Smart Certify smartcertify.com AKA Forefront Direct Rip-off! Scam Courses/Services! Clearwater Florida
On May 17, 2004, I signed up for services with ForeFront Direct, Inc. This was after numerous messages left on my answering machine. I should have went with my instincts and should have told them to leave me alone.
My first encounter with ForeFront Direct, Inc. was quite a few months back. I had filled out their contact form requesting information on their certification training. The representative I spoke too seemed OK at first. This was until he realized I did not have the money to pay for the overpriced courses.
The representative tried numerous sales tactics, but with no avail. I did not have the money at the time. There was no point in badgering me for something I didn't have. When I finally and bluntly told him I didn't have the money, he responded, "I guess you are not really serious about getting your certifications." From then, I hung up on him. His comment was very unprofessional.
Since then, I had received quite a few messages on my answering machine from Smart Certify. I finally called them back and talked to someone. I had eventually agreed to their program. I was sent an e-mail in which I had to "login." to the account. I was told that in order for my account to be created, I had to login. Therefore, I logged in.
I looked over the courses and was not impressed. When I got home from work that same day, I looked over the courses again. Still, I found nothing worth what I was being charged for the courses. For a one year blanket access, I was to be charged $200.00/month for nine months (total of $1800.00). I sent an e-mail requesting cancellation of my service. I was told that per the terms of service agreement, I could not get a refund. It was recommended I contact customer service.
I called customer service (this is the day after I signed up). I was basically given the runaround. I was told that if I had not logged in to the account, I could have gotten a refund. This made (and still does not make) any sense. If I had not logged in initially, I would have not had the account created. Therefore, there would be no account at all. In which, there would not have been a $200.00 charge to my bank account. Finally, if there would not have had no charge to my bank account, there would be no money to refund. The customer service representative's statement completely contradicted itself.
I kept asking for a refund because past that statement, the only response I was getting was the representative quoting the terms of service agreement. Finally, I asked if they has customer service satisfaction guarantees. I was told no. I finally asked bluntly if I was getting a refund or not. I was told no. I hung up the phone and then filed a complaint with the Pinellas County Department of Justice.
It should be noted that Smart Certify, Inc. seems to have a shady practice. Their only refund is a 120-day money back guarantee. Of which, in order to receive a refund on a particular program, you must FAIL a certification test TWICE. It costs more to take a certification test twice than it does for one of their programs. Even if you studied their materials and memorized it and failed a certification test, your investment would still be negative/in the red.
I personally would not advise anyone to deal with this company. Their representatives are rude (on that one occasion mentioned), when asked certain questions, they give generic and contradicting statements. That alone sends up a caution flag about a company.
I have already been thorugh the Pinellas County DOJ. Smart Certify is standing on the grounds of not giving me a refund. I did not want to type too much here. I have posted a full investigation I done on Smart Certify on my website.
Nicholas
Morgan City, Louisiana
U.S.A.
Click here to read other Rip Off Reports on Smart Certify
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1 Updates & Rebuttals
Nicholas
Morgan City,Louisiana,
U.S.A.
Since my complaint, I have gotten part of the matter resolved, after threatening a lawsuit
#2Author of original report
Tue, November 09, 2004
Since my complaint, I have gotten part of the matter resolved. After threatening a lawsuit against their corporate office (SkillSoft), I was able to get the contract nulled. My next project is to try and get my $200.00 back.
I had written a second letter to Mr. Greg Porto, Executive Vice President of Administratio of SkillSoft. I had explained to Mr. Porto that when I had sent him the first letter dated August 26, 2004. At the time, there were only six complaints filed with the Pinellas County DOJ aginst them (including mine). As of the date of the last letter, October 14, 2004, there were sixteen complaints filed against them with the Pinellas County DOJ. Now, doesn't that seem like a bit of a problem?
I had finally called Mr. Porter again to see if he had received my letter. He stated he did and had forwarded it to the Smart Certify division. I had told him I still had not been contacted. He contacted them and within a couple hours or so I had received a call from Ms. Jennifer Rohrbough, Executive Assistant.
Ms. Rohrbough stated that I would not receive a refund because I had been givin CDs as poart of the package. I explained that I was never told anything about receiving CDs nor had I ever received the CDs. She then changed her story to the statement that I would not receive a my refund because my contract was cancelled in good faith and that I myself had not fulfilled any part of the contract.
Firstly, why the changing of stories? That is a common tactic used with Smart Certify when their lies don't work out as they'd like them to. Secondly, just because I allegdly did not "fulfill" the contract, that constitutes them stealing my money? They never stated that they would keep the $200.00 as ground for cancellation of the contract. The paper I received from them stated that the reason they cancelled the contract was because of "technical difficulty" with the software and that no one was at fault.
I then called Mr. Porto back and explained the situation and asked if anything would be done on the part of SkillSoft. He explained that they leave those issues in to the hands of the Smart Certify division. I told him that was their problem. They are letting Smart Certify division run amuck. You don't have to have an MBA degree to realize that when you have a large number of complaints on a site like ripoffreport.com and 10 more complaints being filed against your division in less than two months with the DOJ that there is something wrong.
I urge as many people as possible to file complaints with the Pinellas County Department of Justics, send letters to Mr. Greg Porto, send letters to the CEO and other big wigs at SkillSoft, file a complaint with the Florida Attorny General's Office, and even file a complaint with the BBB. I myself have lost a bit of faith in the BBB since I have noticed a few of my complaints seemed to be just ignored by them. But there are many out there whom look at those reports and if they see a good number of complaints, maybe it might light a fire up someone's butt.
My next step is to contact the CEO and CFO with the full details of how their company is being run.
I have provided the addresses below so that you can file the complaints.
Pinellas County Department of Justice
15251 Roosevelt Blvd.,
Suite 209,
Clearwater, FL 33760
(727)464-6200
FAX (727)464-6129
http://pubgis.co.pinellas.fl.us/consumer/submitbusiness.cfm
You can also send the complaints to consumer@co.pinellas.fl.us
To send a letter to Mr. Greg Porto:
Attn: Greg Porto
SkillSoft Corporate US Headquarters
107 Northeastern Blvd.
Nashua, NH 03062
You can also call 603-324-3000 and use the dial by name directory to contact Mr. Porto at SkillSoft.
Below is the address of Skillsoft as was posted above. But, please change the "Attn:" name to one or all of the following:
Charles E. Morgan (President)
Jerald A. Nine (Exec. Vice President)
Colm Darcey (Exec. Vice President)
Thomas J. McDonald (CFO, Exec VP, Secretary)
SKILLSOFT CORPORATION
107 NORTHEASTERN BLVD
NASHUA, NH 03062
You can file a complaint with the Florida Attorney General's Office at http://myfloridalegal.com/Contact.nsf/Contact?OpenForm&Section=Economic_Crimes .
For those that prefer snail mail, you can submit your complaint to the address below. You still have to fill out a form which can be obained here (which is in adobe acrobat form):
http://myfloridalegal.com/consumercomplaint.pdf
Office of the Attorney General
PL-01 The Capitol
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1050
Telephone: (850) 414-3990
Toll Free within Florida: 1-866-966-7226
Finally, the BBB, www.bbb.org.
I hope that most of these addresses and URLs make it to the finaly post.