Complaint Review: American Data Group A Frontier Publishing Company - Santa Barbara California

I am in Customer Service at American Data Group, and would like to respond to Naomi's complaint. On January 6th, 2009 Naomi ordered our program for assistance in finding employment. She asked that the billing be deferred until 13th, which we did, explaining that we were happy to do so but that this would, of course, delay shipment. On January 15th she called, spoke to me and requested that we email her a job search for opportunities in her area, which we did on January 21st.  On January 23rd she asked for another update, which was emailed to her on the 27th.  February 2nd she requested a new update, which was emailed the next day.  On the 11th she asked for another job search; it does appear that this request was unintentionally overlooked, and she did not receive an email on this one occasion.  During our conversations with Naomi prior to this, she acknowledged receiving all of the emails sent to her, and simply wanted further help. 

On March 13th she called and said she wanted a refund; the customer service representative went over the return policy, and gave her the date by which the materials needed to be postmarked in order to be within the refund deadline.  Three days later she spoke to me, stated that she had thrown the materials away and that she had been told she did not need to return anything, and could, somehow, obtain a refund by simply calling the company.  (I should add here that in the written policy Naomi received, the first statement of instructions regarding obtaining a refund says, plainly, "return the book in reusable condition").

We determined, through recordings of all calls made to and from our company, that her assertion was innaccurate, that she had been told that it was required to return the materials, in addition to receiving these instructions in writing, etc.  However, in order to lay this matter to rest, the CEO of our company authorized us to give Naomi a partial refund (amounting to about 80 % of the program cost) which we did on March 20th.  In doing so, we did not and do not concede any obligation to do this, at that time or in the future; given that, and the facts stated above, not only do we not feel Naomi has any conceivable cause of complaint, but should instead be feeling rather grateful to us.

I see this company is a rip off, Naomi. Since late April 2009, I recieve the packet of job opportunities with the government, but none of them did not pertain to my skills/experiences. I am not an unskilled, poor worker, but these jobs require BA, PhD degrees. I am unable to pursue those type of degrees now. Earlier today, I tried to get in contact with Mr. Nick Horndek on the 1800#(no extensions of 1150) I was calling on was unable to process refund I paid($79.95) and directed me to the 805#. This number I had to leave a message on. Strangely, the 1800# was where I paid for the packet, but cannot process refund orders. Now, I cannot imagine how long will they pull this off of not refunding my money. Out of obivousness, I have their address, phone#, Careerbuilder.com's printable posting, and a representative's full name. How stupid can one company be to leave that many traces behind, not to mention my checking account's transaction/routing number? Word of advice everyone, go to your bank for the refund, not to the BBB, FCC< or FTC. It would be too late to get a full refund by the time 60 days are up from bank's timeframe. Thanks Naomi for the semi-heads up.