Tracey
Boston,#2Consumer Suggestion
Sun, February 22, 2004
Dear Carolyn- First of all, I want to say how very sorry I am that this has happened to you, especially during such a difficult time as this when your husband is suffering from a terminal illness. My thoughts are with you. I am fighting a very similar battle with W. Craig and Company / WebAd Systems. You can view my Rip Off Report by typing in the keywords Web Ad Systems in the search box on the badbusinessbureau.com Rip Off Report site. It is under the title "W. Craig & Company, Web Ad Systems Real Estate Rip Off, Scammed out of thousands of dollars, John Beck's Land Banc Phoenix Arizona".
My situation is a little different in the respect that my websites were supposed to be selling real estate property, rather than fitness equipment. However, the thing that is similar about our situations is that the validity of the targeted visitors to the websites is questionable and also the product being sold is somehow fraudulent or misrepresented.
I also asked for a refund a couple of months after I had purchased the program, but was told that I had to wait 11 months, at which point I could return the product for a full refund. I had this guy at the Web Ad Systems company (Mike Upsal) e-mail me this document (the "11 Month Challenge")that states this agreement regarding the refund. Do you know if Jim Rosen/WebAd Systems had a similar "11 month challenge"? I doubt they would have included it in any of the paperwork they sent you. I only found out about this "11 month challenge' when I called to demand a refund back in November 2003. I believe that this "11 month challenge" may be a stall tactic to prevent people from taking action sooner.
Like you, I began to realize that something was very wrong. I had no requests for purchases which I felt was very odd, especially since my website was supposedly being sent out to over 50,000 search engines. I started to wonder if the properties my website was marketing really existed. In my case, this wonderful property being sold was actually in the middle of no man's land, miles away from any power lines, running water, etc... (you get the picture).
I called Web Ad Systems back and confronted Mike Upsal with information about the properties being advertised on my website. I had gathered some negative information about the properties when I made several phone calls to Texas and Arizona and spoke to Tax and Deed Departments and utility companies. He issued me a verbal approval for a refund and gave me an RMA# that I wrote down. Did you even get this far with anyone at the company?
It may not matter. Long story short, I have been trying to contact Mike Upsal or anyone for that matter at W. Craig & Co. and all of the phone lines have either been cut off or an answering machine picks up. A live person does not even answer the phone anymore. The last time I called the company was Thursday 1/19. I just let the phone ring for over a half hour. Someone finally picked up and he gave me a fake name and number for the president of the company. He then became very inappropriate and started asking me how old I was. When I asked his name, he hung up on me.
I decided to call the number he gave me and it was some guy who seemed to be really nervous about how I got his number. He told me that the company had "hit a financial wall" and was trying to "reorganize and restructure". He then gave me an incorrect number for the Chief Financial Officer.
It's really bad. I am envisioning that these people have probably thrown everything into boxes and left in the middle of the night. So, let me tell you the steps I have already taken to try to get the money back.
I contacted the FBI in Phoenix. They referred me to a website