I saw an "Infomercial" on TV, which was VERY well done. After seeing the testimonials, I called the toll free number and registered for a 6pm class in Fresno Ca. which was to take place on 03 October 07. I am 100% Permanently and Totally Disabled due to injuries sustained in the Persian Gulf. I called to make sure the conference was going to be wheelchair accessible. It was at a hotel.
After going through the two hour, no breaks, HYPE CEREMONY, I was shocked that the "Pastor from High Point N.C." was telling me that they wanted TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS for this "course". But, for a limited time only, just because we committed ourselves to our financial future, we were going to get a special deal. Only $2995.00 if you paid "TONIGHT" up front, in full. Here was a company, directed by a FORMER MARINE OFFICER? that promised, with a written gaurantee that they were going to help me recover my life, and find the financial freedom that was stolen from me.
My ex-wife took everything I owned while I was recovering from spinal injuries, left with my son's baseball coach, and I have been trying to recover from losing my 22 years of military service, retirement, and savings. The "Pastor from High Point N.C." promised me that regardless of my condition, I could make money EVERY DAY if I wanted to.
I was going to learn the inside secrets to amassing a fortune. Which is what he did, so that he could do "God's Work". I told THREE of these "men" that I was going to be undergoing another spinal surgery, and would NOT be able to attend the TWO DAY WORKSHOP in Bakersfield nearly three weeks later (23 October 07). I was assured, FOUR TIMES, that it didn't matter because they had a Special DVD set called their "Distance Learning Course" that would be shipped to me, and I was assured that all the INSIDE SPECIALS I was entitled to as a paid up member were coming my way! 23 October went by, after seven emails trying to find out where the DVDs were, and nothing happened.
I got on the phone AGAIN to the "Support Center" and talked with a very pleasant lady named Amelia who very calmly told me that the instructors should have taken care of this problem a long time ago, and she would make sure that I not only got an answer TODAY (26 October 07), but that she would PERSONALLY make sure I got an email with a date/time of expected delivery of the said DVDs of the Distance Learning Course. She apologized profusely and promised me that I would get an immediate response.
To date, i have not only NOT gotten a response, a return call to Amelia went un-answered! Not only was the "Support Center" NOT IN ATLANTA Georgia, when I called the information line in Atlanta, they never heard of Better Trades and had no listing!
I had concerns from the time I registered, that "the other shoe was going to drop". I knew I could not afford, neither physically or financially to get hooked into a "dirty deal" and be ripped off by a con. The amount of MISERY that I had to go through just to get out of the house, drive an hour and fifty minutes to get to the hotel, STAND through two hours doing laps around the back of the conference room to get the information I needed to make a decision, I was LIED TO MY FACE by people who KNEW my medical condition.
One of them even poked me in the back with his fingers, in a gesture to tell me where to strengthen my back muscles after I had JUST explained that I had recently undergone a spinal surgery. I grabbed his arm in an instinctive reaction to the agony he had inflicted with his fingers, and his eyes got big when he realized he had just poked his fingers into my bandages! "You really DID just have back surgery didn't you!?" and then proceeded to apologize. Now, I am pretty certain that he was "testing my story", with the intention of proving that you can't bullshit a bullsh**ter! I left, pretty upset that I had been poked in the incision, feeling that I had been stabbed in the back. However, that doesn't even come CLOSE to how "stabbed in the back" I feel at this moment in time.
Every step of this process has been a seriously controlled, seriously planned and seriously executed process to extract $3000.00 UP FRONT MONEY from every person who fell for the infomercial. I got on the internet to find Freddie Rick's personal information so I could contact him and tell him what his company was doing, what some of his underlings were "up to" and how they had failed to comply with common courtesy never mind directives that were in writing and promised by everyone I had talked to.
I was feeling a degree of respect due to his military service as a U.S. Marine and a degree of comraderie as a fellow Officer and SOLDIER planning on giving him a "heads up" as I would expect and appreciate the exact same thing if someone in MY company fell short of completing their commitments and duties! THAT IS WHEN THE OTHER SHOE DROPPED!
If there is another person on this planet that has the will power, the dedication, and the perseverence to follow this to the absolute END, to make sure this company either lives up to it's promises, or goes out of business, I would love to meet that person so that we can TEAM UP and make it happen. I will NOT be victimized by this company, or ANY OTHER company. Class action lawsuit? Sign Me UP! But not just for the final verdict. I want an ACTIVE PART in making sure this company burns in hell. I want to make sure that any other person or company that THINKS for a second of preying on honest hard working Americans will look at Better Trades, and what WE have done to make them PAY BACK, and decide it's better if they don't! It's PAST TIME to draw a line in the sand and say, "If you put out an infomercial and make promises that you can't keep, and you rip people off, there is no place you can hide. No attorney that can save your a*s, and no way in hell you are going to get away with it!"
Steven
Mariposa, California
U.S.A.