The Vertical Project USA Inc. Luke Lowrey The Vertical Project Hidden service or membership charges, deceptive advertising and billing. Beverly Hills, California
The company seems to often "sell" you a membership to their services in addition to the purchase of any eBook.
I write "seems to often 'sell'", because in my case and in the case of others who told me about the site, we purchased the Vertical Leap eBook at a special 4-day "sale" price of $1.
That the only amount or product indicated on the order page, and the only amount or product indicated on the order confirmation. However, a month later I was charged $179.85 for a membership fee to the "Inner Circle" which was NOT listed on the order page, nor in the order confirmation.
I had no idea that I even had a membership if I would even have wanted to use that service.
Calls the company go unanswered and email to the customer service only complains that there is a section in the website that indicates that I had agreed to join their membership (even though it is not anywhere on the order page, nor in the order, nor the order confirmation... which only shows the purchase of a $1 eBook).
I later learned that Better Business Bureau give them an F rating; I now know why.
So buyer be very weary.
4 Updates & Rebuttals
Justin E
United States of AmericaTrying to get my refund!
#5General Comment
Sat, May 08, 2010
Hey, I'm dealing with the exact same situation you had (Luke Lowrey is a scumbag...) and I was wondering if there was any way you could give me a clearer idea of what you said in your emails to the vertical project and how long it took you to get your refund. I just discovered I've been paying these hidden charges for about 5 months, and I am pretty desperate to get back the money he stole...Congratulations on getting your money back! Please help, I'm in the hole like $1000 right now and I cannot afford this...thank you so much if you can take the time to help!
JLo13
United States of AmericaHELP
#5Consumer Comment
Fri, March 05, 2010
Hey man,
Good job getting your refund.
I'm having some problems getting mine back.
I'm not sure what steps to take now. How long did it take you to get your refund?
Please reply. Thanks!
Jason
United States of AmericaManaged to get to charges to stop and to be refuned
#5Author of original report
Sun, December 27, 2009
I managed to get the charges to stop (that was the easy part) and to have my "membership" refunded... which just took some persistance.
I immediately called my credit card company to complain about fraud, and for them to not authorize further charges from The Vertical Project.
While the credit card company was investigating I sent a series of email messages to the company asking for an explanation, for them to stop the charges and demanding a refund.
I was persistent in "reminding" them that there was zero indication of any membership on my invoice and that the credit card company would also be investigation, so they'd probably be better-off dealing with me than with them (I suspected that if theverticalprojet had pull this stunt with others, they'd probably have a few complaints against them). I sent 5-6 or strongly worded, yet polite messages and eventually they agreed to refund me. If they didn't response to an email, I'd wait a few days and send another, reminding them that I'm waiting for a response.
Their response was a form letter - a friend of mine (who told me about the offer) was in the same boat and got the very same email responses - so I'm guessing that they are used to this.
So my advice would be to call your credit card company first, then to email their customer service explaining the steps that you've taken and to be very, very persistent.
Timothy
oaklyn,New Jersey,
United States of America
question
#5Consumer Comment
Sun, December 27, 2009
Did you get a refund or did you get the charges to stop? Because the same thing has happened to me.