I have been conducting my own, internal investigation of the practice of Keen.com. As a part-time adviser on this internet site, I can tell you that there a quite a few advisers with integrity who are very skilled and knowledgeable. They really want to help others.
Keen itself abuses its advisers and callers alike.
Keen asks advisers to pay high promotional rates, which have increased over 300% as the call volume has gone down due to credit issues in the economy in general. Keen allows other advisers to use surrogates to damage the reputation of other advisers. Keen blocks advisers from discussing the abusive practices on Keen by threatening to delete accounts and by actually deleting discussions through which advisers try to protect themselves and others from Keen's abusive practices.
Among all of the documented fraud I have accumulated during this investigation, I am providing the following information:
1. Keen does no testing of claimed psychic abilities. Anyone can open an adviser account with Keen. I have repeatedly asked Keen to change this policy.
2. Keen does not prorate charges to callers. Callers are notified when there is one minute remaining. By then it is too late for the caller to disconnect the call. If a caller has called an adviser who charges, for example, $9.99 per minute, if the call goes one second into the last minute, the caller is charged the full $9.99 per minute.
3. Keen will charge the wrong credit card, disregarding the security code for the correct card, causing callers to receive over the limit fees.
3. Keen has developed a system for "featuring listings" that no adviser can understand and Keen will not disclose the way that the cost of featured listings are calculated. Many advisers are paying a lot of money "per click." If the click does not result in an adviser receiving a call, they are still charged. Many advisers have lost money in trying to provide services to callers, particularly over the last several months.
4. A number of Keen advisers create dependency in their callers by telling them that so and so loves him or her and giving time frames to keep the callers calling back and pretending to "hear or read" the thoughts of the person of concern, to create virtual relationships with the loved one that can be accessed only by calling the adviser back.
5. Keen allows advisers to attack each other through surrogates to destroy the reputation of the target (always an honest) adviser.
6. Keen allows other adviser's surrogates to set up honest advisers with false feedback and claims that the integrity of the feedback system prevents Keen from protecting advisers from deliberate attack by other advisers.
7. Keen refuses its advisers any direct access to those in charge of the system to address technical errors which cause advisers not to be able to connect with their callers. In the meantime, advisers are being charged exorbitant amounts of money on "click charges" on calls that are not being put through.
8. Keen allows advisers with non-adviser accounts to click advisers who are featuring listing until their bid to click charges are exhausted.
9. Keen will not give anyone the name of their legal department or how to contact the persons in charge of the objectionable policy decisions. It is very easy to determine whether someone has the ability to act as a spiritual adviser, Tarot reader, "psychic," whatever else may be claimed. Keen refuses to do this, even when it has been brought to Keen's attention many times.
10. Keen itself is a fraud system both to its callers and its advisers.
I am in the process of preparing to deliver my investigative documentation to the FBI and the FCC. I contacted AT&T, which now owns Keen, with some of these concerns, but the representative at AT&T changed her telephone number immediately. It took me over an hour to find someone at AT&T with whom to communicate my concerns and then the telephone number was immediately changed.
Many people would rather deal with their life concerns from a spiritual, rather than a psychological perspective. These are the ones who are susceptible to becoming victims of Keen frauds. As I said, there are many honest and talented spiritual advisers on Keen, but they are being damaged by Keen's fraudulent practices as much as the calling public is likely to be victimized.
I am seeking input from many Keen victims to aid in my report to the FBI and the FCC. Please contact me with your concerns, if you wish. All communications will be kept confidential, as I am an attorney investigating the cases of Keen fraud.
Attorney Wendy A N
Madison, Wisconsin, Wisconsin
U.S.A.