Complaint Review: SMC Ecommerce Division

For sometime my wife and I have wanted to own an online business. When we saw the Tom Bosley ad regarding the SMC company and their website program we thought this was the answer.

Upon calling, I was told that before any of my website questions or any references would be provided I must become an SMC member. I agreed and paid my membership fee in full. I was told that the ecommerce division would contact me to set me up with the website.

A day or two later the ecommerce salesperson (Will Mayer) called me. I wanted my wife present so he agreed to call later that day when she would be home. At that call I put Mr. Mayer on speaker so that both my wife and I could hear what was said.

During this call we specifically asked for a website that contained "sight, sound, and movement". We also requested a website that would be "interactive and entertaining for my customers". We explained that neither of us has a lot of computer experience and would not be able to do this if it required a lot of computer knowledge.

We were promised that this would be easy and that our website would contain all of these things and more. We were also told that we would be recieving some emails regarding the completion of my website and that we needed to fill these out and get them sent in right away so as not to delay the websites construction. We agreed to purchase the "Platinum Package", the best website program for almost $4000 only after being assured that I would have 30 days to cancel if I wasn't satisfied. I was also promised references from existing web customers.

In a short time we recieved the emails and completed the information and returned them as rapidly as we could so we would get the finished website as quickly as possible.

On October 20, 2005 approximately two weeks after the order we recieved an email congratulting us on the completion of our website.

We immediately did not like the quality of the site. It contained no movement, or sound, nor was it the entertaining site we had been promised. Furthermore the site was not even complete. It required a substantial amount of computer knowledge including HTML training to complete. We were hoping that this was a mistake and that it would be rectified quickly.

I called Tech Support to discuss this, and was told that I had to go to the internet and download and read a 98 page training manual, and then list all of my questions before calling back.

After realizing that this was not what we had agreed to purchase, my wife and I decided to cancel. We were still well within the 30 day period, so I called the cancellation number provided us by the salesperson. This number rings, but is never answered. I tried calling this number dozens of times over a 4-5 day period. Finally, I called the salesperson back and told him that we were not happy and wanted to cancel. He assured us that everything would be taken care of and the site would be brought up to our expectations and that Tech Support would be contacting me very soon to take care of this.

Later that evening my wife answered a call from Tech Support and, (taking a message for me) again we were told that we needed to go to the internet and read the manual, then call back to get our questions answered. When my wife shared this message with me I was livid, and decided to definately cancel at this point. (Still well within the 30 day requirement)

The next day I again tried the cancellation number...no answer! Once again I contacted Mr. Mayer and told him in no uncertain terms of my desire to cancel. He then informed me that he was too busy to talk and needed to call me back after 4:30 his time to discuss this. I explained that that was not necessary and that I wanted to cancel, period.

He then told me that a supervisor would be calling me to take care of this cancellation. Concerned about running out of the 30 day clause I asked when this supervisor would be calling. Mr. Mayer answered within 24 hours. No supervisor or for that matter anyone from this company has ever called me regarding cancelling this order.

When we did not hear from a supervisor we became fearful that perhaps we were the victims of fraud and decided to call our credit card company and see if they could help. After explaining our problem to them they agreed to dispute this matter and credit my account accordingly.

I am not sure if this money can be charged back to me or not? I am worried about it as I have recieved 2 emails from this company denying my request for refund. They are denying my request on the basis of some tricky lanquage on the bottom of one of the emailed pages I returned and was required to build the site.

I was never provided a copy of this but according to them it seems to say that if I return the page I cannot get a refund. In my hurry to get these forms back to them I did not see this before, and certainly would not agree to commit almost $4000 dollars to a website without even getting a chance to see the finished product. I still don't believe it. What happened to the 30 day right to cancel?

In any case within the 30 days, I have written them a cancellation request, called the salesperson to request cancellation, sent several emails to tech support requesting cancellation, and contacted my credit card company to dispute these charges.

I don't know what is going to happen regarding my refund request, but this company is definately doing business using deceptive practices and outright lies.

Rob
Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
U.S.A.

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