Don't take my word for it read his post which was never removed:
http://www.optionetics.com/bbs/topic.asp?topic_id=23023&forum_id=69&Topic_Title=Straddle+of+10%&forum_title=Ask+Alex+Mendoza&M=False&S=True
* But again, I know that we can't make everyone happy but we do try. We are a genuine group that want to do the right thing by our customers. We offer quality education and have literally thousands of testimonials to back up our claims. Thousands of happy customers.
But does that matter for Ian, no. He is obviously disappointed and that is all that matters. But when he attends another seminar for free perhaps he might see another instructor that he likes, hear a new idea that clicks and perhaps make his first successful trade. We won't give up on Ian until he is successful. If he wants to give up on his trading and flame us then not much I can do.
Ian contacted us after his seminar wanting us to give him free additional products. When the customer service rep. politely refused we got this report filed against us instead.
But one thing I do know is that we are not the company that is alleged in these posts.
Thanks for reading.