Complaint Review: INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR FEMALE PROFESSIONALS (ISFP) - Garden city NY

As of today, May 16th 2020, there are hundreds of complaints about the International Association of Women (IAW) and its fellow companies: International Society for Female Professionals (ISFO) and  Worldwide Association of Female Professionals (WAFP).

ALL OF THEM tell the same history. Women deceived by a scam. These people have a very structured approach to their victims, as shown by the contents of the several complaints. Every time the costumer only got the cancellation and refund after posting a complaint on the Better Business Bureau (BBB) website.

This is an organization that:

* has a very aggressive sales approach;

* charges for services they do not perform;

* keeps adding monthly fees and charges to their initial "ONE TIME ONLY" payment;

* makes unauthorized charges using the clients credit card information;

* does not resolve the claims even after countless emails and phone calls, unless the costumer reaches through an official channel (like the Better Business Bureau). All of the 27 complaints handled by BBB against WAFP ended in a membership cancellation and refund.

The situation is so serious that they've issued an alert: "BBB files indicate a pattern concerning issues with the sales practices, billing and customer service of the National Association of Professional Women (NAPW), now called International Association of Women (IAW). Consumers tell BBB that they feel misled by company representatives regarding membership prices, membership levels, and additional fees for processing and set-up. Some consumers also allege that they were subjected to high pressure sales tactics by company representatives even before they understood the costs or benefits of joining the organization. Other consumers that originally agreed to join the organization but later choose to cancel or not renew the membership say that they are charged for it anyway and must reach out to company representatives to seek a refund."

The NAPW was funded in 2007 and for obvious reasons the name was  changed down the road to International Association of Women. However their business model did not change and after a new wave of online complaints they changed their name again and now operate under WAFP or ISFP.

Based on dozens of posted complaints and my own experience, here is how they operate:

11-      They have Ads in trusted networks like linkedin offering membership (no mention of cost).

22-      Women looking for networking or promoting their business click the link to learn how the society works.

33-      They receive a call from a sales representative that lasts around 20 to 30 minutes and goes through these topics:

a.       Interview about professional achievements and “questions to validate information”. A lot of praise and admiration for her accomplishments.

b.      The sales person says that she was “approved” or “chosen” to be part of the society.

c.       Offer of a membership for 5 years (around U$489.00) or for life (around U$589.00).

d.      Products and services offered: networking opportunities, events, industry exposure, being featured in their platform, business collaboration.

e.      They make it very clear that it will be a “ONE TIME ONLY” payment.

f.        They ask for the credit card information on the spot. The only woman included in these comments that did not have It on her and asked to call back in a couple of hours “was advised that, due to the high demand and need to conduct personal telephone interviews, they could not just "go back and forth." So, I said I would have to pass and the caller simply said "thank you" and hung up.” She decided to give her testimony because she thought it could be a scam.

44-      Over the next few days after the payment the woman receives a welcome email saying that she got approved and to click the link to complete the profile on their website.

55-      The woman goes on to review and complete the profile and waits for something to be done for them and for their business.

66-      About a month after the first call the woman is contacted again by phone or email and asked to pay another fee for a “Multimedia press release” to promote her (and this was what the first fee was for).

77-      At this point it can go different ways, according to what was described by the victims:

a.       The ISFP representative calls and asks if she wants to pay more to get the “Press release” and the poor woman agrees. She receives an email confirmation of the purchase.

b.      The call is not answered and they send an email receipt confirming the purchase that the client never agreed to. This email can be seen or not.

c.       If the woman never reads the email she will discover the charge on the credit card statement at the time or later).

d.      If the woman receives the email she will try to contact them by phone (most people say it is impossible) or email to cancel the non authorized purchase. The ISFP denies the cancellation and the refund, both of which are only received after official complaints.

e.      The unfortunate women that agreed to the “Press release” or didn’t even know yet they were charged for it, are again left waiting for something to be done for them. ALL OF THE COMPLAINTS describe that no service was ever done and they did not benefit from the “membership” or the “press release” at all.

88-      The women that remained inside the scam for having paid their fees one way or another, are contacted again after a month or so. Now, they are offered a “Featured member listing” service. The sales representative is never clear about the supposed services even when directly asked about them.

99-      At this point, most women realized that they have been mislead and had their money taken from them in a clever and very organized scam. Anyone who didn’t kept being asked for more money for an obscure additional service.

110-   After realizing the scam the women tries to call the costumer service or email ISFP, failing to reach an agreement and get a refund. Some probably give up and others decide to make an official complaint. 

111- Through BBB, all of the claims were answered by ISFP with a similar response: “I am sorry to hear you had a negative experience with our organization”. The refund was then made in full EVERY TIME. 

TThis is an organization that has been active under different names since 2007. Nowadays, most of their members are people outside the USA. As one of the complainers wrote: “So maybe in the USA word has already gotten around to the fact that this page is a total scam, it doesn't offer anything to anyone.”

It’s harder for most foreign people to understand phone calls in English. And even when they realize they have been conned it is harder for them to find the proper channels to make a complaint.

I would estimate that for one successful refund there must be dozens of people that accepted their loss and were also ashamed of being fooled. This all in all makes this a very successful and organized SCAM.